Year 6 residential costs

[KingoftheNorth1]

Would anyone be willing to share how much their schools charged last year / are charging this year for school residential trips. Particularly keen to hear what people had to pay for Year 6 activity type weeks.

Totally get that costs have sky rocketed, plus insurance is likely very steep so, so please don't get me wrong, I'm not unrealistic, but just trying to work out if the almost £850 we have been asked to fork out is fair/representative! Haven't been through the process before so don't have any particular frame of reference.
TIA to anyone happy to divulge!

Right, I have had to go into school this morning for another mtg and asked, so for two nights, it is £30 and, for four nights, it is £50. We currently subsidise about 75% of costs because our poverty indicators are high so we grab any chance to improve cultural enrichment for our pupils

Wow, £850? That’s crazy. We’re paying £280 for three nights (Weds.-Fri.) during the spring term, including coach travel.

Just returning to update this. Trip is via Manor Adventures to Norfolk Lakes and apparently the majority of the year group think it’s great value for money.
School have apparently said that they aren’t willing to consider any other option and so it’s a ‘take it or leave it situation’. Very brutally presented via our class reps on our year WhatsApp group. A couple of families have raised concerns but have been shouted down by a vocal few so I don’t really feel able to speak up in that forum.
Im sure the week - well 4 nights - will be amazing but our family is clearly on another plain of existence compared to the rest of the year group as we simply don’t have £850 to hand over in January (when they have said we have to pay). Feel heartbroken for my DC.

I would speak to the school directly and explain. Don’t go via class reps as sometimes messages get lost in translation. It seems very unfair they’re not willing to look at other options to keep the costs down.

£450 for 4 nights last year

We just got ours in - only 3 nights,, but it is £280. Loads of activities as well, and from a small school, so they don’t actually fill the dorm style accommodation (so it is more expensive for us than for a bigger school)

Around £400 for 3 nights in France.

My brother did a France trip with primary back in the early 80s.
They were doing the France trip alternative years and a local trip alternative years for both the P6 and P7s. I'm Scotland.
They stopped because of industrial action around 85/86. Not sure if it got restarted.

Have the school shopped around?
Because I'll say it sounds a bit wild.

Or is it a top notch centre with 2 to a room etc?

The one my kids school uses means taking their own bedding, and towels which helps keep the costs down.

Another thought on this, are school paying a bonus to teachers for staffing it?

Or are they trying to get "wealthy" parents to subsidise the kids on free school meals?

I'd be so tempted to call the activity centre and ask for the costs for a made up name school.

It was approx £350 for 2 nights away for our Y6 residential last year. I’m sure it was the highest it’d had ever cost the school parents. £850 is crazy.

Do you live in an affluent area because that price is so high.What percentage of children are on FSM? That means that a high percentage of children will miss out.Normally you are given a longer time to pay but even so it really is high.Are you claiming UC as there are concessions for low income families?So disappointing is there any chance GP can help ?Sorry you must be upset.

My son who is now in Y12 were going to go to the Norfolk Lakes in Y6, it got cancelled due to Covid and we had a refund. I can't remember exactly how much but I think it was around £450 then. I can't imagine it would have doubled in 6 years but perhaps it has. We also had the chance to pay in installments, do they not even offer that? I think it's far too high price for a Y6 trip. For comparison our Y10 ski trip to Italy was £1200 for a week.

I think that is a lot. We paid £600 two years ago for a y6 residential in a private primary in an affluent area.

£455 for 3 days 2 hours away I thought was a bit crap but 850 ! No way we'd be able to afford that. We don't spend that on a family holiday. We actually spend £350 on our family holiday for longer than mine is going on their trip for 🙈

I remember going for a full week to the Isle of Wight so coach and ferry. Costing around £150.
Times have changed.

@KingoftheNorth1 I know which school this is, and you are not alone. We won't be sending our DC and have told the school and they were fine about it, so don't feel pressured. And yes the rep's response was awful - that was just his opinion, he decided he was the "majority". Ignore him, do what's best for your family.

For what it's worth... I didn't go on my year 6 residential way back in 2003. I remember saying I didn't want to go 😅 quite a few others didn't go either.

There will be many more trips to go on throughout school life in high school.

It sounds like we’re in the same boat! Thank you for your solidarity. Never in a million years dreamed we’d be asked to pay this amount of money for DS to take part in a key year 6 experience. We’re (relatively) new to the school and couldn’t beleive that message from the rep. He said that feedback from previous parents has been ‘without exception glowing’. Discussing more widely we now know this isn’t true as at least three families didn’t have a great experience in previous years and felt it wasn’t worth the amount charged (which was quite a lot less than they’re asking this year). He’s also apparently threatened to remove comments discussing the trip from the group chat.
Kudos to you for speaking directly to the school. We’ll follow your example and the advice from poster above and do the same. Time to move on.

I'd think if enough parents say no, the school will be forced into a rethink.
I'd be so so tempted to try and get a price of them for a fictional school or youth group.

I looked up the company who's running it and was surprised to see they also run the centre my kids school use. It was £350 for 4 nights, in 2022.

That is an outrageous amount of money .
I get very annoyed with school and college with the sums of money they think can be magicked up at the drop of a hat for school trips such as this.
My child was told about one on Wednesday this week with a non returnable deposit to be paid by end of October ,trip in January.
Obviously the most expensive time of year anyway but what annoys me most is that some families absolutely cannot pay and so their child won't be able to go , if this is the case then they shouldn't do a trip if all children aren't included full stop ,especially a year 6 residential.
I also find it totally unacceptable when they tell you at the last minute knowing that they probably had the trip in the planning months previously and could have made it more attainable with more and smaller instalments.

That's £200 a night. It's just not worth it

Ours was £180 for 3 nights and then 80 for 1 night. The PTA subsidises. We are really fortunate

I’m a TA expected to go on our Yr 6 residential and I would be delighted if schools stopped offering a Yr 6 residential at all.

It means a week away from my family. It means either husband has to take annual leave to cover after school activities or my kids have to miss them.

I have a week in shitty accommodation, up all night trying to get kids to sleep, unrealistic demands from parents, constant demands throughout the day. Sorting out arguments, friendship issues, homesickness, actual sickness, kids who seem to expect teachers to do everything for them, aggression and rudeness from the children - I could go on.

It’s absolutely and utterly exhausting. We obviously don’t get paid any extra to do it so I’m working many many hours unpaid.
To add insult to injury the parents usually find something to email and complain about afterwards - not enough showers/not liking the food or roommates, lost clothes or something. We are rarely thanked.

I would definitely complain OP, with any luck the trip will be cancelled which should make life easier for everyone.

One of the mums who had twins in my DS year went to the school to ask for funds from the trust that supported pupils. The trust paid for one of the children, the parents had previously paid for everything which they were happy to do but the year 6 residential although affordable by instalments no one begrudged them the contribution.

I guess it’s a new experience for many, sending their young children away from home for what might be the first time, but I’m sorry that you feel that the children at your school - and their parents - don’t appreciate your efforts.