FREE school trips and holidays/parents on benefits!

[graceM]

Tonight I've had a letter home from my son's secondary school letting us know that there is a trip to France coming up in July before they break up for summer. It's for four days and it costs £672, well I've just read at bottom of the page that the trip will be either free of charge or reduced accordingly for parents who claim benefits, ie income support, job seekers, housing benefit etc etc, well I'm absolutely furious to say the least!

I know that not everyone can afford to send their children on expensive school trips/holidays etc, neither can I really but I'm willing to scrimp and save to ensure my son gets to go. So why the hell should other parents get it free? If you can't afford for your child to go then they don't go simple, I know it's sad but that's just the way it is. Not happy!

tendon I agree thats a huge amount but trips seem to get more and more expensive. my mum and stepdad are expected to pay as much for my dbro to go on a trip with school for a few days as they would taking him away for a fortnight! my stepdad works his butt off but if you was to work out their income (1 working adult) to mine (benefits) they get approximately 100 quid less a month than me, may not seem much but when you realise they are working for less than what my benefits are! ridiculous and they dont get any help with funding anything for my dbro. which is why this annoys me so much. why should the parents who dont give a stuff (example up thread) get everything handed to them on a plate while hard working families are struggling and get told to deal with it basically!

grateful your right but I know I have been through hell and back myself...I will leave that to your imagination. but would never put my needs before my childrens. my best friend also has mh probs and wouldnt put herself first and her life started shit and stayed that way. so no you dont always know whats going on but surely everyone can agree its not right that certain parents get this but hard working families who scrimp and sace all year get nothing

To me this smacks of benefit bashing TBH.

It's not right that families disadvantaged by disabilities get help too then fatty?

What I mean is that you cannot tell what someone has been through by their actions outside a school gate. I a,so had a pretty crap childhood but have more resources internally than my friend does. The mental health teams will be with her all her life in all likelihood. Just because you manage doesn't mean everyone can.

However, I do absolutely agree that for some families it is a real struggle. Working Tax Credit does not make a family magically well off and can make them worse off as they lose other benefits they might have had. FSM are not available if you are on WTC for a start...I was definitely worse off in work than out of work but that is because I am a carer. On normal benefits I would have been better off in work....but I digress.

DS has just been awarded FSM again but he won't get subsidised trips as the school choose to use the pupil premium elsewhere.

there is a difference between people who genuinely need help and people that just play the system. it disgusts me as for the example I mentioned earlier. she refused to give her child a pound yet smokes and talks about parties she is throwing and I have since heard her brag about how she claims single but her dp lives with her and works! that is the sort of thing that annoys me. the fact that they are apparently in financial need when they are not. and people who walk around well dressed but their childrens clothes are falling apart on them. or another woman I know who is on far more money than me but still "cant afford" to feed her kids??? its the people who dont give a shit and take take take when there is no need to. im pretty sure everyone can find a pound every now and then and if you cant, give up smoking.

leftlooney I havent once said that people who need it shouldnt have it. circumstances are different for everyone. just that a lot of people are not in need but still get this help when hard working families don't.

With respect you don't know their circumstance. I am not for one minute saying that there are not those who play the system of course there will be but you cannot tell who is and is not from a braggy conversation outside a school gate

Fantastic school! It may seem unfair if you look at it from the adults' point of view- why shouldn't they pay when I do... But if you think about the children, why should some children get to go when others can't because their parents don't have the money. Schools have a duty to be fair to the children, not the adults.

I think this does highlight a real issue. I have no problem with parents on benefits being subsidised but parents on a low income could well be no better of financially and completely unable to afford these sorts of trips for their children. I can understand why they'd feel this was unfair. I don't really know how you square this though. School should not do such expensive trips for a start.

What a fantastic use of the pupil premium.
Please don't pass your bitter world view onto your children OP

but when they are blatantly saying they are claiming single but their not really and their oh works? they said all of that right there in front of me. as for the woman who was telling me she cant afford to feed her kids, she didnt have to go out and buy a second car! she already had one, and no one else in her household drives. she wanted a shiny new showroom car but wanted me to feed her kids? not gonna happen. I havent given an example where im not sure of the circumstances. the woman who is dressed immaculately whilst her dc is not appropriately clothed? I was volunteering in a nursery while I was getting my qualifications and she had to be reported to ss. the child was removed from her care and placed with a family member. turns out her new partner didnt like her kid so dc got pushed to the side.

OP, your attitude is disgusting tbh and you sound really jealous of those job seekers.
i too scrimp and save for dds music residentials provided by the LA, and we only have one very low income coming in, maybe lower than yours.

I am glad that the trips are subsidised for those on benefits, it doesn't apply to us, but I'd rather children be happy and able to join in than be told their parents can't afford it so they can't go.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

Not a 'fun adventure holiday!' For children whose parents don't work and so probably have fuck all else to look forward to. Bastards! They should be forced to stay at home and be punished for their parents lack of work ethic.

Fatty that's a bad parent, not related to her being on benefits. I work in a fairly Affulent school (the pp children tend to be eal) and every non uniform day it's the same. The children who's families can well afford it don't being their cash in.
This Friday I imagine all will pay as its to raise money for cancer research. We are in the unineviable position of having parents die or dying in every school year the moment.

Lack of work ethic=sarcastic btw.

And many schools actually don't run expensive trips at all any more as this penalises poorer children. So without this funding all children miss out.

I was surprise when I teacher friend told me that many of her pupils have never been out of the town that they live in.

Thank goodness for school trips.

Good on the school for helping those children who may never have had a trip away before.
Op, you would not like my ds's school much I dare say. All the children there have had difficulties,some are disabled, and none have had very positive experiences of school at all. The school arranges lots of outings and activities as they want the children to have the same educational enrichment as other children do and appreciate that they have been disadvantaged through no fault of their own.

All trips are free and they just request a donation £40 to cover food for a week away. They make a big difference to the lives of the children there and I am very grateful for that.

I think they should limit the cost of school trips. It doesn't cost £672pp to send a group of primary school children to France. We have just disallowed one of DD's trips for four nights for £800 !!!!! as it pays for flights, car hire and part accommodation for four of us for a WEEK.

I think it's so unfair and I do feel that teachers getting freebies doesn't help matters, they go to ever more exotic places. When I was at school we had a school bus that used to take us all on camping and youth hostel trips.

I know that bad parent doesnt mean benefits just that those three examples I gave are the people that get the subsidising in my area and that is what annoys me as there are other parents out there who.need it more, whether they are on benefits or not. I am on benefits as I keep pointing out but I still pay for trips and own clothes days etc. why should I get everything paid for when there are people working who need the help more? I refuse to accept any subsidising off the school, but why should those people who dont need it, as my examples, be given it? as I said the examples I have given are true and are the ones that get everything handed to them on a plate. they could pay themselves but just dont. as I said I am sure of the circumstances of these three examples, otherwise I wouldn't be commenting as I dont know what goes on behind closed doors just as they dont know what goes on in my life. it just disgusts me that these people get it when they dont need it

I have been in both positions. I'm not working due to my youngest child having special needs. I couldn't hold a job down with all her hospital appointments. She's two and looking at having these needs till she's 4/5.

My oldest daughters 9 it's not her fault her sister has additional needs. My school don't provide this service and I'm lucky I have grandparents and parents to help out with costs.

If the school offered too right I would accept. As for tax payers money I paid mine for many years and will do in the future.

I wouldn't begrudge other pupils.

" hard working families" Fattymcfatfat are you David Cameron in disguise?

Don't see how you could make teachers pay though. It's work for them. But there must be other ways to keep costs down.