School Trip Ideas Needed!!

[qsack]

Hi
We are a small primary school(200 children) in north london wanting to go on a whole school trip or do something creative at school as an alternative. The coach hire is 3k and making the trip almost impossible to pay for as it makes the cost per child so much to go anywhere. plus on top is the entrance fee to somewhere.
Anyone got any great ideas about where we could go that works for Reception - Year 6 or should we have a whole school fun day instead?
thanks!

[Takver]

DH always says that his most memorable school trip ever was an outing to visit the sewers under his town

not sure that helps but at least it bumps for you

[castlesintheair]

One of my DCs just had her class trip to the local woods for a couple of hours. They loved it and it was totally stress free and free for the teachers/school.

[ICANDOTHAT]

I think health & safety laws wouldn't allow the sewer trip The whole school fun day would be great. You could get these types to visit your school - children's theatre, endangered species (reptiles, birds etc), circus skills shop. There are loads of visiting groups you could get in, not only to entertain but educate the kids. I would imagine the cost would be a fraction of an outside visit.

[sagacious]

Hmm taking the whole school seems like a task and a half !

Our primary is a similar size and usually splits into KS1 and KS2 for big outings

(this year they're going to Mersea island)

[GypsyMoth]

my ds and class recently went to a trattoria where they watched pizza being made,and then made their own....family run place,they were so pleased to show the kids their trade!!

[sagacious]

Whole school stuff thats been done in school ..

Theatre groups/workshops
Wildlife/birds (demonstration of kestrels and hunting birds esp popular)

[sagacious]

x post with Ican

Great minds and all that !

[ICANDOTHAT]

Sagacious maybe you're at my school

[Posey]

Each year our school PTA pays for a whole school "experience". We have had a climbing wall (well more like a tower) with 3 different grades of difficulty for the different ages and abilities of children to do. It comes to school complete with instructors etc.

We have also had an animal experience, where some company brought in various creatures including hawk, owl, hare, reptiles...

Other things include a circus skills day, an ice rink, an opera day, a local puppet theatre.

All things were to give children experiences they might not otherwise get. We too are in North London so all should be in your area.

HTH

[LouLovesAeroplaneJelly]

theatre groups
visiting wildlife rescue centres
police, fire and ambulance visit. Get some basic first aid skills. All the kids can bandgage each other etc...

[sagacious]

Oooo maybe ! [nervous]

At Christmas they go to the local icerink and watch an ice show

[Elk]

If it is at school does it all have to be done as a group. Last christmas our Parents Association arranged for a 'mobile planetarium' to visit and they went in a class at a time. Both teachers and pupils were talking about it for weeks.

We have also had a 'reptile and spider' handling party.

There are also people who do 'Science Experiences' which sound great fun.

[MiniSoksMakeHardWork]

Our school of 70 (granted much smaller numbers) go every year to the coast on the last day of term. The PTA pay for the coach. Head teacher pays for ice cream and school provide buckets/spades. The kids absolutely love it. Could you do something similar?

[Leeds2]

Could get an author to come in and visit. The ones at the school where I volunteer usually do three sessions aimed at specific age groups. You could try and incorporate things relevant to the author into the day eg we had Valerie Bloom, a Jamaican author, come to visit and one of the mums provided a lovely supply of Jamaican food.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

DD's school recently spent a day building a bug hotel in the school grounds they all had a brilliant time. They used 4 old pallets and various other bits of wooden junk so it actually cost nothing.

[NCFTTB]

Your whole school are going to a National Trust park for the day.

[NCFTTB]

Sorry I mean our!

[nonicknameseemsavailable]

what about a science dome - like the planetarium idea but it can cover lots of different things including under the sea, space and so on. each age group could have something specific to them and perhaps the rest of the day could be spent doing other sciencey things?

[mummytime]

Do the children go on trips as classes throughout the year?
The older ones could certainly go all kinds of places using free public transport - something those of us outside London can envy.

However fun things ours have done in school have included: Street party to re-enact VE day, Or another themed banquet, Then various concerts.
Another possibility would be to spend a whole day brightening up the playground environment, with Graffitti workshops, gardening, sculpture making etc.

I really think it is very hard to think of a trip to suit everyone from year R to year 6.

Quite often though the cost of trips is partly raised through fundraising throughout the year. Quite a good little one is selling ice creams on a Friday in the summer (you can buy them quite cheaply from Sainsbury's then sell them on for 50p each, and make a decent profit).

[MirandaWest]

As the original post was in 2009 they've probably gone somewhere by now (there was a spam post which brought it up again).

[Lilaclily]

My school sends ours to the local library & museum
Staff there are great & put on activities which are free

[Lilaclily]

So Angelaclairemay presumably resurrected an old thread to advertise some sort of trip

[mummytime]

Where was the zombie!