why would you not let your Year SIx kid go on a residential then?

[ParisHiltonSequins]

any ideas?

my ds wasn't allowed to go on his y5 trip as his teachers didn't think he would behave (asd) . I think alot of parents (who I didn't know) wouldn't have known this is the reason.

All those reasons... and also
not enough room for all?
2/3 of Yr 6 here have just been to Wales for a week.
Those that didn't go went on day trips for the week, Legoland, Leeds Castle etc. Both sound good.

I was very sad for my son, I really wished he could have gone for the social interaction and a final blow-out before moving up to secondary school. But the insurance company would not allow it.

Cost is usually a biggie (and it's a difficult time for alot of people just now).
I don't know about getting it subbed.....you sort of assume only families claiming free dinners or certain benefits will be eligible.

Tis sad though.....must be upsetting to feel so left out if you really want to go. And friendships can be sensitive to these things (missing out on new "in" jokes etc)

Pollyanna that's awful!

paisleyleaf - they are expensive, but we had 18 months to pay. We are lucky enough that we could afford it (although I put money away every month in an account to cover costs as they needed a sleeping bag, water proofs, walking shoes etc). The cost of the actual trip was just over £300.

That's sad bellavita. DD3 has just come back and she went with a broken arm. She thought she would only be able to do about 7 out of 26 activities but the teacher and sports leaders took each activity in turn and assessed the risk. The only ones she didn't do were canoe capsizing and another water-based one. She was ecstatic - especially about zip-wire and go-karting! I'm so glad I let her go!

ellingwoman, yes it is sad and I was really for him. I suppose they were trying to cover themselves. Thing was that the kid that pushed him over was supposed to be his friend and of course he still got to go...

DS had the week off school whilst all his mates were living it up.

Am glad that your dd was able to go

'They don't get subbed if they can't afford it. Where would that money come from? '

At our C of E primary the children are subbed, if needed, from a special fund set up hundreds of years ago to assist with education in the parish.

I smirk when I think of this as faith schools are so much maligned (well, mainly on on MN, round here they're not). But this is an example of walking the talk. This is actually what Christianity can do well: discreet assistance to children who need it, done at a local level, in consultation with the headteacher and local charities.

That's great abraid, it's just a shame that most state school pupils don't have access to charitable assistance of that kind. But feel free to smirk at the knowledge that the godly have got one over on the heathens.

Schools usually do have a School Fund account (separate from the big LA pot) to sub in situations like this - but obviously only possible when there's money in the account. It's the pot where the marginal profit from sale of sweatshirts, commission from school photos, etc goes.

I think in Yr6 you have to assume the problem is something like bed-wetting/parents not approving of certain other kids etc, as MMJ said.

The schools normally have a fund ime.

What about parents that can afford it but are tight - would the school sub them?

hmm
or who SMOKE

Or who have tattoos on benefits?!

Way ahead yet but the two reasons I can think of is cost ot it clashing with something else (family celebration/performance/exam etc.)

Or possibly if a child themselves does not want to go.

As a teenager I was the only one in my class who didn;t go on the residential to the outdoor activity centre as the whole trip sounded like my idea of hell and I didn't want to miss my piano lesson with an exam coming up.

I went on Girl Guide camps in the summer holidays instead.

I wasn't smirking at you, LGP, but if you read some of the threads about faith schools and how devisive and 'racist' they are, how they discriminate against working class children, yada yada yada, I think you'll see that occasionally it is nice to be able to prove that this isn't the case.

In fact, the children who benefit often aren't practising Christians, or even Christian at all. They're just...children, with a financial need.

I think all state schools have funds to cover people who can't affrd to pay. Obviously this is restricted to an extent though and can only cover a certain number of trips.

Certainly all the state schools I have worked in in primary and secondary have had such funds.

Our school does not have such a fund. I know this because I am on the governing body's finance committee. Perhaps, paradoxically, it is schools in more affluent areas who can afford to have such funds.

Just because you have advance notice it doesn't mean that you can afford to save for the trip. We have no spare money so saving is out of the question for us.

We don't "sub" residential trips (but do sub visits) I don't know of any schools in my area that do.

Yes, I think current school I am in sub for "educational" trips, but it is infants and doesn't do residential.

The state secondary did sub some educational based residentials but again on a restricted basis.

At my current school what is lovely is that a couple of parents in the y1 class have sent in a bit of extra cash to sub those who might not be able to afford it. Never known that before and it was lovely to see their generosity. We have a very mixed intake and some genuinely cannot fork out for visits and trips.

not enough money to sub everyone who might need it at our school

and of course it's possible for a family not to be on the breadline but still not to be able to afford it that particular year

have told ds he can go on the Yr4 trip, but we're making no promises about the Yr 6 one as that depends on other outgoings

bedwetting needn't be a reason: dd went with incontinence pads

It's a bit tricksy with the money
as it might also be about choices.
Maybe can't afford it because you're taking the family on holiday. You can do everything. And you can't ask for a sub - then be in Greece the next month.

can't do everything, of course

there was a child in our yr 6 whose parents was really vociferous about the prohibitive cost of the trip (as was I - it was touch and go whether we could afford it but ds really really wanted to go and he has a fairly miserable time at school)

They tried to get the money from the school (the school said they couldn't sub it )
I sat there while the poverty-pleading mum told me her child was so devastated, the family had had to go out and buy an x-box 360 and games to make up for it... The trip cost was rather less than the price of that!