if a trip is offered as part of a gsce course do i have to pay

[SlartyBartFast]

no mention of voluntary contributions in the form.
however on this occasion dd is doing an intensive one year gcse course in photography and they are talking about a trip somewhere, which is costly.
and on other ocasions.
where do i stand in paying for it.
if i dont pay or only part pay do they not go?

I would imagine that you'd have to pay. I know someone whose dc went on an expensive geography field trip for their gsce. It was first come first served as there were less places than the number of pupils doing geography.

just reading a thread where every one is up in arms about contributions being voluntary.. perhaps that applies in primary shcool only??

I think I saw that one. There was also mention of a world challenge trip costing £4000. There is no way I'd be sending ds on that. I didn't do school trips like the French exchange because my parents couldn't afford it. Didn't affect my schooling at all. It's nice to do these trips if you can but if you didn't your dd wouldn't be the only one not going.

oh thanks mollieo. good point.
i shall just have to say no if i cant pay.

I remember going to Berlin in YR 10 to practice german speaking skills etc.

Mun and Dad had to pay, otherwise it was normal lessons at school for a week.

That was in 1998

i dont mean a big trip.
but ds also has trips to the theatre as part of his drama gcse, if he doeesnt go, wont that be detrimental to him?

Trips, theatre visits, language experiences ... all will help youngsters do better ... wether those experiences are though school or provided by parents

Of course some parents cannot afford to do this, and other parents chose not too ... but schools cannot afford to pay ... most schools will have a hardship fund to help with some students

The World Vision thing is, in part, a charitable thing and students are expected to raise the funds ... we have a lot of students participating in this and we, as a school, help a lot in terms of organising events for them to use for teh fund raising

If the trip forms part of the GCSE your child cannot be disadvantaged by income. You should be able to apply for funding, it may not be the whole cost we often do 50%

If it is term time and part of the course then you don't have to pay but it might mean the trip doesn't take place.

Yes of course if lots of peole don't pay and the school cannot afford to run the trip it will have to be cancelled.

Depends how far you go with "part of the course"

Geography field trip that the CA will be based on = free

History trip to Battlefields ... helping to understand the issues = cost to parents

We always help a number of our students to go on our battlefields trip. We do however have a very active PTA. Sadly this is not the same for all schools.

We always had to pay for any trips even as part of a course.

DS has a history trip to the battlefields for GCSE which mentions voluntary contributions. It does say the school cannot bear the cost of the trip and if you have problems with paying then contact the burser. If not enough people can pay then the trip will be cancelled.

I think there should be an option for parents to make a extra contribution if they wish to almost sponsor another child'd trip. Totally voluntary if they wish but this may relieve the burden on the hardship funds and allow more trips to happen

if it is part of the curriculum you dont HAVE to pay andthe letter SHOULD say voluntary contributions

however the school is within their rights to call off the trip if they can'tmeet the costs

MollieO, with World Challenge the kids are expected to raise the money to go - that's part of the challenge. They usually do activities like bake sales and school dances and so on to get it.

I was going to say the same with regards to world challenge, I have run a world challenge trip and the point was that students raised the money rather than asking their parents.

"I have run a world challenge trip and the point was that students raised the money rather than asking their parents."

Not my experience as a parent - when my DC went on a trip to South Africa most raised about half the cost from Saturday jobs if they had them but a lot of money came from Bank of Mum and Dad and Granny and Granddad. How did they raise this money?

freerangeeggs that's a lot of cakes or are we talking posh Waitrose style cupcakes?

I'm curious to know what the norm is in terms of fundraising. What percentage is fund raised and what percentage is bank of mum and dad (or just mum in my case).

You have to go to the theatre as part of drama as you have to write reviews for your exam/coursework.

However there is nothing to say it has to be a big expensive show. I went to amateur and independent touring companies when I did my drama A level. Though I did have the advantage of living in a city where this was available and I could go there myself on the bus.

Our kids spent a year fundraising. They did a sponsored coast to coast walk, they did jobs in the local village, sold things on ebay, as you said Saturday jobs. We did whole school events as well.

MollieO, possibly gilded cupcakes... I believe they're available in M&S :P

I'm not talking about WC from personal experience, admittedly - my DP organised a trip to Malawi last year. The kids raised a fortune and worked really hard at it - they had race nights, ceilidhs, sponsored events, stuff like that. No doubt their parents were very involved in those.

I've just asked my DP and he says some of the parents paid for their kids but most of them raised all the money themselves. Much more valuable experience!