state school ski-ing trip too expensive?

[swanthingafteranother]

It's £1,500. To go for a week at Easter to America. They always go there, facilities and snow very reliable etc.

Now I think for beginner ski-ing it is in some ways a bargain, because a family ski-ing trip for five is obviously going to be so much more, and anyway my Dh hates ski-ing so we would never go in the first place..

But surely they could have chosen somewhere in Europe which was slightly less expensive, say at Feb half term or even Xmas/New Year?

Anyone else's experiences?

I want to send ds because I can afford it and because he is hopeless at sport and really wants to be better and really really wants to go and has never been and never will go skiing with us, but why is it such an outrageous price so as to discrimate against most of his classmates?

I couldn't give a monkeys if my dds never go skiing.

It's not something we are going to carry on with anyway.

I never went, they are so active anyway with ponies and sports etc it seems unnecessary.

The mountains are pretty but there are always cable cars and nice walks!

My DS didn't even bring me the form home as he wasn't bothered about going on the ski trip.

Instead he is spending four days looking at the Normandy beaches etc. Much cheaper!! And less kit to buy!!

Mine went to Europe about 5 years ago and it was around £650. I can understand this price for America but not for Europe, it's seems far too much.

PS. School have funds for kids who's parents are in receipt of free school meals so they don't miss out. I don't think it applies if any income is earned though.

OP
they do another trip in the 6th form apparently.
The letter said that this might well be the last trip tot he USA despite the ski instruction etc being so much better there.
The comparison price proposed was to Tignes which isnt exactly cheap either - hey ho

Normandy beaches, tick
European City for art/language trip, tick
UK based outward bound type trip, tick

Massively expensive US ski trip, no way and completely unnecessary.

Tignes is top notch. One of the biggest ski areas in the world.

And they get to improve their French too - bonus !

DSs private school skiing trip in December, to Europe, is under £1000. £1500 seems OTT.

dds private school do one but it is to Europe. The US seems massively indulgent not to mention highly enviromentally unfriendly

O for goodness sake, please no heart breaking stories of teachers forced to fly to the US and go skiing in their holidays.

If its such a hardship, why do they bother.

In fact WHY DO SCHOOLS DO SKIING AT ALL?? It just seems a bit silly.

I KNOW that teachers love going. It's totally their indulgence.

"If its such a hardship, why do they bother".

They mostly don't. It's incredibly difficult to get teachers to do trips like this as they can't afford their contribution or the time away from work and family.

In fact they mostly rely on the very young teachers to do trips like this as they are the ones least likely to have family/caring commitments.

Most holidays like this are out of the reach of students/staff so very few go anyway. Hence there's no stigma as so few can go.

What is disappointing is when trips in Britain are so expensive - there are only 10 out of 200 NOT going on Dd's school trip - £600 trip to the Lake District as it's still expensive.

Crikey, DS1's only in Yr1, should I start saving now?

And how is the Lake District so expensive?

OP, I hope they run something for the less well-off kids to, I know I would have loved to go on overseas trip at school but they were always way out of our league financially.

really? I have heard of a draw to decide which teachers could go!

I think it's far too expensive and therefore excludes a lot of children who could afford to go to a place which was a bit less costly. Out of touch with the price of ski-ing holidays. But they are usually much more pricey than other types.

deepfriedcupcake - no one knows why the Lake District is so expensive All we could come up with on here is the coach - it's incredibly expensive now for coach trips. And it is a week.

That's one lucky school Rabid where teachers get their name in a hat to go - my dh has worked in 4 schools in the last 15 years and it's a nightmare to get teachers to go on trips. Relies on a lot of goodwill.

DDs school is struggling to get enough staff to go on the DofE trips - which at Bronze don't involve very much other than sitting around in a minibus, and having a takeaway curry on night one. But, it's time away from home/family/own life, and difficult to get volunteers.

As long as everyone is given plenty of notice, I don't see the issue.

And yes I do know what it is like to not be able to afford to go on these trrps - I remember it well. Didn't bother me remotely. It was the minority who could afford to go; it would be a bit churlish and even spiteful to begrudge them an opportunity they quite possibly wouldn't have otherwise.

That's much too expensive. DD's school have put on ski trips to Austria and Italy for about £700 all inclusive - food, ski hire, tuition, excursions in the evenings etc. We did get a letter about a ski trip to the USA for over £1000, but I think the response from the parents was clear - too expensive, so they are sticking to Europe.

Laurie Yeah, I'd heard coaches are quite expensive, I think that more than doubled the Yr1 trip costs to the local caves. I guess they might need it up there too for trips out round the Lakes, though you'd think with just 10 going it would be cheaper to hire a minibus or two. I wonder if any of the teachers would be prepared to go for HGV licences and hire a big minibus / coach?

only 10 not going out of 200 - so it's a lot of kids to ferry around.

Ah, right. that's a big different. Hire a train carraige maybe?

My SIL is a teacher at an independent school. They have gone to the US and Canada for as far as I can remember, . She openly says how fab it is...and why wouldn't it be in Whistler followed by whale watching in Vancouver ?

Its not a hardship for her ...she actively puts herself forward and her kids are go on holiday with BIL. They have a family ski holiday at Christmas / new year.

Nice work if you can get it !

rabid it is Lake Tahoe.! Is it a Boys' school?!

I'm torn between feeling very excited that my child at last can get to go ski-ing and worrying that he is going to break his neck! I've skied twice in my life and finally got the hang of it when 18, and it was great confidence builder as you say for an essentially unsporty person, but don't think it is ever something I would choose now as a family trip to do ifysim, so it gives him a chance to try it too. My parents loved ski-ing when they were young but could never afford to take us as a family except twice.

Anyway interesting to hear price of Europe trips in comparison. I hadn't thought about coach travel. Ds1 would truly hate that. Still I would rather he didn't have to fly so far.