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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Kids earning monies to pay for school trips/tours

53 replies

Cam44 · 23/05/2015 13:43

Any ideas for my 13 year old son to earn his own monies to pay the £2000 for his school cricket tour to the Caribbean? I want him to have some financial responsibility.

OP posts:

SunnyBaudelaire · 23/05/2015 13:45

he is 13 and it is a school trip.
If you want him to go, you should pay, IMO.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 23/05/2015 13:50

Very difficult to do IMO. People don't want to pay sponsorship for him doing an activity just to fund a 'jolly'. And there is only so much car washing he can do.

SunnyBaudelaire · 23/05/2015 13:51

besides would you really want him knocking on strangers' doors asking to wash their cars? or doing a paper round before school?
No offence but I doubt it.

Decorhate · 23/05/2015 13:52

At 13 he is too young to even do babysitting. I assume he is at a private school as state schools don't usually run those sort of trips? You should have taken the trips into account when deciding to send him there. If you can afford the trip but just want him to appreciate what things cost, I would just get him to do extra chores at home

DelphiniumBlue · 23/05/2015 13:54

Well if he's 13 he'll be unlikely to be able to earn 2k. Do you mean that you'll pay him for chores over and above the norm, or that he needs to be paid by someone else?
There's not an awful lot that a 13 year old can do , !maybe mowing the lawn or cleaning cars for neighbours? Paper round?
I gave my son the option of making his own lunch for school, and he could then save the difference between the cost of the ingredients and the school dinners, worked out about a tenner a week.
But I really can't see how 13 year old can earn much more thanpocket money.

HarrietSchulenberg · 23/05/2015 13:54

It needs to be generated from within the family as strangers would be unwilling to assist someone going N a jolly.

How about drawing up a list of chores that must be done each week and paying him by results? Washing up, car cleaning, bin removal, lawn mowing, hoovering etc.

Pointlessfan · 23/05/2015 13:55

A lot of kids round here seem to do bag packing in the supermarket to raise funds for things like that and people give quite generously. Could he get together with others doing the same trip and ask at the supermarket?

prettybird · 23/05/2015 13:55

Not so much "earning" but diverting....

School lunches would cost c.£7 a week here. I started off giving ds (14) that money but also getting in ingredients for him to make his own "Subways" - Lidl part-baked rolls (a whole 49p for 4! ) and salami/cheese/ham/cucumber - stuff we would use anyway. I said if he made his own packed lunches, he got to keep the lunch money as a supplement to his pocket money (c.£9/week -£10 minus the cost of the Sunday paper, which he doesn't always need to get). This taught/teaches him to be better in the kitchen and to tidy up after himself and to get organised. In practice, he makes packed lunches 9 out of 10 days and treats himself on the other day.

For the last year, he's asked me not to give him that money: first it was contributing towards a school skiing trip and now it's going towards an expensive racing bike that he wants.

HarrietSchulenberg · 23/05/2015 13:56

Decorhate - My dcs state school runs stupidly expensive trips like this. I posted a lengthy grumble about it on another thread the other night, but it's certainly not uncommon.

Decorhate · 23/05/2015 14:01

I've heard of ski trips etc in the state sector but these are non-curriculum so no pressure to take them up. Have only heard of sports team tours like this in private schools. Maybe we are just lucky here!

Pointlessfan · 23/05/2015 14:02

We can't win can we? I'm a teacher in a state school and have had parents complain because we've stopped running a couple of the expensive trips we used to run!

mrsdavidbowie · 23/05/2015 14:06

Ds 16 is going on state school trip to Washington and NY next Easter..£1400. At least I have till Jan to pay.

SunnyBaudelaire · 23/05/2015 14:06

expensive trips in state schools are just wrong IMO.
why run socially exclusive trips for the chosen few?
Sorry if we are derailing your thread OP.

capsium · 23/05/2015 14:08

Selling some of his old stuff on eBay?

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 23/05/2015 14:10

Good shout capsium, and just getting birthday and Christmas money instead of presents. Very boring for him though.

Pointlessfan · 23/05/2015 14:11

One parent had quite an interesting point actually - he said he'd love his child to have some of these experiences e.g. skiing but could never afford for the whole family to go, the school trip meant he was just paying for his child so actually made it more affordable. Anyway, I don't want to get into an argument about it at half term I hope the OP's DS is able to go on the trip and has a great time.

capsium · 23/05/2015 14:12

Is he good at art? He could join a local art society. They sell off their artwork in local exhibitions. As far as I know young people can join.

JWIM · 23/05/2015 14:16

Our DS asked family and a few close friends to sign up to easyfundraising which gives the fundraiser a small amount on online purchases from a wide range of websites. Over 2 years he received about £250 with just a few people signed up.

capsium · 23/05/2015 14:19

You could also pay him to be a 'coupon king'. If he collects and organises relevant coupons for you any money you save on groceries could be his. He would have to get very knowledgeable about what can be spent on groceries and what can be saved.

BackforGood · 23/05/2015 14:21

I agree with most - he is a bit too young to get a job commercially - it would have to be doing jobs for you and your family, which dos mean the cash comes out of your account, but, it does perhaps give him some idea of how long it takes in a min wage job to earn even £100, let alone £2000.

prettybird · 23/05/2015 14:46

Ds' state school (inner city Glasgow - very mixed demographic, from millionaires' kids to significant numbers of asylum seekers, Roma and families who literally don't know where their next meal is coming from.

Ski trip cost £720 (included ski lessons, ski hire and half board but not lunches) - but was paid for over 20 months. There's currently a trip being organised for current S1s (and S2s?) to South Africa, as it has a twinning arrangement with a school in Soweto, which will cost £1-2,000. Ds is pissed off 'cos he is in S3 but he would be doing exams by the time they go Again, that is being saved for over 20 months - plus the school is helping to organise various fundraising events. Ditto with a trip to Peru (going this year I think).

In addition, the Parent Teacher Council supports the school with an "Achievement Fund", which is there to ensure that no kids are excluded from activities. The PTC doesn't see the detail of who is helped (just broad categories) and leaves it up to the school as to who or what is supported.

hellsbells99 · 23/05/2015 19:18

He can get a paper round at 13.

balletgirlmum · 23/05/2015 19:24

Dd just wouldn't be able to go

Both she (in year 7) & ds in year 6 paid for their own school trips. I'd paid for the outdoor activity trips that everyone goes on & coukdnt stretch to dds French trip £400 & ds's Sports trip £550

Basically they had money for birthdays & christmas instead of presents. I paid the £50 deposit for each trip & gave them £50 for their birthday. In addition they got £10 per month pocket money. Grandparents, aunts/uncles gave them money instead of presents & they both already had a bit of savings.

But £2000 is an unrealistic amount.

prettybird · 23/05/2015 20:27

Pity friends of mine whose twins went to South Africa last time the school did the trip (about 5 years ago).....she had to explain to her other kids why they weren't going on a family holiday that year

Stickerrocks · 23/05/2015 20:33

A friend's DD raised some money by selling Christmas cards & table decs and organising a couple of pamper evenings.

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