Rough cost of School Trips in Private school

[Rams411]

We are starting to get offers from independent secondary school for my DD to start Sept 2025. Very recently, we got an offer from SWPS and few more. So, we are thinking/working on setting up criteria to choose the right school for us. Cost plays a big part. While many fees and costs are mentioned in the websites, its hard to decipher the cost of trips and visits. Could someone please share a ballpark figure? even a range would be super.

Maybe give them a call and ask to speak to the burser

There was one compulsory team building residential at the start of year 7 that cost a couple of hundred pounds but apart from that Ds didn’t go on any trips unless you count a one day Food Tech trip to the Good Food Show costing about £50. He did want to go on a 3 day theatre trip to London but he left the school before that happened. When he moved to state school he went on a sports trip that was very expensive but we had two years to save.

Dd went on a French trip with her school that I think cost £450 ish The trip ran every two years and most wen on it at least once.

How long is a piece of string really - you need to call and ask for a list of this years trips so you can get an idea. It is unlikely any will be compulsory. My DD in state is going on a trip that is nearly £3K so I don’t think state is any different, there are just more trips on offer in private but like state, they are not compulsory and heaps of kids will not go for a variety of reasons

There may be compulsory trips for GCSE subjects like language exchanges or trips to the battlefields in France for History, Geography would also need a field trip . I’d also expect a skiing trip and maybe sports tours depending on the school . I agree though that they should be able to provide a list- Edit to say though that you are just as likely to need to deal with these costs in state schools too

very few compulsory paid trips at my kids school and mostly £50.

but lots of expensive optional trips (skiing £3K, brazil £4K etc) that a small minority of the kids sign up to.

I think DD is going on an (optional) 6-day language trip which is about £700 which I thought was actually pretty reasonable, given that was about the cost of a similar school trip I went on about 30 years ago!

And the cost of her state primary residential course was £350 for two and a half days 😮

Ive just had a Quick Look through emails over the last few years and we have had the following offered. We are at quite a down to earth private, so I think they keep costs down as much as possible. Saying that, there was a £11k Florida trip offered last year which they ended up cancelling as not enough people signed up.

5 night ski trip for £1700
5 nights sports trip to Spain - £1200
8 days sports trip to Lisbon - £2400
3 nights outdoor pursuits in wales - £450

It will vary considerably by school, and so you are best off just asking the schools, but for what it's worth here is our experience.

Our school had a compulsory trip in the 10+ entry year and in Y1, but these were UK team-building trips and were fully funded by the school.

There is a field day once a term when most younger years go on day trips, but often all we had to pay for was travel into London (and most of the students have Oyster cards anyway), maybe a £20 entrance fee for something occasionally. I suppose there might have been a couple of geography field trips in GCSE years, but these were always UK-based and heavily subsidised by the school - I think we paid something like £50 for a 2 night UK trip.

There are lots of foreign trips planned each year, but none are compulsory. My DSs never went on any (their choice) and didn't feel as though they had missed out by not going. Often there are only 20-30 places available for a trip open to a few year groups, so it's not like 90% of the students are going on them anyway. I'm sure they all offer great enrichment opportunities but at our school they were most definitely very optional.

Really glad you asked this question, it’s been playing on our minds, too. Also: nice to meet a fellow potential Swipper. Swippite? Swipsy?

I’ve never been skiing in my life, is it considered essential? Cos that won’t be cheap…

Us too @Rams411 and @durness ! I am planning to ask this at the next event pre offer acceptance deadline whenever that will be. Asked the Y7s at open day who showed us around and they didn't seem interested in trips- said others had gone on some but they didn't feel pressure to which felt reasonably positive.

The pressure aspect really concerns us. We probably won’t be able to fund major trips (maybe one) and it would be awful if our daughter felt excluded because of this.

DC have had one compulsory fieldtrip, for GCSE geography - location about 60 miles away, cost £40.

There are loads of UK trips, e.g. outdoor activity centres, camping, water parks, AND international trips, e.g. battlefields of France/Belgium, skiing in Alps, sports/cultural/musical tours to other continents. Costs obviously vary hugely.

None of these have been compulsory, I don't know about feeling pressure to go on them as we definitely haven't felt that. DC have shown no difficulty in rejecting some but being keen to go on others, and it's clear (from discussion with other parents and children) that the cohorts who go on each trip are similarly varied which indicates that nobody feels pressure to go.

Saying that, there was a £11k Florida trip offered last year which they ended up cancelling as not enough people signed up.

We paid £10k for 4 of us to go to Florida in May last year and that was including everything - flights, park tickets, 4* hotel, food, car hire etc 😂

I would ask the school as trips can vary considerably from school to school. Also cost varies from year to year (one DC went on a trip that cost approx £500 and two years later the same trip for DC2 was £900).

This was our thinking, for that price I wanted to go too!

in terms of pressure OP, in our school there’s really none. All the kids go on different trips for different subjects, so there’s no real direct awareness as to who’s not been away or indeed stayed home.

@Decapitatedsausage 11k on a trip. is that for the whole family 😂

Yr 8 trips offered (all optional):
Skiing 1.5K for 6 nights (DD didn't go cos none of her friends were going)
France £900 for 1 week. DD is going
Couple of day trips which are subject specific + free

The bigger trips are all for 6th formers eg sporting trip to South Africa, New York etc. Yr 10 11 there are at least 2 trips per subject but all optional and zero pressure

@durness my DD is going on a ski trip in her current school next month. While it is definitely not essential. we promised that if she makes best efforts on all her 11+ exams then we will send her on this ski trip. these ski trips are purely based on whether the family can afford it.