When i was at school Baz that was a school trip to France or something

given economic straightened times I'd say that is more than excessive   especially as it's so close to where you live 

I'll take her for £100

That's crazy prices  - i hope you told her - nope!!!

Pengy Google said it was less than £8.20 in petrol, obviously a bus load of kids is heavier and therefore more petrol but not that much more to justify that.

awww bless her for thinking the deposit was the price of it   I bet you were thinking if only it was 

tbh she's a good kid and when i said it's £150 not £30 she understood.

Thank God for that cos rattling their arses when they start to cry aint nice.

I disagree with you all..    I think £150 is about right...   2 nights residental ( so board & food), the activity centre costs (and you don't want them to be skimping on that...  you want the staff to be properly qualified, and you want the right number of staff for the number of children they are supervising)

& transport..... and the cost of the number of teachers required to go on the trip.

Jen - the year 9 Battlefields trip is a 3-4 night residential & is somewhere between £250-300.    yes more travel costs, but less activity centre costs & I would imagine a larger number of kids to teacher ratio as they are older.

I seem to remember the Year 6 residential to the activity centre that my two both did being over a hundred, but not quite £150..      They left on a Monday & got back on Friday, so was a 4 nighter...    but this was 10 yrs ago, & 5 yrs ago.

Do you have a PTA fund?  (ie funds raised by the PTA to help with costs of trips) Our primary school had a very active one so I know their trips were subsidised.

My eldest's school trip this year is going to be £130.  It's about an hour and a half away on the bus and they're leaving Friday, coming back Sunday.  It's outdoor pursuits and my niece went last year and it cost her Mother a small fortune in the stuff she had to buy.  Wellies, wet gear, hoodies etc and then spending money for the gift shop.

My son's trip isn't until April though and the school has started a savings card for each child in the credit union so we pay £5 a week until it's paid off.

I will add..    we have always really REALLY struggled with the costs of trips.

Ickle didn't go on Battlefields because she wasn't that bothered about going on it & knew we would struggle to afford it.    Alf wanted to go so we scraped the money together (plus the cost of getting him a passport)..   I don't regret it at all..   he got so much out of it

Same with the Year 6 residentials...   the kids got a lot out of it.

There have been trips that my two have wanted to go on that we have had to say no to because of costs...     the ski trips, and when Ickle started REeds she came home wanting to go on the Kalabash trip, telling us mid December that a deposit of £1000 was needed by the end of term!  

 stands chastised by Ditts   but you are right about the bits I've highlighted 

The PTA fund is a good idea 

yes...  thankfully we were given plenty of notice with the trips my two went on & were able to pay small installments over the months

School trips are some of my best memories of school so I will always try to let my kids go on theirs no matter what the price.

I even went to New York for 6 weeks (twice) when I was in primary school for free.  Our Mothers must have been out of their minds to let primary school children go so far for so long but it was a brilliant experience.  NOT one that I'd let my own kids have right enough.....it's way too long and far!

So after Ditty's and Ells posts it's not uncommon then. I'm just shocked by it.

Ells this isn't til May either and they have said £10 a week is fine, i just think it's ridiculous.

Ditty they are always raising money with cake sales at least once every 1/2 term where parents make/buy cakes and bring them in then parents buy them back lol then there's the spring and Christmas fairs etc. Where we all donate stuff and then go buy other stuff..... never see any kind of reduction in the price of trips or anything as a result of it though!

hahahaha...  don't be chastised...

its just that we have been through the         (the last one being us having lived on a diet of dust in order to afford the trips)

This has made me laugh.

Just realized there are a set of twins in her year! eek

it must be hard to be presented with these school trip letters and then find you don't have long to get the money together - especially now as C is just round the corner 

I only ever went on one school trip as a child to Wales because we were too poor to afford trips - all my friends got to go to Italy and France  which is why when my niece was at school my brother and I used to send money over for her trips to help my sister out as we didn't want her to miss out 

I don't know how your school do it, some schools have a hardship fund that you have to apply to for help (cap in hand - totally humiliating process)...   it was like that at Ickles secondary school.

The village primary school was very good though, they understood that we all needed help with costs etc.

That said, there were mechanisms in place so that any child that could not go because of financial reasons could be helped with more of the costs.   This came from our PTA fund, but I have heard of other schools where this cost calculated & added onto all the other kids cost of the trip.   So its worth checking.

Ask them for a breakdown of the costs - also, as a parent you are automatically entitled to ask them how much money is in the PTA account.

thankfully, no...  not like they used to, not in my kids schools anyway.

There have been exchange programmes, but they seem to be organised by teachers as a more out of school thing...    you volunteer to put up a French or German kid, and then their family have your child back..  but its all arranged outside of the school.

not like it used to be...    coach loads of German kids at the school for a fortnight...   then we'd go invade their school for 2 weeks a year later.   (I did the German exchange when I was a school and it was a total nightmare)

i didnt know that, although our lot would start looking at me funny if i did ask, maybe i should talk to daddy and maybe just bite the bullet I dont know though i'm not happy about it

yep...  gonna be double for them then!

Jen - We haven't had a holiday as a family for years & years..   the kids have had holidays though....      that's what its come to...     no family holidays, just the kids get to go away for a nice refreshing break!  

*continues crossing off the days til its our turn again*

Actually - thats probably not fair..     the Battlefields trip I don't resent at all....  it brought out a depth of understanding & empathy in our boy in relation to WWI etc.   So much so that he doesn't actually want to go on the ski trip but has asked if we will consider it for him to go on the HIstory trip to Auschwitz)  

Thanks!

yeah..  when I first rocked up at our PTA they acted like I had no right to be there..   then this woman reluctantly gave me a peice of paper & condescendingly started to explain it was an agenda & what it was... 

this was despite the fact that I had come straight from work, in a suit, with a works ID badge round my neck stating my job title as 'Business Manager'

If you get any grief from them about the PTA....   google it!    T&C's about PTA's are laid down...     all parents are members of the PTA.   THey are classed as Charitable Funds..     There seem to be a lot of parent/dinner ladies out there (cos they usually are dinner ladies as well ) That think they ruuuule the skooool!

I was so popular with the school gate gestapo - NOT!

anyways....    aside from the financial aspect of it Jen...

Do a bit of research on the activity centre itself...     can't be too careful & all that.

It seems to be a lot better than when we were at school - but I'd still give it a google!

yeah i was in the process of doing that when i made this thread (realizing it's 57mins away!!) Suppose i better see what Daddy says, do some research and see exactly when the SAT's are as they are in the same month as the trip..... Just think Minime starts there in Sept!

yeah,well that was Reeds for you!

that trip costs thousands...   and considering the kids stayed in hostels & spent the fortnight building football pitches for the villagers you have to wonder who was making a massive profit out of it.

But then there was more money than sense all over that school 

Surely it will have been arranged for after the SATS?

It must be...    its a pretty standard trip for Year 6's to go on, after SATs - its like the rite of passage at the end of primary school

Yeah true, just im a little tetchy about the SAT's (they're putting her in for lvl6 in maths and English!!)

I thought that was a typo!!

I don't think £150 is too much (but what do I know)    What I DO think is wrong is the school telling the kids all about it before the parents.     My niece's little 'un came home all excited with a letter saying they were all going to have a trial music lesson and if they liked it and showed aptitude they'd be able to learn an instrument .... if the parent stumped up a couple of hundred quid.     Now, they're a young family with only one (not great) wage - so £200 is a hefty sum.   Try explaining that to an excited 8 year old.     Lucky Granny came to the rescue but not all families could have done that.    

they do it all the time Kaffy....  and it is so wrong!

That Kalabash trip I refer to up there...   (so ok, Reeds was a private school but anyways)    even after we'd done the heartbreaking "erm no you can't go" they then went on to have presentations about it, doing the hard sell, and it was mandatory for all students to attend.   But as I said, that was especially bad, but it was a private school

Normal schools do it all the time...   

I had to laugh the other day...   I got a call from the school, answered it feeling worried  as they only usually ring if he's done something wrong or is ill..   only to have an admin woman wanting an "up to date email address" for us.

So I gave her MrD's...  

two days later he got an email from them, with a link to a "parent portal"   -   "a place where parents can make payments securely, directly to the school for trips, revision guides & the likes"

MrD replied   "how kind"  

yeah...   I have to confess that my parents have stepped in & helped us out on the cost of more than one school trip or outing