Expensive school trips and cost of living crisis

I am sorry, pride is a complex emotion. I'm glad you've travelled the world and enjoyed your life.

I have a friend who was offered a place at the Royal Ballet School. Her father refused to let her go. He said it would be a waste because she wouldn't be dedicated and hard working enough. In fact she is one of the hardest workers I know
and totally dedicated in anything she does. I think she would have understood if she'd been told they couldn't afford it but as it was she never forgave her father.

I just wonder how responsible it is of school to offer such expensive and non educational trips in the present climate. There are probably families who "could" afford it but the money would be better spent on treats for the entire family and not just one member.

We simply didn’t have the money. So no matter how good value the trip abroad was, we couldn’t go.
Even at Primary school, OFSTED expect ‘Wow’ experiences-visits or visitors to help children engage with the curriculum subjects. It all costs money. Cost of a coach, entry fees, etc. is rising. The the number of FSM children needing funding is increasing and even families who aren’t actually hard up have other increasing bills.

I don't envy parents these days; they've got a hard row to hoe, especially if they've got 2 or more children at school. Between the expensive school trips and the expensive school uniforms that must have the school logo on it, that can only be purchased from specific outlets, they're really being squeezed in the pocket.

I'm sorry you were denied that opportunity.

Pride has so much to answer for sometimes

I knew my family couldn't afford school trips so didn't even bother to ask, I wouldn't have wanted to put that pressure on my parents. I campaigned at one of my sons' school for a huge fundraising effort by the PTA so that every child went for free and no child was left behind. It did mean a more modest trip, but it was fully inclusive of every child that wanted to go.

I think it's wrong for schools to be taking pupils on purely pleasure holidays. Their purpose is education and any trips or holidays should be educational. That doesn't mean they won't be enjoyable, but they should have a purpose. In the UK there are so many interesting places to visit and things to do and they can learn so much.

It’s not just the cost of the holiday is it? I remember a friend of DS couldn’t go on school journey because, as his mother explained, he was one of three and he didn’t own a dressing gown, slippers and 5 complete changes of clothing as well as school uniform. Neither did I as a child.

Pupil premium can be used to subsidise school trips and holidays, it is a really useful way to use PP.

biglouis, similar situation for me.

My friends, who were not studying French, ( I went on to obtain an MA in French language and literature) travelled to see the Chateaux of the Loire and it was very difficult listening to the wonderful time they all had.
I didn't even tell my parents about the trip, as I knew that we too were piss poor.

The other trip everyone went on was the educational cruise on the Canberra. That was another letter I hid!

However, I have made up for it now.

We would never have paid for the 5 of us to go on a ski trip but to pay for one child would be feasible, on that basis I think it’s a good thing to offer such a trip.

We paid for each of our children to do 1 big school trip each.

Our children were at a very rural village school for a time, every year the top two classes, this would have been about 20 children, camped on the school field.
They had to help erect the tents, build a campfire etc.
Their excitement was off the scale!
It was talked about for weeks before and afterwards, it was far more exciting for them than a theme park and it was free.

Galaxy

Pupil premium can be used to subsidise school trips and holidays, it is a really useful way to use PP.

But only once during a pupil's time at school and only for educational trips.

Some trips have always been just for a clique and I have always objected to them.

Chestnut

I think it's wrong for schools to be taking pupils on purely pleasure holidays. Their purpose is education and any trips or holidays should be educational. That doesn't mean they won't be enjoyable, but they should have a purpose. In the UK there are so many interesting places to visit and things to do and they can learn so much.

I agree with you.

No our school uses Pp to offer reductions on all school trips. I dont really understand why people want to restrict childrens experiences to the UK.
My children also received free trips to Europe because the school was involved in the erasmus scheme.

Not to restrict them to the UK but for the trips to be educational and not just for pleasure. The purpose of a school is to educate. And why go abroad anyway when there are endless opportunities for learning and excitement here. We have the richest history and landscapes. Why go skiing when there is rock climbing, gorge walking and white water rafting here!

I think its good that children shoud le able to have educational experiences. These can take place abroad as well as in the UK. I just question whether NOW is the time for the outrageously expensive ones which are purely for pleasure.

There were very few "activities" and school trips in the 1950s. Our school was very advanced in this respect. Once a year we were taken to a music concert in the local philharmonic hall. I can also remember being taken to the cinema to see films of the coronation and the ascent of Everest in 1953. We were also taken to the local E of E church at regular intervals but we walked there.

All we had to contribute was the bus fare and I dreaded asking my mother for it because I know she would moan. Usually I managed to bum my way onto the bus for free when the teacher was not looking.

The thing I really dreaded was getting those horrid little envelopes that you had to take home for your parents to contribute money to charities. My parents worked on the good old principle that charity begins at home so I knew there would be another moaning session. I usually slipped a foreign coin in and forged a squiggle of a signature.

Well I was at school in the 50s and though we weren't well off, both my parents worked and I remember 2 school trips. One aged 14 or 15 to Paris and one in the 6th form to Stratford. Both opened my eyes to the wider world and things I could never have imagined,, which I think was what they were meant to do. I still remember the Hall of mirrors at Versailles, getting lost in the Louvre, and hearing Shakespeare spoken in a theatre for the first time.
I realise I was incredibly lucky to have parents who wanted the very best for me. And the value of school trips can't be restricted to only educational, it's about opening up new worlds for the child.

I don't know about secondary school trips, but at primary level I would say residential visits are very educational, not just in the obvious meaning of the word.
Children learn to cope being away from home, they cement their friendships at a critical time, they grow in independence and they learn interpersonal and team building skills. All these serve them well at their future schools and can't necessarily be gained in the classroom. Also they see teachers in a different light!
PTAs can be instrumental in paying for things like transport costs to reduce the burden.
I am sad some here missed out on opportunities they would have really enjoyed, but I am pleased you still achieved your goals.

My mother was offered a place at grammar school but her father refused to let her go as she was the youngest and he was coming up to retirement. Then she wanted to be a hairdresser but he again refused. Then war broke out and she wanted to join the forces or land army which he shuddered at and said no. She ended up working in a ball bearing factory and then the match factory where she became a supervisor. She was clever but thwarted and denied all the way, so the pressure was on me to fulfill her dream, pass my 11Plus and go on to university, which I did. Oh and marry well which I guess by her standards I did. She lived her life vicariously through me and although I loved her dearly it sometimes caused me inner turmoil.

Both my dd’s went on school trips but it was sad for those few left behind at school.

I went to grammar school and went on a Stratford Upon Avon trip, where we had a scary punt adventure; and Italy where our teacher was flattened by boys stealing her handbag from their moped. Great memories!

That's true Shandy, I could write a book about happenings on school trips UK and France!.
And not just about children with broken arms and legs.
It's a wonder teachers want to do them, but I enjoyed them.

I was expected to pass the 11 plus and go to grammar school but something happened (which I wont go into) and I had a kind of mini breakdown at 11. My grandmother always blamed that on my having to go to what was then called a secondary modern. My parents would have been unable to afford the uniform for the grammar anyway. They refused to allow me to stay on and do A levels. I was expected to leave at 15 and get a job - any job - to contribute to the family budget. That didnt stop my mother bragging to neighbours when I made it into the civil service. Talk about living vicariously.

I was shocked when I realised that 'school trips' were no longer really educational. I was used to the idea that you saved carefully for these important trips ( so sad to read your experience biglouis).
I have to say that GCs' school is thoughtful and careful about this - the trips are educational and carefully organised to be inexpensive (and we contribute to a fund to help).