School trips

silvercar

santashelper wrote: »

It may be beneficial to go but in todays day and age why cant a couple of teachers go and record a video of this trip ok We may as well all stay at home and never make any visitsthey wont get the same live effects but how do they think parents can afford these costs parents have to prioritise, children have to understand they can't take up every opportunity offered.and then be told they are only allowed to take summer holidays in the school holiday season when everything is more expensive.

Parents with children must feel exploited for having them in todays society Quite the opposite, I feel grateful that my children have the opoortunities that I never had.because everything is geared up to making parents feel guilty if they cant participate in these events,So does that mean that others cannot benefit? yet parents pockets and time (i.e. helping children to read etc because the school fails them) I see it as the parents supporting the school in the education of their children are being more and more eroded away.Parenting is a commitment.

Although the trip does seem expensive, it must be voluntary or else there should be a paragraph that states that if parents can't pay their children can still participate.

hm71_2

That is quite cheap given the price of our schools trips, but it may be worth a call to the person in charge of finances. My dd had a maths trip this year and hubby was off work for 3 months due to an op & money was V.tight. the school assisted me with the deposit and I paid the balance-she had a fantastic time and although it seems expensive- I could have booked a weekend at the same place for half the price, but all her activities were planned in line with the maths curriculum and they had to colate results for each activity on pc's. I wouldn't have even begun to know how to do this during the weekend and she has benefited very well from the trip.

Oldernotwiser

traveller wrote: »

Hi older not wiser, it's not compulsory as such, but the kids are being led to believe the trip will be invaluable to their studies.The trip covers:
return flightsfrom london to berlin then krakow to london, pass for berlin public transport,overnight train from berlin to krakow,half day excursion to auschwitz, travel and medical insurance, 2 nights half board accomadation,airport taxes and group passport.

I 'spose i was just having a moan at how shocking the price was.I would like him to go,but have not made my mind up yet.

Well, that proves my point; they could hardly have found a more expensive way of doing it as far as the travelling goes at least! With a bit more planning and a couple of days longer they could've done it for half the price. For a day in Berlin and a half day at Auschwitz (the bits that will be relevant to the course), the price doesn't seem to reflect the value that the children will get from it.

Oldernotwiser

hm71 wrote: »

That is quite cheap given the price of our schools trips, but it may be worth a call to the person in charge of finances. My dd had a maths trip this year and hubby was off work for 3 months due to an op & money was V.tight. the school assisted me with the deposit and I paid the balance-she had a fantastic time and although it seems expensive- I could have booked a weekend at the same place for half the price, but all her activities were planned in line with the maths curriculum and they had to colate results for each activity on pc's. I wouldn't have even begun to know how to do this during the weekend and she has benefited very well from the trip.

A MATHS trip! You must be joking!

hm71_2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

A MATHS trip! You must be joking!

No perfectly serious- why would I be joking???

this trip is in the UK- but the school does a day visit to belgium for history.
They also do sports trips to switzerland, spain and italy
and art trips to new york.
some of them depend on the subjects taken other trips are for the younger years
the maths trip is with PGL and they do many stays inline with the curriculum.

silvercar

the maths trip is with PGL

Aren't PGL the outdoor activity group?

In my experience children gain far more in non-educational ways by having to cope for themselves on trips away.

foreversomeday

I am curious - what do they do on a maths trip?

*Louise*

traveller wrote: »

Hiya, i don't know if i'm just completely out of touch, but DS who's 15 has brought home a letter requesting 419 quid for a 4 day trip to Germany as part of his history gcse. And, to put the top hat on all of it, they want £150.00-by monday,the letter came in yesterday!It's costing me less to take him to dubai for a fortnight!

For tht price i'd expect at least a week.I always let the kids go on trips as i think travel is very important-but this is a bit much i think.Is this the average-the school has never taken them abroad before.Do other people find school trips excessive?

You think that's expensive - my son's school offered a 5 day trip to a place here in Scotland for a little under £400!:eek:

Thankfully, he's only 8, so too young to go away yet, and he wasn't that fussed about it anyway.


I work with a youth group, and our kids can go on a trip for a fortnight with us for £50 - some are even away abroad on an exchange, and it still only cost them £50, the rest was paid through fund raising.

jd87

It sounds to me like the school have really messed up in planning this. For a start, they really should be going by coach, not flying, unless perhaps if they could get cheap flight with Ryanair/EasyJet. My school only flew on school trips if they could get cheap flights. Things like the Group passport business show the lack of planning. They should know that it is better to just tell everyone to get their own passport. Phone the school up and complain, try to talk to other parents about it, etc.

moo2moo

Sorry to be a kill joy but coach trips aren't cheap either. £1000 gets a coach for 2 days. Add to that accomodation for 2 drivers and parking permits and it meant that an overnight trip in the UK cost £150 per child without any excursions. The longer the drive the more drivers required, so the amount of accomodation increases. Add to that the Ferry costs (£500-£1500 for a coach to Europe) and the fuel and you'll very quickly find its much cheaper to fly, although you're still sourcing a coach to get from school to the airport.

Group passports are used because individual passports are expensive, the majority of pupils don't have them and parents are notoriously bad at sourcing them in time. Also its far harder for a teacher to loose a group passport than it is 90 individual ones. It isn't lack of planning on the teachers part, this is advised by most education authorities to whose guidelines they have to adhere.