school trips again

mehefin

MY DS yr 10 came home on Monday with a letter regarding a Geography field trip to Barcelona which they want £500 for with a deposit of £100 by Friday. " an important part of the GCSE sylabus etc etc". I wouldn't mind him going with a, more notice, b no trips to water parks,glorified fairgrounds etc. but I'm sure an equivalent venue could be found in UK at much less cost.
Sounds like a jolly week away for the staff paid for by the parents.
Suffice to say he will not be going... and as I understand it neither will a lot more of his classmates.

Spendless

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

The age doesn't seem a difficulty to me. Didn't people here go away at that age to Brownie/Cub camp? I know I did.

No. My first trip o/n without parents I was in yr 6. I would have been 11 as I am the eldest of a school year (September born). This was in the late 1970's.

DS went to Beavers aged 6 and they did a 1 night sleepover in the Scout hut (stones throw away from my house) and I know several parents refused as they felt their child was too young. They did do an o/night outdoors camping trip but it was with parents attending too.

Oldernotwiser

pippinpuss wrote: »

.Most parents thought that was far too much for what was, technically, an educational visit. So we complained to the school that we weren't going to pay the full amount.End of the story was that the trip was cancelled due to parent power. .

I thanked you by mistake.

I can't see that limiting a child's experiences at school can be seen as a victory for parent power!

Oldernotwiser

mehefin wrote: »

Sounds like a jolly week away for the staff paid for by the parents.

If you had ever taken groups of students away, whether in the UK or abroad, you wouldn't say such a very stupid thing! The responsibilities are horrendous, you can be personally sued if anything goes wrong and if that's your idea of a "jolly week" you must be cracked!:mad:

Oldernotwiser

Spendless wrote: »

No. My first trip o/n without parents I was in yr 6. I would have been 11 as I am the eldest of a school year (September born). This was in the late 1970's.

DS went to Beavers aged 6 and they did a 1 night sleepover in the Scout hut (stones throw away from my house) and I know several parents refused as they felt their child was too young. They did do an o/night outdoors camping trip but it was with parents attending too.

Well, I went away to "Pack Holiday" (dormitory style,5 nights, not under canvas) 2/3 times between the ages of 7 and 10 and so did everybody else in my pack. I'm not saying things haven't changed but have children and parents become so feeble that this isn't possible anymore?

sooz

jackieb wrote: »

When my son went to Holland with the school he didn't need to get a passport. I can't remember how they did it but he didn't need one because he was going with the school.

You (the school) can apply for a group passport for trips like this, to save the organiser the hassle of holding onto up to 50 childrens passports! 50 kids on a trip :eek: :eek: :eek:

http://www.ips.gov.uk/passport/collective-who.asp

bunty109

My 8yo DS has had the chance to go away with the Beavers. His dad was going to go too and share a tent with him (not because we didn't want him going on his own and sleeping in the hut, but because dad's a big kid and wanted to go!)

.....anyway he ended up not going because at the last minute we were told that DH had to be CRB checked (to share a tent with his own son)! Apparently, because he may have had contact with other children he needed checking but no-one made this clear until it was too late :mad: By that time the hut was full so DS couldn't even go on his own!

I've friends who wanted their 10yo DDs locked in the guide hut overnight for "safety" reasons. Seems madness to me, especially if there was a fire.

Aside from the too young issue to say this trip is compulsory is just plain wrong. The Head has to say about contributions being voluntary and needs putting straight about it. It may be different in Secondary schools but certainly is the case in primary.

I'm also stunned at the cost of the panto and swimming. My children pay around £15 for the panto including coach and swimming is £10 per term to cover lifeguard costs: county picks up the cost of the lessons. We are told the £10 charge is a voluntary contribution too.

galvanizersbaby

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Well, I went away to "Pack Holiday" (dormitory style,5 nights, not under canvas) 2/3 times between the ages of 7 and 10 and so did everybody else in my pack. I'm not saying things haven't changed but have children and parents become so feeble that this isn't possible anymore?

Not sure how long ago it was that you were on pack holiday and it would be rude of me to guess but I remember a very different world when I was child to how things are now I have my own children

bestpud

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Well, I went away to "Pack Holiday" (dormitory style,5 nights, not under canvas) 2/3 times between the ages of 7 and 10 and so did everybody else in my pack. I'm not saying things haven't changed but have children and parents become so feeble that this isn't possible anymore?

I don't think age is an issue either tbh.

DD is now 7 and I'd be happy for her to go away with the school - I'm sure she'd love it!

She has just joined Brownies too and will be going camping with them next summer.

I was a Brownie and went camping three times - once with tents and twice in a hostel type place where we all 'slept' on camp beds in a big hall. That's one of the reasons I want dd to be a Brownie!

I also spent a week in Belgium with my primary school when I was 8 and again when I was 11.

I can see what you mean by the cost though. Not for the Peak District trip as that is pretty reasonable for three days imo, but it adds up to quite a bit for the two of them over the year!

I would suggest she speak to the HT and say they are going to fond it difficult to pay right now. That said though, it will look pretty poor if they cannot pay for this one but then find £400 for another trip...

Overall though, the costs are high for that school! We've paid £6 for the panto trip and £10 a term for swimming. Plus day trips are usually way less then £10 and they cap the spending money at £2-3.

The PTFA help a lot with this type of thing though (they usually pay for the transport) - do they have one at that school?

bandraoi

mehefin wrote: »

Sounds like a jolly week away for the staff paid for by the parents.
Suffice to say he will not be going... and as I understand it neither will a lot more of his classmates.

In fairness, while I'm sure the students will have a great time, it's unlikely to be anyway a jolly for the staff. The risks and responsibilities of taking a group of over hyped, over excited teenage boys (and girls?) on an overnight trip, coupled with the fact that it's abroad. They'll be on alert 24/7 for drink/drugs/sex/disappearances/bullying . . .

Nightmare.