school trips again

bestpud

galvanizersbaby wrote: »

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

Well, I don't know about ONW, but my trips were during the seventies, so not all that long ago!

Plus, dd's Brownie pack do go camping every year and dd will be able to take part in the summer, at the grand old age of 7!

DS went with his cub pack too and that was less than ten years ago. They camped (under canvas) next to West Mids Safari park at the same time they shot all the monkeys, and they all believed it was because one had escaped! You can imagine how much they frightened each other over that weekend can't you?! :rotfl:

galvanizersbaby

bestpud wrote: »

Well, I don't know about ONW, but my trips were during the seventies, so not all that long ago!

Plus, dd's Brownie pack do go camping every year and dd will be able to take part in the summer, at the grand old age of 7!

DS went with his cub pack too and that was less than ten years ago. They camped (under canvas) next to West Mids Safari park at the same time they shot all the monkeys, and they all believed it was because one had escaped! You can imagine how much they frightened each other over that weekend can't you?! :rotfl:

Yes mine were during the seventies too (so not all that long ago - ahem!) - my children are only 4 and just turned 6 at the moment but we haven't ventured down the beavers/rainbows route just yet so all this to come.
tbh I did join Brownies for a short time but my mum refused to take me back following an incident with me allegedly throwing another girls brown bobble hat down a nearby drain
Needless to say I never made it to the girl guides!

Anyhow I've gone off at a tangent I was trying to make the point that nowdays the dangers where children are concerned are so much more publicised and parents are more reluctant to give kids the same freedom as we had when we were kids - anyway that's a whole different thread!

liney

I'm 29, and the first time i was away from home over night was a youth hostel trip when i was 10.

A 7 or 8 year old may or may not be ready to stay away over night, but either way that is the decision of the parent, not the head teacher.

In light of the family's circumstance, if they are actually happy for the child to go i would offer half of the money, and tell the school that is all i can afford to contribute so if that is a problem then my child will not be going.

mspig

Found this on another website (teachernet) hope it helps:


In general, no charge can be made for admitting pupils to maintained schools. Where education is provided wholly or mainly during school hours, it should be free. It is therefore not possible to levy a compulsory charge for transport or admission costs for swimming lessons or for visits to museums, etc. during school hours.
The LA or governing body may not charge for anything unless they have drawn up a statement of general policy on charging. The governing body's policy may be more or less generous than the LAs, as long as it meets the requirements of the law.
Voluntary Contributions
Head teachers or governing bodies may ask parents for a voluntary contribution towards the cost of:

<LI class=MsoNormal>any activity which takes place during school hours; <LI class=MsoNormal>school equipment;
• school funds generally.

The contribution must be genuinely voluntary, though, and the pupils of parents who are unable or unwilling to contribute may not be discriminated against. Where there are not enough voluntary contributions to make the activity possible, and there is no way to make up the shortfall, then it must be cancelled.
Residential Trips
Schools are permitted to charge for the cost of board and lodging during residential school trips. This cost must not exceed the actual cost of the provision.
Where the trip takes place wholly, or mainly, during school hours children whose parents are in receipt of the following support payments will, in addition to having a free school lunch entitlement, also be entitled to the remission of these charges:

<LI class=MsoNormal>Income Support; <LI class=MsoNormal>Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance; <LI class=MsoNormal>support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; <LI class=MsoNormal>Child Tax Credit provided the parent is not entitled to Working Tax Credit and their annual income does not exceed £14,495;
• Guaranteed State Pension Credit

A similar entitlement applies where the trip takes place outside of school hours but it is necessary as part of the national curriculum, forms part of the syllabus for a prescribed examination that the school is preparing the pupil to sit, or the syllabus for religious education.

fsdss

bunty109 wrote: »

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.

it does state that the trip (£120 one) is voluntary contribution - i have been clear on that in my earlier posts.

its also interesting what you are paying for school swimming lessons - what region do you live? my son (7), although not eligable for peak district school trip til 18months, has just completed his swimming lessons for the term as part of the curriculum. they were £50 to cover the cost of lifeguard and extra teaching staff.

the panto was booked a while back - the whole school are going.

skylight

My DD has spent a night away with the Beavers, she is 6. I would have been horrified if they had "locked them in" overnight. It was in a hut and the leaders slept by the doors - there is no way they would have entertained locking them in. What a fire risk!!!

Anyway. The OP (!). I wouldn't be letting my DD go on this trip. £120 IS an issue (OH about to lose his job too) and for that reason alone, she would not be going. A second reason would be the snottiness of the head. Get stuffed. Its my decision whether to allow my child out overnight - not yours.

Perhaps your head is like ours (primary and secondary ones) that actually do not have kids of their own. So although they deal with hundreds of kids at a time, they don't actually know or understand the practicalities of family life.

milliebear00001

fsdss wrote: »

it does state that the trip (£120 one) is voluntary contribution - i have been clear on that in my earlier posts.

its also interesting what you are paying for school swimming lessons - what region do you live? my son (7), although not eligable for peak district school trip til 18months, has just completed his swimming lessons for the term as part of the curriculum. they were £50 to cover the cost of lifeguard and extra teaching staff.

the panto was booked a while back - the whole school are going.

I'm a teacher in the north-west - as far as I know, none of the schools in my local area charge at all for swimming - just comes out of 'school funds'. Again, it's part of the curriculum and so charges should only be voluntary if the school decides to make them. Having said that, swimming is not a statutory requirement of schools and so it's possibly a bit of a 'grey area'.

Becles

My son went away for a week in France when he was in Year 4. However this was with some sort of funding grant to pay for 10 children and 2 teachers to go to the French school they are twinned with, and some French children came here later in the year. It didn't actually cost us anything other than a bit of spending of money. I was a bit nervous about letting him go due to his age, but he had a great time.

My Dad used to take pupils on trips to Paris when he was teaching and believe me, it's not a holiday! These were secondary school children. Staff were on duty pretty much 24/7. Even on an evening they were supervising, making sure they didn't buy alcohol in the bar, leave the hotel, not in each others rooms etc. His worst nightmare was having teenage girls having a period on the trip, but they hadn't brought anything to use. It ended up such a common occurance, he used to pack sanitary pads to take with him to save emergency trips to chemists!

Oldernotwiser

galvanizersbaby wrote: »

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

I thanked you but then realised that I don't think you meant the second part of this in the same way that I did. If you're talking about increased traffic and knives in schools, then of course, I'd agree with you. If you're talking about the sort of world that's going to affect brownies at camp or juniors on a field trip away, then the only difference seems to me the way in which so many parents want to keep their children wrapped in cotton wool and tied to their apron strings.

morganb

I can understand the issues about cost and at which age people feel it is appropriate to let children spend the night away from home, but there are some really quite negative remarks on this thread. What a shame. Us teachers just can't win, can we. If a school doesn't believe that an educational visit is 'educational', either in terms of curriculum content or team-building, for example, then it wouldn't be approved by the board of governors (which is made up of several parent governors who are there to 'represent' the parent voice) and the Headteacher.

Schools can usually find a way of helping out parents financially for a worthwhile trip (although of course it wouldn't be fair for a school to fund one child's skiiing trip, for example).

At the end of the day, staff work extremely hard to offer these visits/trips for children and they offer them and take part in them because they want the children to have a good time. Often they have to put extra childcare in place themselves (and no, this isn't reimbursed by profit from the trip itself). I didn't spend three days in Swanage in November in a Youth Hostel for my own personal gain, for example.