school trips again

Oldernotwiser

milliebear00001 wrote: »

I think many children at 7 and 8 will be able to enjoy a night or two away from home with their friends. I think many parents would struggle with that though!

And that last sentence sums it up in a nutshell!:T :T

~daisy~_2

Smashing wrote: »

I'm suprised they get any schoolwork done at that rate.

to be fair - swim camp rugby and football are all part of out of school activities - but still need to be funded unfortunately

and as has been mentioned i also believe that some parents tend to be a little 'precious' where there kids are concerned - most of the time the children themselves have a ball !!

morganb

fsdss wrote: »

i've just selected this post to highlight that the point to my post is in no way reflected show that the teachers ability or dedication is not there.

My mistake, I shall edit original post, I genuinely meant to type 'on this thread'.

Smashing

~daisy~ wrote: »

to be fair - swim camp rugby and football are all part of out of school activities - but still need to be funded unfortunately

and as has been mentioned i also believe that some parents tend to be a little 'precious' where there kids are concerned - most of the time the children themselves have a ball !!

It's the idea that kids should be rewarded for things that are a fact of life - exams. Smacks of bribery to me - you do well in the exams and make us look good and you can go on holiday (and we'll guilt trip your parents into paying for it because they'll all be told 'but everyone else is going...')

fsdss

morganb wrote: »

My mistake, I shall edit original post, I genuinely meant to type 'on this thread'.

no....i think i have mistyped my message.....it happens.....i wanted opinions really on the amount of trips / costs etc....i just highlighted your post on the thread to give you some support in what i was trying to get at......off now to dig a deeper hole:eek:.

bunty109

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.

Relly sorry I missed the bit about the voluntary contributions....if she's saying it's compulsory it is harsh.

As for the swimming, I am in Hertfordshire. We've a local secondary with a pool and the children are taken there (about a 5 minute walk) for lessons for one term every year. Any extra people required to walk them to the pool come from willing parent volunteers. The children are split into 2 groups and a qualified swimming instructor teaches one group whilst our child's class teacher "teaches" the other. Basically they are theones who already swim well!!

The panto trip is one where the theatre has schools performances at a special rate so the tickets are pretty reasonable: it's the cost of coach travel that's horrific. My DS has a trip to a cinema (don't ask!! LOL) 5 miles away and although the cinema is free, the coach is costing £4!!! It would be cheaper by train, but possibly not so easy to take the whole school.

jellyhead

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.

Boys brigade doesn't take them under 9, so for their october trip my boy was in year 5 before he went away with boys brigade. School take them for a 4 night outward bound trip in year 4.

I was worried about him going away at age 8 at the end of year 4 (most of them were 9 by then) but it wasn't a problem at all. He wasn't worried, and he loved it!

Not sure I'd have been happy about him going away in year 3 though. I remember at the meeting for year 4 kids quite a few of them were bedwetters.

jellyhead

School may be applying for a group passport for spain - they did when my son went to strasbourg. He had a passport, but school said no they would be doing the group one. He needed an EHIC card.

If her income is 11k and her husband will shortly be out of work will they be on tax credits? I seem to remember something on the form for the outward bound courses in primary school that those on working tax credit didn't have to pay.

Yikes the swimming and panto are expensive! We have a yellow bus for swimming, it's free and they go all year during years 3 and 5. Panto is very heavily subsidised by the PTFA so they only pay £6 each, and those who don't pay still go on the trip as long as their consent form is signed. I have never paid more than £6 for a day trip either, but they hire proper coaches so again the trips are probably heavily subsidised by the PTFA.

Swimming lessons at our local leisure centre are £50 for a course of 12 so I suppose your friend is paying the same, but without transport or parking costs. Even so, it seems unfair that kids pay for swimming in some areas but not in others

fsdss wrote: »

my friend has 2 children and so far (since september) and up to july next year the amount for school

£100 each (swimming lessons at school for 2 terms) = £200
£400 educational trip to spain =£400
£120 educational trip to peak district = £120
£25 (x2) for panto trip with school = £50
day trips x 4 various locations £15 each =£60

thats what she knows of at the moment - so far total = £830
this is without the cost of spending money, getting a passport (doesn't have a passport as they do caravan holidays in uk)

this excludes the endless appeals for money in various forms (raffles / contributions for raffles)- christmas / harvest festival donations and surprise box donations for orphanage in east europe

i have pointed out that these are all voluntary contributions (except spain trip), but she feels deeply guilty if she were not to contribute.
her income is £11+k, her husbands income is £19+k but as i said earlier, will be losing his job at the end of the month - they have a mortgage of £80k, will not have a car (as he will lose it).

Spendless

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?

and here I am eating my words saying I think a lot of parents would be uncomfortable with the idea, as my 8yo son was asked by the cub group he joined last week if he wanted to do an (indoor) camp with them this w/end for 3 nights- 2 trips sat & sun. Drop off fri night pick up mon pm and he's going. My mate whose son also joined last week said where do I sign, :rotfl: whereas I did say let me talk to my husband first.