How do you pay for School Trips

Lillibet_2

As someone who, in post school years, has raised over £7.5K for underprivliged children in the UK by taking part in charity treks I feel qualified to comment.
Are you? Because if not I can assure you it isn't a holiday, it's an endurance test. Yes, there is an enormous amount of personal satisfaction & acheivement too, I gained an amazing sense of self-worth which is something I could never have gained to the same degree in the class room, but it is not in any conventional sense a holiday. 12 Hour walking & climbing days in bad weather conditions (it isn't always sunny abroad!) over very rough terrain, living on basic rations & limited water supplies with no toilet or cleansing facilites is not a holiday for most people. Many hundreds of children living below the poverty line benefited from my efforts, I actually saw the results first hand. Other treks of this nature can involve building schools, orphanages or animal enclosures, preparing fields or sinking wells in 3rd world countries. How many people consider this a holiday? Hopw many peole consider this ineffectual for the beneficeries? How many people consider the opportunity for childrento learn that everyone is not a lucky as they may be & leaning to do things for others a waste of effort?
I wish I had leaernd about the effects of poverty & the diffrence we can make years earlier.
Whilst I appreciate MarkyMarkD is speaking his opinion I am speaking from experience.
Apologies for going off topic, but I'm afraid my blood really did boil at such inexcusable narrow mindedness!

robnye

Well, I don't agree.

"Sponsorship" of this sort is just sponging off other people for things which shouldn't be paid for in this way.

And coupling it with some sort of charitable donation is just an even worse means of extorting money from others by pretending it's for charity, when in fact it's so someone can have a nice holiday/trip.

so you either didnt go on any trips as a child....... or you went on every trip possible.......

i give my 3 girls every possible chance that i didnt have as a child, be it musical instruments, out of school clubs or school trips, that doesnt mean i can afford them, just that i do my best to do so. they certainly dont do or get as much as some kids do.

companies give money to charities, because they have it spare or because they can claim tax back, not every charity will give money to others for financial reasons.


have you also considered that perhaps the people/companies/charities like to give out grants puerley because of the buzz they get from helping some?

jockettuk

our school do a residential trip in for yr 3/4 that means you can either send them twice or ie. once in yr 3 and once in yr 4 or just the one trip whichever you pick.. the same for yrs 5/6 although this one is for a whole week as opposed to a 3 day one for yr3/4 this yr the 5/6 one will be nearly £180 i will see how much i can afford and weather her dad can contribute if not she will have to go next yr when ive saved up more...

the other alternative is to ask family not to give easter eggs etc but to give a couple of quid towards the trip as my daughter would prefer this to the 15 or so eggs that she never gets through

MarkyMarkD

As someone who, in post school years, has raised over £7.5K for underprivliged children in the UK by taking part in charity treks I feel qualified to comment.
Are you?

Yes, because I have an opinion. That's all that's required to comment on this board.

Because if not I can assure you it isn't a holiday, it's an endurance test. Yes, there is an enormous amount of personal satisfaction & acheivement too, I gained an amazing sense of self-worth which is something I could never have gained to the same degree in the class room, but it is not in any conventional sense a holiday.

I said "holiday/trip". Alternatives.

12 Hour walking & climbing days in bad weather conditions (it isn't always sunny abroad!) over very rough terrain, living on basic rations & limited water supplies with no toilet or cleansing facilites is not a holiday for most people.

So what? Many people do enjoy that sort of activity holiday and pay their own good money to do them.  

Many hundreds of children living below the poverty line benefited from my efforts, I actually saw the results first hand.

That's very good. But more money could have been raised if the same amount was donated and half the money wasn't wasted on the trek.

Other treks of this nature can involve building schools, orphanages or animal enclosures, preparing fields or sinking wells in 3rd world countries. How many people consider this a holiday?  Hopw many peole consider this ineffectual for the beneficeries? How many people consider the opportunity for children to learn that everyone is not a lucky as they may be & leaning to do things for others a waste of effort?

I wish I had learned about the effects of poverty & the diffrence we can make years earlier.

I think you have veered hugely away from what I was talking about here. To be clear, I was talking about holidays/enjoyable (and that's in the eye of the beholder) trips/activities which are wrapped up in a "raising money for charity" banner and then paid for by someone other than the participant. IMHO I disagree with that and consider it an inappropriate method of fund-raising. The single most extreme version of this is "sponsor me to do a sky-dive".

I am NOT talking about "sponsor me to go and work for a charitable cause building schools/hospitals/digging boreholes in the third world" and extrapolating my comments to such situations is wrong.

Whilst I appreciate MarkyMarkD is speaking his opinion I am speaking from experience.
Apologies for going off topic, but I'm afraid my blood really did boil at such inexcusable narrow mindedness!

"Inexcusable narrow mindedness" is an extremely pejorative comment when, in fact, you have taken my comments to mean something different to what I said. I'm expressing my opinion. Nothing "inexcusable" about that.

MarkyMarkD

so you either didnt go on any trips as a child....... or you went on every trip possible.......

i give my 3 girls every possible chance that i didnt have as a child, be it musical instruments, out of school clubs or school trips, that doesnt mean i can afford them, just that i do my best to do so. they certainly dont do or get  as much as some kids do.

companies give money to charities, because they have it spare or because they can claim tax back, not every charity will give money to others for financial reasons.


have you also considered that perhaps the people/companies/charities like to give out grants puerley because of the buzz they get from helping some?

No, you've taken what I said wrongly. I have no objection to sponsorship of school trips and of course I participated in them as a child.

I'm objecting to the sponsorship of school trips (or in fact any similar activity) with a charity donation tie-in - because it is a poor method of fund-raising and raises less money than straight donation of the money.

td

In answer to a few of your comments:

1. Schools are NOT allowed to profit in any way from children - if there is more money raised than the trip actually costs by whatever means then it has to be given back to the children.

2. To be quite honest I am appalled that anyone could think that taking a group of children on a residential trip is a holiday - sitting outside children's rooms at 4.30 in the morning making sure they get up to no mischief is not my idea of fun. However, I do it because of the immense satisfaction I get from seeing children challenged in brand new situations and building relationships in a way they don't get to do at school.

3. I think sponsorship is a great way of raising money - if people don't want to sponsor for whatever reason then don't do it. I took a group of kids on a week long activity holiday and between us we raised over £2000 towards it by selling biscuits etc with the kids but mainly through contacting local businesses etc which took a lot of hard work and time and I would think twice about doing it now as I have my own child and can't afford to stay at school until after 6 every night.

4. Trips are EXTRA CURRICULAr - that means teachers do it for free giving up their own time to look after your kids 24-7 to give kids EXTRA opportunities.

5. I understand that it is difficult for some to pay towards trips and I'm sorry to say that that is life - there are always those who can take opportunities and those who can't - that goes on into adult life and isn't that what we are preparing them for? I could only ever go on the very cheapest of school trips and never got to go to France etc but it hasn't damaged me forever. Schools provide your child's education - everything else is EXTRA. In an ideal world every child would get the chance - but it isn't an ideal world is it? Kids are more resilient than we think nowadays and will cope with not going - I did and I'm sure some of you did.


6 To those of you complaining about it join your PTA and raise funds instead of sitting around expecting other people to do it for you- I would have greatly appreciated any help when I was fundraising but only 2 of the parents even offered to bake for the fundraising!

To be honest going off the point a little I am fed up of teachers and schools being expected to provide everything that should be the responsibility of parents - I love taking children on trips but am reluctant to do it now because of litigation etc and the hours of risk assessment that's involved for even the smallest of trips.

If you as parents can provide a cheaper better holiday then take your kids on holiday- that's fab. However, we always look at the kids who can't afford to do things but we rarely look at kids who don't get the opportunity for different reasons - there are plenty of kids from more well off families whose parents don't give a Sh** about their kids and it gives them unique opportunities also. I was lucky and still consider myself so - I came from a pretty poor background but my parents loved me and spent time with me which is 100 times better than some of the kids I teach who have everything but love. The only residential trip I was allowed to go on was camping in a field of sheep but it was good fun, my dad dropped me off and picked me up which made it cheaper still.

Which I suppose brings me onto a smaller point - transport - for smaller trips parents ferryng kids around makes it much cheaper. We take out kids dry slope skiing and it costs much less because there are enough parents to take kids there and back.

As for one trip costing more than another - you should be able to see the finance behind the trips and a better person to ask would be the bursar rather than the head altho you would need to go thru the head I suppose.

There are plenty of ways of raising funds - GET PROACTIVE GET INVOLVED schools should be communities not a place you send your kids to be looked after while you're at work. The more involved you are the better your child's education wil be.

td x

jellyhead

our trip letters always say 'the PTA has already kindly donated x amount to this trip' .... if another school can do the trip for half price that means it's heavily subsidised by the PTA or other fund raising. our trips are massively subsidised but that's because there's a lot of fund raising goes on. we raise money from selling school branded uniform as well as the lollies, fetes, etc. a term of lolly selling will raise more than a thousand, you just need a few volunteers willing to give half an hour of their time every day or one day a week etc. and a freezer, someone to buy the lollies.

one fund raising activity i forgot to mention is the 100+ club, it's basically a monthly lottery. all members get a number and one is randomly drawn by computer each month. we either pay upfront £12 for the year or by monthly direct debit. each month three people win £25, £15 and £10 respectively. it would be pretty easy to administer if anyone fancies setting up their own, it's just like having a bonus ball syndicate etc. except that you only pay out a portion of the money in prizes and keep the rest towards school funds.

as said above, we can't all have every opportunity we see, it's character building to learn to go without, live within your means or get a part time job and pay for things yourself. at primary school i think all kids should be included but at high school a lot of the trips aren't meant for everyone.

MarkyMarkD

td

I'm glad you made the point about "teachers' holidays being subsidised from the pupils". Of course, teachers are giving up their time to look after their pupils, with responsibility for them 24 hours a day. I think it's quite fair they should have their trip costs paid for completely, or subsidised significantly, in reflection of this.

hilstep2000

I am a single mum, and my children know money is tight. When my daughter was a school they had a skiing trip to America on offer at £900! My daughter threw her letter in the bin at school, and when her teacher asked her why, she replied "My mumcan't afford that, there's no point taking the letter home!". My kids say they don't feel deprived by not going on school trips like this, they always go on the day trips, even if it's £10 I can't really afford, I find it, but school holiday trips? No way!

Caterina

I have a couple of burning questions about this topic.

Premise:

My children are 15 year old twins, very good kids (so far, touch wood!), they only get a little money from me, £10 each in a saving account per month and when I get paid in my work I give them the odd fiver or tenner if I can afford it and no other expenses are pressing.

Otherwise, they work for their money - my son has been delivering newspapers at 6:30 in the morning for the last 3 years, come rain or shine. My daughter babysits the neighbour's child 3-4 afternoons a week for 1 hour after school.

The trip:

Their school has organised a ski trip costing nearly £500 each, it includes everything, equipment, insurance, ski pass, journey, food and lodging, but not the specialist ski clothes such as gloves, trousers etc.

Because they let us know well in advance, with a payment plan, we are just about managing to meet the cost, bit at the time and with a bit of struggle (not too much, thanks God I have had a fair amount of work recently).

Dilemma:

Should I ask my kids to:

a) contribute some of their money to the trip

and/or

b) pay for their own specialist clothing?

I am in a real doubt here, because although we are not struggling in general, thankfully, (husband in employment, me self employed with a fair amount of work coming in) we still find it quite difficult to meet this additional cost, on top of mortgage, expenses, house repairs (BIG expense, lately!) etc...

But I feel that I am giving them so little already! They buy their own games and music, pay for their outings with friends, never expect to be clothed with brand name stuff, and above all they are really nice, kind kids - I feel it would be bad to ask to give from their little earnings.

On the other hand, how can I make them feel responsible around money? When they get paid by their jobs they fritter it like there's no tomorrow (for example, my son NEVER waits for a ps2 game to get cheaper, he buys them straight away, at £40+ when they come out, and my daughter never ever waits for a film to go on video, she goes and sees them as soon as they come out), but because they earn it themselves I do not interfere.

Help please! Thank you.

Caterina