Paying for school trips.

bestpud

John38 wrote: »

Yep, I was right. Section 451 of the Education Act 1996 states that all education provided during school hours must be free, this includes trips, visits and equipment. There is an exception for music tuition.

The law also states that education provided outside of school hours, but required as part of the syllabus for a course of study leading to a public examination for which the pupil is studying for at school, must also be provided for free.

Schools can ask for voluntary contributions but they must make it clear that children of parents who don't contribute will not be discriminated against, and will still be taken on the trip. They can, however, say that without enough contributions, the trip may be cancelled.

Schools are also allowed to charge for board and lodgings for residential trips during school hours, but cannot make a profit from them.

So as the OP's trip is part of their English work, their child MUST be allowed to attend regardless of your contribution.

Apologies for the misleading advice from other posters.

As far as I can recall, nobody has said children are excluded from trips for not paying (one maybe?)

A few have said it should happen but most of us know, and have said, that schools simply have to cancel the trip if not enough parents contribute.

So, I am pretty sure nobody has given misleading advice...

pipkin71

John38 wrote: »

I'm 99% sure that DCSF guidance states that educational trips occuring during school hours MUST be free, however, a voluntary contribution can be asked for, but a child cannot be refused access to the trip just because his parents havent contributed.

That's what I have always believed John.

I think what would happen if there wasn't enough voluntary contributions is that the trip would be cancelled, but where it is educational, teachers cannot be refused a place on the trip.

pipkin71

Vicky, what trips have your children gone on that aren't educational?

I did ask above, but what activities are the children doing in school this week?

Vicky123

Pipkin 71 that's me going off on a tangent, my oldest son this week has a choice all week of activites, ie ten pin bowling, this is probably only relevent to my own gripe of not enough time spent on education as opposed to cost, he seriously cannot afford to lose so much time on non educational activities, he is very dyslexic, dyscalcula and some other specific difficulties, at 14 he is fast running out of time.
He has been on proper educationals also and that I don't mind contributing to at all.
My other son has been to the beach for the day, wacky warehouse type day out, adventure park and more all within the last 3 weeks.
Vicky

Oldernotwiser

Vicky123 wrote: »

Pipkin 71 that's me going off on a tangent, my oldest son this week has a choice all week of activites, ie ten pin bowling, this is probably only relevent to my own gripe of not enough time spent on education as opposed to cost, he seriously cannot afford to lose so much time on non educational activities, he is very dyslexic, dyscalcula and some other specific difficulties, at 14 he is fast running out of time.
He has been on proper educationals also and that I don't mind contributing to at all.
My other son has been to the beach for the day, wacky warehouse type day out, adventure park and more all within the last 3 weeks.
Vicky

That does sound like a lot of non educational activities.

shazrobo

my 14 year old twins, are also having an activities week, they are at special schools, and have learning difficulties etc.
ten pin bowling, is a maths lesson, adding up the scores.
some days sons are taken to the village sweet shop, again maths is involved.
today they are playing football, isnt that pysical education
as for paying for school trips, i am very lucky, that both schools only ask for a small contribution to resedential trips, eg the last one was 30 quid for three nights.
day trips have always been free, since they started special education

pipkin71

Vicky123 wrote: »

Pipkin 71 that's me going off on a tangent, my oldest son this week has a choice all week of activites, ie ten pin bowling, this is probably only relevent to my own gripe of not enough time spent on education as opposed to cost, he seriously cannot afford to lose so much time on non educational activities, he is very dyslexic, dyscalcula and some other specific difficulties, at 14 he is fast running out of time.
He has been on proper educationals also and that I don't mind contributing to at all.
My other son has been to the beach for the day, wacky warehouse type day out, adventure park and more all within the last 3 weeks.
Vicky

It does seem like non educational trips Vicky, but as a home educator I can see the educational value in trips to the beach and adventure park. There's many different lessons that a beach trip would cover. There is also the fact that towards the end of term, children do go on fun days out that aren't considered educational, but they also have their purpose.

I don't agree that bowling could be seen as a maths lesson [sorry shazrobo] because all the scores are added electronically, but I wouldn't have imagined the school taking your son all day, every day this week to a bowling alley. At least, I hope not.

shazrobo

sorry, i forgot bowling was added up electronically, maybe its team building/learning to get on with each other?
my sons arent in mainstream, and do a variety of things that i never got to do as a child, especially horse riding

Vicky123

Shazrobo my youngest is in an SLD school he has severe autism, this imo is no excuse for dawdling around all day because he desperately needs to learn to communicate and many other things that could mean at least a semi-independent life in future.
There appear to be a whole shed load of people on this website who begrudge each and every person claiming benefits or costing the taxpayer any money[as though we ourselves have never been taxpayers] but without some real effort to improve my sons life he will end up costing an absolute fortune in lifelong, full time care.
I may be out on a limb here but I believe all children deserve a relevent education and much as it is fun, fun and more fun at my youngests school it is actually in the long run costing him and the Country dearly.
He also does horse riding, which is fine, he enjoys this but the name of the game shouldn't be just about filling up the day, it should be making a real difference to the childs future.
Where will all these people be when the children leave school? Who will be laying on non stop activities, tell you who? Nobody.
There gone right off the point again, lol.
Vicky

pipkin71

Vicky123 wrote: »

Shazrobo my youngest is in an SLD school he has severe autism, this imo is no excuse for dawdling around all day because he desperately needs to learn to communicate and many other things that could mean at least a semi-independent life in future.
There appear to be a whole shed load of people on this website who begrudge each and every person claiming benefits or costing the taxpayer any money[as though we ourselves have never been taxpayers] but without some real effort to improve my sons life he will end up costing an absolute fortune in lifelong, full time care.
I may be out on a limb here but I believe all children deserve a relevent education and much as it is fun, fun and more fun at my youngests school it is actually in the long run costing him and the Country dearly.
He also does horse riding, which is fine, he enjoys this but the name of the game shouldn't be just about filling up the day, it should be making a real difference to the childs future.
Where will all these people be when the children leave school? Who will be laying on non stop activities, tell you who? Nobody.
There gone right off the point again, lol.
Vicky

I hear what you're saying about your son's education Vicky. I was so unhappy with the education my girls were receiving, I decided to do it myself

I did pick up on something you said though:

he desperately needs to learn to communicate

Doing some of the stuff he has been doing will be building upon his communication skills, and that cannot always be achieved in a formal classroom setting