School trip £600!!!!!!!!!

Backbiter

**curlywurly** wrote: »

Ski trip £700 for five days skiing. They are flying Easyjet. No coach in England involved. Not sure about the other end. Staying in a hostel. How on earth do they make that into £700? Any teachers on here who could give us an approximate breakdown of the cost?

How else would they get to the resort? Most airport-to-resort transfers in the Alps are at least 2 hours, many as long as 4 hours. That's each way, of course. Is there really no coach to the airport in England?

Quick breakdown of skiing costs in France:

6 nights hotel approx £120 (often a fair bit more)
Full board approx £90 (just £5 per meal - probably an underestimate!)
Insurance £20 minimum, probably more
Coach transfers in France £30 return minimum
Ski pass approx £25 a day = £150 (most trips have 6 days skiing)
Ski hire (boots, skis, poles) £80 approx
Ski Lessons - 4 hours a day = £80 approx. Under £4 an hour is probably another underestimate

That's £570 without paying Easy Jet, who do not do return flights in the school holidays for 1p each way. I'd guess at least £150 return.

There are also evening activities: swimming, bowling etc in resort, which are sometimes included in the tour price. Pupils do need to have things to do after lessons, which end by 5pm.

Add in the staff costs, which are considerable: teachers are responsible 24 hours a day and are not paid for the countless hours spent organising the trips (the paper work is massive, as is the responsibility of collecting, looking after and paying in say £30000 of pupils' payments, broken down into smaller amounts over at least a year - average of 5 payments per child = approx 200 separate cheques to be recorded and banked). The ski companies rely on teachers doing all this work for free or they wouldn't be in business, so they do not expect them to pay for the week spent in charge of the pupils. Their accommodation costs and lift passes are more expensive than the pupils', as they are usually in doubles not quad rooms, and adults pay more than kids for ski hire and lift passes. The ski company factor in these costs to the prices they charge pupils.

The ski companies have to pay their staff, too. And the reps in resort.

And I imagine they try to make a profit on each holiday they sell as well.

So you can see how the costs of skiing mount up.

Add in the fact that the pound has been so weak against the euro, while fuel has shot up, and you can see how a trip will cost over £700, more if you go to a top resort in France, like Alpe d'Huez or Les Arcs.

chomsky_2

One of my jobs is youth work which is mostly out reach work in deprived areas but one night a week I run sports and outdoor activities in a very middle class area and the other week the kids were telling me about their school trips which including Skiing at £1000 per child, trips to Disneyland Paris at around £400 and the latest is a 'educational' trip to South America for £3500 for I think only 2 weeks! How the hell do they expect parents to pay that?

They all want to go as teenagers understandably would and asked me what I thought. I gave my honest opinion which was that for that kind of money you could go travelling for several months when you were older and that I had spent less than that (of my own money as well) travelling around the US for several months when I was younger. It simply hadn't occurred to them how their parents would be able to afford to send them on a trip like that. We had a big discussion about travelling and gap years and it concluded that although it's fantastic to see and experience new things you have to take into consideration how they will be paid for and who ends up paying.

When I was a child we had low cost trips to community farms, museums the local forest/seaside etc and I never felt I missed out on anything. The only expensive school trip I ever had was an A-Level art trip to Barcelona which we we told was "part of our course" and so it was assumed we would all attend but it was around £350. My mother paid for me to go on the understanding I paid her back every week out of my money I earnt from my part time job and sure enough every week I would have to pay her back until it was paid off.

I think for GCSE/ A level trips kids should at least partially contribute out of pocket money/part time wages instead of mum and dad funding the whole thing, as then they are then taking responsibility for themselves. It can't hurt to show them how much things cost.

cjames_3

It's sad that the school trips cost so much as the experience can really have a positive influence on the child.

Saying that, why do they have to go so far away? I'm sure there is quite a lot to learn from the UK.

qetu1357

gordikin wrote: »

£600 is a cheap school trip...our local school's trip to S. Africa cost £3,700 for 4 weeks last year...and they lived in tents! The kids also had to do additional fund raising for the projects they planned to do whilst there!

"Hello Mum and Dad. The school want me to go on a school trip. It's £3,700"

Incredible, incredible.

I went to the Isle of Wight for a week in 1973. £15 ALL IN+ £3 spending.

And Butlins Minehead for a week in 1974. £25 ALL IN plus £5 spending.

Had a great time, visited Cheddar Gorge, Bath etc.

POPPYOSCAR

My Oh thought she should go on this trip so we had a long talk with her and said she could go if she really wanted to. She has said that she is ok about not going.

I looked up the hotel( 2star) called a hostel on TripAdvisor .One review said not suitable for school parties!!Said they had asked for rooms to be all together and they were spread about all over the hotel making it difficult to keep an eye on all the kids(aged 14)Also said there were some uni students there who kept banging on the doors asking for things!! Some other reviews were bad, others good.Anyway, I am glad she is not going.

We have said that there will be other trips no doubt and possibly one that she will want to go on more than this one and she seems happy with that.

sharnad

lolly1981 wrote: »

my school offered a cycle trip to france..110 pound for a week but that was 1992 lol

my mum would never let us go on school trips..there was a reason why, i was at a school that in 1992 they took a group of 6th formers ona canoeing trip...they went out in bad weather, 10 went out and only 6 came back. in the schools defence it wasnt their fault they did all checks etc they followed the canoeing schools guidance as you would seeing as they are the experts. my headteacher gave up her job after having a nervous breakdown and the people who ran the canoeing school were given 4 years for each child (16 yrs) for manslaughter and neglect.

im not sure it will put me off letting my children go but then again im not sure till taht time comes!

Oh my god thats terrible

Nicolay

I'd say that the school trip is a waste of time, especially for that amount of money. It would be a better idea to do as others have said and take your children yourself.

I went on a GCSE trip to Paris a few years ago when I was in year 11, and it wasn't educational at all. The teachers spent most of the time trying to find a McDonalds for us to eat in (which I was pretty disappointed at, I wanted to try frogs legs :rotfl:) or we went traipsing around looking at things, and we stayed in a hotel which I think was 1* and full of very angry french people. There was hardly any talking french and it definitely didn't contribute to better grades.

loracan1

My son's a canny lad (13), he and his brother have both been told they can have one trip each at each school, he's had a £200 French trip at Primary already. Came home a few months ago with a letter for an Italian trip, looked great, lots of days out, half board etc. Was about £650, told him that it was just too much (short notice too)...came home the next day with another letter this time for a £380 trip to Switzerland/Germany...£50 down and another 330 to go (splitting cost with his dad)

oscar52

[QUOTE=qetu1357;34541933
And Butlins Minehead for a week in 1974. £25 ALL IN plus £5 spending.

[/QUOTE]

Given the average wage in 1974 was £21, that would be quite expensive

Shelldean

It's amazing how different schools have such differing costs??

One of the twins has just brought home a letter about next years GSCE history trip ( can't recall where off top of head but Germany is springing to mind) They're going for 4 nights and it costs £315 thats a big difference to your cost.
They're not going until July 2011 so we can pay installments, but they wanted a £65 deposit which i simply couldn;t find by the date. So called the finance office to ask for time to pay, not a discount. But they've given me £25 off and they'll use that as the deposit. Just got to find the other £290 now


My DD goes to the local girls grammar, and about 4 yrs ago they did the battlefields trip. They did it over 2 days ( just one night in hotel) and really crammed it in. Cost £200 appox, and the school said they couldn't get a collective passport for the girls, according to them they are no longer used. Luckly DD already had a passport. Then 3 years later the twins did the same trip with their school. But they took four nights to complete the trip so less rushed. Collective passport used ( funny how this school could get them) And the cost was £200 appox. And this was 3 yrs after DD trip.