Do School Trip Fees subsidise non-payers?

pinky_p

Many school trips to museums etc also include workshop/talks/activities which are charged for, even though the museum might not have an entrance fee. These are usually related to a topic being covered in class.

If you have any questions about what your child will receive for the £8 charge you should ask the school.

Janepig

Spendless wrote: »

£8 does sound a lot to me to pay for a trip to a local museum. I'm sure I paid a lot less for a similar trip, but I am going back a few years (rising petrol costs?). Is the coach for many? There were between 65-85 kids in my two's school year so there was always enough kids to fill 2 medium/large coaches.

Dd's school though has capped all (day) school trips at £10 max for a while now. They've used money that was fund raised to pay for building work that was in the end funded by the council.

DS is going on a visit to a local castle on Thursday (it's about 7 miles down the road) and we've paid £2.50 which is the cost of the bus, the activity itself is free (or at least we haven't been charged - I'm sure it's not free to get into the castle, haven't been for a few years).

DD is going to a theatre visit and museum next month, a little bit further away (about 12 miles), bus is £3, activity £5. Both years have about 60-65 kids to take so one bus.

With the overnight trip DD is doing in November, they're waiting to find out how many are going before giving us the final cost as the bus cost may vary depending on how many go. She's been on a couple of trips where this has been the case and they've let us know the cost of the bus closer to the date of the trip. This is a two nighter and will come in at about £90, but we've paid a £50 deposit already.

Jx

Soleil_lune

I think we all know the kind who won't pay: and that is the type of person who thinks the country owes them a living, and take take takes everything they can at every available opportunity, the ones most likely to respond to the no-win, no fee ads, the ones who resent people who work hard having nice cars and nice holidays, the ones who smoke 40 a day but don't pay their rent, the ones who have everything given to them and still want more.

These are the ones who won't pay.

My friend went on a trip to Cadburyworld last year and was allocated another girl to look after, along with her own daughter, because the girl's mother apparently couldn't make the trip, even though she didn't work.

She sent the girl with no lunch and no money, so my friend had to give 'her' lunch to her, and what bit of money she had to spend on her daughter, she had to share with this girl because she had none, and on the journey, the girl said 'can i sit next to you?' meaning her own daughter couldn't sit next to her own mother.

She spent ten pounds on this girl as well as her own daughter, buying her ice creams and gifts, as well as giving her her sandwiches, and when the mother met the girl at the coach, she said 'where's all the free f**cking chocolate you're supposed to get? Not a thank you for my friend looking after her or buying her gifts or anything.

THIS is the type of person that will not pay towards school trips!

Person_one

Soleil_lune wrote: »

I think we all know the kind who won't pay: and that is the type of person who thinks the country owes them a living, and take take takes everything they can at every available opportunity, the ones most likely to respond to the no-win, no fee ads, the ones most likely to buy scratchcards and internet bingo in the hope of a big win, the ones who resent people who work hard having nice cars and nice holidays, the ones who smoke 40 a day but don't pay their rent, the ones who have everything given to them and still want more.

These are the ones who won't pay.

My friend went on a trip to Cadburyworld last year and was allocated another girl to look after, along with her own daughter, because the girl's mother apparently couldn't make the trip, even though she didn't work.

She sent the girl with no lunch and no money, so my friend had to give 'her' lunch to her, and what bit of money she had to spend on her daughter, she had to share with this girl because she had none, and on the journey, the girl said 'can i sit next to you?' meaning her own daughter couldn't sit next to her own mother.

She spent ten pounds on this girl as well as her own daughter, buying her ice creams and gifts, as well as giving her her sandwiches, and when the mother met the girl at the coach, she said 'where's all the free f**cking chocolate you're supposed to get? Not a thank you for my friend looking after her or buying her gifts or anything.

THIS is the type of person that will not pay towards school trips!

Nothing like a good stereotype on a Tuesday night!

Spendless

Janepig wrote: »

This is a two nighter and will come in at about £90, but we've paid a £50 deposit already.Jx

Cheaper than mine, 2 nights for £135, £10 deposit and less than a month to pay the remainder- which is partly why DD's BF isn't going. Her mum can't afford it. Friend is on FSM and though she'd get some money refunded, she has to pay it upfront.

Lotus-eater

This is interesting as my daughter is going on a trip to a local museum, also free to get in and the cost is £13.

As others said it said on the form that it was totally voluntary, but then the form made it clear, it wasn't voluntary at all, free school dinner children get theirs paid and there was a local charity that helped others. But all others are basically expected to pay.

The trip is from 9.15 to 3.00 and if you work out the coach costs about £500 (decent above average) the cost is £10 per pupil for a 50 person coach, with a couple of teachers thrown in for a 52 person coach.

So £8 to me seems cheap.

It is annoying, when I see the kids on FSD's parents get this sort of thing free as well, but what can you do.

I wouldn't mind if the parents really were struggling, but they have more disposable income than us it seems. I know, I know, picking on people that are down.

Add together all the free/discounted stuff they get though and we are royally rogered as being just over the threshold.

I don't know the answer, I am going to be asking the school for a breakdown of the costs of the trip though.
Does anyone know if they have to answer this sort of question?

Soleil_lune

Lotus-eater wrote: »

This is interesting as my daughter is going on a trip to a local museum, also free to get in and the cost is £13.

As others said it said on the form that it was totally voluntary, but then the form made it clear, it wasn't voluntary at all, free school dinner children get theirs paid and there was a local charity that helped others. But all others are basically expected to pay.

The trip is from 9.15 to 3.00 and if you work out the coach costs about £500 (decent above average) the cost is £10 per pupil for a 50 person coach, with a couple of teachers thrown in for a 52 person coach.

So £8 to me seems cheap.

It is annoying, when I see the kids on FSD's parents get this sort of thing free as well, but what can you do.

I wouldn't mind if the parents really were struggling, but they have more disposable income than us it seems. I know, I know, picking on people that are down.

Add together all the free/discounted stuff they get though and we are royally rogered as being just over the threshold.

I don't know the answer, I am going to be asking the school for a breakdown of the costs of the trip though.
Does anyone know if they have to answer this sort of question?

I totally agree, and I bet many others do too; they just won't admit it for fear of being jumped on, being accused of benefit-bashing, being a bigot and 'stereotyping.' There's always someone who sees fit to bash people for their views, even if they are accurate and factual.

foolofbeans

I think £8 is a reasonable cost for a school trip and I would have paid it without a thought.
However I have refused to pay when DD's school asked me to pay £10 for an african dance show at the school. Not due to the cost but it was the 4th in a line of useless events which had no relevance to the topics the children were learning and just seemed to be chosen at a teachers whim.

I have been on benefits and claimed free school meals but I still paid for trips even the £200 one that I could have paid a lot less for if I had gone cap in hand to the school.
I would love to know how a school decides who is unwilling to pay and who is unable to pay.
I agree that many working households have a lower net income than those households whose sole income is benefits.

Janepig

Spendless wrote: »

Cheaper than mine, 2 nights for £135, £10 deposit and less than a month to pay the remainder- which is partly why DD's BF isn't going. Her mum can't afford it. Friend is on FSM and though she'd get some money refunded, she has to pay it upfront.

We were informed of the trip before they broke up for the summer and that the £50 deposit had to be in this month so a couple of months notice in fairness. They usually do that trip in year 5 but didn't last year so DD's also got the usual year 6 trip next June, which is a 5 dayer at about £200.

There's afew not going on the November trip but I get the impression it's more because it's outdoor pursuits and getting stinking dirty, or that they don't want to be away from home, rather than an inability to pay.

Jx

laurel7172

Coaches are now scarily expensive. Expensive enough to limit the number of trips to free local attractions we can make.

Our school adds up the cost of the trip and divides it between the number of children. As parents can pay at the office, we don't necessarily know who has and hasn't paid, but if you knew our bursar, you'd realise we'd soon find out if there was a major problem with non-payers.

We are, of course, contrary to stereotype, a poor area. My children's school charged *far* more for similar/identical trips some years ago. The rumour there was that half the cost was to subsidise the can-pay-won't pay crowd, who are usually from more affluent areas.