School Trip Costs

Gloria123

Schools are generally not allowed to charge for trips during term time, unless it’s residential in which case they can charge to cover the cost of board and lodging only. 

They can ask for a voluntary contribution and let parents know that if they don’t get enough voluntary contributions, the trip may not run but they are not allowed to exclude pupils from trips during term time because parents can’t afford or choose not to pay.

If this happens to you, you could complain to the school, then if that doesn’t work, escalate to school governors (or in accordance with your school’s complaints policy) and if that still doesn’t make them comply, escalate to the DfE or Ofsted. Do an internet search for “Complain about a school” to find out how you can do this.

The full charging rules which schools must comply with are available on the DfE website, an internet search for “Charging for school activities” should bring up the full DfE guidance document.

cheeky-peach

I remember being in primary school, seeing a boy in my class stay behind because his parents either couldn't or didn't pay for his space. I'm glad that doesn't happen anymore.

On a different note, my husband and his ex-wife agreed to share the cost of a Costa Rica trip for my step-daughter and since, his ex has said she can't afford it anymore and since my husband doesn't want to let his daughter down, we're are scrimping to ensure she goes--no finding is available.

Exodi

[Deleted User] said:

a three week visit to Tanzania (School has previously done Belize and other destinations). Costs will be around £6,000, with the pupils expected to get sponsorship.

[Deleted User] said:

Mine have permission to go, if they can generate £6k in fundraising and sponsorship...

sheramber said:
Nobody is expected to go into debt for one of these trips.

The pupils are expected to fund raise for it. Running in  marathins, coffee mornings , washing cars , holding jumble sales etc ,  anything they can do to  raise funds.

Sometimes local businesses wil provide some sponsorship.

annabanana82 said:

The expectation is that children fundraise for these types of trips, a small number have their parents pay in full.

What solar system do you three live in? How is a 11/12 year old ever going to fundraise SIX GRAND for a three week holiday?

'marathons, coffee mornings , washing cars , holding jumble sales etc' - did you type that with a straight face? If the kids were charging £5 per car, they'd need to clean over a thousand cars.  They'd be lucky to raise £60 from doing these things, let alone 6 grand! It's not far off three months wages for the average full time employee, imagine earning that in your spare time as an 11 year old...

I'm also not sure what local businesses are giving random schoolkids thousands and thousands of pounds to go on a jolly for 3 weeks. Why would they?

"a small number have their parents pay in full" - a more accurate statement would likely have been "a small number have their parents pay in full, while the rest have their parents pay 99% of it after they put in the £60 they earned from mowing gardens all weekend).

Spendless said:

School children trying to raise £1000s in fund-raising and sponsorship makes me think in a fair number of cases bank of parents/family pay it instead.

Virtually all of them I'd expect.

[Deleted User]

Exodi said:

[Deleted User] said:

a three week visit to Tanzania (School has previously done Belize and other destinations). Costs will be around £6,000, with the pupils expected to get sponsorship.

[Deleted User] said:

Mine have permission to go, if they can generate £6k in fundraising and sponsorship...

sheramber said:
Nobody is expected to go into debt for one of these trips.

The pupils are expected to fund raise for it. Running in  marathins, coffee mornings , washing cars , holding jumble sales etc ,  anything they can do to  raise funds.

Sometimes local businesses wil provide some sponsorship.

annabanana82 said:

The expectation is that children fundraise for these types of trips, a small number have their parents pay in full.

What solar system do you three live in? How is a 11/12 year old ever going to fundraise SIX GRAND for a three week holiday?

'marathons, coffee mornings , washing cars , holding jumble sales etc' - did you type that with a straight face? If the kids were charging £5 per car, they'd need to clean over a thousand cars.  They'd be lucky to raise £60 from doing these things, let alone 6 grand! It's not far off three months wages for the average full time employee, imagine earning that in your spare time as an 11 year old...

I'm also not sure what local businesses are giving random schoolkids thousands and thousands of pounds to go on a jolly for 3 weeks. Why would they?

"a small number have their parents pay in full" - a more accurate statement would likely have been "a small number have their parents pay in full, while the rest have their parents pay 99% of it after they put in the £60 they earned from mowing gardens all weekend).

Spendless said:

School children trying to raise £1000s in fund-raising and sponsorship makes me think in a fair number of cases bank of parents/family pay it instead.

Virtually all of them I'd expect.

It's years 11 & 12, so 15 -17 yr olds.

I agree with your thoughts and have had similar conversations with my kids.

Having said that, there's an abundance of successful local businesses and self employed folk, many of whom actively contribute to the school. It raises profiles for individuals and businesses, it's probably a good investment.
Certainly comparable to sponsoring local sports or paying for a sign on a putting green.

It's a state school and the catchment area was recently named in The Times, best place to live in the UK.
Average property price £566k

There's no shortage of money for a significant number of families and sponsorship can be a very tax efficient way of paying for the trip supporting the school/gifting to charity.

Without doubt, the trip will be fully subscribed.

By coincidence, I'm attending the trip presentation later this week.
I'm honestly not keen, for a number of reasons, but since I always tell the kids that they can do what they want in life (within reason) if they put the effort in, I'm not going to dampen the enthusiasm that they currently have.

Exodi

[Deleted User] said:

Exodi said:

[Deleted User] said:

a three week visit to Tanzania (School has previously done Belize and other destinations). Costs will be around £6,000, with the pupils expected to get sponsorship.

[Deleted User] said:

Mine have permission to go, if they can generate £6k in fundraising and sponsorship...

sheramber said:
Nobody is expected to go into debt for one of these trips.

The pupils are expected to fund raise for it. Running in  marathins, coffee mornings , washing cars , holding jumble sales etc ,  anything they can do to  raise funds.

Sometimes local businesses wil provide some sponsorship.

annabanana82 said:

The expectation is that children fundraise for these types of trips, a small number have their parents pay in full.

What solar system do you three live in? How is a 11/12 year old ever going to fundraise SIX GRAND for a three week holiday?

'marathons, coffee mornings , washing cars , holding jumble sales etc' - did you type that with a straight face? If the kids were charging £5 per car, they'd need to clean over a thousand cars.  They'd be lucky to raise £60 from doing these things, let alone 6 grand! It's not far off three months wages for the average full time employee, imagine earning that in your spare time as an 11 year old...

I'm also not sure what local businesses are giving random schoolkids thousands and thousands of pounds to go on a jolly for 3 weeks. Why would they?

"a small number have their parents pay in full" - a more accurate statement would likely have been "a small number have their parents pay in full, while the rest have their parents pay 99% of it after they put in the £60 they earned from mowing gardens all weekend).

Spendless said:

School children trying to raise £1000s in fund-raising and sponsorship makes me think in a fair number of cases bank of parents/family pay it instead.

Virtually all of them I'd expect.

It's years 11 & 12, so 15 -17 yr olds.

I agree with your thoughts and have had similar conversations with my kids.

Having said that, there's an abundance of successful local businesses and self employed folk, many of whom actively contribute to the school. It raises profiles for individuals and businesses, it's probably a good investment.
Certainly comparable to sponsoring local sports or paying for a sign on a putting green.

It's a state school and the catchment area was recently named in The Times, best place to live in the UK.
Average property price £566k

There's no shortage of money for a significant number of families and sponsorship can be a very tax efficient way of paying for the trip supporting the school/gifting to charity.

Without doubt, the trip will be fully subscribed.

By coincidence, I'm attending the trip presentation later this week.
I'm honestly not keen, for a number of reasons, but since I always tell the kids that they can do what they want in life (within reason) if they put the effort in, I'm not going to dampen the enthusiasm that they currently have.

Sorry, 15-17 year olds.

I don't think you're being sincere here. You agree and have had similar conversations that £6k is a staggering amount of money to fund-raise, but then you detour into sales patter about 'an abundance of successful local businesses'? Out of interest, do you think it's likely your children will secure 4 figure investments from local businesses? I can't personally see how it's comparable to advertising a local business to local people in local sports or on signage at event sites, unless the kids will be spending the 3 weeks wearing a sandwich board and the local businesses' target market just happens to be Tanzania

You mentioning that it's a wealthy area and that 'There's no shortage of money for a significant number of families' doesn't really counter my point that the parents will inevitably end up paying for the majority of the trip in most cases, it reinforces it. Your view the trip will be fully subscribed is of no surprise.

You drop back out of the salesman persona at the end and mention that you're not keen to attend the presentation, but don't want to dampen the kids enthusiasm - maintaining the whole 'you can do any if you put your mind to it' idea, I get it.

I don't have kids myself (we're trying currently), but I think I'd collapse if £6k was needed for a holiday (I live in the SE so not a poor area either).

sheramber

Exodi said:

[Deleted User] said:

a three week visit to Tanzania (School has previously done Belize and other destinations). Costs will be around £6,000, with the pupils expected to get sponsorship.

[Deleted User] said:

Mine have permission to go, if they can generate £6k in fundraising and sponsorship...

sheramber said:
Nobody is expected to go into debt for one of these trips.

The pupils are expected to fund raise for it. Running in  marathins, coffee mornings , washing cars , holding jumble sales etc ,  anything they can do to  raise funds.

Sometimes local businesses wil provide some sponsorship.

annabanana82 said:

The expectation is that children fundraise for these types of trips, a small number have their parents pay in full.

What solar system do you three live in? How is a 11/12 year old ever going to fundraise SIX GRAND for a three week holiday?

'marathons, coffee mornings , washing cars , holding jumble sales etc' - did you type that with a straight face? If the kids were charging £5 per car, they'd need to clean over a thousand cars.  They'd be lucky to raise £60 from doing these things, let alone 6 grand! It's not far off three months wages for the average full time employee, imagine earning that in your spare time as an 11 year old...

I'm also not sure what local businesses are giving random schoolkids thousands and thousands of pounds to go on a jolly for 3 weeks. Why would they?

"a small number have their parents pay in full" - a more accurate statement would likely have been "a small number have their parents pay in full, while the rest have their parents pay 99% of it after they put in the £60 they earned from mowing gardens all weekend).

Spendless said:

School children trying to raise £1000s in fund-raising and sponsorship makes me think in a fair number of cases bank of parents/family pay it instead.

Virtually all of them I'd expect.

As the school to support a dress down dsay and split he money among those going on the trip.

Sponsorship for a local beach, park clean up, 

How much money is raised for people under GOFUNDME?  Peole donate to all sorts of requests, even by those they don't know.

How much is raised participating in Marathons?

How much did Captain Tom raise by walking round his house or the lady who walked up and down her stairs.

A local group of boys chopped up firewood and sold it round the local villages as part of their fund raising for such a trip.

Where there is a will there are ways.

Not one way , several ways to add up.

If parents choose to pay, that is up to them. but that defeats the  whole ethos of volunteering trips, which  is that  pupil shows commitment.

strawb_shortcake

Exodi said:

[Deleted User] said:

a three week visit to Tanzania (School has previously done Belize and other destinations). Costs will be around £6,000, with the pupils expected to get sponsorship.

[Deleted User] said:

Mine have permission to go, if they can generate £6k in fundraising and sponsorship...

sheramber said:
Nobody is expected to go into debt for one of these trips.

The pupils are expected to fund raise for it. Running in  marathins, coffee mornings , washing cars , holding jumble sales etc ,  anything they can do to  raise funds.

Sometimes local businesses wil provide some sponsorship.

annabanana82 said:

The expectation is that children fundraise for these types of trips, a small number have their parents pay in full.

What solar system do you three live in? How is a 11/12 year old ever going to fundraise SIX GRAND for a three week holiday?

'marathons, coffee mornings , washing cars , holding jumble sales etc' - did you type that with a straight face? If the kids were charging £5 per car, they'd need to clean over a thousand cars.  They'd be lucky to raise £60 from doing these things, let alone 6 grand! It's not far off three months wages for the average full time employee, imagine earning that in your spare time as an 11 year old...

I'm also not sure what local businesses are giving random schoolkids thousands and thousands of pounds to go on a jolly for 3 weeks. Why would they?

"a small number have their parents pay in full" - a more accurate statement would likely have been "a small number have their parents pay in full, while the rest have their parents pay 99% of it after they put in the £60 they earned from mowing gardens all weekend).

Spendless said:

School children trying to raise £1000s in fund-raising and sponsorship makes me think in a fair number of cases bank of parents/family pay it instead.

Virtually all of them I'd expect.

My Daughter was 15/16 when we were made aware of the trip which was £3500. We paid the initial £400 deposit, she worked and put aside at least 25% of her wages towards the trip. 
For fundraising car washing was the least profitable but we also did the following.

Car boot sales - friend is a bit of a clothes hoarder and was downsizing so we were able to sell clothes at 50p an item, this generally got £40-50 a car boot. 

Charity fairs, selling sweet cones, hot chocolate cones, plus little games name the Teddy etc.

Her scout group donated £150 to the trip.

She did coffee mornings, and raffles.

As a group they put on refreshments for school events, the sports day was a winner with children spending their pocket money on sweets on drinks. 

It may not sound like a huge amount but over 18 months it really added up. Aside from that it made them be creative and innovative in identifying ways to raise money. It made them work together as a team, helped develop organisation skills and financial planning.


The availability of these trips partially helped our decision in picking the school for our children and we signed up knowing that if needed we could afford to pay for the entire trip. 

Several businesses local to us also have community funding that can be applied for to support local groups, organisations and individuals. 

HillStreetBlues

I'm out of touch with reality if school trips cost £6k and then expect others to pay by begging for the money to fund it.

Spendless

My kids are now in their 20s. One is a student, the other has graduated and is married. £6K for a trip whilst they were at school, I'm quite sure would be an amazing experience they'd remember but from 18+  some  costs  that  my 2 had instead.
Driving lessons, a wedding, subsidising expensive student rent, going on an unfunded course in order to obtain a specific goal.
I feel if they were ever given an either or option of what to spend £6k  on when they were younger, I feel their first choice wouldn't have been on a hol they took with teachers and other children a similar age to them most of them that they wouldn't keep in touch with once schooldays were over. 

Out of curiosity - how many spaces are there on these expensive trips? 

 When DD entered a pageant (she did it 2 years running) one of the things were the contestants were to find sponsorship for the entry fee. DD has no idea of these costs till she'd been accepted onto it. This was for under £300. It was difficult to find sponsorship.  The ones that did tended to be the daughters of local businesses in the first place. Eg This is Kirsty who is sponsored by 'Trendy Clothing Boutique' only Trendy  Clothing Boutique had been owned by Kirsty's Mum for years so she'd paid it same as I had, only difference is Kirsty's Mums business got a mention on stage!