£1,850 School Trip

[Deskdiary]

This is becoming silly, isn't it?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5908197/Single-mother-32-asked-pay-1-850-school-trip.html

I suspect there are many parents in the area concerned who would be unable to afford £1,850, and yet with zero sense of irony the school posted the following on their website.

'It’s an unforgettable and eye-opening trip, where students learn first hand about the enormous resourcing gap between people groups and how the squalor of poverty sits alongside the extravagance of wealth.'

[murraymints]

agree..quite ridiculous..school trips should be to the museum ! these trips only help to widen the chasm between the poor and better off children in class and with it brings shame, envy, ridicule....

[fiction-factory]

I'm sure lots of parents will be unable or would struggle to pay that. I don't think the status of the parent (single or in relationship) should have any bearing on the price charged. My parents often said no to school trips -e g France for a week- but I got by. If the trip is essential for the course then there should be some form of financial support available for those in need.
I find it hard to see why this trip has been arranged though. It does put pressure on parents

[aelmpvw]

was this just an excuse for ms worrell to get her glam pics in the paper?

[cassa333]

Although a bit steeper than here it is par for the course. The kids pay for the entirety of all the teachers to go as well?

On the cheaper side my school offers a trip to Greece for 5 days at £790 each and Poland for 5 days at £760 each.

I have twins so needless to say they have not gone on any school ‘educational’ holidays. Even the day trips are £35 to £45 a pop.

Scout gamboree was £3k and even the ‘didn’t quite make scout gamboree camp’ camp was £1,600 again mine are not going to either.

We are not without means but even for us this is way more than we can afford.

[Peter Pedant]

twas ever thus
I remember my parents saying the exact same thing in the sixties

[BagPussAA]

When I was at school, school trips were a one-day thing to museums and art galleries not a holiday to a far-flung land. We only got to go abroad when we had exchange students. They came to live with us and then we went to live with them, the cost is then minimal but the experience was good because you are experiencing life in a foreign country.

[ToraToraTora]

gawd I wouldn't go to SA anyway but that must be the cost. I sent my son on a school trip to China a few years back that was £1200ish.

[NoMercy]

What an exhorbitant sum of money to subject a child to something that would inevitably be troubling and emotionally draining.

Children are naturally prone to jealously and think money grows on trees, so when they see those who have everything their little heart desires they feel envy, inadequacy and even embarrassment.

And then when they see children wearing torn clothing, living in slums and having no toys or material posessions, they would likely find that heartbreaking and disturbing and experience feelings of guilt.

If I were to part with that sum of money for my child to go on a trip I'd want him to go and swim with the Dolphins and snorkel and see beautiful wildlife and have a memory he could treasure forever.

[ToraToraTora]

bang on nomercy, can't see how exposing them to a cess pit like SA is going to enlighten them.

[hc4361]

My parents wouldn't pay for me to go on a school ski trip in the 70s - it would have cost more than the annual family fortnight in a caravan in Brean. My school was a comp in a deprived area of Birmingham

[Jackdaw33]

Back in the 90s I used to take pupils to France. Average cost was about £200. A lot of parents couldn't afford that. At least it had some relevance to the curriculum. The idea of £2k to go to SA is ridiculous. It has no bearing on their studies and even if I were awash with money I would not let a child go to such a dangerous place.

[-Talbot-]

My school's destination of choice when I was a kid was Rhyl.
I wouldn't put my kids through that.

I never understand how these trips cost more than I could book it for.

[MallyJ]

It isn't a compulsory trip nor part of the curriculum as, for example, a geography field trip might be so surely all this mum has to say is no...as most parents will do.

[Jackdaw33]

Unfortunately most of these trips are a freebie for the teachers, courtesy of the parents.

[youngmafbog]

Not even half a terms fees, what is the problem?

The school ski ing trips were always the dearest, trips to France were cheaper but then we live on the South Coast so not actually that far to go.

Personally I wouldn't let my child go to SA.

[youngmafbog]

Not exactly a holiday for the teachers though responsible 24 hours a day for the kids JD?

[Jackdaw33]

My experience is that the teachers caused me far more hassle than the children ever did.

[murraymints]

lol jack..we had a school camp in Aberfoyle for 3 weeks... about 200 kids from all over Scotland..the teachers went feral....absolutely peed throughout the stay, rampaging around half naked... it was such fun !!

[hc4361]

These trips cost more than you can book them for because of the insurance and teachers expenses. The insurance is probably the highest cost