Charter school trip

[vanessa520]

My daughter is in yr8 and they are going away next yr to Cornwall for 5 days at the cost ?430!

Sent the letter to parents yesterday and state that first deposit of ?100 should be paid by 20th Dec. 2 weeks notice and right on top of Xmas. I think that's really bad. I don't care if parents are working or not 2 weeks notice I find quite bad. Also my daughter just tried to tell me that teachers in assembly today said the price is high as that includes teachers price also. Maybe she got it twisted a bit. But in general do we pay the cost of teachers going on the trips as well as I thought the school would pay for them.

Have tried phoning to find out but the person I need to speak to is out till Monday.

Thoughts please. Cheers Vanessa

[hellosailor]

?430!!!!! Are they going to a spa?!

[vanessa520]

No!!! Just to Adventure International in Cornwall. It is very pricey. A friends daughter is going France for 5 days with her school and that's only ?325

[tiddles]

that sounds about right. I think these uk adventure camps have to cover themselves for every eventuality from a legal/insurance perspective. It is jolly expensive and not much notice!

[tomk]

Teachers' tickets re usually offered free by the company as part of the package eg buy 10 'tickets' at ?430, get 1free (ratio usually 10:1). So no, you aren't paying for them. if money is tight, write directly to the school telling them this. Most schools don't advertise this option as the feeling is usually that those who can afford it, will afford it - those who can't will contact them.

[vanessa520]

Thanks guys. Wasn't to sure about teachers. The money isn't isn't a huge issue as you can pay it in installments. I think myself that if the teacher had an unexpected bill on top of Xmas and it had to be paid within 14 days I'm sure they wouldn't be happy. Also the fact that's the 1st installment the others are feb,March,and April. I'm sure it would of been easier for it to start in jan for all parents.

[Ann]

In my experience the cost for school trips always include the cost for teachers as they give up their time. school holidays or not; not a bad deal for a half term ski trip to the Alps!

That said it is a pretty big responsibility to take children of any age on residential trips and I do think it provides opportunities for many children to go on trips they couldn't otherwise have done, but no. they're not cheap!

[newboots]

That is incredibly steep for a 5 day trip in the UK.

[EDmummy]

Wow, that's steep for a UK trip. My son's going for 9 days to Andorra for ?200 more. But, just goes to prove my usual argument to my husband that UK holidays cost more than hols in Europe.

[Mrs TP]

Yes steep and yes bad timing but let's get on to how you are going to handle it. If it is a very popular trip then I imagine the school will allocate first come with deposit on a first served basis. So if you do want her to go then perhaps send her in with a ?10 deposit and you contact the school / teacher to say bad timing you will pay the rest of the deposit with first installment in Jan or whenever.

We are paying off a 4 day trip to Italy for ?520 for yr 8 and I noticed our school has kindly skipped a Dec installment so we don't have to pay anything from end of Nov to end of Jan - Charter should be told that's how other schools handle things.

[Pugwash]

My 15 year old granddaughter is going to Poland for 5 days in June cost around ?600. daughter has been paying money monthly. GD staying in hotel and 2 meals a day and packed lunches plus all admission fees into places of interest.

[vesti]

According to Adventure International website cost of SEVEN night stay with food and activities is ?309(and school trip is for FIVE nights, so presumably less than this).

Would absolutely expect to cover cost of staff from school. Working on a basis of 1 adult to 10 children, and on the ?309 figure = ?31 contribution for staff placement.

?430 - ?340 = ?90 for coach and insurance.

'Sure the school can give breakdown as to how they have arrived at cost.

Think a ?100 deposit at this stage is ridiculous and discriminatory. Would assume school will make 'allowances' for those who want to go but can't afford such an amount at such short notice.

[vanessa520]

Thanks all for thoughts. I have spoken today to another mum and unfortunately can not afford the deposit because of the late notice. She had spoken to the teacher and he said that a lot of parents have asked to default payment until Jan but he could not because the demand is so high as there's only 84 places payment needs to be made at set time of 20th dec. First come, first serve.

Also my daughter has told me that many of her friends are not going as parents have not got the money right now. Some people don't get paid till 23rd dec.

So many children will probably miss out, obviously apart from the parents that can afford it straight away.

One parent did say maybe they don't want scum bag children going that's why they done it two weeks before Xmas as the middle class could afford it!

Although I don't believe it as a couple children's parent who don't work are going.

Vanessa

[jonbateson]

Possibly the school have to provide the deposit to the place to secure the booking hence the no change on the deadline, to me it sounds like someone has been slow in the organisation as two weeks notice is very short.

Without turning this into an argument about teacher's pay, we don't get paid extra for school trips, we have to be on call 24 hours a day, take responsibility for the students going, piles of paperwork, preparation etc, and then there's all the planning and marking from the classes we leave behind, because that work still needs to be set and marked. we leave our families for the week so that your children can have a great trip. I would not expect to have to pay for my ticket for that and it upsets me to hear parents talking in this way. I do agree that the cost of the trip sounds a lot though. Maria

[vicki08]

I would be more concerned about children whose parents don't work are classed as scum bag children

[womanofdulwich]

What exactly is the purpose of the trip?

[minder]

Yes Vicki, I also couldn't believe the comment about "scum bag children"?

Vanessa, it's good that you've asked for comments as I prob wouldn't have thought of coming on the EDF about trips arranged by schools.

Just to say that my daughter went on the Cornwall trip with The Charter two years ago (she's now in Year 10) but I don't remember having to pay the deposit so early and then the rest was in instalments. They went by coach so travel costs are involved and probably insurance etc.

She had a fantastic time with swimming, canoeing, wall climbing and bonding with kids from all over the country once they got there.

Trouble is, she came home yesterday with a letter about a trip planned for February. The full amount has to be paid by 18th December and as Year 10 have a lot on at the moment I'm saying no to this one.

[Pugwash]

It seems odd that at this late stage in the school term they have suddenly decided on a trip and given a week or so notice for deposit. Grand daughter's school gave warning of trip in July and the letters giving full details for the June trip were sent in September giving a month's notice of deposit date.

[sillywoman]

The year 8 Cornwall trip is done each year, and has been for many years now. I don't recall when the first letter home about it was, but I certainly knew it was up and coming from the end of year 7 so had budgeted in advance for the instalments. It seems odd that the current year 8 have been taken by surprise by it.

[bornagain]

A while since mine was in year 8 but think its partly down to the child to tell parents that they want to go. Mine didn't so didn't pass any info on to me. I didn't hear about it until the trip had left!

Don't forget that secondary is quite different to primary and quite a lot of (non-essential) info passing is left to the students themselves. The school is v. good at passing on essential info eg. parents evening, exam times, revision sessions via texts and emails.

[vanessa520]

I agree that the school are v good at passing on info, never had a problem before until now.

More than anything I find it unfair on children from low income families whose need more than 2 weeks to save up the first deposit.

My daughter does want to go and will be paying on Monday. I feel they have gone about this very badly.

Just to point out the trip is in July. The other payments are to be made in Feb, March,April. I do want to find out why Jan was left out and why such short notice.

[Vik]

Not sure why the short notice, I'm sure we had more notice when my son went last year.

My older son went to Spain in year 9, we received the letter requesting the deposit approx one week before it was due, I wrote an email to the teacher who organising the trip and the head of year, they were lovely and gave us extra time to pay and even extra time to get his passport as we just didn't have the money to do it all at once!

The reason they miss out January is to give parents a bit of respite after Christmas, you can of course pay in January if you want too, it will show as an option on ParentPay, there's nothing to stop you paying early.

My older son missed Cornwall as the letter sat in his bag for too long!

I'm guessing the cost for Cornwall is high is it's a really full on trip, my younger son went in July this year and from memory they did surfing, rock climbing, canoeing, body boarding, caving, kayaking and swimming... that was just in the daytime! More activities went on in the evenings, they had and amazing time and came back exhausted.

Email the school if you have any queries, I've always found them most helpful.

ETA. The 'scum bag kids' comment has got to be the biggest load of rubbish I have heard!