11 Plus Exams Forum

When I was at secondary school, in the dark ages, the furthest I ever went on a school trip was to France and Switzerland. I don't remember anything further afield taking place. Now two of my children are at GS and all sorts of trips to far flung places seem to be on offer. I always thought that these would be aimed at much older kids but this isn't necessarily the case. While I might be able to fund the odd "big" trip I'm not entirely sure how comfortable I would feel about my children being on the other side of the world at, say 13 or 14.

But more importantly, I feel uncomfortable that the huge cost of some of these trips means that many children won't be able to go because their parents won't be able to afford it (even if the kids do some fundraising themselves). This isn't too bad for those trips that are just for enjoyment (ski-ing for example). But I feel very unhappy at the thought of a child missing out on an expensive trip which is linked to the curriculum or perhaps a sport that they are good at.

I'm wondering if schools should be less ambitious about trips abroad, thereby keeping down the cost and making them accessible to more kids? Anybody got any views?

If the visit is linked to the curriculum any cost is voluntary - no child is penalised for not being able to afford it.

Guest 55 - I know my sons' school has a hardship fund for key, low cost visits and day trips. But I don't think they could afford to help with the cost of more expensive trips. For example, I know there's a trip to South America in the offing for A level students which somebody told me was linked to the curriculum (can't remember if it was history or geography). I can't imagine the school funding places on that. My Y9 son has a trip to France and Belgium to look at battlefields this year - even with that, which I'm hoping won't be too expensive, I can't imagine the school paying for kids who couldn't otherwise afford to go.

School trips are really expensive.
My DS will be going on his first overseas trip next Spring - ski-ing in France. A mere £825!!
Bang goes our summer holiday next year!

zorro wrote:Bang goes our summer holiday next year!

Zorro I hope you're joking!!!

Miss Tense would get short shrift if she wanted us to spend the family holiday budget on a trip just for her!

T x

Hi tense,
Kinda joking - will still have family holiday but it won't be the 2 weeks in a lovely villa eating out every night sort!
Now we have school fees for the next 6 years or so it's more likely to be a week in a tent!!

Zorro - £825? Bargain! No. 1 son's school ski-ing trip last year was over the £1k mark (he didn't go ) and No. 2 has now started talking about a trip which will cost about £2k!

Bexley Mum 2,
Good grief! where did they go - Canada? Either that or they must have been staying in 5* luxury!
Is this a state or independent school?

Zorro - it's a state grammar school and yes, they went to Canada. Hence my original post about whether trips should be toned down. I don't understand why they would go to Canada when a cheaper, and therefore more inclusive, trip could be arranged to Europe.

Goodness! I was being sarcastic about Canada! It's so far to go especially when we have France, Austria and Switzerland so close to us.
No wonder it was so expensive. That would have excluded so many children who would love to have gone ski-ing and could have done so if a cheaper / closer holiday had been arranged.Are the majority of parents very well off?