cost of a day trip

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hermanmunster
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Location: The Seaside

cost of a day trip

Post by hermanmunster »

DD is off to Malham for geography trip tomorrow, easy from here as it is about 25 minutes drive so no probs and cost is £7 for the day, no problem ove this as always better to see the goegraphy / geology in real life and you can't beat Malham on a summer's day.

However the next bit of paper produced was for a "team building day" (they are year at end of year 8 so not new to the school) at an adventure place - the usual abseiling / archery etc etc - DD has done these before and enjoyed them ... but £35 for the day (even nearer than Malham) - am I being stingy (I'm not sure that a day like this at this stage is particulalry useful). ???
mike1880
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Re: cost of a day trip

Post by mike1880 »

Malham = desultory unskilled supervision to reduce incidence of falling off cliff or drowning.

Archery/abseiling = skilled instructors to reduce incidence of death and serious injury.

Mike
hermanmunster
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Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: cost of a day trip

Post by hermanmunster »

Fair enough! I appreciate the skills and have no problem about that etc - just not sure about the educational benefit at present - team building might have been good early on in year 7..?

Reckon having just had to commit to monthly payments for netbook that the request fro £35 may not go down too well with parents....

Not a lorra water at Malham at the mo! mind you do remember watching a 3 year old walk into the deep end of Janet's Foss - was trying to tell the parents it was deep down that end- the dad only twigged what I was saying when the kid disappeared under the water!! fortunately the dad rescued him but the remote control car keys didn't work very well after that!!
mike1880
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Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:51 pm

Re: cost of a day trip

Post by mike1880 »

Team building :lol: :lol: :lol: ? You know perfectly well that anything schools do in June/July is a jolly. Ours is off to Kenilworth Castle for an "educational" day which from the description is clearly just intended to be a fun day out in fresh air.

Haven't been to Malham since I was a child...like most places with water, I usually managed to fall in... :oops:

Mike
Milla
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Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:25 pm

Re: cost of a day trip

Post by Milla »

So know how you feel. It seems to be cash flying out hand over fist.

Little one (y6) currently on residential trip. Don't even want to think what that cost, but the note home did at least say that they had to take teddies (bless) and no more than a fiver. For the week. A fiver is fine.

But my other boy (y 8 ) went to Alton Towers last week. "For physics," yeah, right. The cost was reasonable in that it was £25, to include coach - couple of hours each way - and entrance. That was all OK, even if prompting a little light spluttering at the notion that any physics would be learned. But the annoyances started to stack up when they said that the coach was leaving at 8 sharp. The school bus gets in at 8.05. So a dad drives them over and got them there for 7.50 so they don't miss it by a tragic five mins. The coach ends up leaving at 8.45. So annoying in terms of the hassle and the day at AT thereby eaten to by nearly an hour. But, worse, was the bit of paper sent back from school beforehand saying to bring, "no more than £20 each for spending money." TWENTY POUNDS!!! I hate the divisiveness that this sets up, between the kids for whom £20 is nothing and those for whom it is far too much. I'd been going to give a fiver and thinking that that was a gesture of unseasonable generosity and there just for the wasting (hate wasted money, money on sugary drinks, on slot machines etc). Then the note comes home with the new pressure of £20. Yes, I know, one doesn't HAVE to give to the maximum. But the pressure is there. In the end, I grudgingly gave £20 saying I wanted change and got about £7 back and with the money he'd got quite a nice photo. But still felt resentful. :D
mike1880
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Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:51 pm

Re: cost of a day trip

Post by mike1880 »

We got the letter last week about next year's Y6 residential - £200 this time :shock: (I think it was about two thirds that last year). Plus spending money on top of course. Given how things are in this area, that will cause a lot of parents to catch their breath.

Physics?! That's brilliant :lol:

Mike
overpeck
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Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 8:25 pm

Re: cost of a day trip

Post by overpeck »

I think £20 is rediculous spending money for a day trip to Alton Towers. I am guessing you are providing a packed lunch. I would give a maximum of £10. My youngest daughter is doing 2 trips in one week! £20 for one trip and £17 for the other I havent decided how much pocket money to give yet and the school didnt mention amount of pocket money required.
ourmaminhavana
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Joined: Mon Sep 07, 2009 11:14 am

Re: cost of a day trip

Post by ourmaminhavana »

We have just forked out £250 for a PGL trip that lasts from Friday afternoon until Monday afternoon! :x I still can't believe we did it, but DS and all of his contemporaries have been looking forward to it their whole school career as their special event at the end of Year 6. However I raised it up at a governors' meeting and suggested somewhere that has exactly the same activities and safety policies and is a major scout centre. It's very likely that we'll use this next year for significantly less than half of this. What surprised me was that no one else seemed to bat an eyelid. I think we were especially conscious of the exorbitant cost as DS has been on lots of fantastic adventure camps with scouts for £20 or £30 for the weekend. I appreciate that this is camping, but a number of centres have rooms, cabins etc and of course provide trained outdoor pursuits instructors. I think it may be worth everyone raising these cost issues through their governing bodies and getting them to find much cheaper alternatives.
Amber
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Re: cost of a day trip

Post by Amber »

Regarding the spending money: my DC's primary added £15 to the cost of the 5 day residential trip and then banned spending money altogether. Each child was then given £3/day to spend. The same school also gives one year's notice of all trips over £15 and then lets parents pay in installments of as much or as little as they like, which is very popular with a lot of parents. For day trips, no spending money is allowed and they are not allowed in the shop. This has spared us all manner of tat in the last few years.

I realise this is not applicable when they get to secondary, but agree that £20 seems outrageous when you have already lashed out £25 for the trip. Mind you, Milla, the same trip from DD's school is going at £27 (she doesn't want to go though) and there is no Physics either, so I reckon you had a bargain!
Just1-2go
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Location: Twells

Re: cost of a day trip

Post by Just1-2go »

My year 8 DD is doing a team building trip at the end of term as well. They are changing tutor groups next year so I wonder whether it will be a bonding exercise for the new forms.
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