Would it be wrong to only pay half of DS school trip cost?

[Shirtbuttons26]

DS is going on a school trip. Its costing 45.00. Would it be wrong if I only paid 20.00 /25.00? I am on a low income and I'm juggling things a bit at the moment. I have another child at the school as well so I have been paying out for 2 children.

The school rang me saying i need to pay by tomorrow.

It does say contribution but I feel wrong for even thinking about it.

Are you working, OP?

Assuming this is primary this is quite expensive. We have cut what trips we do for this reason as teachers don't feel they can organise trips that cost £20 or higher.
This has resulted in trips being more local (within town) to places like the museum and walking around the local area, as it is often the coach that brings up the cost. This does however mean the trips are less exciting.
I think if you are genuinely unable to afford it then saying that to the school is fine, and asking them about the cost of trips and whether they can do lower cost trips in the future.
Do weigh this up against loss of potential fun trips out (the trip we didn't do was to the zoo, and another class didn't go to a local theme park either as the costs of getting there were too high and they didn't think they would get enough money).

I am not sure of the rules but I thought for primary then all children need to attend, apart from if it is a residential as this takes place outside school hours therefore unless PP full payment is needed.

In secondary I always thought that unless the trip was essential e.g. coursework related, then parents needed to pay else their child wouldn't be able to go.

They will know if they are working because they will gave a work contact number, they can see how the child is dressed, the teachers will know through general class conversation if the family go on holiday, that kind of thing. Its not just the official details. The teachers can make an educated guess and I personally would rather help someone who might not 'really' need it than let a child miss out

This is why I have always hated school trips. As well as social anxiety, but that's another conversation. My mum could rarely ever afford to pay for me to go and I would frequently miss out on paid trips. She used to feel awful about it and it was always just a mess.

I don't understand why, if the school is organising it, they expect parents to cover all the costs? It's like inviting somebody out to dinner and then saying "if you don't pay then you're not coming". It's just bizarre - you chose to organise the trip, so fund it. I can understand up to like £20 but above that for a basic trip is just a bit much. And they are rarely ever, really educational. Has anyone ever been on a school trip? The kids just piss about. £45 out of pocket so your kid can fuck around in a different city. Great.

We are a school in an area of high social deprivation. We would not exclude a student based on inability to pay - it's totally misaligned with our values. We've not had many requests but they'll all been approved without question.

Schools cannot make you pay for activities or trips during school hours, they can only ask for contributions. However if not enough parents pay up the trip may be cancelled.

If your kids get free school meals they are usually not expected to pay for trips.

If you are struggling talk to the school & contribute what you can afford.

I think it's fine to only pay half if that's what you can afford. However, if "The school rang me saying I need to pay by tomorrow." I wonder how long you have known how much you needed to pay and by when? I would imagine that you have known a while, in which case I think it's really rude have left it till now to tell the school you can't pay the whole thing. They will have been trying to work out whether they were going to receive enough money to run the trip and whether school could fund any short fall so the trip could go ahead for some time now, and will possibly be at or passed a deadline for the bills for the activities and transport, it land them in difficulty if they haven't got money they were expecting now.

Yes school trips, like everything else, are subject to col increases. Coach hire is ruinous these days but, unless you're in London or only travelling very locally its hard to find an alternative.

If you don't pay, someone else has to cover your child's portion. So nope, I don't think it's right.

Because schools have zero money.
i think parents genuinely don’t realise how bad things have got.
I was at school in the 70s/80s and we had a lot of school trips.
it’s nothing new.
Some parents genuinely struggle with funding trips and that’s when pupil premium can be used.
Some parents spend their money on different things. We have a student who brings a Tescos meal deal in every day, with a large bag of Tacos, but Mum cannot pay for a day school trip, so we fund it for her.
As a member of staff, I don’t really enjoy a school trip, so am easy either way.

These are educational trips most of the time, why would you want your child to miss out and not enjoy the experience with their classmates.

Because they can afford it and she can't?

The only thing OP has done wrong is to not be proactive in explaining to the school. Struggling to make ends meet is not a crime. Our school always (politely) asks us to consider overpaying, if we are able, to help out families just like OPs. I, and I'm sure many others, gladly do so.

So the reason they say contribution is that they aren’t legally allowed to put a price on something that the whole class are being offered to take part in. I’ve noticed at secondary when there are trips it’s not a contribution it’s a ticket price and they never have enough spaces for those who want to go. Free school meal children and sixth form bursary children do get these things paid for so would never even be asked. However primary school trips where it mentions contribution does out the trip in danger of it not going ahead. Schools have limited funds and can’t even afford glue sticks so they can’t afford for everyone to not pay. You would need to speak to them 1:1 to discuss finances as there might be a lot of money for topping these things up, but not always.

It depends on the trip.

Coach to a big city to the theatre might easily come to £45 per child.

@Notsurenotsurenotsure
School trips are supposed to be state funded, that’s why the wording ‘contribution’ is used. They are not allowed to ask parents to pay for trips as they constitute as part of the curriculum.
Parents can however ‘contribute’ as much as they want or can afford.

To other posts who suggest the PTA help fund these trips, they are not allowed. The role of the PTA is to ensure the whole benefits from these funds, not individual children.

I was in a similar situation a few years ago
I had had a load of expenses and son had been chosen for a good behaviour trip (secondary school )

They asked me what I could afford and I told them
Very discreet

My DC attended a small village primary in a very middle class area. When they went on school trips I used to overpay the amount and ask that the extra be used to subsidise a child who might not be able to afford the trip. I'm sure I wasn't the only one. As far as I'm aware, all DC went on all the trips.

I found my local primary school amazingly helpful when I was struggling to pay for a trip one year. It is best to talk to the head teacher or a senior staff member who can make the authorisation to allow you to pay less and use funding.

if you genuinely don’t have the money I think it’s fine. Discuss it with the school though, or at least send an email.

I think the confusion (ie the school expecting £45, while you thinking it’s ok to pay a lesser amount) can be cleared up by rereading the original communication from the school:

contribution OF £45 = please pay £45, we (the school) will cover the rest of the costs.

contribution TO £45 = please pay a contribution towards the total cost of £45

From what you’ve written it seems that the school see it as the first, and you are interpreting it as the second! Check the grammar!

Some teachers make the wrong educated guess and I say this as an ex teacher. When my ex and I split up and I started claiming tax credits the head teacher kept on at me to apply for free school meals as she knew I worked only 2 days so assumed I’d qualify. Nope. You need to be earning less than £7.5k to be able to claim the free school meals with the pupil premium. Sadly I was a low earner (£16k) only income in house so being topped up by tax credits and now UC and some things are a struggle to pay. weirdly sixth form bursary is worked out based on earning under £31k so we qualify for that and my eldest gets free school meals, free trips, free music lessons, free Chromebook. But they years before were a struggle for all those things. I chose what they can and can’t do based on income.

Not at all the same principle

@celticprincess May I ask...is that £31k pa between you and your partner jointly?
Edited to add - or when you say "we" I'm guessing you mean as a household.

Exactly.

And the school would need to then look at its socio economic cohort and do trips that are affordable.

It’s not the parents fault trips can’t go ahead .

its lack of school funding and the CoL crisis.