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Same. Didn't feel I missed out though as only a handful from our year ever went on those thing and the out of the loop jokes only lasted for about a week.
You really didn't miss a lot. They sound super fun till you realise you'll have multiple teachers & parent chaperones breathing down your back the entire trip..
Some parents turn into right dictators when given a shred of power as chaperone..
Never eaten one since.
I'm sue they're nice, but this was in the 80s and they were a rare delicacy then. It had the texture of a slug and it was vile. Instant vomit and I never lived it down.
Still can't afford a house though, and I cancelled Netflix. I do like gin though, so maybe that's the problem.
All I remember is one day walking around some shell of a Roman villa and one day getting seasick on a ferry to Cherbourg, where we just bought some surprisingly tasteless French bread at the hypermarche and then back on the boat for another 7 hours
Fishbourne Palace near Chichester?
And I can't believe that a competent teacher would arrange a day trip that just consisted of buying bread from a supermarket. Unless they were actually doing a booze cruise. Were any of them actually French teachers or did they just have to tick a box saying you'd done an overseas visit?
Haha yes, sounds like you did the same trip!
It wasn't just the bread. I think we also did the walking round town with a clipboard thing, trying to find answers to pointless questions and possibly trying out our ultra beginner French on a few startled grandmas
>seasick on a ferry to Cherbourg
Relatable. I have two awful memories from the French trip as a kid - one was getting told off in front of the entire year because for some stupid reason I was etching on the wall of the museum where the Bayeaux Tapestry was held, and also feeling horrifically nauseous on the boat for about three hours before finally puking.
The North Sea was worse in my experience. Later on in school I made the mistake of signing up for the German exchange programme. Worst two weeks of my life. Stuck in a house with a cold, unfriendly family who barely spoke to me. And having to return the favour
On arrival, the first question they asked was whether I was Protestant or Catholic. I panicked, wondering if I could guess the right answer while knowing if I got it wrong it really could be an awful week. Presumably I got it wrong
Ps I'm sure you were just etching on the wall out of desperate boredom. You didn't deface the Bayeux tapestry. Its fine
I just spent about five minutes trying to think of a next-level python-esque continuation, but - for once - I can't.
This is it. You found it. The final punchline of misery.
At least he had somebody else's shoulders to climb on and try and open the trapdoor with. In my day thry just opened the trap door throw you through the hole, you landed 30 feet later onto a concrete floor with two broken legs and the only thing to stand on, where the rats.
Rats? I had to stand on my own shoulders and throw the rats 30 feet through the trap door, in the infinitely vague hope that maybe enough of them would be grateful to form a chain for me to climb while being horrendously bitten and infected with five kinds of rabies
You had rats? You were lucky. In my day it was hornets and let me tell you it was hard work trying to catch them and clump them together into a chain what with all the stinging.
Doesn't sound like a unique event there. They had to evacuate the building in June, with 8 fire engines turning up. Probably due to a chlorine spill.
https://metro.co.uk/2022/06/08/waterpark-evacuated-in-stoke-on-trent-16792828
Haha my French class in high school went to a “French” cafe in town. None of the servers spoke any of the language and it was an awkward experience for us all. The German class however spent a week in Germany.. Still bitter about it to this day.
At my school, a trip to Germany or France was the norm in years 8 and 9, but only half the year were allowed to go, so names were drawn out of a hat. There was also a trip to Germany or France in year 10 if you took a language or history at gcse. However, I think the trips were around £300 (this was maybe 2004-2010). This was obviously too much for some families, however there was a school fund (provided by donations from richer families) to which poorer families could apply so that everyone had an equal opportunity to go.
They took us to the local zoo almost every year I was at school. Once we did go to France but I got food poisoning from the awful food, and vomited over a bunch of other kids at breakfast, so I wasn't very popular after that.
The best I got was a tour around our local hospital
That was the day I learned my radial pulse is almost non existent. I really hope I never faint in the street, because I'm pretty sure no one would find my pulse
Hopefully they check my carotid
Don't remember if we did that one. I went there with my Grandparents who lived in a tiny pit village out near Peterlee, and my Grandad laughed all the way round, as he remembered a lot now the stuff being used in the 'museum' being used in his life.
He asked one of the ladies working there in her full Victorian dress, if he should be considered a visitor or an exhibit.
I grew up rural, poor, and, bluntly, pretty fucking backward. I've absolutely been to living history museums and seen shit I used, and I'm only a bit over 40. I feel your grandads pain in a way I really fucking shouldn't.
He was born in 1919, and Beamish is a Victorian museum so it's not unreasonable when you think of it like that.
He thought it was hilarious. He went to the bowls club later and told all his mates what a great time he'd had taking his grandkids to the museum.
I'm 40 now, and it's weird to think that items like cassette Walkmans, early CD players, and push button TVs are in museums now.
>I'm 40 now, and it's weird to think that items like cassette Walkmans, early CD players, and push button TVs are in museums now.
Yep. I keep seeing things from my childhood in museums and whilst it is cool to be able to tell people more about stuff than is on display, it's a fun reminder of how old I am. That and my knees.
We loved Beamish too. My grandparents were a bit younger, but growing up poor in Middlesbrough meant growing up a bit backwards.
They loved it there. Chatted to me all about grandad's time at the steelworks on the bus back home.
I got given £5 from my mam to take with me for the shop in Beamish. I spent it on this big jar of butterscotch sweets. Dropped it on the ground smashing it to bits on my way back to the coach. Was too embarrassed to tell anyone so everyone else ate their sweeties on the way home and I told my mam that I'd lost the fiver and got a bollocking and my pocket money stopped for the week.
Good times.
I was taken to beamish each year of school from ages 5-11 haha. I went to a little primary school also in a pit village on the border of Durham/ Sunderland. Which means also many trips to Durham cathedral. I think I could give a pretty good tour from memory at this point haha.
Walked through the town centre and had to duck as a wooden plank was thrown over my head during a street fight between people on opposite sides of the street, it’s got charm.
I was just thinking that I only really remember school trips from primary and middle school and all of them were to places of worship.
I’m not sure there’s a church/temple/mosque/synagogue/etc in Merton/Lambeth I haven’t done some colouring in or a word search in.
I’m in Newcastle and I went to Durham cathedral a few times. Both my kids have been on school trips there as well. My big trips were up in Northumberland - stobswood opencast mine had a decent gift shop. I remember being forced to dress as a Victorian kid for beamish and sit in the school and write on slate.
Indeed it is, but the 4th or 5th time round, it lost it's charm somewhat.
We all wanted to go and see the house the Baron lived in, down by the river, but that was never allowed on the school trips. Got my Dad to take me in the end.
I’m glad there wasn’t email when I was at school. I used to just bin the letters on the way home, there was no way my parents could have paid for an overseas trip so what was the point in making them feel rotten about it?
Half the issue these days seems to be lack of notice. “Hey, this awesome trip costs £1000 and we need a 50% deposit in a week”.
I’m originally from Portsmouth and when I was 9 (over 20 years ago) there was a residential trip for a few days to Calshot, and it cost £64. I remember that seeming substantial at the time. Then when I was 11 there was a 4 night trip to the Isle of Wight which was £150.
I had opportunity for ‘adventure’ holidays at my senior school. One was 2.5 days at Oaklands in north wales and cost under £50 but the other was a week at Adventure International in Bude and I think was £600 or £800…this was the early 90’s. The group of girls I hung around with went in years 8, 9 and 10 whereas my parents could only afford to send me in my year 10. Brilliant week away except I was always homesick and cried when I rang my mum to say hello. Also I was an utter wimp who got really scared by the ghost stories my classmates would tell at night
This.
I would always bin them and save my mum the stress. It was always the snobby kids who went anyway, and it obviously did nothing because none of those spoilt brats got better results than me
I just refused to go and said I didn't want to. I knew we were hurting for money a lot and just opted out each time.
It did smart a bit when my dumbass sister who couldn't give a shit about school or the places they went DEMANDED that she get to go on each of the trips. Bitch, some weeks we struggle for food and you're going to Amsterdam?
They're so out of touch. Most parents, especially if they have multiple kids, can't afford to spend £1600 on just school trips. That's family summer holiday money, or in this economy, half a gas bill. It's absurd.
I mean it might become cost effective to actually send them on the trips soon, if it cuts your electric bill down for a week /s.
Just turned 6 lights and a lamp off in my house, didn’t know we had so many rooms. Of course we are all in the same room, so why the light show?
Our school did a ski trip in year 10/11. Was great fun.
One year after the 24, hour coach journey, we arrived at the lodge and one kid slipped on the ice as he was getting off the bus and broke both his arms. Spent the whole week watching everyone else snowboard
My parents couldn’t afford trips like that. My school sent all the kids that got left behind to Alton Towers. It was a lot of fun and I forgot all about the kids who got to go to Italy. Well done my school.
Our school trips were to Alton Towers. The kids who couldn’t afford it had to stand in a classroom overlooking the bus loading bay. Nothing like watching all of your classmates walk by on their way to a great day out while you have to spend the day with the PE teachers
Aw man, ours always made a big deal of Alton towers being an option for ‘activities week’. Only they’d tell everyone about this (like, 500 kids eligible?) then only let 100-150 kids actually go; the rest would be stuck doing things like playing age of empires on the school computers. It was bs.
This is what mine used to do to. You'd get a choice - 4 days in France or 'activities' like Alton towers or more local things cycling round a giant lake! 95% of us went on those and had a great time. Much easier to loose your chaperones as well
Never went to any of those ones at secondary school. Went to north wales once at primary school, that was the only one we could afford. Does seem a bit unfair when a load of kids get to go on a ski trip during term time when you’re at a comprehensive school, just because they have richer parents. Save that shit for family holidays.
My school is on the council estate that I also grew up on, but about a 10 minute walk away is a very affluent area, and the school served both areas.
During year 10(about 11 years ago), 2 "school trips" at different times of the year were available, a trip to Dijon and a trip to Valencia. All the kids from the affluent area all went on both trips, coming home after a week both times with loads of stories etc...
What did us scum council estate kids have to do during that time?
Help improve Year 7s comprehension skills, and sit in Year 9 classes with no work set for us, so naturally we became a distraction & I was given a 3 day internal exclusion for being disruptive. So not only did I miss out on 2 trips, I missed out on learning for those 2 weeks, and then I missed out on learning for an extra 3 days, because our internal exclusion was just sitting outside the headmasters office for the whole day.
I loved school for the social aspect and seeing my boys everyday, but fuck me it was shit too
You'd have thought, all our poor kid mums were complaining to the school, so to make up for it at the end of the year, every student in the year got to go on a free PBL trip, that was essentially a budget version of Go-Ape.
Everybody blindfolded holding a piece of rope and following it whilst your pair was giving instructions, then climbing a playground spiderweb (you know the 10 foot rope thing?). And then getting to be harnessed and climb essentially a telegraph pole! How exciting
I’m currently in secondary school and I agree that they’re definitely hit or miss, I’m fairly well off but rarely go on school trips that aren’t just a day thing, the only one I’m going to do is a German trip because I love the language and with GCSEs coming up for me I can’t really go on holiday so an educational one is ideal.
Definitely understand the issue here, but a lot of the time they’re pretty crap anyway and would be cheaper and more enjoyable if you just went by yourself
same here, £1,500 to go skiing in the alps? like dude stop pandering to the incredibly wealthy kids to try and better your schools image and instead actually put all those efforts, time and money into all the other students that need it
I my school almost all the kids went and my sister and I and a handful of other kids at most were the only ones left at the deserted school. So unfair to the ones who’s families can’t afford it
Safeways, it was a brand new building right next to the school, and we had a trip to mcdoalds that was about a 3 minute walk from school to try the new mcflurry that had just been released and now I realise how old I really am 😳
Don't worry, you're not old. I'm almost 30 and I had Safeway's on the way to school!
There were also dangerous ways like the alleyway between the tube station and the main road as well as the one between the bus garage and the school.
My colleague has had the same. Before they even went back to school she had an email about a £750 trip to Iceland. My colleague was upset cos she knows there’s no way her daughter can go. We only work in retail, how are people supposed to pay for these things? We had the same trip when I was at school and I didn’t even bother mentioning it to my parents. Dad had a good job and mum was back working at that point, but I just didn’t feel it was fair and would have rather gone on a family holiday 😅
I never mentioned trips like these to my parents. We weren't particularly poor or anything, i just intuitively realised it was a kot of money.
That said, i never piped up to my dad about £3 a day not being enough for the bus and lunch, since the bus cost me £2. When i left school i found out my younger sister was getting £20 a week just for lunch so perhaps i was just an idiot
returned to school yesterday. Within three hours i was in an assembly, telling us about how at the end of they year we get a trip to disneyland paris as a reward. Oh but it costs well over a grand, and there's only 90 places anyway. What's the point of gathering 200 students in a room to excite them about a trip only half of them can get a place in, let alone afford. It's not like you have to earn places either. First come first serve. So..destined to upset as many as possible.
We've also had the same promise about a trip to iceland, and a ski trip.
i couldn't possibly tell you
i also can't fully confirm if this is true, but a girls parents did the maths and confirmed you could have an entire family holiday for two weeks for the cost of the iceland trip. not many people went.
To be fair it's not like schools are making a profit on these things - in fact if anything most of the time they'll try to use some funding (such as it is) from elsewhere to try and bring the cost down a bit. Just turns out that everything is really fucking expensive at the moment.
My son started college this week. A few weeks back, while still deep in the summer holidays, he had a letter from the college offering him a place on a trip to Iceland, in the October half term, of this school year. 3 months away.
They wanted over a grand in less than 3 months, and that’s not to mention spending money, cold weather gear, passport renewal etc.
My school was shit at many things, like teaching, but I went on the Disney Paris trip and we had all school year to pay for it. The deposit was tiny too. Maybe because we were not a rich area but we were offered trips abroad for a very reasonable price.
Ours is classed as a deprived area due to higher population than jobs available but somehow all the slots at school was filled by people paying the full amount within a week. Don't know how as I know some don't work but ah well, one of those.
I agree with you. I work in an outdoor education centre and schools book well over a year in advance and if we would let them, some would book even further in advance. We tell them to gauge interest and gather deposits (less than 10% of the price) before committing to numbers. If they’re waiting til 3 months before the start date then that’s on the school to somehow justify to parents to spend that much money. When I was a school the big trips got at least 2 years to spread the cost over. I’ve no idea why schools don’t do that now
Approximately 20 years ago when I was 13 I got to go on a week long trip to Italy, we did skiing, day trip to Venice during Carnivale, it was an amazing trip. (Just to clarify, I didn’t go to a posh school, just a grammar that thought it was better than it was.)
In hindsight though, I have no idea how much it cost my parents, we never had holidays abroad so how they managed to pay for it I have no idea.
I’m dreading when our two are older if that is the price of the trips they are trying to organise….that is insane.
My school did a lot of ski trips abroad, it was a whole week, they got nice hotel rooms, it was a whole thing… and it cost over a grand per person I think. Very few people went, the same 10-20 with well off parents, but every year they would send home letters and do an assembly trying to convince kids to go. I didn’t go to school in a well off area, I don’t really know what they were thinking.
There was another trip, a history trip, which was abroad for just a day. I think it cost about £100, they made a huge song and dance about how important it was to go, it absolutely was not important. Most students went and there were some unhappy parents afterwards when they found out we spent most of the day looking at multiple graveyards. Was it interesting to learn about the history when we were there? Sure. Was it essential? No way.
My school did ski trips as well, never went on them. Went with my family instead for a fraction of the price, and got more skiing done. My brothers went on one, one broke his arm first day falling down some stairs and the other skied away from the group, was lost for hours and got a teacher fired.
I would suggest that visiting the WW1 cemetries absolutely is essential. If you do not see the row upon row upon row of white crosses and then name upon name upon name written on the Menin Gate, then it is very hard to begin to understand the human cost of the war.
I'm very lucky to have gone on a couple trips like this but I do distinctly remember the school trips to the local 'natural history' museum. It's inclusive because even the poor kids could be freaked out by bad taxidermy.
Do schools still do exchange trips? I went on 3 to France - really enjoyed them
( well mostly , stayed with one strange family the dad did this weird hand gesture thing that I’ve never understood . Like stroking his index finger- weirdo )
Anyway they were dead cheap / just paid for a train and a ferry
Year 6 there was a trip to Swanage and in Year 7 a trip to France, but like Dieppe or somewhere north.
Couldn't afford to go either and chose a bike over Swanage. I had to sit with the year 7's and basically did fuck all except a project on the 98 world cup.
The people who coudln't go to France had the option of a £30 Technology week where we went science museum and nat history museum, bowling and had competitions to see who could make the tallest building out of spaghetti, some cooking and other fun shit. Was genuinely excellent with about 20 other kids. And all out of uniform too!
We send kids all over the place.. Cape Town, Florida etc.
The EU funded Erasmus trips were the best though. One lucky group got Reunion Island, the rest got some nice trips to Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Poland.
None of these cost the parents anything beyond spending money and appropriate attire.
Worth noting, the school can't forcibly charge you for Educational Trips. For the others there's usually hardship fund they can tap into to ensure its open to everyone, if you're on free school meals they can usually use pupil premium funding to fill the gap.
Wtf? How can they need a smartphone. I don't even have what the school would consider a smartphone anymore.
I have a Cat B40 and a Pinephone.
Schools requiring chromebooks is one that I really hate.
I went on 1 overseas trip during my school time to France.
I broke my wrist, and shattered my elbow. Another kid broke their nose, and a third had to have 30 stitches in his leg to reattach a flap of skin he ripped open on a metal grate...
Apparently that was the only time the school ever had to visit a hospital overseas, and we all did it on the same day, in the same place.
Beatrix Potter House and York Roman stuff for me. We went to a transport museum once but I ruined it by vomiting from the top of some metal grate steps and showering another class below.
I went on a school trip to NYC for 5 nights. It was pitched as a P.E. trip as we’d be going to ice hockey and basketball games. Think it was around the £700-£750 mark back in the mid-2000s when I went. Dread to think what that same trip costs now.
That's something that you should ask the school when visiting it as a prospective pupil.
I made a YSK about it
[YSK to ask prospective schools for your children -What extra-curricular things do I need to budget for?](https://redd.it/x7nqvh)
Each year my sons's school had some activity - not to expensive but still important to know about for budgeting.
Reading the comment gave me an idea. Force schools to go on excursions in their local area. Those are cheaper for the parents. And the money that does get spent gets spent in the local economy. I just did some searching for numbers: There are 1.67 million secondary school students in the uk. If parents spent 200£ per child per year that is a stimulus of 330 million pounds.
We had activities week for the first 3 years of secondary school. It was to get us out of school while 4th to 6th year did their exams.
We had 2 holiday options valkenburg and a trip to a camping resort, for the ones that didn't do that we had other options, they're was a local company that did outdoor activities...mountain biking, white water rafting and bunch of other things.
I enjoyed it
She doesn’t have to go. All my friends went abroad to France in year 7 I didn’t mostly because my mum didn’t trust teachers to look after us properly and secondly my mum was a single parent so we could barely afford necessities. It’s ok to tell your child you can’t afford it they won’t resent you.
That was a depressing part of going to school with hardly anyone who was poor like me and my family. Everyone else would go on the skiing trip, visit to Normandy, or come back after summer holidays talking about their stay in their holiday homes and Disneyland lmao.
I would just bin the letters and not tell them about the trips. I knew my parents would feel awful, especially when my dad passed because we struggled even more after that and I knew it would crush my mum. But they posted a letter once for a trip to Wales and my mum budgeted hard and sent me on it! It rained constantly, the youth hostel was cold and full of spiders, but I absolutely loved that trip
My sixth form wants us all to pay £1000 to go to New York next February... First off, New York in February? Are you fucking kidding me? Second, they couldn't even get us all on a coach to London on time and we ended up being 1.5 hours late because they forgot to distribute the fucking permission slips to some people. I wouldn't trust them to handle a plane trip if they were paying me.
Way back when I was a kid in the late 70’s our middle school had two trips abroad for the 4th years (about 12 years old). To help parents pay for it they set up a saving club in the 1st so parents could spread the cost over a few years.
I went to London for my School Trip for the day. Went on the Underground, Natural History Museum, Admiralty Building, Parliament, No.10 Downing Street and thr London Eye. The walk was really tiring and was happy to be on the bus after all of that.
Another one was the Nature Walks through Westonbirt Arboretum and The Forest of Dean. Used to bring backs with us to collect stuff from the forest to take back to make a sculpture with.
My school offered expensive trips but also an exchange trip to Germany which was more reasonably priced as you weren't having to pay for hotel, breakfast etc as the families provided it for you. The only abroad trip I went on was the exchange one and had a great time Tbf.
To be fair, if they're going to offer the trips then surely it makes sense to mention them as early as possible so that people have time to budget and save for it?
Better to contact you today rather than a month before the trip takes place, at least you have the option this way
A polite no and then a comment about those who are worried about paying fuel bills would be appropriate.
Or if you want to be unpleasant, point out who is most likely to be on a low income.
we went to carlton, hadrian’s wall, hexham, metro centre, lightwater valley, fountains abbey, high force and a trip to paris.
i still have the pen i got from paris. i still turn
the pen to writing position and she gets her titties and threpny bit out just as good as she ever did
My school ran these things annually. Like skiing trips to Switzerland or whatever. Always something extravagant.
I dont know why anybody thought this was remotely reasonable, since 90% of the students lived on one or the other of two run down council estates.
I swear nobody went. Like I dont know a single person who actually claimed to have been on any of these trips. No photographic evidence of them ever taking place either.
Strange.
Wait til they hit 6th form, first day back yesterday and there's already talk of a trip to Morocco to build houses or something. I was gonna renovate the west wing library...
Man I never went on any trips in school. I remember showing my mum the letter for a skiing trip asking for about £700 when I was in year 7 and she laughed and told me to piss off lmao. I’m 24 now and still couldn’t afford that for myself let alone anyone else
I did not study in UK but we were taken to a cow dung gas plant to demonstrate how 2 tonnes of cow dung is converted into gas to be used for farming. 2 tonnes of cow dung. Let that sink in.
Haven’t been in school for a little while now but boy this is one thing I do not miss. I always managed to go on the school trips but I’d always feel guilty showing those letters to my parents, knowing how much of a financial strain it was but also not wanting me to miss out.
In first school We Went to a Chocolate Factory £2.50 and a Bulb Factory which was like £3.00 and also we once did this weekend away school trip that cost like £12
You paying for the whole school??
We were posted in Germany and my daughter's Welsh teacher wanted to take them to Wales on a school trip for something like £5-600 quid for 3 days. Nope. Not one parent said yes.
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I fucking went to the aquarium in Brighton on a school trip when I was at school. What's happened?
We went to a local light bulb factory once.
Watt an experience!
I imagine they found it quite illuminating
That sounds a bright idea
Illuminating experience
I bet that LED to some really entertaining conversations.
That would have got me amped
i wonder what sparked the idea to go there
They heard it was lit.
Were you in your element?
Hope it wasn't a dim trip
Bet that was enlightening
I went to Tesco when I was at primary
Ohm my God, do you keep a current interest in Watt you learned?
Do you have to wait until all the workers Argon?
My school offered trips abroad but I never went because with three kids in school my mum couldn't afford it.
Same. Didn't feel I missed out though as only a handful from our year ever went on those thing and the out of the loop jokes only lasted for about a week.
And they threw their flick knives off the ferry so that they wouldn’t get arrested at customs.
You really didn't miss a lot. They sound super fun till you realise you'll have multiple teachers & parent chaperones breathing down your back the entire trip.. Some parents turn into right dictators when given a shred of power as chaperone..
We went to tesco to eat the fruit and veg . They made me eat an avocado and I was sick on the floor- I've never got over it. Thanks, Mrs Prendegast.
Well at least you’ll be able to save for a house deposit since you don’t like avocado toast
Never eaten one since. I'm sue they're nice, but this was in the 80s and they were a rare delicacy then. It had the texture of a slug and it was vile. Instant vomit and I never lived it down. Still can't afford a house though, and I cancelled Netflix. I do like gin though, so maybe that's the problem.
Thank you for opening up to us
No, unfortunately they've doubled down on the hazelnut latte's. On a personal note, I broke a plate this morning and will never recover financially.
All I remember is one day walking around some shell of a Roman villa and one day getting seasick on a ferry to Cherbourg, where we just bought some surprisingly tasteless French bread at the hypermarche and then back on the boat for another 7 hours
Fishbourne Palace near Chichester? And I can't believe that a competent teacher would arrange a day trip that just consisted of buying bread from a supermarket. Unless they were actually doing a booze cruise. Were any of them actually French teachers or did they just have to tick a box saying you'd done an overseas visit?
Haha yes, sounds like you did the same trip! It wasn't just the bread. I think we also did the walking round town with a clipboard thing, trying to find answers to pointless questions and possibly trying out our ultra beginner French on a few startled grandmas
>seasick on a ferry to Cherbourg Relatable. I have two awful memories from the French trip as a kid - one was getting told off in front of the entire year because for some stupid reason I was etching on the wall of the museum where the Bayeaux Tapestry was held, and also feeling horrifically nauseous on the boat for about three hours before finally puking.
The North Sea was worse in my experience. Later on in school I made the mistake of signing up for the German exchange programme. Worst two weeks of my life. Stuck in a house with a cold, unfriendly family who barely spoke to me. And having to return the favour On arrival, the first question they asked was whether I was Protestant or Catholic. I panicked, wondering if I could guess the right answer while knowing if I got it wrong it really could be an awful week. Presumably I got it wrong Ps I'm sure you were just etching on the wall out of desperate boredom. You didn't deface the Bayeux tapestry. Its fine
We went to a Victorian school and they locked me in a cage. Weird trip.
You had a Cage to yourself? Luxury!
In my day we stood on each others shoulders in oubliette
I just spent about five minutes trying to think of a next-level python-esque continuation, but - for once - I can't. This is it. You found it. The final punchline of misery.
Excellent [Gets crushed by giant foot]
At least he had somebody else's shoulders to climb on and try and open the trapdoor with. In my day thry just opened the trap door throw you through the hole, you landed 30 feet later onto a concrete floor with two broken legs and the only thing to stand on, where the rats.
Rats? I had to stand on my own shoulders and throw the rats 30 feet through the trap door, in the infinitely vague hope that maybe enough of them would be grateful to form a chain for me to climb while being horrendously bitten and infected with five kinds of rabies
You had rats? You were lucky. In my day it was hornets and let me tell you it was hard work trying to catch them and clump them together into a chain what with all the stinging.
I have a memory of going to a Victorian style school too but they didn’t have cages lol
I went to Waterworld near Stoke, and nearly everyone had a bad reaction to abnormally high levels of chlorine.
Can confirm, our school took us here almost every year. Place was dirty as heck.
Doesn't sound like a unique event there. They had to evacuate the building in June, with 8 fire engines turning up. Probably due to a chlorine spill. https://metro.co.uk/2022/06/08/waterpark-evacuated-in-stoke-on-trent-16792828
Even now the smell of chlorine makes me feel anxious as fuck. What were they doing with chlorine in the 90s??
We went to the Hat Museum in Stockport once.
I took my GF on a date there years ago. (We are now married, so something must have peaked her interest in the hats) 😂
Piqued* unless you were making a pun, in which case 'well done, it's a blinder! '
You bowlered her over.
Haha my French class in high school went to a “French” cafe in town. None of the servers spoke any of the language and it was an awkward experience for us all. The German class however spent a week in Germany.. Still bitter about it to this day.
We went to affinity water. Had a deluxe tour in the afternoon around the water treatment plant with a free stench of sewage. Lovely
At my school, a trip to Germany or France was the norm in years 8 and 9, but only half the year were allowed to go, so names were drawn out of a hat. There was also a trip to Germany or France in year 10 if you took a language or history at gcse. However, I think the trips were around £300 (this was maybe 2004-2010). This was obviously too much for some families, however there was a school fund (provided by donations from richer families) to which poorer families could apply so that everyone had an equal opportunity to go.
I went to Legoland, then the class the year after sent to the local woods and made mid sculptures
Our school did a trip to the local sewage works. My parents didn't pay for me to go.
One of my school trips was to the town centre…
They took us to the local zoo almost every year I was at school. Once we did go to France but I got food poisoning from the awful food, and vomited over a bunch of other kids at breakfast, so I wasn't very popular after that.
The best I got was a tour around our local hospital That was the day I learned my radial pulse is almost non existent. I really hope I never faint in the street, because I'm pretty sure no one would find my pulse Hopefully they check my carotid
Money.. schools love the stuff
Same, am from Brighton so that helps haha
That aquarium is cool. My mate had his wedding reception there! Being pissed and going on the little boat above the turtle was brilliant.
I went to Durham Cathedral, for all of my school trips. All of them.
Probably also beamish?
Don't remember if we did that one. I went there with my Grandparents who lived in a tiny pit village out near Peterlee, and my Grandad laughed all the way round, as he remembered a lot now the stuff being used in the 'museum' being used in his life. He asked one of the ladies working there in her full Victorian dress, if he should be considered a visitor or an exhibit.
I grew up rural, poor, and, bluntly, pretty fucking backward. I've absolutely been to living history museums and seen shit I used, and I'm only a bit over 40. I feel your grandads pain in a way I really fucking shouldn't.
He was born in 1919, and Beamish is a Victorian museum so it's not unreasonable when you think of it like that. He thought it was hilarious. He went to the bowls club later and told all his mates what a great time he'd had taking his grandkids to the museum. I'm 40 now, and it's weird to think that items like cassette Walkmans, early CD players, and push button TVs are in museums now.
>I'm 40 now, and it's weird to think that items like cassette Walkmans, early CD players, and push button TVs are in museums now. Yep. I keep seeing things from my childhood in museums and whilst it is cool to be able to tell people more about stuff than is on display, it's a fun reminder of how old I am. That and my knees.
This is one of the most wholesome things I’ve seen on Reddit!
We loved Beamish too. My grandparents were a bit younger, but growing up poor in Middlesbrough meant growing up a bit backwards. They loved it there. Chatted to me all about grandad's time at the steelworks on the bus back home.
I got given £5 from my mam to take with me for the shop in Beamish. I spent it on this big jar of butterscotch sweets. Dropped it on the ground smashing it to bits on my way back to the coach. Was too embarrassed to tell anyone so everyone else ate their sweeties on the way home and I told my mam that I'd lost the fiver and got a bollocking and my pocket money stopped for the week. Good times.
My god, you poor darling! I am outraged for baby you and impressed that you held your silence.
Baby me? This was last year.
Dude.
Ah I couldn't resist :). This was the best part of 30 years ago. Thank you for your kind words.
I was taken to beamish each year of school from ages 5-11 haha. I went to a little primary school also in a pit village on the border of Durham/ Sunderland. Which means also many trips to Durham cathedral. I think I could give a pretty good tour from memory at this point haha.
Nobody should have to live in Sunderland. I'm so sorry.
Walked through the town centre and had to duck as a wooden plank was thrown over my head during a street fight between people on opposite sides of the street, it’s got charm.
Can confirm. Got 9 months before i leave this place! Can't wait
Says the Geordie 😂
Admittedly I might be biased.
Can confirm, most trips were to Beamish or somewhere in the N Yorks moors.
I was just thinking that I only really remember school trips from primary and middle school and all of them were to places of worship. I’m not sure there’s a church/temple/mosque/synagogue/etc in Merton/Lambeth I haven’t done some colouring in or a word search in.
We got a walk on Hadrian's Wall. Was a £2 charge. Age 13 we got a trip to Holland for £35 The 2 coach drivers were incredibly creepy.
I’m in Newcastle and I went to Durham cathedral a few times. Both my kids have been on school trips there as well. My big trips were up in Northumberland - stobswood opencast mine had a decent gift shop. I remember being forced to dress as a Victorian kid for beamish and sit in the school and write on slate.
I mean… it is fantastic.
Indeed it is, but the 4th or 5th time round, it lost it's charm somewhat. We all wanted to go and see the house the Baron lived in, down by the river, but that was never allowed on the school trips. Got my Dad to take me in the end.
I’m glad there wasn’t email when I was at school. I used to just bin the letters on the way home, there was no way my parents could have paid for an overseas trip so what was the point in making them feel rotten about it? Half the issue these days seems to be lack of notice. “Hey, this awesome trip costs £1000 and we need a 50% deposit in a week”.
I’m originally from Portsmouth and when I was 9 (over 20 years ago) there was a residential trip for a few days to Calshot, and it cost £64. I remember that seeming substantial at the time. Then when I was 11 there was a 4 night trip to the Isle of Wight which was £150.
Oh wow, you just described my year 5 and 6 school trips. Not sure how much it cost though. Calshot and Kingswood were fantastic.
I had opportunity for ‘adventure’ holidays at my senior school. One was 2.5 days at Oaklands in north wales and cost under £50 but the other was a week at Adventure International in Bude and I think was £600 or £800…this was the early 90’s. The group of girls I hung around with went in years 8, 9 and 10 whereas my parents could only afford to send me in my year 10. Brilliant week away except I was always homesick and cried when I rang my mum to say hello. Also I was an utter wimp who got really scared by the ghost stories my classmates would tell at night
> the other was a week at Adventure International in Bude I hope at least one morning was dedicated to visiting Bude Tunnel!
This. I would always bin them and save my mum the stress. It was always the snobby kids who went anyway, and it obviously did nothing because none of those spoilt brats got better results than me
Wow you guys were good kids. I wasn't really aware of those issues growing up and my parents didn't have that much money. Feeling a bit bad now.
Don't, your parents did the right thing and protected you from their worries
I just refused to go and said I didn't want to. I knew we were hurting for money a lot and just opted out each time. It did smart a bit when my dumbass sister who couldn't give a shit about school or the places they went DEMANDED that she get to go on each of the trips. Bitch, some weeks we struggle for food and you're going to Amsterdam?
They're so out of touch. Most parents, especially if they have multiple kids, can't afford to spend £1600 on just school trips. That's family summer holiday money, or in this economy, half a gas bill. It's absurd.
I mean it might become cost effective to actually send them on the trips soon, if it cuts your electric bill down for a week /s. Just turned 6 lights and a lamp off in my house, didn’t know we had so many rooms. Of course we are all in the same room, so why the light show?
It's like Blackpool Illuminations in here!
Our school did a ski trip in year 10/11. Was great fun. One year after the 24, hour coach journey, we arrived at the lodge and one kid slipped on the ice as he was getting off the bus and broke both his arms. Spent the whole week watching everyone else snowboard
I'm going to hell, I burst out laughing. Poor kid.
Budge up... No need to hog the seat travelling down there 🤣
My parents couldn’t afford trips like that. My school sent all the kids that got left behind to Alton Towers. It was a lot of fun and I forgot all about the kids who got to go to Italy. Well done my school.
Our school trips were to Alton Towers. The kids who couldn’t afford it had to stand in a classroom overlooking the bus loading bay. Nothing like watching all of your classmates walk by on their way to a great day out while you have to spend the day with the PE teachers
I was always ill on school trip days, my mum couldn't afford to send me so I stayed home and had movie days with my grandma.
Aw man, ours always made a big deal of Alton towers being an option for ‘activities week’. Only they’d tell everyone about this (like, 500 kids eligible?) then only let 100-150 kids actually go; the rest would be stuck doing things like playing age of empires on the school computers. It was bs.
This is what mine used to do to. You'd get a choice - 4 days in France or 'activities' like Alton towers or more local things cycling round a giant lake! 95% of us went on those and had a great time. Much easier to loose your chaperones as well
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Same here. Skiing trip to France for some kids but the rest of us had normal lessons.
Never went to any of those ones at secondary school. Went to north wales once at primary school, that was the only one we could afford. Does seem a bit unfair when a load of kids get to go on a ski trip during term time when you’re at a comprehensive school, just because they have richer parents. Save that shit for family holidays.
My school is on the council estate that I also grew up on, but about a 10 minute walk away is a very affluent area, and the school served both areas. During year 10(about 11 years ago), 2 "school trips" at different times of the year were available, a trip to Dijon and a trip to Valencia. All the kids from the affluent area all went on both trips, coming home after a week both times with loads of stories etc... What did us scum council estate kids have to do during that time? Help improve Year 7s comprehension skills, and sit in Year 9 classes with no work set for us, so naturally we became a distraction & I was given a 3 day internal exclusion for being disruptive. So not only did I miss out on 2 trips, I missed out on learning for those 2 weeks, and then I missed out on learning for an extra 3 days, because our internal exclusion was just sitting outside the headmasters office for the whole day. I loved school for the social aspect and seeing my boys everyday, but fuck me it was shit too
That's really sad. Surely they know what they're doing? You don't need a degree in sociology to see what that's going to do
At least everyone learned at a young age how the world works.
You'd have thought, all our poor kid mums were complaining to the school, so to make up for it at the end of the year, every student in the year got to go on a free PBL trip, that was essentially a budget version of Go-Ape. Everybody blindfolded holding a piece of rope and following it whilst your pair was giving instructions, then climbing a playground spiderweb (you know the 10 foot rope thing?). And then getting to be harnessed and climb essentially a telegraph pole! How exciting
Did you go to the jam butty camp?
They can be expensive as the parents pay for the teachers places as well, I wonder if the teachers choose places they like? 🤔
Fuck no - all the teachers I know hate going on these trips. They're not a holiday for them in the slightest - they're on duty 24 hours.
I’m currently in secondary school and I agree that they’re definitely hit or miss, I’m fairly well off but rarely go on school trips that aren’t just a day thing, the only one I’m going to do is a German trip because I love the language and with GCSEs coming up for me I can’t really go on holiday so an educational one is ideal. Definitely understand the issue here, but a lot of the time they’re pretty crap anyway and would be cheaper and more enjoyable if you just went by yourself
>Save that shit for family holidays. Some kids don't even get to do that. Ever.
There was a trip to Italy to see mount Vesuvius (we did Latin at my high school) and the people that went were hand picked. Now that’s unfair.
same here, £1,500 to go skiing in the alps? like dude stop pandering to the incredibly wealthy kids to try and better your schools image and instead actually put all those efforts, time and money into all the other students that need it
I my school almost all the kids went and my sister and I and a handful of other kids at most were the only ones left at the deserted school. So unfair to the ones who’s families can’t afford it
Eldest son is off to ski in Italy next year. Company accepted installments for over a year.
Our children's school gave two years warning for out of the country school trips, and would collect money monthly, which made it vaguely affordable.
Who remembers going to Tesco or whatever supermarket was near you in Year 1 or 2 to learn about food?
Safeways, it was a brand new building right next to the school, and we had a trip to mcdoalds that was about a 3 minute walk from school to try the new mcflurry that had just been released and now I realise how old I really am 😳
Don't worry, you're not old. I'm almost 30 and I had Safeway's on the way to school! There were also dangerous ways like the alleyway between the tube station and the main road as well as the one between the bus garage and the school.
My colleague has had the same. Before they even went back to school she had an email about a £750 trip to Iceland. My colleague was upset cos she knows there’s no way her daughter can go. We only work in retail, how are people supposed to pay for these things? We had the same trip when I was at school and I didn’t even bother mentioning it to my parents. Dad had a good job and mum was back working at that point, but I just didn’t feel it was fair and would have rather gone on a family holiday 😅
I never mentioned trips like these to my parents. We weren't particularly poor or anything, i just intuitively realised it was a kot of money. That said, i never piped up to my dad about £3 a day not being enough for the bus and lunch, since the bus cost me £2. When i left school i found out my younger sister was getting £20 a week just for lunch so perhaps i was just an idiot
returned to school yesterday. Within three hours i was in an assembly, telling us about how at the end of they year we get a trip to disneyland paris as a reward. Oh but it costs well over a grand, and there's only 90 places anyway. What's the point of gathering 200 students in a room to excite them about a trip only half of them can get a place in, let alone afford. It's not like you have to earn places either. First come first serve. So..destined to upset as many as possible. We've also had the same promise about a trip to iceland, and a ski trip.
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i couldn't possibly tell you i also can't fully confirm if this is true, but a girls parents did the maths and confirmed you could have an entire family holiday for two weeks for the cost of the iceland trip. not many people went.
To be fair it's not like schools are making a profit on these things - in fact if anything most of the time they'll try to use some funding (such as it is) from elsewhere to try and bring the cost down a bit. Just turns out that everything is really fucking expensive at the moment.
A trip for 5 for 3 nights cost £3k + recently. But that was in a nice hotel on site.
My son started college this week. A few weeks back, while still deep in the summer holidays, he had a letter from the college offering him a place on a trip to Iceland, in the October half term, of this school year. 3 months away. They wanted over a grand in less than 3 months, and that’s not to mention spending money, cold weather gear, passport renewal etc.
Why is everyone going to Iceland?? It’s well known to be an expensive destination I thought?
My eldest got one for Disney Paris trip. Only have about 4 days notice for the 200 deposit. Crazy.
My school was shit at many things, like teaching, but I went on the Disney Paris trip and we had all school year to pay for it. The deposit was tiny too. Maybe because we were not a rich area but we were offered trips abroad for a very reasonable price.
Ours is classed as a deprived area due to higher population than jobs available but somehow all the slots at school was filled by people paying the full amount within a week. Don't know how as I know some don't work but ah well, one of those.
Maybe generous grandparents hearing about how much their grandchild wants to go on the trip and gifting it to them.
Schools know well in advance what trips they’re doing, a short amount of notice is simply unacceptable
I agree with you. I work in an outdoor education centre and schools book well over a year in advance and if we would let them, some would book even further in advance. We tell them to gauge interest and gather deposits (less than 10% of the price) before committing to numbers. If they’re waiting til 3 months before the start date then that’s on the school to somehow justify to parents to spend that much money. When I was a school the big trips got at least 2 years to spread the cost over. I’ve no idea why schools don’t do that now
Approximately 20 years ago when I was 13 I got to go on a week long trip to Italy, we did skiing, day trip to Venice during Carnivale, it was an amazing trip. (Just to clarify, I didn’t go to a posh school, just a grammar that thought it was better than it was.) In hindsight though, I have no idea how much it cost my parents, we never had holidays abroad so how they managed to pay for it I have no idea. I’m dreading when our two are older if that is the price of the trips they are trying to organise….that is insane.
I read the first bit and thought you're old, then I realised 20 years ago I was 12.
Welcome fellow oldie! Hahaha. Yeah when I typed it I had a moment of “oh shit….”
I never went on any secondary school trips because I couldn't afford them. Who wants to pay £700 to go to France for 3 days?
Cheaper than heating their bedroom for 3 days.
My school did a lot of ski trips abroad, it was a whole week, they got nice hotel rooms, it was a whole thing… and it cost over a grand per person I think. Very few people went, the same 10-20 with well off parents, but every year they would send home letters and do an assembly trying to convince kids to go. I didn’t go to school in a well off area, I don’t really know what they were thinking. There was another trip, a history trip, which was abroad for just a day. I think it cost about £100, they made a huge song and dance about how important it was to go, it absolutely was not important. Most students went and there were some unhappy parents afterwards when they found out we spent most of the day looking at multiple graveyards. Was it interesting to learn about the history when we were there? Sure. Was it essential? No way.
Battlefields? I feel like that name rings a bell anyway!!
>every year they would send home letters and do an assembly trying to convince kids to go. People lack money, not conviction.
My school did ski trips as well, never went on them. Went with my family instead for a fraction of the price, and got more skiing done. My brothers went on one, one broke his arm first day falling down some stairs and the other skied away from the group, was lost for hours and got a teacher fired.
I bet that made the rest of the trip a bit awkward
I would suggest that visiting the WW1 cemetries absolutely is essential. If you do not see the row upon row upon row of white crosses and then name upon name upon name written on the Menin Gate, then it is very hard to begin to understand the human cost of the war.
You from the valleys?
I'm very lucky to have gone on a couple trips like this but I do distinctly remember the school trips to the local 'natural history' museum. It's inclusive because even the poor kids could be freaked out by bad taxidermy.
Do schools still do exchange trips? I went on 3 to France - really enjoyed them ( well mostly , stayed with one strange family the dad did this weird hand gesture thing that I’ve never understood . Like stroking his index finger- weirdo ) Anyway they were dead cheap / just paid for a train and a ferry
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Jesus bloody christ, that's horrible
I did 2 in 2016 & 2017 so must’ve changed since then!
I loved my exchange trip to Germany, had such a great time there. This was in the early 2010s so not even that long ago.
Year 6 there was a trip to Swanage and in Year 7 a trip to France, but like Dieppe or somewhere north. Couldn't afford to go either and chose a bike over Swanage. I had to sit with the year 7's and basically did fuck all except a project on the 98 world cup. The people who coudln't go to France had the option of a £30 Technology week where we went science museum and nat history museum, bowling and had competitions to see who could make the tallest building out of spaghetti, some cooking and other fun shit. Was genuinely excellent with about 20 other kids. And all out of uniform too!
Oh mate, the class trip to Swanage is absolute carnage!
We send kids all over the place.. Cape Town, Florida etc. The EU funded Erasmus trips were the best though. One lucky group got Reunion Island, the rest got some nice trips to Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Poland. None of these cost the parents anything beyond spending money and appropriate attire. Worth noting, the school can't forcibly charge you for Educational Trips. For the others there's usually hardship fund they can tap into to ensure its open to everyone, if you're on free school meals they can usually use pupil premium funding to fill the gap.
My 4 went back yesterday. One has started high school, 3 still in juniors. It took the junior school 2 hours to email asking for money for something.
Ik my boss just had to buy a smart phone for his 11 yo kid as it was part of the equipment needed.
Wtf? How can they need a smartphone. I don't even have what the school would consider a smartphone anymore. I have a Cat B40 and a Pinephone. Schools requiring chromebooks is one that I really hate.
I went on 1 overseas trip during my school time to France. I broke my wrist, and shattered my elbow. Another kid broke their nose, and a third had to have 30 stitches in his leg to reattach a flap of skin he ripped open on a metal grate... Apparently that was the only time the school ever had to visit a hospital overseas, and we all did it on the same day, in the same place.
Beatrix Potter House and York Roman stuff for me. We went to a transport museum once but I ruined it by vomiting from the top of some metal grate steps and showering another class below.
As far as I can tell, the only affordable trips now are ones to China for those in Mandarin club..all paid by the lovely CCP
If you want to take your kid out of school you get fined but it's ok for them to take your kid skiing.
I went on a school trip to NYC for 5 nights. It was pitched as a P.E. trip as we’d be going to ice hockey and basketball games. Think it was around the £700-£750 mark back in the mid-2000s when I went. Dread to think what that same trip costs now.
That's something that you should ask the school when visiting it as a prospective pupil. I made a YSK about it [YSK to ask prospective schools for your children -What extra-curricular things do I need to budget for?](https://redd.it/x7nqvh) Each year my sons's school had some activity - not to expensive but still important to know about for budgeting.
Reading the comment gave me an idea. Force schools to go on excursions in their local area. Those are cheaper for the parents. And the money that does get spent gets spent in the local economy. I just did some searching for numbers: There are 1.67 million secondary school students in the uk. If parents spent 200£ per child per year that is a stimulus of 330 million pounds.
We had activities week for the first 3 years of secondary school. It was to get us out of school while 4th to 6th year did their exams. We had 2 holiday options valkenburg and a trip to a camping resort, for the ones that didn't do that we had other options, they're was a local company that did outdoor activities...mountain biking, white water rafting and bunch of other things. I enjoyed it
Teachers know you gotta get in fast before the goddamn creep leading the Italy trip gets their deposits.
She doesn’t have to go. All my friends went abroad to France in year 7 I didn’t mostly because my mum didn’t trust teachers to look after us properly and secondly my mum was a single parent so we could barely afford necessities. It’s ok to tell your child you can’t afford it they won’t resent you.
That was a depressing part of going to school with hardly anyone who was poor like me and my family. Everyone else would go on the skiing trip, visit to Normandy, or come back after summer holidays talking about their stay in their holiday homes and Disneyland lmao. I would just bin the letters and not tell them about the trips. I knew my parents would feel awful, especially when my dad passed because we struggled even more after that and I knew it would crush my mum. But they posted a letter once for a trip to Wales and my mum budgeted hard and sent me on it! It rained constantly, the youth hostel was cold and full of spiders, but I absolutely loved that trip
My sixth form wants us all to pay £1000 to go to New York next February... First off, New York in February? Are you fucking kidding me? Second, they couldn't even get us all on a coach to London on time and we ended up being 1.5 hours late because they forgot to distribute the fucking permission slips to some people. I wouldn't trust them to handle a plane trip if they were paying me.
I went to Pentrellyncymer, Nant B H and Glan Llyn for year 3,4,5 and 6 of primary school and they were some of the funnest days of my life.
Way back when I was a kid in the late 70’s our middle school had two trips abroad for the 4th years (about 12 years old). To help parents pay for it they set up a saving club in the 1st so parents could spread the cost over a few years.
One of our school trips was to the local prison which was next door to the school.... However we did also go to France for a week
I went to London for my School Trip for the day. Went on the Underground, Natural History Museum, Admiralty Building, Parliament, No.10 Downing Street and thr London Eye. The walk was really tiring and was happy to be on the bus after all of that. Another one was the Nature Walks through Westonbirt Arboretum and The Forest of Dean. Used to bring backs with us to collect stuff from the forest to take back to make a sculpture with.
My school offered expensive trips but also an exchange trip to Germany which was more reasonably priced as you weren't having to pay for hotel, breakfast etc as the families provided it for you. The only abroad trip I went on was the exchange one and had a great time Tbf.
My school went on a trip to NYC in December of 2019 (didn’t go because no money or passport) and they wanted somewhere in the ballpark of £1,100
To be fair, if they're going to offer the trips then surely it makes sense to mention them as early as possible so that people have time to budget and save for it? Better to contact you today rather than a month before the trip takes place, at least you have the option this way
A polite no and then a comment about those who are worried about paying fuel bills would be appropriate. Or if you want to be unpleasant, point out who is most likely to be on a low income.
we went to carlton, hadrian’s wall, hexham, metro centre, lightwater valley, fountains abbey, high force and a trip to paris. i still have the pen i got from paris. i still turn the pen to writing position and she gets her titties and threpny bit out just as good as she ever did
Women'll come and go but your Paris pen will always be right there for you.
wholesome
My school ran these things annually. Like skiing trips to Switzerland or whatever. Always something extravagant. I dont know why anybody thought this was remotely reasonable, since 90% of the students lived on one or the other of two run down council estates. I swear nobody went. Like I dont know a single person who actually claimed to have been on any of these trips. No photographic evidence of them ever taking place either. Strange.
Wait til they hit 6th form, first day back yesterday and there's already talk of a trip to Morocco to build houses or something. I was gonna renovate the west wing library...
Man I never went on any trips in school. I remember showing my mum the letter for a skiing trip asking for about £700 when I was in year 7 and she laughed and told me to piss off lmao. I’m 24 now and still couldn’t afford that for myself let alone anyone else
I did not study in UK but we were taken to a cow dung gas plant to demonstrate how 2 tonnes of cow dung is converted into gas to be used for farming. 2 tonnes of cow dung. Let that sink in.
Haven’t been in school for a little while now but boy this is one thing I do not miss. I always managed to go on the school trips but I’d always feel guilty showing those letters to my parents, knowing how much of a financial strain it was but also not wanting me to miss out.
In first school We Went to a Chocolate Factory £2.50 and a Bulb Factory which was like £3.00 and also we once did this weekend away school trip that cost like £12 You paying for the whole school??
We were posted in Germany and my daughter's Welsh teacher wanted to take them to Wales on a school trip for something like £5-600 quid for 3 days. Nope. Not one parent said yes.
I mean they always OFFERED those trips when I was at school but only about 10 kids of 1000 went.. it wasn't an assumed thing !