Since when did a pricey trip to Disneyland improve a child’s maths?
Mehdi’s mum was told it would so she borrowed money to pay for it – one of countless state school parents forced to fork out huge sums for exotic trips that seem more like holidays
a way to tick the box for ‘enrichment’ activities with schools inspectorate ofsted.
Ultimately, Jane believes such trips will have the opposite effect. ‘What the schools don’t realise is that I’ve heard parents saying they’ll discourage their children from taking certain subjects, like Geography, because they can’t afford the trips and don’t want their children to feel embarrassed.’
like many parents, Jane is also wondering why the cost of these package tours is so high.
‘The four of us could have gone on holiday to Spain for the same amount. We’ve never spent that much even on a family holiday for all of us.’ one reason the price has rocketed is that schools no longer organise their own. Since the jailing of a Geography teacher for manslaughter after a pupil drowned on a trip in 2002, insurance premiums have soared.
The sheer volume of paperwork and risk assessments mean that rather than organise trips schools now buy them via a growing number of education companies.
These firms clearly want to make a profit, but changes to airline booking systems means it’s no longer as cheap to block-book seats for tour parties.
The high ratio of staff to pupils — which may be as high as one in ten on trips abroad — means more teachers have to go and the costs of their flights and accommodation are passed on to parents.
as one teacher told the Mail, private tour companies exploit a perfect storm. They know such tours are a good way for newly formed state academies to show ambition.
He added: ‘The trips also adeptly tap into the guilt of middle-class parents, who are often busy and want to make up for the fact they haven’t taken their kids away to these places themselves.
‘The companies will also charge what they think parents will pay. like any kind of business, they are looking after their profit margins.’ When the Mail approached abTa, which represents school tour companies, they said pricing is a matter for schools.
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mother baffled by the school trip trend is Yasmin Ward, 31, from ongar, essex. In May, her son Mehdi, 13, came home with a letter from his state secondary saying he had been selected in a ballot to go on a Maths trip to Disneyland Paris.
a letter said the £380 trip next February half-term is ‘to discover how this subject is put into practice at this world famous leisure destination’.
Disneyland is also touted by educational tour companies as a destination for helping pupils study everything from ‘music and performing arts, language, business and economics’ to ‘art and design, IcT and science’. The letter went on to tell parents when to pay their instalments.
Since then Yasmin has been paying £75 a month. This, despite the fact her husband, Mathew, a selfemployed floor-layer, is off work with an injury — and she has five younger children.
Yasmin said: ‘I decided to give Mehdi the chance to go because his friends were more than likely going and most of the children at his school come from wealthy backgrounds so I didn’t want him to be left out.
‘I’ve had to borrow money from family to pay for it and it certainly does mean tightening our belts, even more so without my husband’s wages. From the parents’ point of view, the least the schools could do is send the letters home in a sealed envelope so you don’t feel so pressured by kids waving them in your face.’
Nor does it seem grandparents are immune from the pressure.
liz Hodginkson, 73, a grandmother of five, bailed out her granddaughter rose, 16, when she faced a £3,000 state school trip to Nepal. Having been told by her parents that they could not afford it, rose set about raising the funds herself, doing a sponsored climb on Snowdonia, saving her christmas and birthday money, and babysitting.
‘ eventually she had £ 1,500, a magnificent sum for a girl of her age to raise by herself,’ says liz. ‘but still only half of what was required.’
With the deadline for the full amount drawing near, and rose in the midst of GcSe revision, there was, says liz, only one option.
‘obviously, the bank of Granny liz had to be approached. My son rang one day and said: “You know you said you might be able to help rose with her trip to Nepal . . . ?”
‘after huffing and puffing that I was in my 40s before I could afford a trip to Nepal, I said that I would be able to lob in £1,000, which would leave her only £500 short. Her parents reckoned they could afford to contribute this amount. as it happened, her other grandparents made up the shortfall.
‘but I am a comparatively rich old lady, not a 16-year-old schoolgirl at a state comprehensive.
‘For my granddaughter is not at some posh private school but a london comprehensive where many of the pupils in the catchment area are on free school meals, and whose parents need help with affording the uniform.
‘Presumably, most of these pupils have not got a handy granny or two prepared to put their hand in their pocket to grant their granddaughter’s dearest wish.’
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as the NaSUWT has pointed out, is there really any need for pupils to travel so far? This week, the union’s ben Padley told the Mail: ‘We have said there are perfectly good locations in the UK that provide educational and learning opportunities for more reasonable prices.’
Parent educator and former teacher Noel Janis-Norton says that without careful planning, expensive educational trips are often wasted on young people, who are more focused on having fun out of the classroom with their friends than on learning.
Noel, author of the calmer, easier, Happier series of books, says: ‘ Many school trips are not prepared for in a thorough way, so pupils are often not getting the most out of them. So truthfully I am not sure how much actual learning takes place.’
He says the growing number of expensive school trips may be due to the rise in competition between schools, including state ones.
‘There’s a lot of talk about learning outside The classroom, but you don’t have to see the Statue of liberty in person, for example, to understand the history,’ he adds.
‘While they may be billed as trips of a lifetime, I think the money would be better spent on holidays with their families. any learning available on a family holiday — and there is more than people realise — is likely to sink in better without the distraction of classmates.’
and what of those classmates whose parents cannot afford it?
‘What child wouldn’t want to go to New York with their friends?’ asks mum lucie.
‘It’s time schools realised the pressure they are putting families under. and how heart-breaking it is for children left behind.’