Cancelled School Trip - Advice Please

[Joanne UK]

My eldest daughter is in Yr 1 and was due to go on a school trip this month to a Victorian museum in Braintree. This is a trip run annually by the school, the children dress in Victorian fancy dress and always have a really good time.

A letter was sent out a few weeks ago asking if we would authorise our children to go on the trip and also if we were willing to pay for it - the cost was £11.75. One parent refused to pay and so the whole trip, for both Yr 1 Classes has been cancelled.

Several parents, myself included have written to the Headmaster as well as having various chats with various teachers - there is a feeling of outrage in the playground over this! We have been told the following; If you give permission for your child to go on a school trip but are not willing to pay your child has to go on the trip if the trip goes ahead. Also, the school are not allowed to make a loss on a school trip by law. So, as we understand it, apart from those parents who are on benefit etc and would get the trip paid for, everybody else has to pay for trips, if one person who should pay doesn't then the trip would make a loss and, therefore has to be cancelled.

Has anybody got any advice on what we can do? If this parent continues to refuse to pay then it looks like my daughter will not be going on any more school trips, which makes me furious. Would it be unreasonable for us to ask the school to approach this woman, inform her that she is the only one stopping the trip going ahead and therefore would she reconsider and pay up, or would she withdraw permission for her child to attend the trip so that the 59 other children can still go.

Sorry this has been a bit longwinded - any tips/suggestions/advice would be much appreciated.

Sorry - this should have been posted to Community Board. Could someone move it for me please

 

[UKDEB]

Sorry - this should have been posted to Community Board. Could someone move it for me please

Your wish is my command.

 

[Queenie]

Can't give you any advice but that does sound rediculous, I'd be annoyed too!

 

[emily1982]

At our school if one parent can't pay we normall either meet them halfway or pay the whole thing, prehaps there is more to it?

£11 doesn't sound unreasonable for a school to pay if the parent can't pay for certain reasons, we take our reception classes on an over night residential and ask far more than that!

 

[natalielongstaff]

this seems a bit extreme to me 60 kids why let all them down because of one child

 

[Laurafoster]

Sounds petty to me. If one parent doesnt want to pay then the trip should go ahead with the other 59 people!!

 

[jen_uk]

It does sound stupid, I feel sorry for the child whos parent won't pay, if they know what is going on they must feel awful.

 

[carolfoy]

I feel sorry for that kid too, how long before other kids start saying 'we couldn't go because of you!' £11. is a pittance - can you all get together and persuade the parent to let the child be off sick that day, I mean she must have a reason why she doesn't want the child to take part

 

[cheryl.UK]

My guess is that there is more to it than meets they eye. In all probablilty the parent is, what we call in the trade, 'unsupportive' when we are being polite and I won't tell you what we call them when we're not.

If the parent is known for their 'unsupportive' behaviour, especially if they are known to hold influence over other parents, I'm not surprised that the school is taking this decision. I've seen primary schools brought to their knees by small groups of 'unsupportive' parents with a point to prove. Refusing to pay for school trips but giving permission for the child to go, is a common tactic. What happens next is that they see if they can get the school to refuse to take them, then the school is in trouble. If the school pays for the child to go...the next trip 6 or 7 parents do the same claiming a precident has been set...you can see the pattern. This kind of behaviour is usually accompanied by constant letters of complaint to governors who have to 'look into' them wasting countless hours of the head's time, which for a primary head is an all too scarce.

Not sure that this helps with the problem but it might give you an inight into why it's happening. If the other parents make additional donations it might solve the issue this time but it may not be the end of the problem.

 

[Ware Bears]

What a shame ~ I feel really sorry for your DD and the others who were looking forward to going.

 

[BRobson]

That is so unfair. Hope the situation gets sorted out soon.

 

[wils]

What a shame I don't know what you can do

 

[Minniespal]

Sounds a bit extreme ~ Hope your DD wasn't too disappointed.

 

[Lizzy Lemon]

There were plenty of parents not paying up for trips when my boys were at primary school. The children still got to go on the trips so guess who was funding them? It made me so angry that it was the same people all the time and the same parents have to pay more for their children to cover the cost of the non payers. We used to have to watch the pennies, that is why I ended up cleaning at our local hospital to make ends meet but I always, always paid our way.