Unrealistic school trips part 2. The meeting…

Cripes – that’s shocking Epi.

OP how many teachers are planning on going

£70k? Malawi?

Our Boys Brigade raised £70k over a year, from very wealthy Dunblane.

That sent 25 boys and some leaders to !alawi for a fortnight. It paid for I think 12 new school classrooms (re-roofed, windows, plaster, drains, steps etc), new toilets and a Marys Meals kitchen renovation. The BB boys spent 8 days painting the new rooms, two days in local community and three days hiking or safari.

I still had an issue that some money was going to our boys heading over there, however what they achieved was fabulous.

As I said on this last thread my first thought is that its a disgrace that state schools promote this shit. However when trying to compete with the private schools should state schools try to at least offer this CV enriching stuff? At an interview a kid could talk about his trip to Malawi to help people and how he raised money or about how great he is on XBox…..
Wouldnt take any kids on one myself though, sod that. Going to the Natural History museum is bad enough!!

Or you could go to tha same african country as a family trip paint some class rooms and contract malaria, dysentry etc and save yourself thousands.
Same experience of living in a place with no wi-fi, hot / cold running water , Nandos etc.
Why pay the school and this ‘world experience’ company for the privilage of s******g in a hole in the ground?

Or in an ever so slightly less cynical frame of mind . Time for an excel spreadsheet on the cost of running the family budget on a monthly/ yearly basis.
No reason why the kids should not learn what it costs to live in the real world , and although all the nice toys arae all handed over at birthday or christmas time that cash has to come from somewhere.
The kids might then appreciate the £300 phone and the effort and scrifices that parents have to go through to scrape together enough cash so the gadgets are in shocking pink , and the trainers arent by Dunlop thus alleviating playground bulying and possible social ostracism by not having an Iphone7se

stick it all in there food, gas, electric , water , council tax, car tax, car insurance , mtg, pensions ,holidays, house contents ins, house buildings ins, TV licence , fuel , servicing MOT costs. You might get something out of it as well.
Might be best to leave out the shiney bike parts secret stash column , or put in a rainy day amount of say £100s if we need a new clutch or washing machine

You could get 4 weeks for less than £1500 inc.flights and transfers from a quick search:

http://www.originalvolunteers.co.uk/destinations/africa/malawi.html

paint some class rooms

Do a fund raiser, raise some cash, goto B&Q buy paints and brushes, send them to the village and get the lazy gits to paint their own **** walls!! I need my kitchen painting and for a mere £1000, I will let you live in my garage and I’ll give you some fig rolls 😆

Do a fund raiser, raise some cash, goto B&Q buy paints and brushes, send them to the village and get the lazy gits to paint their own **** walls!! I need my kitchen painting and for a mere £1000, I will let you live in my garage and I’ll give you some fig rolls

and supply a bucket to crap into , some mosquito’s, a 5ft snake that may or may not be venomous, and a badge thats got one of those god awful mission statements on it ” Saving the world one brush stroke at a time”

Where do I sign up?

Do a fund raiser, raise some cash, goto B&Q buy paints and brushes, send them to the village and get the lazy gits to paint their own **** walls!! I need my kitchen painting and for a mere £1000, I will let you live in my garage and I’ll give you some fig rolls

I think the point being that
1) most of the cash went to pay local builders to do the work
2) the small amount of painting was an opportunity for some of our middle class, white, narrow minded Scottish kids to go sh*t in a bucket, meet the school and kids, and learn something in life outside of usual.

As I said in the first thread, I am a fan of trips like this, I do see they have lifelong impact.

I am not a fan of commercialised, overpriced, purely for fun, and mis-placed well meaning….

Relate it firmly to learning and life – and as a context, it can be amazeballs.

There is a lot of cynical and bitter sounding off on this thread. God forbid a company made money running these trips! We happily shell out on expensive stuff for ourselves and kids which companies sell and make money from giving employment to people.

At least these companies are also providing life long memories and some experience of other cultures and giving something back that is really worthwhile. So if you’re wondering whether to encourage your child to do something like this and don’t want to ‘diy’ it to save money here’s my experience.

At the age of 17 in the 90’s I went to Peru for 4 weeks with world challenge. I think the cost was somewhere between 1000-1500 and we fund raised about half. My parents who were fairly well off paid the rest for me to have an experience that I vividly member now. It was in no way a cushy holiday. It was a serious culture shock and very challenging experience, trying to source food and accommodation in a language we didn’t know well (we did Spanish lessons once a week for a year beforehand) each child had to take turns being leader for a day and I absolutely dreaded my turn as a very shy child. We had physical challenges of hiking remote mountains and carrying all our stuff, sleeping under the stars, cultural experiences in the cities and towns, we stayed with a lovely family in the Amazon jungle, hiked the inca trail to machu picchu and built a play ground for a remote village School. We experienced physical hardship, sickness and a month away from everything and everybody we take for granted (no mobiles or Internet back then though) I cherish that experience but had never been so happy to see my mum and English bread in my life since. I know that it’s possible to experience these sorts of things perhaps in a gap year but as a very shy, anxious female I know I wouldn’t have done these things on my own and never will again.

To address the free holiday for teachers aspect:I went to a very big, well performing secondary and none of our teachers were able to or wanted to come so we had a teacher from a nearby primary come instead and our world challenge leader was an absolutely brilliant guy who I’ll never forget.

Another aspect that I’ve just remembered is that in order to be ready for the physical challenge that we would undergo in a year’s time we did regular fitness training including doing the police fitness test at our local police head quarters which I failed and at the end we went to our local fire station and did their fitness test. World challenge also organised a long weekend on dartmoor hiking, navigating, first aid and camping in the most abysmal weather I’ve ever camped in and this is part of the total cost. So there was a lot more to it than a 4 week trip. It was our way of life and our goal to work towards for a year beforehand. I do understand it was a privilege not everyone could afford but that exists in all aspects of life and like others have said if some can’t afford it that is a lesson to do well at school and earn so you can afford it later in life.

Mentioned this to my wife who is a teacher. She said they also have a Malawi trip but it’s around 1k…

Not a chance in hell would I entertain that sort of cost.

As for charities and the black hole they are – I have no compunction or guilt charging them for any work we do.
I’ve seen first hand just how much money is wasted on salaries, CEO’s, events, etc – so no, I don’t feel guilty when the money hits the company bank account.

Why is this still going after hebdencyclist’s comment? I thought Edukator’s comment was a follow up but I was wrong.

At an interview a kid could talk about his trip to Malawi to help people and how he raised money or about how great he is on XBox…..

People could use help in many places, including locally, you don’t need to be going to Malawi in order to raise money. If you want to do stuff to help with interviews there are infinite options.

Thats true km79 but which would you have rather done as a 16 year old?

The deposit is due 8th December, 275 quid just for that. It’s causing a world of shit at home. I’ve resolutely said it’s not happening but mrs ws has said let’s see what she can raise between now and then. She’s not even got a part time job ffs!

I think your communication with your wife is the issue biggest here!!

If you’re going to spend that much money on your kid, ask them what they’d prefer. The trip, or half the money for whatever they want (e.g. new bike), and the rest to a suitable charity locally.

OP my daughter did two 5 week long World Challenge trips one to Bolivia and one to Mongolia. Each cost about £3k and she raised most of the money herself – it took nearly a year. She did a 6 month gap year trip and raised all of that herself by working as a dental nurse for 5 months. £4k for a “school trip” to be funded/guaranteed by parents is totally ridiculous. I would agree that you should not enter a contractual arrangement to pay that. If your daughter commits to raise the money when it’s due in installments that’s a different issue. If she falls short then the money is lost/deposit forfitted.

EDIT: in my daughters experience the “doing good” part is a bit of a sham, a few days painting a school … £4k trip is a life experience not really helping local population, you’d help them more making a £500 donation to the correct charity

BUNAC USA Summer Camp jobs

Not sure if this is suitable , but is by far and away better value.
Be good to do between A levels and Uni. A nice incentive / reward / carrot
I guess its aimed at outdoorsy types , but I didnt go so unsure

Some of the costs schools charge and then parents pay baffles me.
I’m a scout leader and if we charged parents £80-90 for a long weekend at PGL we would have complaints and moaning left right and centre, the school charges £200 and the parents think it’s value for money.

Organising your own trip keeps the cost down, went to Romania last year with a group of kids charged £650 for two weeks, we arranged it all ourselves, met another group out there from East Anglia who had gone via a company and paid just over £1000 a head.
Next year we’re off to Poland two weeks for £850, the budget is tight but we are organising fundraisers if the kids want to take part if up to them.

£4170.
That’s 4170 English pounds Stirling.
The national average wage is what? £27k? For a school to think that’s acceptable for an average family to pay is bonkers.

Teen1 had a month away with a similar group, Camps International. Pupils are expected to raise funds for the trip, and that is part of the experience. He spent his 18th birthday snorkelling off the Galápagos Islands, but also dug the foundations for a school and other menial tasks. It wasn’t cheap, but it was value for money. The teachers worked hard for that month, but they did buy him a beer o celebrate! As for the UCAS points, well none of his party bothered to write their journey up. It did give him something to talk about though at interviews.

Teen2 will do the same in Peru, but because they run three year cycles, it will be his 17th birthday instead.