A mum has hit out at the expensive cost of school trips as 'utterly ridiculous' and claimed she could take a family of six on holiday for the same cost.
Single mum Emma Mellor saw the cost that a school trip to Poland at her 11-year-old son's school was an incredible £799 for three nights in Krakow.
For that price, her son would have been getting a return flight to Poland, a coach service to Manchester Airport to start the journey, three nights in a three star hotel in Krakow and a range of experiences while out there.
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These included two meals in a restaurant, tours of iconic Krakow landmarks such as Wawel Castle and the Royal Cathedral, a trip to a nearby salt mine, a visit to Oskar Schindler's factory and a trip to the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Mellor would have had to put down a deposit of £300 for the trip, with a limit to 40 places being offered on a first come, first serve basis.
The mum slammed this trip as 'ridiculous' and said that for that cost she could take herself and all five of her children on a holiday.
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She said: "I was shocked when I saw that it was £800 for three nights.
"For this sort of money, we could go on a nice family holiday in a caravan for five days or we could splash out and go on a weekend away, all six of us, to Centre Parcs.
"I would rather spend my money on doing something for the whole family. I've got an older child who is currently in year 10 and I remember he went on a trip to Berlin last year or the year before and it only cost him £275."
"The trip only says two evening meals and it doesn't say anything about other food so I imagine they will need more money for other meals."
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Her son hasn't mentioned about going on the trip but Mellor has said she will have to tell him they couldn't afford it if he wanted to go.
She described it as something for the '1 percent with plenty of throwaway income'.
She is sure that she isn't the only parent taken aback by the cost of the school trip and said her comments were 'not so much of a complaint against the school, it is more of being shocked by the price of the trip'.
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The 40-year-old also wondered whether other parents would be giving up their own holidays to send their children on expensive school trips.
"It's really sparked some interesting discussion of more and more people not being able to afford the school trips as they are becoming more expensive and out of reach," she said.
"People are having to go without a holiday or work even more hours if that is even possible to be able to fund them and it's unrealistic expectations. With the cost of living rising at an incredible rate, people's wages aren't even matching this.
"I would imagine it would cost anywhere between £400 or £500 of extra money on top of the £799 for food, clothes for the trip, travel money, insurance and you want them to have a good time on the trip too. It isn't just our school, people seem to be experiencing this at schools across the country."
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The same school is also offering other school trips in 2024 and 2025 to Iceland and Italy, which both cost a sphincter-tightening £1,200.
Joe Harker