Pupils are missing out on “invaluable” experiences because schools are having to cut trips as transport costs rise, headteachers have warned.
Petrol and diesel prices hit record highs last week, having been at consistently pricey levels for several months. This has meant some schools have found travel costs, such as coach hire, to be “prohibitively expensive”.
The UK Coach Operators Association (UKCOA) says a 25 per cent increase in the cost of coach hire compared with pre-pandemic levels is typical - owing to fuel rises and other factors such as staffing shortages - but adds that, in some cases, rises of up to 40 per cent have been seen.
Headteachers have warned that the rising prices mean some children who have already missed out on important experiences during the pandemic are now missing even more.
The extra financial pressure comes at a time when school budgets and families’ personal finances are already stretched. School energy bills and catering costs have soared in recent months, while parents’ purse strings are being tested by high levels of inflation.
High cost of coach hire
An education programme in East Anglia said that six schools due to attend a food and farming event it was putting on in July had cancelled places, citing the high cost of coach hire as the reason.
Kids Country, run by the East of England Agricultural Society, said its event cost just £4.80 per child to attend but prospective schools were saying that the cost of coach hire was becoming “prohibitive” to their attendance.
The organisation’s education manager, Sandra Lauridsen, said: ”It is a real shame that children are potentially going to miss out on such an amazing experience.”
Jan Douglas, deputy headteacher at Monkton Park Primary School in Wiltshire, said that rising fuel costs, coupled with a congestion charge in Bristol - the school’s nearest city - had resulted in rocketing prices for school trips. She said teachers were looking at cutting down to trips that could be accessed by foot, rather than by car.
Booking travel to a residential course had increased in price by close to 50 per cent compared with before the pandemic, and the cost of some trips had doubled, she added.
Letting parents pay in instalments
“We’re doing what we can to mitigate this,” Ms Douglas said. “We’re being vigilant; we’re getting as many quotes as we can. When we ask parents for contributions to costs, we’re giving them the longest notice that we can, so they can have time to plan and also pay in instalments if necessary.”
She added: “It’s making everyone stop and think - can we run this trip, can we run that trip? Can we really ask parents for that amount of money when we know everyone is struggling at the moment? It can be a lot to ask for, especially if they have siblings in other classes who are going on visits.”
Leasing
Chris Parham, headteacher at St Issey Church of England Primary School in Cornwall, said the rising cost of transport was having a big impact on his school’s budget, with trips to the local swimming pool costing around 20 per cent more than they had before the pandemic. Other trips, such as residentials, were going up in price, too.
The school is trying to deal with the issue by leasing a minibus. While this does not help with high fuel costs, Parham believes it will save on coach-hire costs in the long term.
More teaching time for leaders
But he said the school could only afford to do this by him remaining as a classroom teacher for two days a week and by raising an extra £4,700, which he said would likely have to be done by crowdfunding.
He added: “It’s important the kids don’t miss out on trips because there’s a cultural capital element to this. Children have missed out on trips due to the pandemic and we need to ensure they don’t miss out on more as well.”
Some trips ‘unviable’
The Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL) said the issue was leaving headteachers with “decisions to make”.
The organisation’s operations director, Bethan Cullen, said: “As inflationary rises come in and other financial pressures grow, schools will look at their investment in educational enhancements, like school trips, and these will come under greater consideration. In some cases, they may decide to reduce these trips or they may decide some trips are unviable.”
How schools can keep costs down
Many schools have different travel arrangements, with some owning buses or minibuses, and others hiring coaches to take children. Schools will also fund these in different ways, with headteachers asking parents for contributions at different levels.
In terms of coach hire, UKCOA managing director Peter Bradley said the easiest way to keep costs down was to “contain” hire within the school day.
He said this meant that, if a school hired a coach to transport pupils to and from school, and could plan to use the same driver and coach for a school trip during the day, this would cut prices “significantly”.
Specifically, with regards to residential trips, schools could coordinate with the venue to ensure no “empty returns”, he added. This means that when pupils are dropped off at the residential venue, the coach does not return to the depot empty but instead picks up another set of pupils at the venue before returning to their destination, ensuring the coach is full in both directions.
