2022 - 2023

Letter sent to all parents Extended Learning - Residential and Day Trips Overview 2022-23.pdf.

At King Solomon Academy we strong believe in the power of purposeful academic and extra-curricular trips and visits. If we are to achieve our mission of providing a ‘rigorous and transformational education’ we need to look beyond the walls of this building for amazing opportunities in the real world that really broaden your children’s horizons and raise their aspirations. We are delighted to once again, begin planning for a full trips programme for the 2022-2023 academic year after an enforced break. 

All extended learning activities, visits and residential trips have been planned for the year ahead. Here you will find brief information about these activities and a reminder about contribution totals for pupils in each year group. 

All parents were asked to make a financial contribution to the cost of trips.  The payment deadline for all payments was Monday 21st of November 2022.  

We continue to use some of the school budget to ensure that cost doesn’t get in the way of all pupils being able to attend. The government gives the school extra money for pupils on Free School Meals so those parents only need to contribute a lesser amount. All payments must go through Parent Pay or be paid in cash at either of the offices on the YYS or the OYS. For any enquiries about Parent Pay, speak to any of the Office team at OYS or at YYS. 

Should you have any questions about any of the trips please contact your child’s Head of Year. 

Cost

We recognise that after what has potentially been more challenging financial period for lots of families, we need to keep costs down and have therefore reduced the day trip costs for the 2022-2023 academic year. We are communicating costs that we are asking parents to contribute to this side of the summer holidays, so that parents can plan for this and so we can ensure bookings (which we must make in advance) are held in place. Costs for the residential trips have been held at the lowest rate possible for a long time but we do need to move these up slightly this year to reflect increasing fees from suppliers, accommodation and travel companies.  For families eligible for free school meals the school commits to paying approximately 60% of what it could cost per child for all trips they go on. We ask parents to cover the remaining 40% - this is the Extended Learning Fund. (In primary this includes day trips). For families not eligible for free school meals we ask parents to contribute 70% of the cost of these trips. 

On average a residential trip will cost the school between £190 to £220 per child (depending on the length, distance away from school, the types of activities undertaken and the final total numbers of pupils who attend). A breakdown of trip costs year on year can be seen below.  

Optional Residential Trips - Secondary 

The residential trips table in the letter shows that we offer an additional range of trips which we encourage students to consider as part of their journey exploring their development as open minded and inquisitive young adults looking to the future. These trips, such as DofE, the Sixth form Residential, the Student Leadership Trip and the Upper School Orchestra Tour, allow students to develop independence, leadership, resilience and specific skills (subject related or otherwise) that enhance their schooling experience and help prepare them for university and beyond.

These trips are often more expensive than the regular whole year group trips as they can involve travel abroad, specialist external providers or external accreditation. We subsidise as much as we can but with the opt in nature, we do ask that parents of pupils who chose to sign up cover more of the cost. A rough guide of these costs is below to help you plan. Some are year group specific and others run across different year groups.

Optional trips will often have separate payment deadlines to be communicate once student sign up has been confirmed.