TEIGN School’s decision to charge £441 for their annual year seven residential has sparked anger and alarm among some parents.

The four-day, three-night residential has been branded ‘poor value for money’ and ‘tone deaf’, given the current cost of living crisis.

One parent commented that while the residential was supposedly four days, the trip would only give the kids two actual full days of activities.

Although the trip was only to Torquay, the other two days were required for transit to and from Barton Hall. This comes after heavy costs for all parents of year seven children, as the purchase of branded and expensive uniform has already run up bills of approximately £200. Some parents have also had costs over the summer such as £110 on the ‘Big Step’, a student programme helping children make the transition to secondary school.

For one family, the costs were too much to handle at this time. One mother of two, both at Teign School with her and her partner working two jobs, said: ‘I still talk to my friends about my school residentials, so I was really keen to give my son the opportunity to make some lifelong memories.

‘My son was so nervous on the first day but he came back absolutely buzzing for this residential. However, after finding out the cost, I’m going to have to sit him down and tell him that we’re not going to be able to do it.

‘I want my child to have these opportunities and as a working parent we feel like we should, but right now I’m having to choose between the residential and feeding my family for a month.’

A spokesperson for Teign School said: ‘We are very sympathetic to the current challenges our families are facing.

‘It is challenging for schools to get the right balance of offering wider, additional experiences and the costs associated with these opportunities.

‘Offering a residential experience to our year 7 students is something that many of our families have highly valued in previous years and were much missed due to the covid pandemic. We looked at several centres across the region to host our students and have sought the most competitive price offered for where there was availability for our students.

‘The trip is optional and those not attending have a fantastic non-residential experience during the same time period. The school provides additional financial support for those families in receipt of free school meals.

‘We work extremely hard to support the children in our care and support the local community through the dedication and hard work of our staff and the relationships we make with the students and their families.’