2018May30

Saving for school trips



  1. Write down the dates of all the school trips coming up for the year/term/month, depending on how long in advance the school gives you these dates.
  2. Write down all the costs for the outing, e.g. entry fee, bus fee and pocket money. Parents tend to forget that the trip costs more than the amount you pay the school. Your child has to eat, drink, travel etc.
  3. Work backwords on your calendar from the trip/outing date to determine when you have to start saving for it or in which month you have to budget it in. If the trip is in August, you already have to plan for it in July.
  4. If you can’t afford all for your child to attend all the school trips during the year, ask the teacher which ones are compulsory or recommended and negotiate with your child which trips they will be able to go on.
  5. If the school has annual trips overseas, negotiate with your child in which grade they will go on that trip and save towards it. Your child can do holiday work to help save.

Marinda Botha

Educational Psychologist

I started teaching in 2004 while still studying. After completing my Education degree at the University of Johannesburg in 2006, I took a special interest in psychology. I went on to complete my Honours and Masters degree at the University of Pretoria and qualified as an Educational Psychologist in 2009. I remained in the schooling system with my role changing from educator to school psychologist where I got the opportunity to address a lot of the issues I saw in the classroom on an individual basis. In addition, I also entered private practice and qualified as a BabyGym instructor in 2009. My focus was on developmental classes with moms and their babies, the prevention of learning difficulties, learning difficulties, emotional difficulties, career guidance, accommodations/concessions and school readiness. I especially enjoyed giving parents guidance as I felt that the parent’s role in the intervention process was crucial for success. The fact that parents often felt left in the dark with regards to their children’s therapy or the education system, sparked this interest on even further. Demystifying educational and developmental issues one parent at a time was very satisfying, doing it on a platform that could potentially reach millions of parents by writing about these topics is exhilarating.

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