We might be biased, but at Braintastic! Science, we think that bringing external providers, like us, into schools can be pretty fab. But one of the biggest hurdles we run into when talking to schools is price. We get it. Budgets are tight, and our prices might, on the face of it, seem high. But, when you compare booking a day of Braintastic! Science shows and workshops to taking your students on a school trip, it becomes clear that we provide great value. School trips are amazing- they are memorable and exciting for the kids, and allow them to get hands-on and experience subjects in a different way. But they are also a huge amount of work for teachers to organise, and can add up to be really quite expensive. And with fuel prices hitting record highs, costs are unfortunately only headed one way – coach hire is already up 25-40%, with TES warning that students are missing out on school trips as transport costs have become ‘unviable’ for many schools.
Let’s take a trip to a museum as an example. I have hugely fond memories of visiting the Natural History Museum each year while at primary school- and especially of the year our science teacher snuck a group of us across the road to the Science Museum, for a bit of variety!
Museum entry may be free, but there are still lots of costs to consider. Let’s say you are taking 100 students; you will need:
Two coaches (most hold about 50 people). This will cost at least £500 per coach, so £1000 in total
100 lunches (ordered from the museum, these will be about £5.50 per person). Alternatively, you have to ask your school caterers to provide them, or rely on students remembering to bring their own.
If you want to go to a special exhibition, a show or performance, these often have a price tag- e.g. £8 per person
This adds up to £2350
And then there is all the time and hassle involved for you. For example, you will need:
To find 10 adults to chaperone (1 adult for every 10 students and specific activities require more adults)
To distribute and collect permission slips for each child
To conduct your own risk assessment, and some venues even recommend a scoping visit before the event to plan out your trip.
On the other hand, hosting a fun day of spectacular science shows in your school is surprisingly easy. You don’t need to find volunteer chaperones. You don’t need permission slips. You don’t need packed lunches. We come to you, bringing everything we need to guarantee an unforgettable experience. With Braintastic! Science, for example, all we ask for is a venue, a table and (for shows) a microphone. Then you can sit back, relax and leave the rest to us! Our prices vary depending on what you book, but a full day of activities for Year 9 might look like this:
This action packed day costs £1195 – that’s half the price of a museum trip, and even better, we will send three of our fab Braintastic! team to run the whole day for you!
Another of our really popular offers, packed full of shows for 5 different year groups to reach as many students as possible, looks like this:
This would come to just £895, as we only need one of our expert science presenters. The only add-on would be travel expenses to get to you, and budget accommodation if she needs to stay over the night before to start bright and early. This might, for example, come to £100. And there’s no VAT to pay on our prices either.
At less than half the cost of a school trip, and just £1.50 per student (assuming 100 per year group) we think that's pretty great value! (Although do invite as many as you can fit – we’ve performed our spectacular science shows for audiences up to 800.) Plus, its far less hassle for you to organise!
We tailor all our packages to your specific needs, so we can provide a full day for one year group, several shows for different ages, or something in between. Just let us know what you have in mind. For secondary schools, why not invite your feeder schools for a taste of the fun they can expect when they join you? Or perhaps invite other local schools- you could even club together and split the costs. We can even stay into the evening for you to offer a family or community event (this could be ticketed, if you like, and selling 100 tickets at £8 a head you’d almost cover the cost of the whole day!) Just get in touch to discuss how we can make a Braintastic! Science fun day fit your needs perfectly.
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