School Trip

mrcow

How much did you pay for the trip?

patchwork_cat

Don't know it was a weeks worth of activities, seriously good value £65 for the week. That is my point the refund is not going to pay for a revisit. It is the disappointment.

Gingham_Ribbon

As has already mentioned, why on earth didn't that coach load just swap the days round, so they had full days at both places? I don't understand why they would turn round after getting so close to the right destination, just on the wrong day.

samandona

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

As has already mentioned, why on earth didn't that coach load just swap the days round, so they had full days at both places? I don't understand why they would turn round after getting so close to the right destination, just on the wrong day.

Because it is probably a highly complicated and organised set of trips (despite the evident lack of organisation on this occasion!).

One or two teachers would have had all the tickets (for the intended destination) for the 4 or 5 coaches of children and adults. The destination would have known to expect the coachloads of kiddies. Just because there are a number of activities included in the 'package' doesnt mean you can randomly turn up to any of them unannounced.

Gingham_Ribbon

Yes. I accept that some of the activities that had been planned at a venue wouldn't be accessible to them. I never went on a school trip without the tickets for the children I was responsible for but even if the teachers didn't have the tickets, most places would let the group in anyway, with a returnable downpayment. The kids would probably have rather just experienced the place rather than miss out on most of it anyway by being so late.

That said, I do know that some places can be quite obstructive about these things and it's possible that they would be expected to pay again.

gregg1

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

I think this is disgraceful - were the teachers asleep or something?

If I were in your shoes I would be really annoyed.We pay a fortune for these schooltrips and the least they can do is get it right.Sometimes i dont know why they even bother, by the time they get there and if there are loads of other school trips there, the kids only get to go on a couple of rides anyway!!

Yeah - what they should have done was stick some blu-tak on a teacher's backside, taking care to avoid their eyes (cos teachers have eyes up their backsides didnt you know?) and stick em to the window as a back-up sat nav!

Dont be so ridiculous - of course the blame is not with the teachers. The ratio of kids to teachers is 10:1, add into that equation that the kids will probably be mega hyper due to the excitement and anyone with half a brain can see that the teachers were probably busy doing what they get paid to do which is look after the kids.


If something happened to one of the kids on the coach while the teacher was watching the road and not the kids, you would be the first to have a go at them for neglecting little Johnny!

The blame lies fairly and squarely with the stupid driver.

patchwork_cat

No this is secondary school the ratio was not 10:1. Nobody is asking them to watch the road all the time, just enough to pay attention. If you read my thread you will see that they were clearly NOT paying attention to the kids at all. At one point all the kids started pointing out a landmark that was on the wrong motorway! My DD says that were heavily engaged in a conversation the whole time.

Apart from everything else did the school not miss a learning opportunity in not discussing the route and the time it should take etc.

gratefulforhelp_2

gregg1 wrote: »

the teachers were probably busy doing what they get paid to do which is look after the kids.

I appreciate you sticking up for us, but we are primarily trained to teach the kids. An increasing number of us are unwilling to go on school trips because of situations like this, and others.

We do not have to go on school trips, it is not what we are employed for, and it does not represent a day off, or a rest. Generally there is a lot of work that needs to be caught up on our return, all we do is not represented by our time in the classroom. Each time a teacher takes part in a trip, he/she risks his/her professional reputation in the interests of giving the student a wider experience and forging better and more constructive relationships.

I always trust in the bus drivers to get to the destination, and would only intervene if the driver was driving dangerously, or being rude/inappropriate to the students.

That said, I would expect the school to be giving at least a partial refund, and as jojo said, if the school took your money then it is their problem where that refund comes from.

patchwork_cat

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

I appreciate you sticking up for us, but we are primarily trained to teach the kids. An increasing number of us are unwilling to go on school trips because of situations like this, and others.

We do not have to go on school trips, it is not what we are employed for, and it does not represent a day off, or a rest. Generally there is a lot of work that needs to be caught up on our return, all we do is not represented by our time in the classroom. Each time a teacher takes part in a trip, he/she risks his/her professional reputation in the interests of giving the student a wider experience and forging better and more constructive relationships.

I always trust in the bus drivers to get to the destination, and would only intervene if the driver was driving dangerously, or being rude/inappropriate to the students.

That said, I would expect the school to be giving at least a partial refund, and as jojo said, if the school took your money then it is their problem where that refund comes from.

So if you spotted that a driver was going in the wrong direction you wouldn't intervene? IMO part of a modern teacher's job is taking trips, just as it is taking extra clubs etc. It is extendng the curriculum to give a fully rounded experience whish I am sure comes under the any other duties part of your contract. I must ask my sister if it is in her contract.

I am not going to convince you I am sure as your post reads like .. I am teacher I have a very hard job for very little pay and anything else I do is out of the goodness of my heart and I take no responsibility if anything goes wrong.

There are plenty of graduates that also do very hard jobs for insufficent remuneration, frequently because they have a calling.

It makes me wonder about the calibre of an individual who can sit on a coach, at the front, and not notice for 3 hours (when the journey should only have taken 2!) that she was going the wrong way. In fact there were 2 teachers, the children are very well behaved, and neither teacher noticed. I give up, these are graduates and at this school should be high calibre, too.

milliebear00001

patchwork_cat wrote: »

So if you spotted that a driver was going in the wrong direction you wouldn't intervene? IMO part of a modern teacher's job is taking trips, just as it is taking extra clubs etc. It is extendng the curriculum to give a fully rounded experience whish I am sure comes under the any other duties part of your contract. I must ask my sister if it is in her contract.

I am not going to convince you I am sure as your post reads like .. I am teacher I have a very hard job for very little pay and anything else I do is out of the goodness of my heart and I take no responsibility if anything goes wrong.

There are plenty of graduates that also do very hard jobs for insufficent remuneration, frequently because they have a calling.

It makes me wonder about the calibre of an individual who can sit on a coach, at the front, and not notice for 3 hours (when the journey should only have taken 2!) that she was going the wrong way. In fact there were 2 teachers, the children are very well behaved, and neither teacher noticed. I give up, these are graduates and at this school should be high calibre, too.

It's disappointing that a very unusual situation has been turned into a boring and depressing 'teacher bashing' thread by some posters.

I also live in the locality you're talking about, and as a regular, and experienced driver, it would probably have become apparent fairly soon to me that we were on the wrong road. However, not everybody drives, not all teachers are local to their school and trip buses are a nightmare most of the time, requiring teachers to pay attention to what's going on on the bus, rather than the road - regardless of what you think you know about the behaviour of the children in the class.

The school should be seeking recompense from the coach company. It is likely they are already doing so, and I am surprised nobody seems to think this is the case. Parents and children should then be offered either a repeat visit, or a refund. Regardless of who you feel is to blame, these are really the only options. Either way, it's likely to cost the school money over and above that already spent from it's budget (and judging from the price you paid, that's likely to have already been a considerable amount from school coffers).

Trips are not a part of a professional teachers required activities whether or not you believe them to be. It simply isn't part of our contract of employment (neither are after-school clubs which we also do by choice) we are well within our rights to refuse to go. Many do - particularly if they think they are going to encounter situations such as this.