School Trip

gratefulforhelp_2

That is above and beyond! Let's hope you arrive safely.

Peggy40

Sorry! Id be wondering what they teach, if they can go three hours in the wrong direction .... should they be teaching at all ? Incredible!

Amanda65

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

When as a parent I travelled on school trips both teachers and parents sat next to a child and did not chat away to each other but talked to the children

I assume though that as a parent on a school trip this was primary whereas the OP's daughter is at secondary school. To have a teacher or parent sat next to you on a coach would be a punishment imo .

Agree with everyone that although very disappointing, sadly life doesn't always go to plan - sometimes it someone's fault, sometimes it isn't but I certainly wouldn't be spending money to 'make up' for a missed couple of hours at a zoo, which was part of a whole week of activities taken during school time. TBH, when schools go on so much about the importance of not taking holidays in term time, I wonder why on earth it is OK for them to have the children out of the classroom for a week of jollies :cool:

Loopy_Girl

patchwork_cat wrote: »

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

Well here is an excellent learning opportunity to show your daughter that sometimes in life, other people's actions have a direct effect on you and can cause disappointment and as frustrating as it is, such is life. People are only human and everyone makes mistakes or errors of judgement from time to time.

And I'm pretty sure that at 12 years old she has been to the zoo many many times and it's not as if she has missed out on a once in a lifetime school trip. Not the point, of course it's not, been it's happened and it just has to be dealt with.

patchwork_cat wrote: »

On the return journey DD and classmates were told by teacher in charge that there was to be no more talk of it and that would be the end of it!

Probably because they had to endure 3 hours of kids moaning when the teachers had already apologised. Also kids coming off their mobile phones and saying 'My Mum says this is terrible' loud enough for the teachers to hear;)

Tuesday_Tenor

As someone who's pretty geographically aware I would certainly have been aware of going in an inappropriate direction ...

BUT (and something no one else has mentioned)

... it would have been quite a while before I queried it with the driver.
I would have assumed the driver had up-to-date info on the traffic conditions and was diverting in order to avoid, for example, a huge accident on the intended route. I would have trusted the driver to know the best diversion for coach access to the destination.

The fact that it turned out to be a mistake in the destination led to a disappointment, yes ... but ... such is life ... Hope the school get some compensation from the coach company; doubt whether it'd be a full refund though, as they did get 3 hours at the zoo.

Idiophreak

Peggy40 wrote: »

Sorry! Id be wondering what they teach, if they can go three hours in the wrong direction .... should they be teaching at all ? Incredible!

I'm not so sure about this...my OH is the most fantastic teacher, gets brilliant reports, has well above average pupil progress, manages the special needs of many students, takes on extra responsibility, is progressing fast through the ranks...blah blah blah...

But she really doesn't have a great head for directions...If you give her a map, she can point to where places are, but on the road she just can't tell you which direction you need to go to get from A to B, she can't tell you which motorways go where...she's getting better, but it's just something she's never been great at. I'd be *amazed* if this ever happened to her, she's the kind of person that will double and triple check *every* detail of a trip, but I really don't think a person's "direction" skills reflect on their ability to teach...

elisebutt65

Peggy40 wrote: »

Sorry! Id be wondering what they teach, if they can go three hours in the wrong direction .... should they be teaching at all ? Incredible!

That is so incredibly offensive!!! I teach and if I ever agreed to go on a trip, I'd never know which way we're supposed to be going. I don't drive and rarely pay attention to roads - usually rely on getting on the right train!


I won't do the theme park trips because of the new safeguarding rules we have to abide by - now if we take the students on a trip, we are assigned a group and we have to stick with them all day - even to going on the rides with them and I'm sorry, byut no-one will ever pay me enough to go on some vom inducing drop ride like Saw for example! I'm talking about 17yr olds here at college - NOT school! We used to get them into the park and then go around with them for their park talk (for business studies) and then agree a time for them to meet back for the coach, which I think is reasonable as these are no longer kids but nearly adults.

I won't do any of the other trips now either cos I don't get paid enough to withstand parental abuse when things go wrong as above!

Sorry if we're supposed to have a 'calling', or feel that it's our 'sacred 'duty' to take your little darlings out of school and lose even more teaching time but life's too short and stressful already without incurring parental wrath over something that isn't even the teachers fault!

Also bearing in mind that you only paid £65 for a whole week's worth of activities, I'd be thinking I was pretty lucky getting Alton Towers, never mind Chester Zoo as well, as that's usually £30+ just for the one day! And at least they do get to go - even though it was for only 3 hours!

andrealm

I don't blame you elise, nothing would induce me to go on those sort of rides. How silly that 17 year olds have to be chaperoned round the park and have the teacher go on with them. They're old enough to drive, join the army etc. I suppose they have to be so careful now in case something goes wrong and they get sued. Still, you'd think it would be enough to have the teachers accompany them round the park and they could let them go on the rides on their own.

bestpud

andrealm wrote: »

I don't blame you elise, nothing would induce me to go on those sort of rides. How silly that 17 year olds have to be chaperoned round the park and have the teacher go on with them. They're old enough to drive, join the army etc. I suppose they have to be so careful now in case something goes wrong and they get sued. Still, you'd think it would be enough to have the teachers accompany them round the park and they could let them go on the rides on their own.

Also, what happens if some of the group want to ride but a couple don't? Who does the tutor stay with?

I can't help thinking a tutor would be far more use in an emergency if they weren't dangling in mid air or reeling after getting off a fast ride!

I mean, if something went wrong on the ride, wouldn't they be more of a help on the ground?

There isn't much they can do to help a sick teenager if they are on the ride too!

It seems a very odd rule to me and I don't blame you for refusing to take groups, elise.

gratefulforhelp_2

Safeguarding rules do not require that we ride with the kids, someone a bit dim in this school has misinterpreted the guidance.