re - horrendous school trip!

meritaten

I am now in a bit of a quandary - I posted Thursday about that awful school trip I took with my grandson and this is related to that.

I was telling the family about it today up my mums, and when I got to the bit about the staff just setting up their little staffroom and sitting there for two and half hours - I turned to DIL and asked how many un-accompanied kids she thought there were and she said she knew four or five from GSs class alone - three classes went.
My DD was horrified and so was her husband who is a teacher - he was so horrified he said I should write a letter of complaint to the Head and copy it to Governers!
When I said that one of the teachers had taken along a toddler about two years old - he went white! DIL said that it was the teachers nephew - Teach is childless. He said staff aren't allowed to take along their own children on educational trips.

I said I felt that as I was just GSs Nan - I didn't feel it was my place to make complaints about the staff.

my 15 year old grandson then asked 'did you feel the (unaccompanied) kids were at risk'?

the honest answer to that is 'YES' the teachers totally ignored everyone! I wouldn't even have realised they were supposed to be in charge of kids!
What to do? I still feel a bit that its not my place - DIL is worried but she wasn't there - I was. no-one else seems concerned from what I can make out. I feel the trip was badly organised and I certainly wouldn't leave 4 to 7 year olds in these bozos charge!

geoffky

Let sleeping dogs lie.
What outcome are you after?

Lunar_Eclipse

The care you describe does sound unprofessional, as I mentioned on my reply to your original thread.

If you are uncomfortable making any formal communication/complaint, then don't. There is absolutely no reason why your grandson's parents can't 'raise an inquiry' with the Head themselves.

meritaten

Yes - I take your point Lunar - but, they weren't there!

and Geoffky - if one of the unaccompanied kids had gone into the sea and drowned - would you still let sleeping dogs lie? There was a fatal accident on that beach only a few days earlier. Parents have a right to expect that staff would look after their children - they didn't.

hardpressed

Can you point us in the direction of your original post please?

Lunar_Eclipse

meritaten wrote: »

Yes - I take your point Lunar - but, they weren't there!

and Geoffky - if one of the unaccompanied kids had gone into the sea and drowned - would you still let sleeping dogs lie? There was a fatal accident on that beach only a few days earlier. Parents have a right to expect that staff would look after their children - they didn't.

I know the parents weren't there, but since their son was, it doesn't matter.

If one of my children went on a school trip as you described, I would be seeking out further detail. You don't need to be there to raise concern.

I'll be honest though and say that when I read your original post, I thought I would investigate changing schools! The lack of care you mentioned is way beyond anything I've ever heard about schools these days.

meritaten

its on page 3 'please don't judge just let me let off steam'.

gingin_2

If you have any doubts, Meri, you have to raise it. It's only fair on the other children and parents that will go on future trips.

I wouldn't hesitate. Just address it calmly and factually and you have nothing to worry about.

geoffky

Again...What outcome are you seeking?

mountainofdebt

I have to admit that I never was able to go on a school outing when Junior was in the 4 - 7 age bracket as I was working.

I would have assumed though that the school had arranged / decided that they had enough parent cover to cover parents who also couldn't go - could this be the case here.

For what its worth, in my case, then if Junior couldn't go because there wasn't enough cover then yes I would have expected to be told either he went with an adult or didn't go at all

mountainofdebt

Also what did other parents, who were there, think?