School trips

Janepig

balletshoes wrote: »

your state school and both the schools my DD attended/attends are completely different then - absolutely no pressure is put on parents by the schools to make the children attend trips.

Same here. DD's going on her year 6, week long, residential next week and there are two children I know of who are going to be away on holiday and there's one who doesn't want to go so presumably will be working with year five - she's not going to the same comp as the majority of the others in September, and the residential is with some other feeder schools so maybe that's got something to do with it, I don't think it's for financial reasons (although I couldn't say that 100%).

There was a one night residential in year 4 and a two night in year 5 and again not all the children from DD's year went (about 60 in all). No problem, it's entirely voluntary whether you go or not, the school certainly don't force the children into attending. Same goes for day trips.

As for the alcohol thing, I'm not sure whether there'll be alcohol available where DD is going next week, I can't imagine so, although there'd be nothing stopping the teachers taking their own, but I know the place they went to last year advertises on their website the fact that there is a licensed teacher's bar on the premises. I'm sure they don't get roaring drunk, nothing wrong with a glass of wine or a beer.

I took DD away for the weekend afew weeks ago to a competition and two other mothers were well stocked and basically started drinking the minute they got on the bus on the Friday evening and didn't stop until they got home on Sunday night. They were absolutely legless - we all went out for a meal together on the Saturday night and they were so embarrassing, I felt sorry for their children. In their case I think they'd have been safer with their teachers or coaches in sole charge of them!

Jx

mandragora_2

Counting_Pennies wrote: »

If you don't sign your child up for the trips you are pulled to one side by the teachers and told they need to go. There is no choice. Spending £200 on a required school trip (yes in state school). So it is the responsibility of the teachers to ensure they stick to the rules of ratings of films, and they ensure the children are well cared for.

If the child *needs* to go, then you cannot be required to pay for it, whatever your financial circumstances (though the school will have to deliver that part of the curriculum another way if they don't get enough voluntary contributions from the parents and carers to run the trip - see note at the bottom of the page here: https://www.gov.uk/school-attendance-absence/overview). If the child doesn't *need* to go in order to 'fulfill the requirements of the curriculum', then the school must make sure that any children who don't take part in the trip nevertheless get a meaningful education while the trip is in progress. It is not acceptable to either force attendance or 'punish' non-participation in the ways that you have described, and I think you would be within your rights to challenge that. I am very sad if this is what has happened at your child's school, and I would like to think it's far from the norm in any school, state or otherwise.

rachy182

I dont think the child was being punished for not going on the trip but just simple logistics. If only a few children from a year did not go then there would be no point teaching them anything as they will have to cover it again. Also i imagine that most of that years teachers were currently on the trip leaving no other staff to look after the child so they were placed in another class where they could be supervised