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AIBU?

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Original poster

Child unwell on school trip

334 replies

G172125 · 03/04/2024 19:43

My son is currently on a school trip to Disneyland. He started to feel unwell with stomach pains and vomiting. He got split up from he’s group and was left alone in Disney village. I managed to get hold of the teacher to let her know and she said she would go to him. My son then text me and said she said she Can’t go to him because she is queuing for a ride. Nobody bothered to go look for my son for two hours. Aibu to make a complaint about this and take it further?

OP posts:
Fluffyowl00 · 03/04/2024 22:28

Hmm. All sounds very strange. ‘THE teacher was in a queue for a ride’. Have you ever tried to leave a queue for a ride? How long does that take?

Where were the other teachers? Why was she ‘trying to find him’? Had he fallen asleep? Phone battery died?

I simply don’t believe that the teachers didn’t care about him and just left him.

Bluepetergarden · 03/04/2024 22:27

Ophy83 · 03/04/2024 22:15

?? At our school if teachers give up their free time to go on trips like PGL they get the equivalent time off in term time

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😂😂😂😂😂 what a load of shite

dapsnotplimsolls · 03/04/2024 22:25

He should probably find some new friends tbh.

dapsnotplimsolls · 03/04/2024 22:25

Ophy83 · 03/04/2024 22:15

?? At our school if teachers give up their free time to go on trips like PGL they get the equivalent time off in term time

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Really?!!

Mumofoneandone · 03/04/2024 22:24

Yes complain. Appalling behaviour by teacher. Need to check the risk assessment for the trip to see what the protocol should have been in this sort of situation.
I remember day trips from school at 16+ being about staying with buddies and a teacher being at a set place to be checked in with as needed/as required.

Bagpuss2022 · 03/04/2024 22:23

I’m pretty shocked at some of the replies here if it was mum saying we took DS and two mates to Disneyland Paris for a break but one of the kids was left and sick they text us but we were in a queue for a ride and it took two hours to get to them, would the parent of the child not be up in arms

idontlikealdi · 03/04/2024 22:22

G172125 · 03/04/2024 19:53

Just turned 16, year 11. First time in a foreign country . The teacher new the situation and he’s location but was to busy on her holiday to bother. He spoke to her on the phone.

The teacher in unpaid for accompanying your teenager, they're not in it for a free holiday it's anything but.

DH has just come back back from a ski trip where the teens decided to balcony hop at night. Not relaxing.

Hatty65 · 03/04/2024 22:20

Ophy83 · 03/04/2024 22:15

?? At our school if teachers give up their free time to go on trips like PGL they get the equivalent time off in term time

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I have never, in 30 years of teaching, heard of this. Ever.

Who on earth covers their lessons if they are being given time off in term time? In 30 years of organising trips, giving up weekends to do Duke of Edinburgh, etc, etc (in many different schools) I've never been offered 'time off' in term time.

Apolloneuro · 03/04/2024 22:19

Ophy83 · 03/04/2024 22:15

?? At our school if teachers give up their free time to go on trips like PGL they get the equivalent time off in term time

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Not in my experience they don’t.

Apolloneuro · 03/04/2024 22:18

Whilst I agree it would have been good if a member of staff had got to your son reasonably quickly, do you actually think the teacher was stood in a queue, by herself, to go on Thunder Mountain?

Residential trips are exhausting, challenging, in this case using holiday and rely totally on the goodwill of teachers to run them.

I guarantee she wasn’t stood in the queue for Pirates of the Caribbean, sipping a coffee and thinking ‘Nah, don’t give a stuff that little Johnny is ill, I can’t lose my place in the queue!’

MsFaversham · 03/04/2024 22:16

KillerTomato7 · 03/04/2024 19:59

At 16, he’s pretty much old enough to do an entire trip to Disneyland on his own, plane flight and all, let alone making his way back to the hotel. If I were the chaperone and knew he was sick, I would probably just call his cell to make sure it wasn’t anything serious.

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That’s not the point though. He’s on a school trip under the care of his teachers. They should have checked on him and got him back to his accommodation and arranged medical treatment if necessary. At the very least assessed him. I would expect that from my family or friends if I was on holiday to be honest. You don’t leave unwell people on their own in a theme park.

Ophy83 · 03/04/2024 22:15

EdgarsTale · 03/04/2024 20:29

Teachers could afford to go to Disneyland without needing a free school trip. They’ve given up part of their holiday to take these pupils.

I think I’d want the teachers side of this story before getting stroppy.

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?? At our school if teachers give up their free time to go on trips like PGL they get the equivalent time off in term time

Original poster
G172125 · 03/04/2024 22:14

bravefox · 03/04/2024 22:08

Any idea why he was sick OP? Without wanting to alarm, when I read it was a 16yr old on a residential holiday in Europe I immediately thought hungover..

No idea came on suddenly with diarrhoea, vomiting and pain in he stomach. He was struggling to stay awake for the rest of the night and fell asleep in the park

OP posts:
Maddy70 · 03/04/2024 22:14

G172125 · 03/04/2024 19:49

He went to the toilets to vomit and when he came out everyone was gone. Yes he’s 16 and not a baby but surely the teachers are there to look after the children and not on a free holiday. She was sent he’s location and he didn’t move from that spot because he was in agony and embarrassed

The teacher may be queuing with some other students that have sen or other issues. They are not having a free holiday they are supervising yours and other peoples children in their holiday

Your son sounds a proper simp. Why's he phoning his mummy to say hes unwell.. why isnt he using the contact number of the teacher in charge (yes he will have had that number)

DrPsy · 03/04/2024 22:12

I’d expect better from staff. I hope your son is ok OP

Twolittleloves · 03/04/2024 22:11

notnowmarmaduke · 03/04/2024 19:47

He is not a child. I would expect him to be able to look after himself. He should probably find a quiet place to sit and rest, and make sure his friends and his teachers know where he is.

Why is he ill? Is alcohol involved?

That's rather a presumptious comment! Why can't he just be ill for the sake of being ill?! Not all teens are irresponsible and go round getting really drunk.

Stuckinthemiddle7890 · 03/04/2024 22:11

hmyh23 · 03/04/2024 19:50

I think these replies are a bit mean! I am a teacher who leads foreign trips and if a student called me I would leave the bloody ride queue to go and check on them. Most 16yr olds would still be upset and stressed when ill and away from home.

That's what I was thinking and just wondering regardless to the child being 6 or 16 surely if someone has said they are ill there is duty of care to ensure the person is found and taken to a safe space so to speak and to get checked over. 99. 9 per cent sure its nothing serious but the care surely still has to be there. We'd do that for friends on a trip let alone a teacher on a school trip surely ??

Supergirl1958 · 03/04/2024 22:09

I was VERY ill with travel sickness on a school trip to France 20+ years ago now and no one bothered to make sure I was ok at all. My friend phone her mum using a phone card because she thought I was dying 😂😂

fungipie · 03/04/2024 22:08

Andthereyougo · 03/04/2024 22:06

Whatever his age he’s on a school trip with teachers in charge. Teachers have a duty of care.
Teacher should have left the queue to go to your son. Yes he might just have motion sickness from a ride but it’s still the teacher’s job to check and decide action.

If he is at Infirmary with qualified carers? What about the responsibility for the other students in teacher's care?

bravefox · 03/04/2024 22:08

Any idea why he was sick OP? Without wanting to alarm, when I read it was a 16yr old on a residential holiday in Europe I immediately thought hungover..

Andthereyougo · 03/04/2024 22:06

Whatever his age he’s on a school trip with teachers in charge. Teachers have a duty of care.
Teacher should have left the queue to go to your son. Yes he might just have motion sickness from a ride but it’s still the teacher’s job to check and decide action.

Otherstories2002 · 03/04/2024 22:06

G172125 · 03/04/2024 19:45

He is 16

There should be a designated meet up spot. Why hasn’t he gone there?

Also, how did you message the teacher in Disney?

ageratum1 · 03/04/2024 22:05

XelaM · 03/04/2024 20:07

Omg at 16 calling his mum in another country instead of the teacher/his friends/going to medical centre etc etc etc. This is ridiculous and quite embarrassing for a 16-year-old not being able to deal with this himself

That is absolutely normal.
Are they staying at Disney land?

TheaBrandt · 03/04/2024 22:05

Don’t complain. We have hardly any school trips now after a horrific accident occurred the teachers just won’t do it.The teacher leading that trip was very badly affected. Dd is currently on her first ever school trip that isn’t a local residential and she’s year 10

ageratum1 · 03/04/2024 22:03

The staff probably have kids with special needs that need their support.