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Original poster

School trip to China

128 replies

FarquarKumquatsmama · 25/01/2020 15:45

If you were a teacher and you were meant to be accompanying a school trip (exchange) to Shanghai in 6 weeks, would you go?

OP posts:
Cam77 · 28/01/2020 07:55

@Nousernameforme
It’s killed a 100 people so far, with presumably many more in critical condition. And those are just the ones who made it to hospital, have been recorded by the Chinese authorities (questions here) and are not suffering at home. I wouldn’t call it mild.

kjhkj · 28/01/2020 07:55

even if the virus itself is fairly mild I don't want it

Why are people saying the virus is mild? Its killing people.

GreenTulips · 28/01/2020 07:59

I'd be surprised if most of the parents don't withdraw their kids from the trip

Unlikely as they won’t get their money back, they’ll wait for an official cancellation.

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General education
Berrymuch · 28/01/2020 07:59

Nah I wouldn't want to go, I'm not overly worried about it, but it seems like in 6 weeks it could have spread a lot further afield, and even if not, it's likely to be quite scary for the children. There will be procedures in place in certain places, airports are likely to have a higher presence of staff, and it will be all over the news. I can see why the school isn't playing into the fear, but I think it would also be foolish to go ahead.

GlamGiraffe · 28/01/2020 08:01

No and wouldnt let my child go either.
What's the foreign office advice?

EvaHarknessRose · 28/01/2020 08:01

I expect your school are waiting for official advice so they can secure refunds via insurance, hence their silence.

IHadADreamWhichWasNotAllADream · 28/01/2020 08:04

No point in cancelling it now and losing the parents or the school a very large amount of money when it’s almost certain that they will be able to claim on insurance if they hang on for a week or two.

Citygirl2019 · 28/01/2020 08:34

My Dc was due to go to German markets very shortly after the terrorist attack.

I appreciated his is different but lots of parents did not want their DC going.

The school held a meeting and explained that the foreign office had not declared it unsafe to visit. So therefore the insurance would not refund the costs.

So it was a parental decision, send your child on the revised trip (missing the effected area) or don't send them but lose your money. School were very honest that they would not be refunding from school funds.

Crunchymum · 28/01/2020 08:54

We've also had an exchange cancelled. Although the way the letter was worded was ambiguous as to who cancelled it (them or us!)

lumpy76 · 28/01/2020 09:02

No! And I say this as the parent of a child who went to China last July on a school trip. Indeed I have thought about this with respect to how I would be feeling if the trip were this year and at the moment if it were, I'm afraid I'd not be allowing DS to go.

lumpy76 · 28/01/2020 09:04

Also - exchange for Chinese coming here next week has already been cancelled.

Damntheman · 28/01/2020 09:09

No way would I go and no way would my kids be going. It's one thing to not be overly concerned about the virus at this point from the UK, and another entirely to actually go into the belly of the beast so to speak. Particularly given you're immune compromised! Shanghai has had its first death from the virus now. Nope no no way.

TulipsTulipsTulips · 28/01/2020 09:11

Don’t go and don’t put the children at risk.

ChristmasCakeLover · 28/01/2020 13:31

Yanbu. I'm surprised none of the parents has raised this too.

TulipsTulipsTulips · 28/01/2020 13:58

OP, to put how serious this is into perspective, most offices is Shanghai are now officially closed until 9th Feb to help curb the spread of the virus. They are taking it really seriously. I expect the school trip will be cancelled shortly.

exexpat · 28/01/2020 19:04

Foreign Office has now warned against all non-essential travel to China, so school should now be able to cancel and claim on insurance. Shame for the children, but maybe it can be rescheduled.

NemophilistRebel · 28/01/2020 19:08

That’s a relief for anyone even without school children who were planned to go

AuntieStella · 29/01/2020 07:21

Also, this morning, Brish Airways has cancelled all flights in and out of China, with immediate effect

This move was expected, as yesterday they suspended new flight bookings up to March (according to BBC Breakfast)

Shopaholic100 · 29/01/2020 08:30

Hopefully your school should cancel now op.

4forkssake · 29/01/2020 08:35

The school my DC go to has a lot of Chinese boarders & they've stopped accepting anyone visiting from China or returning to China (& coming back to the UK) for the foreseeable future. So any new/taster student hoping to start after half term won't be able to arrive yet & if students choose/are able to travel home for half term, they won't be allowed back to school. So there's no way I'd want to take kids over there at the moment. Surely most parents will be feeling the same so as a parent, I'd hope if the school are able to use their insurance to cancel that they do cancel & don't allow it to go ahead just cos one of the teachers still wants to go. Madness!

TokyoSushi · 30/01/2020 07:37

Surely it must be cancelled by now?

CaptainMyCaptain · 30/01/2020 08:58

If they are no longer letting people in or out of China without permission I would think they would have to cancel the trip. I wish the OP would come back and let us know.

punknarwhal · 30/01/2020 09:03

If they are no longer letting people in or out of China without permission I would think they would have to cancel the trip. I wish the OP would come back and let us know.

She doesn't need to, it's obviously not going to to go ahead now because the insurance will be invalid for starters. We had this last year with a trip that was booked and then cancelled on foreign office advice - the insurance company got in touch and said our insurance would be invalid if we did go and they paid up all the cancellation costs.

CaptainMyCaptain · 30/01/2020 09:06

She doesn't need to, it's obviously not going to to go ahead now
She doesn't have to, but, having become involved in the story it's nice to know the end.

punknarwhal · 30/01/2020 09:08

The end is that they aren't going, what else could it be?