No phones on ski trip

[AreTheyMad]

DD is going on a ski trip with school next week. We've just been informed they won't be allowed to use their phones during the day, only for an hour in the evening.
Would you be happy with your DC not being allowed to take their phones on the slopes?

I think it's mad, and I'm trying to formulate a mail which doesn't sound over protective pub! It means they can't call if they get separated from the group, check the map, if they injure themselves. What if the visibility is bad? Am I overreacting here?

As a teacher I have taken many children on school ski trips. We never allowed phones during the day - the potential for misuse is huge. After several years of allowing them for an hour in the evening, we eventually banned them totally. We had far fewer problems with home sickness after that.

No, I've only ever been skiing as an adult.

They won't be in "Ski school" they will be in a group (don't know how many) with a teacher.

@Cyclistmumgrandma ever lost a student?

Teacher of 30+ years here. Phones on school trips are a disaster. They cause too many problems to list here. Worst example I have was on a ski trip. One girl fell and was carted off to get checked out. Rumour mill started in another group and one girl phoned her mother and said the girl had died. This mother phoned the injured girl's mother to "commiserate" and then staff got a call from an hysterical parent wanting to know why nobody had told her her daughter was dead. Yes, it happened. Can give hundreds of other small and large problems due to phones. No phones on trips.

@CurlewKate its always a possibility on a ski trip.

What sort of skiing do you think they do on a school ski trip???

If you think the adults in charge will let them get separated from the group (or that the kids would ignore instructions and let that happen) there's bigger problems than the phone policy!

I would be shocked if they weren’t in ski school. How old are the kids and at what level if they’re just going off with a teacher?

My child is going on a ski trip and will not be allowed a phone- I’m fine with that.

The teachers who have made this rule will know exactly what sort of skiing they will be doing, there will be no chance of them getting separated.

Having had experience of about 20 school ski trips, I can confidently say your child will not need their phone on the slopes.

We managed without is bogus? The fact is we DID manage without. I for one, have a phone but hardly ever touch it because I don't like them and manage to go out and about living life without staring at a screen every 5 minutes.

OP I went on a school skiing trip in the 1970s. You might find this a weird concept but we all managed just fine before mobile phones were invented. No one got lost, the one minor injury was dealt with immediately by the instructor, no one died because they couldn't mess about making Tiktok videos.

Gently, you are completely over reacting. It will do them good to enjoy themselves without their phones.

Are you absolutely sure about that?
Unless the teacher is a qualified ski instructor with knowledge of the particular resort they are going to. I find it very hard to believe that any school ski trip would be allowed to take place unless the students were being guided/taught by a resort ski instructor.

They will be in a group with a teacher, but the group will also have a ski instructor who instructs both the students and the teacher. Or at least that's what's happened on any school ski trip I've ever been on/heard of.

Their insurance wouldn't cover them just being taken on the slopes by a random teacher.

Even if it’s not ski school, they will be with an adult who is responsible for them, doing head counts , clear instructions, meeting points etc. If she’s not an experienced skier, they won’t be doing the big slopes anyway, and will be skiing as a group , not going off on their own. She will be fine.

I went on a school trip to France, for 3 weeks, long before mobile phones were invented. We wrote a letters home if we wanted anything.

I think you are overreacting.

It's not like a ski holiday where you go off on your own right? She'll be with a group? In which case I wouldn't worry.

Wow 😮 that's horrifying! I hope the original girl and her insane mother got punished. Wtf were they thinking phoning the parents of the injured girl even if they thought she had died?!?! Wtf?!?

It's more likely that the phones have been restricted due to safeguarding rather than any other reason. I've seen first hand the amount of issues phones cause on trips, kids recording each other in the privacy of their rooms, showing inappropriate videos/photos. Regardless, I'd rather my children spent this opportunity having fun with their friends than spending their time doom scrolling on tik tok.

They're not having lessons from an instructor?!

Where do you think they’re going to be skiing? They’ll not be going off piste, there will be hundreds of people around, if visibility is bad they won’t be in the slopes anyway and if they get injured again there’s hundreds of people around.

It won’t be a problem. When my DC went it was all very controlled and slow no chance of anyone getting lost! If I were a teacher I wouldn’t want the hassle of them having their phones on the slopes.

You are overreacting.

for one thing, phones often have no service on the slopes. It’s the mountains not London.

for another thing, they are on a ski trip where they are being supervised by teachers and will be in lessons and with an adult or multiple adults at all times.

fir a third, you’d be amazed how many phones get broken by someone falling over in the snow. After the second time mine went in my backpack.

Or fell on it and broke it? Far more likely than random poor visibility or being separated from the group.

The school staff know what they’re doing, the are the experienced professionals. Phones are a nightmare for safety, safeguarding and overreacting. This is a sensible rule.

The school is completely right. I’d be complaining if the school allowed them to take their phones. It would be bordering negligent.

Just hire a helicopter so you can hover nearby. People goofing around on phones instead of concentrating on the skiing and the potential to lose the phone somewhere. How have people managed to get up and down the mountains all these years?