to be really annoyed with the school?

[mumnotmachine]

I picked my 9yo son up from school today and he promptly burst into tears when he saw me.

He was due on a nature walk with school this morning, he went in today with the permission slip, wellies and drink as requested.

It turns out he wasnt allowed to go on the walk- the reason? I hadnt crossed out on the permission slip I do/do not give permission.

When I enquired as to why I wasnt contacted (its not as though they had to go delving through files for my number- it was written on the permission slip) the secretary said that due to the number of people who either hadnt sent the slip back or not crossed out the relevant section the head had said it wasnt feasible to contact all those parents for permission.

There were 10 slips.

AIBU to be fuming with the HT?
While I can see that I didnt cross out the relevant part, surely the fact that he had wellies etc with him says something?
And it was 10 slips- wasnt exactly going to involve hours of phoning.

I cried my eyes out in the car- it seems so unfair.

dont blame the school for your mistakes YOU didnt fill in the form correctly so your son missed the trip open your eyes in future and fill out the form correctly sorry but i am with the school on this one why should they have to run around after parents who cant be bothered to fill out a form correctly its so easy a child could do it dont pass the blame onto the school

This is what happens with health and safety-the school sticks to the letter. Imagine he had had a terrible accident and the form didn't actually give permission!

YABU - I might say different if your DS was 5, but by 9 your DS should be responsible enough to nag the hell out of remind & keep on until you until you do it, he should also be able to spot for himself that you'd made a mistake - or like my YOUNGER DD fill it in for you & hand it to you for a signature

yes I can understand that you are upset that he feels let down, but maybe you BOTH can learn something from that - ie him learning that Mum is not a machine & you learning to encourage him that he is old enough to take some responsibility for himself

YANBU, your poor DS being the only one in his class left behind when it was clear he was supposed to be going along and was a simple error.

I think its a very good idea to go and see the HT. Not to kick up a huge stink, as obviously the damage is done now and cant be changed, but to offer up suggestions as to how this sort of thing can be avoided in future and to ask the HT to implement some changes...

The two obvious things are

1. To give more notice of slips to be returned so that if there are errors/non responders then parents can be checked with over several days at pick up/drop off time, saving the need for phone calls. You getting a slip home on a Monday for a trip on the Tuesday is just asking for problems really! A week in advance is more reasonable to request
2. To have a generic slip at the beginning of each year/term to cover all local walking trips and then only have additional slips for longer trips that require payment and coach travel. If the school secretary really is so rushed off his/her feet that they cant manage a phone call to you then this should lessen their work load considerably and be very helpful to the school as well as the parents!

Hope you manage to get something sorted from your meeting with the HT!

- lol - I've only just spotted your nick name

He wasn't the only one left-there were 10 of them!

OP says he WAS the only one in his class left behind. The other 9 were in different classes!

He wasn't alone though-I expect he joined the other 9.