to be shocked by worldwide school trips?

[DelhiCalling]

In the recent teacher and pupil grooming case, it mentioned they had been on a school trip to los Angeles this year?! Since when did educating children require trips across the globe? When I was young, a day trip to a museum was the norm and the absolute most we did was an overnight trip in a youth hostel in wales.

Aibu to think these trips are a ridiculous idea and a jolly for the teachers, as presumably their ticket is included in the fees paid by the parents? Secondly, shouldnt these trips be stopped now that teachers can't be trusted not to groom our children on such trips?

But even home ed isn't completely safe! What about the postman? And the milkman? After all, they have chosen jobs that put them in contact with a lot of people.....

OMG! I have a baby and there is a dishwasher repair man coming today! Where do I get a cp officer for supervision purposes in a hurry?!

Even more OMG! What if she makes friends when she starts school/groups? She might meet their parents, and we all know that parents are adults too, therefore potential sexual predators.....

I'm going to shop online for velcro so i can stick baby to the living room floor when I can watch her 24/7. I'll remove it on her 18th birthday.

Problem solved, folks!

You are all letting your (heavily justified) grievance with the second part of the OP cloud the ttle and first part of it.

As I said above it's not right that schools should be offering expensive trips to holiday destinations when children in the same class are having trouble finding the money for essentials.

There are plenty of educational trips available that don't involve long-haul flights, or even going abroad at all.

Just as likely that a child could be groomed on a day trip to Skegness as in LA!
Yabvvvvu and stupid.

It's a shame that the OP didn't undermine her own valid point by descending into paranoid hysteria.

Because schools should offer a wide range of affordable trips within the UK as well as other destinations. However, to suggest that foreign trips encourage grooming was, of course totally U.

There is already a very long and involved thread discussing expensive school trips running at the moment.

Sallying - surely the other side of it is that schools can offer experiences cheaper than a family could manage? (Block bookings etc).
I went skiing with school - something I've not had the chance to do before or since. I loved it. School did it as cheaply as possible. It was certainly out of my family's budget (when all of us would have had to go). School is about broadening experiences as well as just the educational stuff.

There is a lot more opportunity outside of school trips for teachers to 'groom' children if they wanted to, my dd does one on one music lessons every week and sometimes dance lessons.

However I have complete faith in the all the teachers who teach her, I can't think everyday of the bad things that could happen, you would never let your children more than an inch away from you. I do believe that more people are good honest people than not (I may be naive) and her teachers are all excellent, why are they any more likely to groom than any one else your child a contact with?

I don't think it's fair in state schools to have trips that only the richer pupils can afford which exclude most of their pupils allowing only an elite to go.

Think it's very unlikely most teachers would be grooming children though.

Having said that I went on a school trip to Russia when I was 13 which was mainly an opportunity for the attendant teachers to cop off with anybody who wasn't a pupil including each other and lots of locals. In fact our headmistress was on the trip and openly conducted an extra marital affair with a local who she later dumped her husband for. It is said that the entire trip was arranged by her as a cover for their affair which had begun on a previous trip she had taken to Russia.

We all thought it was hilarious and were running rings round our teachers and getting drunk most nights ourselves at the grand age of 13-16. It was one of the best weeks of my life.

I don't think you'd find that state schools 'only have trips that the richer pupils can afford'. Our (secondary) school was a state school. It ran a massive mix of trips - from a week in Russia to a week in the Isle of Wight and a week in Norfolk. Primary was also state - we went to Shropshire to see the Iron Bridge.
My cousin went to a very posh private school and had school trips to Africa and the USA.
Most schools I know, private and state, offer a range of trips that encompass the budgets of the majority of pupils. There will always be a few that just can't afford anything - do we never offer any trips because of it? What about the trips that offer kids a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do something at a budget which comes in well below the budget which their family would need to do the same thing?

The thing is, it's different at secondary, because while at primary trips are basically 'this is the year 5 trip, we expect pretty much all year 5 to go on it', there isn't the same expectation in secondary - so the fact that there is a trip to Florence which years 8 9 and 10 can go on does not set up the expectation (or even the logistical possibility) that everyone will want to, be able to, or be interested in, going.

There are still the same Geography field trips to nearby places which everyone does - but the opportunities are out there and the school makes them available, to do other things too.

Is this for real?

An hysterical over reaction I think.