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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Term time holidays and residential school trips

102 replies

shebird · 17/02/2014 16:38

Sorry another rant about term time holiday fines.

DCs school have a residential trip in years 5&6 to an outdoor activity centre at a cost of approximately £250-£300. The trip involves a week out of school in the middle of term. My understanding is that if your child does not go they get fobbed off to another year group and probably won't learn much while their classmates are away. While I'm sure my DCs would love this, I am a bit annoyed that schools can choose to take a week out of school to build rafts and call it education but if I wanted to take my DCs to visit another country or roman ruins I could face a fine or prison? AIBU to send a letter to the school reminding them of the importance of education quoting statistics on attendance and GCSE failure rates?

OP posts:

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 17/02/2014 16:39

YWBVU to do that! Smacks of sour grapes to be honest.

elportodelgato · 17/02/2014 16:44

Sorry but you are being an idiot

AMumInScotland · 17/02/2014 16:47

Well, the major difference is that the teacher will factor in the fact that the whole class/year are all going to be out of the school building that week. Whereas, if you take your child out this week, and someone else next week, and someone else the week after that, then the whole class are going to be slowed down because there will always be time spent in getting the missing person 'caught up' on what they have missed, or teachers stopping what they are discussing to explain all over again because little Jimmy missed that whole section and never did quite get the idea.

A week outside school, all together, is not the same disruption.

ISingSoprano · 17/02/2014 16:48

Yes, you are being unreasonable. In my experience school residential trips are well planned to give the children a range of experiences and life skills that cannot necessarily be achieved on a family holiday.

Joysmum · 17/02/2014 16:50

YANBU, or may not be.

My dd went on a couple of residential trips in junior school but my friend couldn't afford to send her dd. Her dd didn't get suitably educated in those periods and the matter was taken to the governors and OFFSTED.

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 17/02/2014 16:51

YABU, because the trip is designed with learning objectives in mind, and the teacher knows to factor it in to his or her lesson planning from the beginning of the year. Whether trips should be so expensive at primary is another thing, of course.

sadbodyblue · 17/02/2014 16:51

totally different things op. yanbu and the school will see you as a bit if a prat if you write that letter.

sadbodyblue · 17/02/2014 16:52

sorry yabu.

TeenAndTween · 17/02/2014 16:52

YABU.

The school will have factored this trip into their schemes of work and pace of teaching for the rest of the year.
Whereas if you randomly take your child out for a week the rest of the class carries on getting taught and your child misses out, thus taking up teachers time to catch up on return.

The school should provide those left behind with something fun and meaningful though, so they don't feel too left out. eg at our school they do some localish day trips at minimal/no cost, and I think have had a 'camp out' day in the school for example.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 17/02/2014 17:04

The children who don't go on the residential trips at ds's school have day trips instead.

Yanbu.

QueenofLouisiana · 17/02/2014 17:06

This sort of trip covers the Outdoor and Adventurous part of the PE curriculum. Often that is the part schools find hard to do due to ack of facilities and training.

It also fosters a degree of self reliance (our residential starts with everyone making their own beds- that takes some children half an hour). It is usually a great experience for children who are growing up.

Original poster

shebird · 17/02/2014 17:06

Sorry all the letter to the school idea was tongue in cheek I would never be that brave. What gets me is that I have little choice but to pay for an expensive trip 2 years in a row that I can't afford otherwise my child will be in school for week without her teacher.

OP posts:

WillowJoinInOurCrufae · 17/02/2014 17:09

Thing is, if it is only a handful of students left behind out of the whole year group then it is not always possible to provide meaningful lessons and activities for them due to staffing - more staff will have had to go on the trip than would normally be used to teach those away, so staffing levels will already be low without having to take more away from the remaining year groups to provide activities and lesson to a few students from the absent year group

Stinklebell · 17/02/2014 17:15

I don't know...(on the fence )

My DD went on her year 6 residental to France last summer, the week before they broke up for the school holidays.

They went to Disneyland Paris for most of it which did make me think "hmmph, if I took her out for 4 days to go to DLP I'd have my arse smacked", but hey, she had a fab time with her year, it's not just about the activities and she had the time of her life so I'm not going to begrudge it.

The ones who didn't go were still expected at school, they were put into the other years

soverylucky · 17/02/2014 17:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

shebird · 17/02/2014 17:20

not sure how Disneyland fits into the curriculum but I can see how they would love a trip at the end of term Y6. At my DCs school it is in the middle of term.

OP posts:

Lambsie · 17/02/2014 17:21

We took our son out for the day on the day the rest of his class went on a trip. He was marked as educated off site. The trip was unsuitable for him and he would have got nothing out of going on it.

soverylucky · 17/02/2014 17:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Bunbaker · 17/02/2014 17:24

"What gets me is that I have little choice but to pay for an expensive trip 2 years in a row that I can't afford otherwise my child will be in school for week without her teacher."

You don't have to send her. When DD was in years 5 and 6 there was always a residential trip after the KS2 SATS. Not all the children went and they were merged with another class and still had lessons. (It was a small school and had mixed classes anyway so a mix of years 5 and 6 was fine)

Original poster

shebird · 17/02/2014 17:30

No I don't have to send her but I have been told that in previous years those left behind did very little learning so I have little choice.

OP posts:

WeAreDetective · 17/02/2014 17:32

School trips like this help give the children increasing independence of traveling....which you, as a parent simply cannot give.

Sharing rooms with others and being away from home. Massively educating.

starlight1234 · 17/02/2014 17:39

I think many are missing the point...The residential trips are because education does not just happen in the classroom...

Sadly this is a debate that will go on and on..Those who think we should just accept what is said because the law has changed and those who are still pissed off..

My Ds went to the pantomime at xmas like many schools, he has included they story from the pantomime in a few pieces of work at school.

Original poster

shebird · 17/02/2014 17:41

Ok I will crawl back into my hole and gratefully pay £300 to send my DD away for a week to learn how to make her bed and build a raft

OP posts:

WeAreDetective · 17/02/2014 17:48

And she will love it and remember it for years.

Megrim · 17/02/2014 17:52

Be grateful it's only £300 - for DS1's school's activities weeks I'm lucky to get change out of £700.

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