to think school should give parents an emergency contact number?

[MrsMcColl]

DC is on a 5-day school trip. She's in year 6. School won't give parents a number in case we need to make contact in an emergency - they say we need to go through school. But what if there's a family crisis of some kind outside the school day and we need to get in touch? Am I BU to think we should be able to get hold of them quickly? School clearly think I'm nuts. Am I?

[FryOneFatManic]

MyBoots post is a prime example of why schools should have a contact number for a designated out-of-hours person. someone who is not on the trip, but who has all the relevant numbers who can set the right wheels in motion if need be. Gatekeeper is an apt term.

Every trip my DCs have been on, for school, Scouts or guides, there has been a gatekeeper number available.

In fact, DD went on a residential where a child's relative was ill and not likely to survive, and with the help of the gatekeeper, the child was able to say goodbye to her relative.

There are also other emergencies that can happen at night. Thing is, it wouldn't be an emergency if you could predict it.

[tobysmum77]

so what did people do before mobiles?

[FryOneFatManic]

Before mobiles? My parents were given a landline gatekeeper number.

[FryOneFatManic]

And just because we didn't have mobiles when we were kids, is no excuse not to be sensible and use the technology available today.

Mobiles exist, can be dealt with sensibly using a gatekeeper to filter out unnecessary calls.

[MonoNoAware]

I see the point you're trying to make tobysmum, but the reason mobiles were so quickly and near-universally adopted is because they allow for better ways of staying in touch.

It's a bit like saying "what did diabetics do before insulin" or "what did people do before fridges"

[Itsfab]

My DC is also away this week on a 5 day trip. One staff member said they could give me a mobile number to use if I was worried about my child but I declined as they have enough on with looking after lots of children without replying to my texts. If anything happened that meant I needed to speak to, or collect, my child I would ring the school as it is still open and they could get the necessary sorted out.

So imo YABU as there is a way to get in contact.

[Itsfab]

For out of hours you could ring the place direct where the children are.

[merrymouse]

Agree with midnite.

Would parents really be calling a gatekeeper number constantly for information.

Even if a few call for trivial reasons, does it really matter?

[merrymouse]

And just to reiterate apparently the centre doesn't have an out of hours contact number.

[merrymouse]

And the school secretary is not there over night.

[Hulababy]

We are always given an emergency phone number, plus details of the accommodation they are staying in.

We are told not to use it unless it is an emergency outside of school hours - the initial emergency number to ring is a mobile of a member of staff not on the trip.

[merrymouse]

And before mobiles they used landlines.

[ladymariner]

Actually merrymouse I've taken 15 residential trips and it would really matter if we kept getting trivial calls throughout the time away. Presumably you trust the staff to keep your child safe else you wouldn't have sent them, and we are there 24/7 doing just that. And it is 24/7, not just within school hours. Our time away with the children, although obviously really enjoyable else we wouldn't keep doing it, is still work for us, we work at making sure the kids have a great time. I really wouldn't want parents phoning to ask if little johnny has got his coat on or if Emily had a good nights sleep.
In that time away, we have had a case of bad news coming through sadly. We always leave an emergency phone number with a member of staff not on the trip, either the Head or the Deputy, and their phone is on and with them all the time. If a parent has a concern etc they will take the call and then phone us and we deal with it. As a pp said, surely you would rather your child heard any bad news calmly and from a responsible adult than down the phone on their own?

[Itsfab]

I think it is understandable that you are worrying given you have a sick child and that would have been a helpful bit of info to put in your OP. I am sure you would have got more supportive posts if you had done so.

[Itsfab]

MyBoots - your post made me cry too. I am so glad you had people who were willing and able to help in a really difficult situation.

[merrymouse]

We always leave an emergency phone number with a member of staff not on the trip

I'm not suggesting anything more than this. I don't think parents should need to contact staff except for an emergency.

However, I think it is more important to provide a gateway emergency out of hours number, at the risk that somebody might misuse it and have to be put right than leave all parents with no way of contacting the school in an emergency.

Also, as midnite says, pupils have different home lives. I think on a case by case basis you should be sympathetic to parents' concerns.

[ladymariner]

MyBoots that is so sad, I'm glad people were able to help way at such a terrible time

[ladymariner]

Absolutely agree, merrymouse and I'm pretty shocked that some schools don't appear to do this. The number we give out to parents is reachable at any hour of the day or night, and as a parent I would expect this....I would have hated ds to have gone away and not have been able to contact him had there been a crisis (thankfully there never was!)

[MrsMcColl]

Itsfab - I didn't mention my 'complicated' child in the OP because I don't think it makes me a special case. An emergency can happen to anyone at any time. I gave my child as an illustration to school and to posters here, because they couldn't understand what kind of emergency I might have in mind.

I firmly believe schools should give parents the number of an out of hours gatekeeper who can get in touch with the school group at any time.

[itsbetterthanabox]

I'm so surprised that people think it is overprotective to want to be able to contact your small child when they are away for an extended period. That is not overprotective. That is a normal level of care that a parent should have. Stop trying to accuse anyone who wants to keep in contact with their small child of being mentally ill

[Hakluyt]

I am very surprised there is not an emergency number.

However, not being able to contact your child and vice versa is incredibly sensible. And I speak as the owner of two children who are/were very wobbly indeed about staying away from home.

[Stinkle]

I'm surprised there isn't some sort of plan in place for emergencies.

When my DD went on her year 6 residential to France, we were given a number to use OOH in case of emergency. It was an answer phone that was monitored 24/7 by the centre where they were staying.

However, they did have to stress about a million times that they would not be able to put parents through to the children, and it was for emergency use only, having been bombarded by parents in previous years.

While they were there DD's best friend's father was involved in a serious motorcycle accident and they weren't sure he would make it, he's fine now but it was extremely serious. Within an hour of the message being left on the answer phone, the head was driving DD's friend back to Calais.

Accidents don't always don't happen during office hours