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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be unhappy with this school trip?

487 replies

IWannaHoldYourHand · 30/09/2015 22:29

Ds2 is in reception and has come home with a letter advising us of a school trip to a farm in December. The cost is a reasonable amount for the farm that will be visited, however the main focus of the visit is having lunch with Santa, and receiving a gift.

It is the visiting Santa that I feel odd about. I see this as a very family based event, and not something I would expect to do with anybody else, or without his sibling. We wouldn't even refer to him as Santa at home, and it just feels strange to me.

I have spoken to the head who informed me that this will be backing up their learning for that term, and advised that I have the option of attending, but it still feels wrong to me. So is this normal, do schools regularly take a trip to visit Father Christmas?

OP posts:
BoboChic · 02/10/2015 15:28

Or:

You want us to cough up €fartoomuch for a school trip to somewhere annoying. May we remind you that article X of law Y states that parents should be fully consulted about the destination of any school trip and you failed to do this. If you want me to send XXX on your school trip which you failed to consult me about, could you please bring the price down by 20%.

BoboChic · 02/10/2015 15:29

It's an awful lot more effective than all the hand-wringing and whinging that goes on on MN threads!

Funinthesun15 · 02/10/2015 15:29

The law says that schools mustn't give written homework to primary school children. However, not only did you set three hours worth of written homework last week but you also gave my child a detention for non-completion of said homework, which is also against the law. I shall not be sending my child to the detention and I suggest you shut up about detentions and we parents will all keep quiet about the homework which parents and teachers all secretly adhere to.

To me that is veiled 'blackmail'

abbie letter it would seem is about right.

Plus if you know the law is on your side, we do you need to instruct a lawyer! Ridiculous

Floggingmolly · 02/10/2015 15:30

You are the parent from Hell, Bobo. The school are probably working on a legally watertight way to expel your kids as we speak.

abbieanders · 02/10/2015 15:31

I know everyone's a critic, but I hope the solicitor cleans up that draft letter before you whip out the cheque book. It reads like someone could use a bit of homework.

Bubblesinthesummer · 02/10/2015 15:31

You want us to cough up €fartoomuch for a school trip to somewhere annoying. May we remind you that article X of law Y states that parents should be fully consulted about the destination of any school trip and you failed to do this. If you want me to send XXX on your school trip which you failed to consult me about, could you please bring the price down by 20%.

So is actually about you 'getting what you want or else throwing your toys out of your pram'

BoboChic · 02/10/2015 15:33

Why let your school get away with breaking the law when the law is on your side? Would you do that with any other supplier?

SirChenjin · 02/10/2015 15:34

Imagine not having to instruct lawyers to get schools to do what they should be doing anyway - it really is wonderful.

SirChenjin · 02/10/2015 15:35

Just out of curiosity - how many schools which you've used have behaved illegally?

Shutthatdoor · 02/10/2015 15:37

Imagine not having to instruct lawyers to get schools to do what they should be doing anyway - it really is wonderful.

In the instances that Bobo has put forward, there would be absolutely no need to instruct a lawyer she uses it as a leverage to get own way.

BoboChic · 02/10/2015 15:38

Oh all of them! But some are far better at early face to face negotiation than others, obviously. Some have powerful (i.e. run by a tiger) parents' associations. In some parent reps sort problems. In others parents are kept at bay/stonewalled and so letters are required.

abbieanders · 02/10/2015 15:39

It seems a bit futile to spend 175 snots to get the school to reduce the cost of a trip. Maths wise, you're at a significant loss there - no way santy in a petting zoo costs the guts of 900 quid.

Even I can work that out, and I wasn't even brighter than all my teachers.

BoboChic · 02/10/2015 15:39

No lawyers have been "instructed" or "retained". Calm down!

BoboChic · 02/10/2015 15:39

No you aren't, abbie - 125 DC go on each trip.

BoboChic · 02/10/2015 15:40

Not outings (days) but trips (weeks).

SirChenjin · 02/10/2015 15:40

All of the schools you've used have behaved illegally? Wow, that really is awful to hear. Have you reported them to the authorities? It sounds so serious - and you're paying for the privilege of a substandard, illegal education system Shock

abbieanders · 02/10/2015 15:40

You have 125 kids? Now I'm impressed.

hairbrushbedhair · 02/10/2015 15:41

Calm down

I was reading silently amused but now actually wetting myself

Shutthatdoor · 02/10/2015 15:42

Well when you get them to write or check a letter they are 'instructed'.

BoboChic · 02/10/2015 15:44

Reporting to the authorities is pointless. The schools hate you for it because they can get serious trouble. They much prefer a polite but firm letter reminding them what they should be doing. I always suspect that heads really like them because it gives them such leverage over wayward teachers! It has certainly never done our relationships with school any harm (they are excellent, btw).

SirChenjin · 02/10/2015 15:44

It's not funny hair - it's hugely serious. Children are in danger - won't you think of the pauvre enfants??

Funinthesun15 · 02/10/2015 15:44

In others parents are kept at bay/stonewalled

On other words they won't bow down to your every whim Grin

Shutthatdoor · 02/10/2015 15:47

It has certainly never done our relationships with school any harm (they are excellent, btw).

Yet a few weeks ago you were complaining about the standard of teaching and now you are apparently if we take your word for it are going to be writing the curriculum

ilovesooty · 02/10/2015 15:49

In my last school BoboChic would have been a signposted parent. My Head had a list of them issued to us all at the beginning of the year. It was a list of parents known to be troublemakers who had form for exerting pressure on him directly to get their own way and special treatment for their children.
The pupils all knew who their signposted peers were. It was embarrassing for them.

NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 02/10/2015 15:49

Is it me or does Bobos letter remind anyone else of the Numeruous Daily Mail sad face articles we had just over a month ago.
We can force the school to do do what we want it to do by in Bobos case spending €175 on a letter that could actually be writen exactly as she has on here, without the legal treats, without the solicitor. or running to national tabloid papers with stories about how parents knowingly allowed their children to break the rules but hay it's all the schools fault they got punished because you know leopard skin hair cuts are perfectly sensiable!

Honestly Bobo you would come across as more approachable if you a didn't call teachers moronic/low iq. B) seem to skip the civilised quite approach to the teacher!
Yes we all want to improve our children's lives riling up teachers teaching them the lack of respect for people in authority, and marking them out as children from that pain in the back side mother is not the way to do it!