To think school trips should be all or nothing?

[LunaLoveg00d]

We are in Scotland, school trips here are not part of the curriculum so there is none of this "donation" thing. You pay, or you don't go.

My son is approaching the final year of Primary school and in September all of the kids in the year have the chance to go on a Monday - Friday residential trip at a rural location around an hour away. In previous years, everyone has gone, bar one or two children who have either just joined the school or who have complex medical needs. We had a meeting with a rep from the centre a week ago and one of the parents looked very concerned throughout. The centre does push them out of their comfort zones to do abseiling, hiking, orienteering and sailing, but it's all very safe, high staff/student ratios etc.

Son comes home today saying child of this concerned parent is not going on trip despite having paid deposit. Parents are very concerned that there will not be any adults sleeping in the dorms with the children (teachers are accommodated in single rooms adjacent to dorms) and do not think it is "safe" for children aged 10 or 11 to be sleeping in groups. They have asked if it would be possible for a parent to drop this child at the centre at 8am and collect at 9pm each night they are away (so 4 hours travelling per day) and the school have said no - it's against the ethos of the trip and they have to take it all, or not at all.

Mother concerned voicing her objections loudly in the playground and a fair few people agreeing that school was unreasonable and she should be able to choose the bits of the trip her son wants to do.

[WhenSheWasBadSheWasHorrid]

Given that she wants her son to attend but not sleep over I would wonder if he has an on-going bedwetting issue which she is concerned about

It doesn't sound like that's the problem. It sounded like the mother would have been happy to have her child sleep over - but only if an adult was in the bedroom too.