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AIBU?

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Original poster

Mobile phone ban on overseas school trip

276 replies

anotherglass · 08/06/2016 14:58

12 year old son is due to go on his first overseas school trip to Belgium later this month.

There is a strict ban on children using mobile phones during the trip.

Part of the trip will involve a period of up to 2 hours where children will be allowed to wander around an open, retail precinct - unsupervised. Teachers will not be far and kids will have cards - in the local language - to hand to someone if they are in trouble, during this activity.

Parents were not made aware of this unsupervised element of the trip, prior to making payment.

I am nervous not only about this element, but also the fact that there is a heightened risk of terrorists attacks during the period of the trip, which coincides with Euro 2016.

AIBU to insist on son being allowed to take his mobile phone on the trip?

OP posts:
00100001 · 08/06/2016 19:09

"I would rather that my kids can contact me if they need to. "

What circumstances would there be that they need to contact you that the teacher couldn't do it on their behalf? Confused

00100001 · 08/06/2016 19:10

^^ Blueberry

lilyboleyn · 08/06/2016 19:37

Teacher here.
When kids take mobiles on trips, usually one of the following happens:
A) kid phone home, feels unsettled, starts to get homesick. Parents worry, kid gets upset, lots of fixing needed. Minus the phone, everyone tends to just get on with it.
B) kid falls out with his friends, phones home to complain, makes up with his friend five minutes later and teachers spend several hours talking down panicked parents over something that was easily solved.

Enidblyton1 · 08/06/2016 19:47

YABU I'm afraid.
We all managed to exist as twelve year olds without mobile phones. Taking a mobile phone on a school trip would be both annoying for the teachers (children bound to lose them/abuse them) and pretty useless in a terrorist attack.
You can try 'insisting', but I'm sure the school will politely say no.

Lunar1 · 08/06/2016 19:49

I don't like the sound of 12 year olds in a dorm room with camera phones and wifi. They could get caught up in silliness leading to far more harm than they could walking round a city with no phone.

ApocalypseSlough · 08/06/2016 19:51

I've been involved in more than a dozen school trips as a parent and teacher. The only incidents when a phone was used it's debatable whether they helped:
DD1 calling me v excited as she'd gone up the Eiffel Tower although she's afraid of heights.
DD2 calling in tears because she was stuck upstairs in a very high hotel scared of the lift.
DD2 texting from a friends phone because she'd left her phone in a hotel and would I call the teacher and ask them to go back Hmm had to pay £30 for a courier.
DS leaving a phone in another hotel necessitating another courier.
You'll hear if there's a problem and they distract and are more trouble than they're worth on school trips.

FrenchJunebug · 08/06/2016 20:07

it's fine. We grew up without mobile phones and turn out ok. I'm sure the school is taking every precautions.

To be honest I also think it can do the kids the world of good NOT to have their mobile.

Willow2016 · 08/06/2016 20:20

Our school are going abroad in couple of weeks. No phones recommended and any kind of social media, uploading photos, txting etc is banned, if they are found out the phone is confiscated. School will not be responsible for them if they take them and lose them.

Listed lots of hilarious (to us now but not at the time) reasons.

  1. Bus was reversing in a car park and bumped a small post in the ground (set to keep buses and cars of the grass) 20 mins later teacher got a call from the headmaster asking if everyone was all right? Turns out some smart alec in back of bus had put on facebook that the bus had crashed!!! (he didnt say into a 2 foot post though) Cue calls to school from parents in panic about this 'crash' and school of course knew nothing about it.

Others included going to a castle and a kid leaning over a well and his ipod sailing out his tshirt top pocket down to the depths and him complaining about it (despite being told not to take the damm thing in the first place!)

Our lot also do a mooch around the local town in groups with strict instructions to stay in groups and times to be back at meeting place.

Our parent/student info has loads of stuff on it about how they will contact parents if needed i.e child ill, child very homesick, bad behaviour etc. The teacher have phones Shock

TBH it will do them the world of good to be away from flipping devices for a while, no sitting at the same table and ignoring each other while they txt/look at facebook/take selfies/watching you tube vids etc. They will have to be aware of whats going on around them and might even find the world pretty interesting!!!

How did we all survive pre mobile phones?

scaryteacher · 08/06/2016 21:52

Blueberrysky, even if they contact you, you can't do anything, as you are not there.

OP where in Belgium? The threat is Brussels really as opposed to anywhere else, given the institutions there.

gunsandbanjos · 08/06/2016 22:13

My daughter went to Florida last year as part of a charity trip for ill and disabled children, no phones were allowed but they posted photos on Facebook every day of the trip which was lovely.

The kids were having too much fun to need a phone!

ShtoppenDerFloppen · 08/06/2016 22:25

At that age, our trip was to another continent.

There was no such thing as a mobile. We had 'free time' and we checked our watches and returned to the meeting point at the arranged time.

Not a single student spontaneously combusted.

UterusUterusGhali · 08/06/2016 22:30

YABU.

My dd racked up £90 worth of roaming fees just looking at her phone on a short trip to Paris.

There was a school trip twitter account to catch up.

Can he have it turned off in case of emergencies?

LunaLoveg00d · 08/06/2016 22:31

Most Belgians speak great English too.

I think this is a very sensible policy.

00100001 · 08/06/2016 22:33

what will the boy do in an emergency with a phone that i switched off. who is he going to call???

feathermucker · 08/06/2016 22:37

It's not about what the OP "thinks is best" though; the school has said no phones.

The rules are out in place for a reason and shouldn't be blended by over-reacting parents.

Littlemissjt · 08/06/2016 22:50

Our school also have this policy and it works well. It allows the kids to enjoy their trip and take responsibility for themselves with out mums, dads and grannies texting to make sure they've brushed their teeth etc!

It also stop problems from starting back home. If kids have a silly falling out and text someone back home or on Facebook it starts Chinese whispers where things get taken out of context and then there's some sort of drama caused back home when it was something and nothing that's been resolved. Can you imagine how stressed you'd feel - your child is 10 mins late back, someone texts home saying they are missing and the next thing you know you're getting a call from another parent saying your child is missing when they're just ten mins late as they joined too big a queue in the theme park!

We usually find the kids like to come back and check in with you every half hour of that two hour free period where they show you all the crap of the day they have bought as presents for friends and family and the charactature that looks nothing like them!

They'll be fine.

BackforGood · 08/06/2016 23:19

YABVU.
The school is being very sensible.
Out of interest, can you explain to me how carrying a mobile phone would protect your dc in the unlikely event of a terrorist attack ? Confused

St0rmynight · 08/06/2016 23:52

There was an article where a teenager went on holiday for a week and seemed to spend time watching movies on his mobile phone
The bill was approx £170,000 due to data roaming charges (internet usage) He was not connected to the free wi fi in the hotel or local cafe.

What did people do before mobile phones ?

If we were lucky enough to go on holiday, we made the most of every single minute. We kept a daily diary. We talked about our holiday on our return. We took a sketch book and a book to read.

Some modern mobile phones are expensive and can be distracting

However, if you do not have a seperate camera (camera not on a mobile phone), it means no photos unless a teacher takes some group photos

Willow2016 · 09/06/2016 22:00

My son only uses his phone for internet videos and photos but he isnt taking his with him. I have bought a disposable camera for him to take as I do with all his trips. Problem solved.

BlueberrySky · 10/06/2016 00:05

If my kids needed me, it does not matter if I am there or not. I can transfer them money if they need it, or chat to them if they are feeling homesick. They have always taken their phones when gone on school trips. My view is that it is up to me not the school.

UsedToBeAPaxmanFan · 10/06/2016 03:31

YABVU. The school has rules about the trip for good reasons, and it would be best if you and your ds complied with the rules.

powershowerforanhour · 10/06/2016 04:46

If there was a terrorist attack on that shopping centre that day, it would be nice to know if he was safe- but as PPs have said, there would be massive network overload and you would spend hours and hours listening to, "It has not been possible to connect this call".

00100001 · 10/06/2016 05:01

blueberry why would they need money? Homesickness gets far worse when the kids speak to the parents.

00100001 · 10/06/2016 05:02

How do you explain to your kids that the rules don't apply to them? Confused

MurphysChild · 10/06/2016 05:26

This is standard school trip practice. DS went to Cape Town on a school trip age 13, they were also allowed unsupervised shopping trips whilst designated teachers stayed in the food court all the way through as a meeting/checking in place.

They were all absolutely fine, no mobile phones allowed on the trip, children could buy phone cards and call home using those from the hotel at night.

I think I got one two minute call "hi mum, I'm ok, yeh it's good, got to go now it's far more interesting being with my mates" kind of call!

I spent ten days like a cat on a hit tin roof, they were fine, even in one of the most dangerous cities in Africa.