what do kids who are not going on the residential do at your school

[TessDailyMail]

DS in Yr8. In a couple of weeks all but 50 of his year are going on a five day residential. It cost £450 so we just couldn't afford it. He's our eldest so we don't have any experience of this and I was wondering what the kids who are left in school do?

I don't have a secondary school child (yet) so don't know if it's the same but my ds just had a 4 day residential in yr 6 and all the students not going on the trip went into school as usual and did work. It was not fun according to one of my son's friends.

Normal classroom stuff, sometimes going into a younger class if there was only a few left (and depending on which teachers were accompanying the trip)

All but 50? That's loads not going. Presumably they will have lessons as normal as a couple of groups.

I'm a teacher, in this situation the lessons just carry on as usual although classes may be grouped together or different teaching methods tried that aren't possible with a huge class. I know when there have been all but half a dozen out of school they've stayed with their head of year and had work provided by class teachers.

Bit shit that he couldn’t go. Why was it so expensive?

In our school there might be 5-10 students in a year of 180 not going on the residential. All but a few teachers will be on trips, so having lessons is not viable. The school organises a mixture of relaxed work set by teachers and a few workshops (e.g. Young Enterprise).

Shame he couldnt go but there will be more trips and presumably a variation of budgets. 50 kids probably get bulked into two groups of 25 and sent to usual lessons.

How can they have normal lessons if most of them are away? Won't the ones on the residential be missing something essential - like if I were to take DS out of school for a week's holiday, he'd miss a week of the curriculum?

DS is about to go on y7 camp, he says about two thirds of the year are going, so prob around 60 left behind. He says the ones left in school will be having lessons but that the timetable is rearranged as some staff are at camp.

Yr9's go ski-ing and that is even more expensive so DS won't be going on that. Why do schools organise such expensive trips; don't they realise how crap it make the kids left behind feel - and their parents?

At least you get the choice. At DD's school residentials are compulsory

Presumably the school cannot insist on payment for compulsory residentials?

When I was in year 8 we had what was called “activities week.” So a PE teacher with no classes would set up a sports day, or you could go and do cooking all day, they also got a few people in to do talks and activities/crafts. It was all free, but this was 2002!

Is it a private school?

@Se22mother, is it a state school - how can they enforce that? Just don’t pay, what would happen?

Very rarely happens where I work. There's a residential for every year group that's 'compulsory' (occasionally there's one or two that don't go due to family/extracurricular commitments, extreme fear etc) and all the non compulsory ones (skiing, choir, cricket etc) take place out of ordinary school time.

When a child does stay behind from a year group residential they just go into a form in the year above or below for the time their own year are away.