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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Was your daughter on a school trip at Alton towers today?

675 replies

Zzz1234 · 29/06/2018 18:42

Was she late for her bus? did the teacher lose his rag at her in the middle of the entrance area? If so is she ok?

Can’t believe what I saw today, two girls were 20 mins late back, yes they should be in trouble but they did not deserve some teacher screaming at them, I was 75 metres away and could hear everything I felt so sorry for the girls. I was in a queue and I wasn’t talking about it to the other people in the queue, I was about to go over, but another teacher did.

Would love the name of the school to make a complaint to. Heat is not an excuse, I have lived in hot countries and never saw a teacher lose it like he did.

I know it’s not Aibu but posted here for traffic....

OP posts:
Zzz1234 · 29/06/2018 20:35

The kids looked about the same age as my 12 year old year 7/8, definetly not older.

OP posts:
blackteasplease · 29/06/2018 20:36

i think you probably had to be there to judge this.

There is shouting and shouting. there os shouting as a result of having been panicking, and there is roaring at children in a way that would be very frightening. Yes they deserved a bollocking but I'm guessing this was something a bit more than that.

Feckitall · 29/06/2018 20:41

Bet they aren't late again in the future....Wink

PeakPants · 29/06/2018 20:43

The kids looked about the same age as my 12 year old year 7/8, definetly not older

Yeah right. I actually don't believe you. you drip feed this information in to make people more sympathetic. I also don't think teachers would allow year 7s to disappear unsupervised all day. When we were at school, you could only go to alton towers on a trip if you were at least year 9/10.

BoneyBackJefferson · 29/06/2018 20:43

Zzz1234

If you are going to drip feed anything else could you put it all in your next post.

YouCanCallMeNancy · 29/06/2018 20:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SoftBallSophie · 29/06/2018 20:45

Because of them the whole school year probably missed their school buses home. Very selfish girls...deserved a huge bollocking in front of everyone.

LuluJakey1 · 29/06/2018 20:45

I agree, it sounds as if he lost it a bit. Teachers are human beings who, quite honestly, do ridiculously hard jobs.

The staff at my school take the whole school - 1000 teenagers on a day of trips at this time of year. They start organiisng the trips in January. Risk assessments for the whole trip, individual risk assessments for particular students with issues, money collection, ringing parents to chase up permission slips, allocating staff roles and responsibilities, Local Authority trips paperwork packs to be completed, governors permission to be sought, first aid kit and packed lunches for those on free school meals to be organised, school sun cream, students' on medication, registers, parent contact numbers, school mobile phone etc.
One trip of about 300 goes to Lightwater Valley and it sets off at 7.00am so teachers are leaving home at 6 or earlier to get to school in good time. Teenagers can be very challenging on hot buses and in environments like Light-water Valley/Alton Towers. There are so many riskassessments in place that have to be followed by staff.
It is not a nice day out. Staff count students all the time, sit amongst them on buses to maintain good behaviour, organise litter collections so the buses are clean, deal with travel sickness, illness, tears, fall-outs and that's just on the bus.
At Lightwater Valley they patrol constantly keeping an eye n children to make sure they are safe and one teacher remains in a central place as an emergency contact. It is usually hot and they spend hours standing around, walking around, spending money on lunch, cold drinks.
The bus drivers are on a schedule and if students don't turn up on time they get grumpy. But for a teacher the feeling of utter dread as every minute passes and students are not there is awful. You ring their mobile-if they don't answer you feel sick. You have a message over the tannoys if possible- if they still don't turn up you start thinkng about what you are going to do. Alert the park staff? Ring the police? What about the rest of the students and the buses- are you going to have to stay behind and let them go or do the other 298 have to wait in the hot sun on a bus? When do you alert the school and parents? What if they have been hurt or abducted or are ill somewhere?
It is a horrible feeling and I can understand how you might lose it - not saying it's what I would want to see but I can understand- when they amble up grinning because they forgot the time or were in a queue for a ride. Part of it is relief to see them, part of it is anger at their selfishness.
Then there is the now 3 1/2 hour journey home because you'll hit rush hour on the A1. Tired teenagers, irritable teenagers, loud teenagers, hot buses, travel sickness, sunburn victims, overheard bad language, litter.
The staff get back to school at 7 or later count everyone off the buses, wait for those whose parents are late collecting them, ring parents who have forgotten, make sure the bus is tidy, take all the stuff back into school and set off for home about half 7.
Not a penny of overtime or time in lieu. The next morning they will say how wonderful it was, lovely opportunity to spend time with students, how 99% of them were a pleasure to be with, how proud they were of them and will sign up for next year's trip.

So Zzz1234 I find your mean-minded rush to the internet to put a 'what I saw today/beat the teacher' post quite pathetic. It is no wonder teachers are leaving the profession in droves. I imagine, frm experience, the teacher's colleague spotted what was happening and diffused the situation. Probably the teacher put it right with the girls on the bus. Meanwhile, you rushed to post an inflammatory account on the internet. You should be ashamed.

shakeyourcaboose · 29/06/2018 20:46

@lipstickhandbagcoffee of course I'm not genuinely deterred from teaching- was being a bit facetious in that, given all that teachers do do, the focus is sadly on events like this! Having previously worked within a Throughcare team, am well aware of intricacies of teaching and the complex nature of the role.

Zzz1234 · 29/06/2018 20:48

They definetly don’t stay with the teacher in year 7, at least not at my kids school, they even get let loose at parks in France/Germany at that age (unless my kids are telling me lies).

Sorry didn’t mean to drip feed just didn’t think it was needed when I wrote the original post.

OP posts:
ILoveOnionRings · 29/06/2018 20:50

No Op did not receive a PM, they noted another poster said their DD was at Alton Towers and that one of their group was late then Op PM'd them with a full description of what they saw.

Not sure why OP would have pm'd them unless it was to compare notes or to fully make sure that the other poster had enough information to make a complaint!

Op what actually is it that made you so concerned for the girls in questions. Was it just the volume of said teacher or the words they actually used?

Actually the teachers behaviour was not as crap as the girls - straightaway he was not late, you have admitted you could not hear what the girls may have or have not said as you were to far away. You do not know any background of the girls or the teacher, you are just projecting your own opinion.

I fully agree with Inertia - perhaps read their comment again.

RolyRocks · 29/06/2018 20:51

I've completely had it with teachers that don't lead by example and talk to pupils in such a bad way and then wonder why they don't get any respect.

I’ve completely had it with people who think that being 20 minutes late back to the coach means that the teacher should have thought about prioritising the ‘respect’ of those two girls rather than discipline them for their actions that may well have had serious consequences for many others.

LynetteScavo · 29/06/2018 20:52

I was whacked round very hard around the head on a school trip for shouting the f-word when I was 13yo. I guess things have progressed.

I would have totally expected a bollocking if I was late to the coach.

Yes, I'm sure the teacher roared. If you complain to the school, the teacher will probably wait until the DC are on the bus if this ever happens again. Or a consequence will be put in place, such as 25 lunch time detentions for anyone late back to the bus.

I'd rather be shouted at briefly and conclude the teacher was a twat, if I were 12yo.

Zzz1234 · 29/06/2018 20:52

lulu you seriously go on a day trip that 3.5 hours away? Why? Is there no where closer? My post wasn’t meant meant to be mean minded or amnything similar but a serious concern.

OP posts:
nokidshere · 29/06/2018 20:53

Dear god if my children came home telling me they got a public bollocking for being late back they would get another one from me and a ban on the next school trip.

If they didn't want a bollocking they should have been back at the meeting place on time. End of.

No wonder today's teens have no resilience and complain about everyone and everything.

And 75m is almost 250ft away. Impressive hearing you have there. If I had heard a teacher shouting at teenagers I would have been thinking 'oops, they won't do that again'.

RedForFilth · 29/06/2018 20:54

Ok, teachers have hard jobs and are only human. Agreed. However, I do not agree that its is ok to shout. It makes them look unprofessional and lacking in communication skills. I work in care. If a resident went missing for 20 mins would it be acceptable for me to shout at them?!

RolyRocks · 29/06/2018 20:56

lulu you seriously go on a day trip that 3.5 hours away? Why? Is there no where closer? My post wasn’t meant meant to be mean minded or amnything similar but a serious concern.

If you read what Lulu said, you will see that it’s not 3.5 hours away normally but in the worst traffic then yes, a day school trip journey can take that long (and frequently does due to pupils posing a flight risk)

BoneyBackJefferson · 29/06/2018 20:57

Zzz1234
lulu you seriously go on a day trip that 3.5 hours away? Why? Is there no where closer?

Cos sometimes only a trip 3 and a half hours away is what the pupils want.

Shumpalumpa · 29/06/2018 20:58

If you were that bothered you would have spoken to the teacher, OP.

What are the chances of the parents of the girl reading this thread? Miniscule.

Bystander wasn’t brave enough to speak up at the time.

Agreed.

LipstickHandbagCoffee · 29/06/2018 20:58

Great, that’ll enhance your training and appreciation of reality of henrole

Zzz1234 · 29/06/2018 20:59

red, no if you lost a resident for 20 mins you’d have a referral to cqc and la, and possibly police :)

OP posts:
ThroughThickAndThin01 · 29/06/2018 20:59

Read lulus post again OP. And then stop being so obnoxious.

LuluJakey1 · 29/06/2018 20:59

Zzzz Read what I wrote- the explanation is there.

MissMarplesKnitting · 29/06/2018 21:00

We need to do long distance trips. To do coasts, it involves a few hours from here in the Midlands.

And yes, I've dealt with travel sickness, rudeness, awful behaviour etc on trips. This time of year everyone is on their knees with tiredness too.

Our kids are given a school mobile number (PAYG) on trips, we have these and they're told if there's an issue etc to RING or TEXT and tell us. We had some latecomers one year but they'd called to say someone got stuck on a ride queue and the were 5 minutes away, very sorry etc and all was fine. They did the responsible thing.

If they'd just rocked up 20 minutes late they'd have had a flea in their ear from me. Thought let and irresponsible. That's teens. But they need to learn if they've overstepped the mark.

Just to not turn up makes staff worry dreadfully.

Zzz1234 · 29/06/2018 21:01

shump another parent of a child on trip has so not that miniscule. I should have gone over, as I already said I was a bit gobsmacked and shocked.

OP posts:
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