School tour aborted, kids now due back at 2:30am. Overreaction?

[Encolere]

My 16 year old is on a school trip. They left on Sunday and were due back tomorrow evening. They were having a great time. After dinner this evening they were told some (unnamed) kids were caught with illegal substances and they were all to pack up immediately to be shipped home. They are a 5 hour drive away and will now get in at 2:30 am. I, and most other parents, have to be up a few hours later for work.

AIBU to think this is an extreme reaction? It was a small number (I presume) of the 40 or so kids on the trip. There was no mention of any of the other students being in danger nor were the police involved as far as we know. If the schools previous MO for dealing with incidents like this are to go by, this will never be mentioned again and the kids involved will remain anonymous.

It is probably revelvant that this school group have been trouble from their first year in secondary. Despite the majority of the group being well behaved they are always (all) in trouble because of the actions of those few who are lacking in the cop on department.

I really feel for teachers in these situations My dd was on a school trip from the uk to Italy when on a day out at a swim park the teachers suddenly realised that one of the year 10 girls was heavily pregnant, no one knew including her parents, teacher had to follow protocol and notify the headteacher who then broke the news to her parents. Can you imagine that phonecall!?

I also don't get why the poorly behaved kids were allowed in the first place. Ds1 has not been allowed to join any trips at all since starting high school, because his behaviour record has been appalling. Even if school were daft enough to open an overnight trip up to him I'd suggest they think again. The 3 night residential he did at the end of primary school I spent on tenterhooks waiting for a call to say he'd managed to burn down the building or something (he didn't).

Maybe tell them that collective punishment is a breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child!

qpol.qub.ac.uk/collective-punishments-classrooms-breach-geneva-convention/

It doesn’t seem fair to be punished if you haven’t done anything wrong. Also, imagine paying out money for your kid to go on a trip and then they are brought home early, that would annoy me as we don’t have much money so I’d probably save up for trips. We don’t punish people who are innocent just because they are in the same area as the criminal.

They're not being sent to a fucking concentration camp isa2

Think of it as a lesson in corporate responsibility, OP. Several decades of teaching experience tells me that some of the non-guilty kids know who the culprits are, but are protecting them.

It is none of your business who the guilty ones are, or any punishments they receive. If your child committed an infraction, the school would maintain their confidentiality too.

Schools have increasing obligations to keep students in education and manage their behaviour with diminishing resources, limited powers and no parental support, yours included. It is almost impossible to expel students. Maybe cut the school some slack and realise you have no clue of all the work they're doing behind the scenes.

I hate this whole group punishment lark.

It rewards the ones in the wrong because they remain anonymous and punishes those in the right because they miss out.

You are right that you are seeing the end result of this attitude for years and years.
I imagine the kids that bought the alcohol were never actually that interested on trip - win win for them! Get pissed and get to go home!

No one said they were being sent to a fucking concentration camp, Wardrobe- did you read the linked article? ?

Maybe tell them that collective punishment is a breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child!

and the prize for the stupidest response goes to?

I suspect that the parents where called and told the school that would they fuck collect them.

If you want to blame anyone other than the school which you won't maybe you could blame the pupils that broke the rules, or the parents that wouldn't go and get them.

Schools have increasing obligations to keep students in education and manage their behaviour with diminishing resources, limited powers and no parental support

Blaming a whole class or group for the "sins" of the few is going to help get parental support isn't it?

After dinner this evening they were told some (unnamed) kids were caught with illegal substances and they were all to pack up immediately to be shipped home

And this suggests the teachers did know who the culprits were.

havingtochangeusernameagain

It also suggests that there is more to the entire situation than the OP or we know.

A lot will also depend on what else had been going on for the rest of the trip.

There are kids who’ll tell you I cancelled a trip because one person unclicked their seatbelt on the bus. It was in fact the umpteenth safety thing we’d had to deal with and we hadn’t even got out of town yet!

It is none of your business who the guilty ones are, or any punishments they receive. If your child committed an infraction, the school would maintain their confidentiality too

Until the guilty kids are named, my child is considered (as usual ) part of the guilty party. if my child had been involved we would have wanted them to apologise to their classmates face to face. We discussed this before we knew they had no involvement, our child knows they will be expected to face up to their actions even if they were drinking/taking drugs/whatever because of peer pressure because what other more compelling reason is there for teenagers to jump into silly situations than to impress your peers.

We paid for this trip, my child stuck to the rules and yet was sent home early. So yes, I think we all deserve to know who thinks it is okay to sell their peers out. These kids should be taught to be accountable for their actions. Especially when those actions impact so negatively on others.

If someone was caught with something then it's clear the teachers know who's involved. They might not know everyone who's involved but they'll know some and can probably have a good guess at the others.

What happened at the handover at 2.30 in the morning? We’re they on time? Did all parents turn up? Did any parent say they were going to have a word with the culprits parents?

At that stage most didn't know who the culprits were (it's still only rumour, nothing confirmed) so I believe plenty of parents were angry (at the teachers i think) and plenty marched (in pairs it seemed) towards the bus but i didnt hear any raised voices so hope nothing was said at that point. It was dark and raining and I was in my pyjamas so didn't get out of the car and left as soon as I could.

Until the culprits are confirmed no one can confront Or otherwise tackle the subject with them! Its a small community so honestly, I cannot see people turning up at suspects houses with pitchforks and torches but I do think there is a "last straw" feeling among parents about the schools leniency towards these consistent trouble makers. It's not so much the trouble makers - they will always feature, it's more that the good kids seem to be constantly sidelined and ignored to nurture/protect or otherwise deal with the troublemakers.

I would like to see the school grow a backbone and switch sides for a change. Start to notice the good, quiet but keen kids and ignore the shits that have had 4 years of spotlight. Will that ever happen? I don't know. It's a school with some fantastic teachers and despite its isolated location they mostly give their all but I do feel they are failing my child and most likely others with their current focus.

Where we they staying? Maybe the company who own the accommodation would but want them remaining on the premises if they are aware of the incident.

Maybe it was a second warning and this was the consequence.

Whilst it's inconvenient for parents I'd be supporting school and teachers in this.

The teachers are working many hours for free on residential and it's not easy going in my experience. You're always on watch. It's a serious incident - illegal substances so assuming drugs. Maybe the teachers have just had enough and don't want any more responsibility if some of the kids are bringing drugs into the premises.

urely the school staff can't have been so naive as to think this particular group would all have been ready to act with maturity and consideration given their historical behaviour.

But this isn't just immature behaviour by the sounds of it.

I was in my pyjamas so didn't get out of the car and left as soon as I could.

So, no acknowledgement or thanks to those staff members who took care of your child 24/7 for the main portion of the trip? And were also up half the night (working/responsible for the students) and probably due in to work the next morning also?

When I was still teaching, decisions like this were made not by teachers themselves, but upon consultation with the school. there are precise procedures how to deal with this sort of situation, and clearly this is a procedure for your school.

This is why I don't ever volunteer to go on school trips. It's not worth the hassle from the kids or the parents.

OhDearGodLookAtThisMess 😂 It was dark, raining and 3am! My child thanked the teachers (who were not due in at work next day like the students as they were all scheduled to be away still).

Raise it with the Parent Governors.

Raise it with the Parent Governors.

Yes.

"Why did the teachers have to bring all of the pupils home from the school trip, when two of them could have brought the offending pupils home, leaving the remaining teachers not meeting the required health and safety ratio?"

Presumably they couldn't have brought home only the culprits because they refused to own up. Teachers found evidence and offered an easier way out, but since no one confessed, they all had to leave early.