To think teachers shouldn't be drinking on trips?

[Newyeardontcare]

Dc just back from trip overseas. Apparently as soon as they were in their rooms the teachers went to the hotel bar. (The kids snuck down to check on them so they could all go into each other's rooms).Were also drinking wine and cocktails at dinner (before walking kids around an overseas city for an hour to their hotel at 11pm)

Is this normal? In charge of 13yr olds?

Yep, perfume is the same one, thought i should meet and apologise to parents for sending a well done card.
Scary thing is there is probably a pefume parent in every school 😫

No, I'm the poster who said it was 'like' invading the home. I was one of the few who understood where the OP of that particular thread was coming from.

Let's be frank, these trips are often ones that the teachers wish to go on. It benefits them and it benefits the children but should they be as sober as they are when they are in the classroom? Of course they should.

If they don't intend to be then I, as a parent, would appreciate knowing that before consenting to let my child travel with them. I've never asked as, until this thread, I didn't think teachers would even think of drinking while in charge of other people's children.

Now, I feel as if my trust might have been abused and what's crazy about asking for an apology for that?!

What benefit do teachers get from residential trips

@PerfumeandOranges do the world a favour and never inflict your children and views on anyone, home school, look after your own kids 24/7!

Is it for any reason that you have massive issues around moderate alcohol and letters?

Well, one PP mentioned her skiing trip in America! I imagine that's a benefit for her. of course she will have responsibilities-amongst them not drinking while in charge of children-but still a good trip when all is weighed up,

These type of trips are more popular with teachers I guess than residential trips to the Mustard Museum in Norwich.

then I, as a parent, would appreciate knowing that before consenting to let my child travel with them.

I should think the teachers would be eternally grateful if you didn’t allow your kids to go on trips. 🙄

I had 4 days in Bradford, does that count as a benefit?

Trips I've run:
Berlin - the Wall, Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie, Saschenhausen camp
Krakow - Auschwitz-Birkenau, Jewish quarter, Schindler's factory and museum
Battlefields - Ypres and the Somme
Normandy - D Day landing beaches, Omaha beach and cemetery, British cemetery at Bayeux.
I teach history, I'd like to think these trips were pretty worthwhile.

And if you're going to begrudge me a glass of wine when I've spent a harrowing day at Auschwitz you can fuck right off (I have Jewish ancestry by the way - so yes, definitely just a 'jolly' that one).

I have taken pupils skiing to USA who would never have gone otherwise. Pupils opted for USA over Europe. Families clubbed together to pay for some pupils to go. Some had never left the UK before.
Yes it was a great experience but it was the pupils that had the most amazing experience.

My DC's went on a skiing trip at the start of term, I can't think of anything worse than being in the freezing cold, hanging nursery slopes trying to monitor a load of DC with sharp skis and a shed load of clothing each. I have no idea if the teachers drank or not in the evening, they were welcome to have glass as far as I was concerned and I did thank them when they got back.

One of our local schools insists that the ski trip is to the USA because the kids won't be able to obtain alcohol - because they need to be 21 to drink. The cost is double the normal school ski trip costs.

What benefits am I getting from taking year 1 on a residential oranges? It’s ten miles away and I’m giving up my weekend. Frankly I feel now this will be my last trip. Parents like you don’t deserve all that teachers do (unpaid)
A student teacher is also coming so she’s only on her student loan. I will buy her a present myself to say thanks for all her help.

The teachers at our school tell me they love school trips - and why not - they should enjoy it!

It benefits them and it benefits the children but should they be as sober as they are when they are in the classroom? Of course they should

I’m a cub leader, and I’m not sure it benefits me to voluntarily spend a weekend in a muddy field with 24 eight year olds who won’t sleep. I do enjoy it, or I wouldn’t do it. But it doesn’t reslly benefit me. In fact it costs me, as I usually work at weekends, so lose money.

And it’s fucking hard work. Lots of planning, lots of work, physical work with pitching and striking camp, cooking, running activities, admin, caring for children, getting approx 2 hours sleep a night (there’s anyways a cub needing something at any given hour). I come home physically and mentally exhausted after packing up, loading the trailer, unloading at the scout hut with very little help from parents, and not many thank yous. But I do (strangely) enjoy it.

So if a parent then begrudged me a (very small) glass of wine round the campfire , while ensuring the scout alcohol policy is adhered to, I would be very pissed off indeed.

PerfumeandOranges I think it’s fair enough to find out the alcohol policy before signing your child up to a trip. But if you don’t like the fact that some teachers/leaders may have a drink, don’t send your child. They are not in the classroom, and everyone needs a little downtime when working 24/7.

The teachers at our school tell me they love school trips - and why not - they should enjoy it!

I don't think many teachers enjoy these trips. They value the experience the kids get, they often like the chance to get to know the kids better outside of the normal classroom context but the entire experience is exhausting and in no way relaxing. Friendship issues, homesickness, travel sickness, the kids who won't go to sleep or who don't turn up where they're meant to be. Stressful in the extreme. It's all also time away from their own family and friends.

Of course they don't have to behave as they would in the classroom for the duration of the trip - do some of these parents also object to the teachers go to sleep during the residential? Should they be permanently dressed professionally and on guard at all hours? Of course not. One or two totally sober teachers in the evening is fine and the rest can have a glass or two of wine.

I enjoy residential trips. I enjoy seeing children enjoy themselves. Do things they have never done before. We take all of our pupils to Wales. It is wet, cold and hard work but seeing 11/12 years olds who have never been out of their town before taking part in activities they probably never will again is fabulous.
In Year 11 they still talk about it.

So yes I enjoy it. It's bloody hard work. I get very little sleep. I mop up tears and sick. It is 24/7. Every night there are four members of staff who do not drink and stay up in the dorms with the kids. The other two nights we have a staffroom and get to have w glass or two of wine and relax.
I don't get paid for it (weekends) and as a single mum it caused all sorts of issues but as a head Of year I am expected to go.
I am exhausted when I get to school on the Monday morning, the kids are exhausted and grumpy. But they have loved what they have done and remember it forever.
If I had a complaint because someone thought I was bladdered and shouldn't be then I would not do it again.

I’m a cub leader, and I’m not sure it benefits me to voluntarily spend a weekend in a muddy field with 24 eight year olds who won’t sleep. and the cub and scout leaders around here have told me again and again how much they enjoy camping with the kids - all the leaders have known each other since they were small, it’s a social event for them too - they reassured me that if they didn’t enjoy it so much they just wouldn’t do it.

and the cub and scout leaders around here have told me again and again how much they enjoy camping with the kids

I do enjoy it, of course I do, or I wouldn’t volunteer to do it. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy, it’s very hard work indeed. Much much harder than a family camp with my own kids. And the main benefit is for the kids.

And while dd at aged 12 was away in Europe and her best friend decided she no longer wanted to hang out with her and dd was devastated the teachers were amazing, as were the older students. People travel with their work, they are not expected to fund travel but
I’m sure we’d all agree that when the staff are happy, the students are happy and vice versa.

I really want to know what city it was.

There is no justification for drinking while in charge of other people's children. None.

So we have a 500 reply thread based on some preteenies sneaking down to a lobby and spying on their teachers when they should have been in their own goddamn rooms? And trusting that said preteenies were able to accurately identify that every single teacher was drinking alcohol?

Further, we then assume that the adult who spends more time Mon-Fri with your kids than YOU do is suddenly unable to look after them due to uncontrollable alcohol consumption?

Lastly you somehow think that a city which has been approved for a school trip is somehow dangerous to your precious darling child?

Pathetic. Really. You either trust the staff at your school to act like responsible adults or you don't. If the latter then pull your kid out of school, teach them yourself and stop bitching about teachers anonymously on the internet. Or have the spine to address it with the school if you feel like wasting even more of their valuable time than you already do.

Kdo you homeschool your children perfume because you seem hate all teachers? I would imagine you have driven some to drink.

@zwellers What an outlandish and ridiculous comment which seems to equate criticism of SOME habits of SOME teachers with 'hating' ALL teachers.

Teachers are not-like Caesar's Wife-above critical remarks and nor should they be. In this situation, those of them who drink whilst in charge of other people's children are in the wrong and no amount of flabby argument can counteract that.

In my own case, thanks to this thread, I shall be asking my child's school to let parents know, in writing, if teachers will be drinking on any residential trip before parents sign up for it.

I rather think that a fair proportion of parents will decide to keep their children at home if the teachers cannot stay off the sauce while in a supervisory position.

If an adult cannot stay away from the booze while looking after other people's children, then they should not go on the trip or the trip should be cancelled. A child's safety comes before an adult's desire to drink.

Like the OP, I would encourage my child to tell me if they saw their teacher drinking-in the same way that I would expect to be told if they were drinking in the classroom: either they are in charge and therefore act accordingly or they are not.