To think primary schools shouldn't run residential trips?

[orangejuiced]

I dont see what purpose they serve. From reading threads on here, they dont seem popular with teachers (having to look after kids 24 hours a day, no extra pay), they are very expensive to parents (in hundreds of pounds) and potentially children feel left out or excluded if they aren't comfortable to go or parents cant afford it.

An a level geography course maybe requires a field trip, but primary children dont need to do expensive outdoor pursuits as part of their curriculum. I never went on one until age 13 and I'm perfectly independent as an adult . Aibu, am I missing something?

They definitely had them in some schools in 1981. In fact I think it was already a long standing tradition by the time my year went on theirs.

My Ds has been going away since he was 6 although with beavers.

My ds’s teacher said the ones who are more likely to struggle are the ones who haven’t done t cub/ scouts etc.

My Ds went on a residential year 6 he looked forward to it most the way through school.

I went to Primary school residential in 1983 Kilope residential in Allendale

If they go to a farm for example, the trip is good for independence, bonding doing something practical and for some city kids their only chance to get into the country and have contact with animals. I was looking at my ds' description of leading the donkey around in year five just the other day- really sweet.

I work at one in Devon and we have children of all kinds of ages ( though mostly they are 7-10 I think) they do all the animal care on the farms, help in the gardens, make butter and apple juice and all kinds of stuff - the kids love it as do the teachers that come. The feedback sheets are always great to read and schools come back time and time again ( one school has been back three times this year!) they eat great food, almost entirely produced/grown here - and always go home saying how much they love the experience.
I’m hoping my daughters school do something similar when she’s old enough - she will love it :)

They never had them when I was at primary school, they never had them in in the 80s

I was privately educated, but they certainly had school residentials in the 80s. I went on my first in 1989!

GreenTulips In the 80s I worked in a residential centre that schools came to. I am sure some schools stopped doing residential trips, but plenty still did. I worked with the kids on them so I know that for a fact.

At our school they go on them in year two, only for one night and my sons have both LOVED it! There were about five or six kids from the two year two classes that didn't go but all the ones I know absolutely loved it - their first taste of being away from parents.

Ours takes y5 & 6 on a two year cycle. My two will both fall in y6 after their SATs which will be fantastic to look forwards to.

I vividly remember a 5 day residential trip to a study centre in y4. Pond dipping, chromotography, the boys watching England lose a particular semi-final... Lots of practical things that couldn't be done at school. I was used to going to stay with long-distance relatives from 6, so that was no shock to me.

I do Guiding and Scouting and residentials do so much to help young people grow independently, especially if their parents are prone to excessive mollycoddling. Often young people want to do things but are held back and put off by their parents. By doing it as a year group at school, it's much harder to claim they are too young and not ready than in a mixed age organisation.

Admittedly my 8yo had a bit of a self-care breakdown on a recent camp where exhaustion, sensory overload and dyspraxia got the better of him and I did intervene as I couldn't pretend that we hadn't seen each other (I was with my other group), but I got him back to a functional state and back in with his group ASAP. We've chatted about it and while acknowledging the challenging bits, he still had a great time on balance. That kind of resiliance is so important. It brings back memories of DoE and laughing through the pain and miserable weather of expeditions muttering "I WILL make it to the palace" and being determined not to fail so I got something out of it

For some children, it's very healthy to experience some challenge and dirt!

My twins loved all their trips away. In Y3 they had a night ‘camping’ in school. Y4 was two nights away at a lodge. Y5 was 4 days and 3 nights in YMCA accommodation in London. Y6 was the biggie - 5 days and 4 nights on the Isle of Wight!

Yes it cost us a bundle (£360 each for the IoW trip!), but their memories are priceless. They still laugh about what they did, who was naughty, etc - and they are now Y10.

A terrific confidence builder - really helped the younger twin come out of her shell.

Oh, and the school wouldn’t subsidise us or give us siblings rates - there were four sets of twins in their Y6 too.

My school went on a residential in the 80’s . I wasn’t allowed to go because my mum had issues , not because we couldn’t afford it . I still remember hearing people chatting about it.

My children went in yr 5 & 6. Years before they had been spring trips but parents had complained about the price so they were changed to winter trips to make them cheaper - still £300 for 4 days including half day travel there and half day back! Some activities were missed as too dangerous due to icey and windy conditions. The children whose parents couldn’t afford the trip still had to go to school and the teachers made them wave their classmates off which we all though was unnecessary and cruel

YABU

These school trips are great opportunities for the children. Not every child will want to go on every trip- and some children will not comfortable going on any- but that doesn't mean they shouldn't exist. I can see the point that some trips are too expensive, but not all are/have to be expensive and some schools have a fund for those whose parents cannot go (I think this should be rolled out more widely).

I find the idea that because you didn't go and are fine, so they are completely unnecessary a bit curmudgeonly, to be honest. There are lots of things that you can go through childhood, or indeed your entire life, without doing and be perfectly fine. That doesn't mean those things are not exciting/interesting/fun/enriching. Who knows what spark one of these experiences could spark for a child?

Ours was about £100. You could pay in instalments. It was year 4. I think if you couldn’t pay, you could get it paid for. My DD loved it, they all did. Lots of outdoor resilience activities. Then the packing/being responsible/keeping sleep areas tidy bit. I had reservations but think it was really good for them. Two children didn’t go, they were not disadvantaged children (who all went) so I am guessing they or their parents just didn’t want them to. They seemed to have had a lovely week at school being made a fuss of and doing projects/helping the younger classes.

I went on a residential in yr6 in 1980. I have lots of good memories of it.
Ds is at special school and has been on residentials since primary age Most of the children have severe learning difficulties but as far as I know they enjoy them and get a lot out of them.

"She came back sunburnt and dirty from 1 shower in 3 days, when they were outside gettting muddy all the time. Her hair was like a fuzz ball from lack of brushing"
tbh sunburn aside, that's the kind of trip I want my kids to have.

I think one is Y6 as a rite of passage/last time to be together is a wonderful thing. Our school does Y4, 5 & 6 - it's not that I think it is too young to be away from parents, as it is usually only down the road a couple of miles, but more that is is another big financial pressure on some families, esp if they have a few kids. But our school is a bit fucking oblivious of how much the lovely fancy stuff they do can be excluding

DC (11) has done several trips and loved them all- several school camp outs, 2 foreign exchange trips (Italy, Greece), ski trip, sailing residential, outdoor activity centre. DC has learned a lot, experienced new things an d places, learned new skills and become resilient, more adventurous. Maybe not for every child, but very good in our experience.

The residential I went on in yr 6 was the first time I had been in the countryside. I can remember walking through a wood in the evening with torches, thinking how amazing it was.

I was bullied badly in primary school.
Last yr residential: I was put in a cabin full of girls from another school. The other school kids were benign. Not especially friendly. Main thing is, they didn't pick on me or make fun of anything/everything I did. I could relax and just be ordinary.
It was revelatory. Like, wow... maybe there isn't something inherently terribly wrong with me. Maybe the kids at my usual school are just shits.

Adult People go to Glastonbury & don't shower for days. Human beings can survive this pretty well, turns out. Even teen DD who is obsessive about showers shrugged off that daily need when on Guides camp.

She came back sunburnt and dirty from 1 shower in 3 days, when they were outside gettting muddy all the time. Her hair was like a fuzz ball from lack of brushing

Often young people want to do things but are held back and put off by their parents

So true. I feel sorry for any child that isn’t allowed to go because they didn’t brush their hair for three days. What a shame parents sometimes can’t see the bigger picture. My DD has a t-shirt that says ‘Csmp Hair, Don’t Care’. I love her attitude!

They never had them when I was at primary school, they never had them in in the 80s.

I must have imagined the one I went on in 1986 then.

They didn't have them at the school I went to. Private schools are different, they probably did have them as they could afford to have them back then. I didn't go to a private school myself.

Ds's PGL 4 night residential was brilliant, cost £250 which was a bargain for 4 activities a day with friends and all meals. I'd send him every year or more often if they did them and I could afford it

I went on a week long trip to London in 1983. It was great fun.

My DC's primary go away in P6 and P7. DS loved both trips.

Our DD has hers in a couple of weeks. She's only ever had one night away from us so it will be really good for her although I don't envy her teachers. She's very excited although it will be interesting to see how she copes (adopted and some additional needs). We think it's a great idea and will experience a lot of new things. We too have had several months to pay for it.