Drinking on a school trip?

[Flower64]

I contacted my child's school after a camping trip to ask about the teachers drinking on one of the evenings. My child said there was a lot of laughing, screeching and in her opinion the teachers were drunk. She's 13 so not a young child and I think she'd recognise someone drinking. I got an email reply today and part of it says "some staff did stay up later than the children one night, but at no point were any staff drunk. As an additional precaution two staff members consumed no alcohol at all".

AIBU to surmise then that the remaining staff members did have a drink - but in their opinion they weren't drunk - and is this actually acceptable? I don't think any teachers should be drinking on a school trip but now I am doubting myself and looking for opinions please!

You actually contacted the school? How embarrassing. 😂

Hahaha... I feel sorry for the school your child attends, considering you're THAT parent and are probably always complaining about something. The fact that your daughter felt the need to complain to you about it in the first place says a lot. The apple clearly hasn't fallen far from the tree.

Teachers work with kids what 5-6 hours a day but on the residential they are with the kids 24 hrs a day UNPAID. I'm sure the posts about absolutely needing a drink are lighthearted and I'm quite sure none of them were actually drunk. The crime seems to be that they were laughing.

Well, I'm sure there won't be any more camping trips for the Op to worry about.

Idiot parents spawning idiot kids... and so it goes on to the next generation

@Flower64 I don’t think you’re being unreasonable. I don’t drink at home with my own DS and would not expect this of teachers who are in charge of her care at that time.

I appreciate teachers are giving up their time to do this. They aren’t forced to do it, it’s a choice surely? Residential workers do additional shifts for camping etc.. I’m sure there would be a problem if they started drinking whilst working!

‘Residential workers do additional shifts for camping etc.. I’m sure there would be a problem if they started drinking whilst working!’

Another spectacular missing of the point.
Of course if you’re on a paid shift you can’t drink. Absolutely not the same as volunteering for something and having a glass of wine while not on duty

appreciate teachers are giving up their time to do this. They aren’t forced to do it, it’s a choice surely?
Not forced, necessarily, but put under pressure and it can be taken into consideration in career progression.

@AccioCats I do appreciate where you’re coming from, I don’t think I’m missing the point.
Maybe we have different values, I am not a drinker by any stretch and it would not even cross my mind that someone volunteering or being paid to take my child camping would have a drink whilst they’re in their care.

@CaptainMyCaptain I hadn’t thought of it from that perspective.

I’m not saying I’d make a big deal of them drinking, but I don’t think it’s right and wouldn’t send my DS again.

If two were stone cold sober then seems OK to me.

But provided sufficient staff arent drinking so that they can deal with any emergency, exactly why is it a problem?

Children are ‘in the care’ of their parents but most people wouldn’t bat an eyelid if they have a glass of wine after the children are in bed one evening. In fact, if one parent has a glass of wine while the other doesn’t drink at all to ensure they are fully able to respond to any emergency, a lot of people might think that’s OTT.

Yet that was the situation here: the staff organised it so that there were non drinking staff available.

On the two school trips with separate schools that I was on as a trainee, not even a week into my placements at each school, the two sober teachers thing was definitely not adhered to. I didn’t get drunk because I knew it would be completely irresponsible but I was strongly encouraged to get drunk. The other teachers had not just had two glasses, they were drunk and incapable of caring for children.

When did that happen, Shady?

What a misery you are, OP.

Within the past 10 years. A famous public boarding school and a local Outstanding Catholic High.

Pretty much everything in teaching (and in most other professions) has changed fundamentally in the past decade @ShadyLady53
I very much doubt that that would happen now. There are rules for everything.

So no, unless you're something like an A&E doctor or a brain surgeon, I very much doubt that your work is double the stress of teaching

I do work with children, I have one who has a learning disability and one with a slight physical delay. And others to look after. I like my job though 🤷‍♀️ hard work but then so are a lot of jobs. I wouldn't put those children down for a nap and get myself a glass or 2 of wine. If I did I wouldn't have a job for very long.

I very much doubt that that would happen now.

I know for a fact that it happened at the second school I mentioned again back in 2017 because something did go very wrong as a result of all staff being drunk, staff should have lost their jobs but there wasn’t even a disciplinary over it. It was hushed up by the SLT and Governors even though students and parents all knew exactly what happened.

And yes, I did report it to the LA and Diocese.

No ShadyLady53 on MN this won't be accepted as being true unless you have actual proof and can post it here. As we all know, teachers are saints, they do no wrong and anything irresponsible the do do can be written off with the sentence "it's very stressful being a teacher". 🙄

And yet I’m saying this as a teacher, albeit I’m now a lecturer @Drogosnextwife. I agree it’s a very stressful profession (I hated working in Secondary) and teachers do NOT only work 5/6 hours a day (double it) but I know what happened did actually happen. And I know MN will deny, deny, deny rather than accept it.

At least they didn't get into a drunken fight like these teachers
www.google.com/amp/s/www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/amp/entry/drunk-teachers-accused-of-brawling-on-school-trip_n_7326746/

Oh I don't doubt that teachers are under a great deal of stress. I know they are. There are an awful ot of jobs that are stressful though, and an awful lot of allowences made for teachers where they wouldn't be made for others in different fields.

My dp was a carer for several years. He stayed with people overnight in there own homes because they couldn't be left alone. He often didn't sleep at all, he often got hit with things, punch, kit, bitten, spat on, even threatened with a knife twice. He got £30 for the 10 "night time" hours he worked. If he had been caught drinking a few beers when the people he was caring for were supposed to be in their beds, he would have been fired on the spot.

Oh dear .... I can just imagine the mirth in the staff room over this complaint. Brutal places for 'those' sort of parents and kids .

I can't imagine my DDs at 13 even mentioning this sort of thing.

Teachers have had the odd drink or three on every school trip and brownie/guide trip mine have been to and good luck to them, I wouldn't want to do it.

Drogos of course he would, because he would have been drinking while being paid to do a job. (Yes the money sounds shit but that’s irrelevant: he was on duty.)

Teachers on a residential are allowed to have time off (if you can call it ‘time off’, given it’s not part of their contractual hours and they aren’t being paid anything for the trip.) Provided a sufficient number of staff are remaining ‘on duty’ to deal with any emergency, what exactly is the problem?

Young people are always agog to see teachers in an out of school context.

You have wildly over-reacted and it is embarrassing that you contacted them.

Two teachers on duty and not drinking is perfectly acceptable.

Teachers are allowed to screech and laugh.

A story about teachers from another school who drank too much has no bearing on the situation in the OP where teachers may (or may not) have had a glass or two and dared to have a laugh with each other.