About this school trip

[user87382294757]

School have decided to try and save money on a trip and not hire a bus, asking the parents to drive their DC to the place and then pick them up at 2.30...seems a bit annoying as all the parents will have to drive or arrange lifts and not be easy with after school care

AIBU - it would not be an issue for costs of a bus compared to the extra costs and hassle for the parents. I don't have a car that day and it says it is not on a bus route and around 15-20 mins drive away

@silverystream that’s true I suppose. I guess it depends now on the purpose of the activity - with y6s I’d envisaged it as a kind of ‘outward bound ’ type activity, perhaps with campfires, searching for suitable materials and so on, which would be hard to create on a school playground.

Anyway. The options the parents have are: sort transport so kids can go on trip, or don’t sort transport and trip will be cancelled. Future trips will either not be arranged, or will be arranged and parents expected to pay for a coach. I’d imagine they have tried coaches before (easiest all round for teachers!!) and parents haven’t paid up, either leading to cancellations or the school footing the bill, so that’s why they’re trying something different. I don’t imagine the school would choose this method of transport as their first choice.

I never mind helping people with lifts and I work flexibly and have a car but I really wouldn't be happy driving children round that I don't know and I also wouldn't want to set a precedent as PP said of 'Greyhound can do it'.

Future trips will either not be arranged, or will be arranged and parents expected to pay for a coach

I don't know why this is such a fear. Exciting, enriching activities can be arranged at school or in the local vicinity. And anyway, there is in addition to this the utilisation of Pupil Premium funds to pay for the pupils which qualify.

I guess it depends now on the purpose of the activity - with y6s I’d envisaged it as a kind of ‘outward bound ’ type activity, perhaps with campfires, searching for suitable materials and so on, which would be hard to create on a school playground.

But how relevant is this to making shelters in an urban environment when the materials that are available are different? Urban makeshift shelters exist, the materials are just different.

It could be linked to a Geography topic covering shanty towns and homelessness...

Not quite the point, but I think trips for small children are completely pointless. I never understand why they bother. They just run around screaming.

They should have put it to a Parents/Carers vote first.

A childminder wouldn't necessarily be able to accommodate this, or people with multiple children. That's without those that don't drive etc.

51Abracad
"Not quite the point, but I think trips for small children are completely pointless."

My Grandchildren's school don't start the educational stuff until around 7/8. Until that they go to farm/ice cream type places.

So, apparently the teachers have advised parents they might need tp get others to give lifts etc. DC knows all about the trip as told at school so hope this works out. They have taken them near the school for something similar in the past but not this time.

Have you a parent's council/forum at your school, OP? I would suggest it would be good to raise this issue with them.

As a parent it is not how I would like trips to be organised. We should not be expected to automatically be comfortable with amateur volunteers being responsible for the care and transportation of our children during in school time or be coerced into this. It, essentially, the teachers emotionally blackmailing the parents, because it (sounds like) they have already geared up the children for going on this trip. This is highly unprofessional.

I would actually prefer the trip to be cancelled so as not to set a precedent regarding how future trips are organised. In times of reduced funding teachers need to be more imaginative regarding organising enrichment activities which do not involve the need for parental contribution in such a fundamental way.

The school has emailed saying they listened to parents and now will have a coach, costs is going up slightly but not much. So it is worth mentioning things like this! Thanks for replies.

DDs school has also started doing this for DofE. They have 80 DC going for one day training an hour away from home this sunday, and we have to get them there and pick them up. Same with the practice and actual expeditions - which either start or finish on a school/work day.

I would happily pay for a shared bus hire, but am not able to get time off work for lifts. Lift shares only work to some extent, due to rucksacks kit etc that also needs transported. They arranged buses for years, and years, so I truly don't understand why they are doing this.

Yes we also had that for D of E with my eldest but don't mind so much as they have all their stuff etc, and at weekends not so bad as often not work / parents around. But yes I agree buses are usually easier! It is really not much more money either- about £5 more and means pick up at 8.30 and back in time for the after school clubs.

Ah sorry yes some times the D of E can be school days also which can be a pain I agree.

When DS was at Primary School I helped quite a few times to drive pupils on trips/sports events.

I also helped on activities which were in walking distance, as they needed help to supervise the children on the road.

If the trip is educational they can only ask for voluntary contributions. Usually means trips run at a loss, which eats into the already stretched budgets of the school.

I can't believe there's complaints now about schools expecting parents to transport their children to DofE which is an entirely optional extra-curricular activity and one which is largely staffed (in many schools) by staff volunteers who give up their free time to run it.

Don't get me started on busses only costing £5 more!

Between zero clue about costs of busses to people claiming a school allowing parents to stay probably not having enough staff to complaints that enrichment in the countryside isn't ran around parent schedules, there's some serious lack of awareness of what goes into trips and enrichment.

Between zero clue about costs of busses to people claiming a school allowing parents to stay probably not having enough staff to complaints that enrichment in the countryside isn't ran around parent schedules, there's some serious lack of awareness of what goes into trips and enrichment.

Well, the bottom line is that if the parents are not onside the trips will not happen. Never mind any best laid plans.

If teachers expect parental support and their actual physical presence during their own time (when they would likely to be making their living) complaining about 'lack of enlightenment' doesn't do much to encourage personal and family sacrifice. Perhaps teachers should stop 'requiring' parental help and start genuinely asking for it!

here's some serious lack of awareness of what goes into trips and enrichment.

Not really. Just wishing that there would be more imagination regarding planning trips and enrichment which are actually practical and within the school's means to run without absolutely relying on parents for a 'bail out' each time when the school overstretches itself.

How about parents don't sign their kids up to optional enrichment opportunities if they are to going to bitch about how it doesn't suit them?

I've already agreed the OP has a point in her situation but seriously people are complaining Duke of Edinburgh doesn't suit them. How awful, transporting your own child and their equipment. How awful that your weekend is spent doing things for the child you chose to have, who you allowed to sign up to the optional opportunity.

Next time staff like me should just not bother offering it. After all, we give up our evenings and weekends for free to give kids that opportunity but it's too much for parents to transport their own children and we're just overstretching ourselves and are unreasonable for daring to have parents transport their children.

I know that seems blunt but seriously it doesn't take much to think "gosh I chose to have my child and maybe that involves transporting them to things on a weekend" instead of "they're overstretching themselves and it wouldn't cost more than a £5 to put a bus on so I don't have to". That sort of attitude is contributing to staff not offering enrichment opportunities. Why bother if every year that's what you have to deal with?

The OP's school didn't make the right call in my opinion. It doesn't excuse the totally entitled attitude some seem to have towards optional enrichment opportunities where seemingly everything should be done by school (staff working unpaid) to maximise convenience for every parent.

The OP's school didn't make the right call in my opinion

Exactly and this is the subject of the thread.

It doesn't excuse the totally entitled attitude some seem to have towards optional enrichment opportunities where seemingly everything should be done by school (staff working unpaid) to maximise convenience for every parent.

It often doesn't happen like that, though. Students are pressured and persuaded this 'enriching' activity is the best, most important and useful thing ever which will literally be the turning point in their lives and ensure future success. When in fact it is what every other bugger reluctantly gets inveigled into and is not what they need to stand out from the crowd at all.....

I really do not rely on schools to provide 'enrichment' for my child. Realistically enrichment is a more individual thing which stems from encouraging a child to develop and extend their own personal talents and interests.

I really do not rely on schools to provide 'enrichment' for my child. Realistically enrichment is a more individual thing which stems from encouraging a child to develop and extend their own personal talents and interests.

Which is all very well and admirable, but it is also a position of enormous privilege.

For some children, school trips will be the only chance they have to go den-building in the woods, visit a museum, take a trip to the beach or any of the other things that schools put on. If it all happens on school premises some kids will go from home-school-home and pretty much nowhere else. It’s those ones who are most disadvantaged if schools stop running trips because transport is such a massive chunk of their budgets.

For some children, school trips will be the only chance they have to go den-building in the woods, visit a museum, take a trip to the beach or any of the other things that schools put on. If it all happens on school premises some kids will go from home-school-home and pretty much nowhere else. It’s those ones who are most disadvantaged if schools stop running trips because transport is such a massive chunk of their budgets.

And it is this demographic whose parents are the least likely to be able to offer lifts for these trips and transport their children around...And so educational inequality continues!

Exactly NoSquirrels

I am a School Finance Governor, if things carry on as they are schools will struggle more and more to provide trips etc for pupils.

silverystream
And yet you're conveniently ignoring complaints from people about entirely optional thijgs like Duke of Edinburgh.

It often doesn't happen like that, though. Students are pressured and persuaded this 'enriching' activity is the best, most important and useful thing ever which will literally be the turning point in their lives and ensure future success
Last time I checked it was PARENTS who decided whether to sign their child up to optional enrichment trips and things like Duke of Edinburgh and yet that's exactly the sort of thing some people are complaining about on this thread.
Parents can't sign their child up to DofE and then complain the school isn't sorting transport.

Funnily enough it's almost never parents of our PP students who end up being unreasonable and it's never the carers of our children in care who call up demanding we fit things around their social life. The most ridiculous complaints have come from people who are entitled and think everyone should work around their schedule without considering there's another 25 other families and staff with lives outside of the unpaid overtime they're doing because they want to support the kids.

It’s those ones who are most disadvantaged if schools stop running trips because transport is such a massive chunk of their budgets.
Or schools will only run trips for those who are LAC/PP.

And then the same people who complain about all sorts now will also complain that their child doesn't have the opportunity to go on a school trip or complain the school doesn't offer enough extra curricular.

Last time I checked it was PARENTS who decided whether to sign their child up to optional enrichment trips and things like Duke of Edinburgh and yet that's exactly the sort of thing some people are complaining about on this thread.
Parents can't sign their child up to DofE and then complain the school isn't sorting transport.

Not me doing the complaining, though. I do sympathise, however, because it is actually cheaper and more environmentally friendly, overall, to use buses than having scores of people travelling in individual cars and people having to take time off work. The only difference is that the school has to organise it rather than leaving it to parents.