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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this is really crap on the school?

81 replies

User62618926 · 04/04/2022 10:42

DC in year 7 has a reward trip to a shopping centre in a nearby city. It's a big one, tonnes of shops, cinema, crazy gold, arcades, food hall etc etc.

Trip is to reward good behaviour and they will be walking around unsupervised for the day.

We as parents had to provide them with money to spend throughout the day. Most of them want to go to the cinema, then food on top, drinks, spends for the shops/arcade.

When I was in school we got rewards for things like attendance but it was something like a chocolate bar! My parents were never expected to fork out cash so "school" could reward me.

AIBU to think this is pretty poorly thought out by the school especially with current times? I know a few parents have complained because they are already feeling the pinch and are now feeling pressure to magic up £££ for this, many are taking even around £50 with them!

OP posts:
YawnAndTheyWillYawnToo · 04/04/2022 17:12

We got gold stars woohoo

Cookiecrumble22 · 04/04/2022 17:22

Do you have a letter or anything confirming this reward? It seems very odd to me. It sounds like something a teenager may make up to bunk school. If my teenager said it I would not believe them . I mean if they said because we have had good attendance and awarded for it a small group of us are being taken to the cinema (staff see film to) . But I would not believe it of they said we are allowed to gang out do what we want and parents have got to pay

Blueemeraldagain · 04/04/2022 17:24

Wow. I oversee trips at my school and this would never, ever be approved by me/the Head. What an absolutely divisive waste of time. As well as a safeguarding nightmare. Incredibly lazy teaching (And I am very sensitive to anyone calling teachers/those who work in education lazy).

Beercrispsandnuts · 04/04/2022 17:32

I do t understand why they need 50 quid. Fiver for cinema max for a day time showing for a kid and another tenner for food and drink. So max 15 quid. Many people won’t have 15 quid to spare, but no way does someone need to send their kid with 50 quid, they can if they want, but it doesn’t mean everyone else should.

ilovesooty · 04/04/2022 17:37

@Maternitynamechange

The irony being that the truant kids can just meet them there. Grin
When a truant kid tried that on my trip I dropped him at the police station and phoned his parents to collect him.
Mabelface · 04/04/2022 17:55

My partner's son is going to this too. The rewards have certainly changed since my lot went to this school!

Bextur · 04/04/2022 22:54

I cannot believe they are allowing 12 year olds unsupervised in a public space.Ask to see the risk assessment for the trip, as they have no control about who else is in that space, and when would they realise someone had left the centre? This is a disaster waiting to happen.

Maternitynamechange · 05/04/2022 11:58

I didn’t want to be the first one to say but exactly what @Bextur said.

GodspeedJune · 05/04/2022 12:45

Our secondary school had an annual trip to a theme park, it was classed as a reward as those who had poor behaviour through the year weren’t allowed to come.

Theme park entry and coaches paid for by parents. We were set free in the park all day and just had to be back at the coaches by leaving time. This was from year 7 so minimum age of 10-11.

Going around the shopping centre is a crap ‘reward’ but apart from that it doesn’t sound that different to what we did, and we all loved it.

Kanaloa · 05/04/2022 12:48

@ilovesooty

One of the schools I taught at had a reward trip to Blackpool every year. The school paid for the coaches but parents still needed to provide spending money. That was years ago.

Surely there is no expectation or obligation that parents provide £50?

How much would you provide though? I would keep my child off because realistically the £10 I could afford to give isn’t going to cover a whole day at a shopping centre. If you look at somewhere like Trafford Centre, a cinema ticket is about £8/9. Then a lunch. Then buying themselves something.
Kanaloa · 05/04/2022 12:51

@Beercrispsandnuts

I do t understand why they need 50 quid. Fiver for cinema max for a day time showing for a kid and another tenner for food and drink. So max 15 quid. Many people won’t have 15 quid to spare, but no way does someone need to send their kid with 50 quid, they can if they want, but it doesn’t mean everyone else should.
Tickets are often more expensive in big shopping centres. And yes £10 would get you cheap food and drink. Then what? You’ve seen a film, had a McDonald’s, then you just sit round the shopping centre?

I think it’s rubbish. Not many kids would find it fun to sit round a shopping centre with very little/no money to spend.

Sceptre86 · 05/04/2022 12:54

We used to get rewards for hitting or exceeding your target grades or full 95% attendance . The school would take us to Alton towers free of charge, you could take a packed lunch if you were on free school meals or order a meal through school. My mum used to give me £20 incase I wanted to get a memento or some lunch there. It wouldn't get you very far now.

I absolutely would raise this with the school as its a ridiculous reward and going forward 'rewards' should not leave parents out of pocket.

whitedahlias · 05/04/2022 13:12

Wow!
What happened to a smiley stamp and a few house points?

Families who can't afford it will be pressured into giving their kids £50 to buy tat. £50 is a lot of money for most people.

twoshedsjackson · 05/04/2022 13:32

As a former teacher, I would dearly love to see the risk assessment documents for this one; I remember the elaborate precautions we had to take for much lower-risk activities (coach to theatre, watch play, coach back again.......) and the possibilities for mayhem on a trip like this should be glaringly obvious. Why not contact the school in the spirit of "You'll never guess the tall tale my DC has brought home" if you haven't seen this in writing yet, and watch them tie themselves in knots trying to justify it.
I once had to fill in an enormous form when a nine-year-old stubbed his toe during a residential (I kid you not) and was told that the centre would have to file the document until he was 18, ie, an adult who might like to raise the issue.

jay55 · 05/04/2022 14:35

Do the free school meals kids get given a packed lunch to take?

Sounds totally tone deaf. And possibly quite lonely and boring for the kids who don't have the money for the cinema etc.

Marblessolveeverything · 05/04/2022 15:01

Our primary gave the kids a chance to throw wet sponges a the teachers. And another time took pot shots at them with "cream pies". Still spoken about and cost very little.

CatsArePeople · 05/04/2022 16:47

I do t understand why they need 50 quid. Fiver for cinema max for a day time showing for a kid and another tenner for food and drink. So max 15 quid. Many people won’t have 15 quid to spare, but no way does someone need to send their kid with 50 quid, they can if they want, but it doesn’t mean everyone else should.

Cinema - £10 min. Food - around £10 in fast food, £15-20 if going for a pizza. Then about £20-30 to buy something. A book, a toy, a tshirt... so it would come to £50

Livebythecoast · 05/04/2022 17:05

@User62618926 - The Mirror have got hold of this thread - just to let you know Sad

Kanaloa · 05/04/2022 17:26

It’s genuinely not that hard to understand. People love to insist they’d give their kid £10 and that would be plenty but I doubt any of them would enjoy a day out at a big shopping centre with £10 in their pocket to cover cinema, crazy golf, food, and shopping.

girlmom21 · 06/04/2022 07:01

[quote Livebythecoast]@User62618926 - The Mirror have got hold of this thread - just to let you know Sad[/quote]
Good. Hopefully it'll stop other schools having the same bloody stupid ideas in future.

Bananarama21 · 06/04/2022 07:06

We went to the metro centre shopping and got food one school trip it was brilliant, everyone loved it. This was the 90s the previously two years we went to metro land.

VeganGod · 06/04/2022 07:14

It’s good that they’re awarding behaviour and not attendance, but I agree, it’s not the best idea for a trip. Even before cost of living rises, this would have been difficult for many parents.

My child’s school does trips based on behaviour and attendance which is really unfair on children that have been genuinely ill.

Schools just seem a bit shit at these ‘reward’ days. Money wouldn’t be an issue for us but we have had times where our kids have been poorly and haven’t met their attendance criteria, we just let our kids stay home that day, no way are they basically being punished for being ill.

If schools are going to do these reward days, they really need to do better. This trip seems completely mad though.

OutingHobby · 06/04/2022 07:22

It's a rubbish trip tbh. Not very educational. What's wrong with a trip to the local museum. Or a theme park with a fixed price that parents can opt in or out of. Problem with the shopping centre trip is that it will show very clearly which kids can't afford cinema etc.

SnowingInApril · 06/04/2022 07:44

Also agree it’s lazy. What about a trip to a local museum (free) where parents can give lunch or take lunch money. You’ll get the difference between those who spend in the shop and those that don’t, but at least the activity will be the same.

Hanging around a shopping centre all day watching everyone else having a blast sounds like a punishment!

Toponeniceone · 06/04/2022 07:47

They're basically just giving them a lift??