My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

AIBU?

To think this school trip is badly misjudged

237 replies

MaoamAddict · 25/01/2023 22:30

Have name changed as the situation is very specific. DC is in year 1 at a lovely school, but we've just received notice that a school 'trip' will be taking place to a local food bank. The school have asked for us to pay for transport (not a problem) and have gone on to say that the children will be packing food, handing out food parcels and seeing behind the scenes of a large local food bank.

We live in a middle class area with a minimal number of DC on pupil premium but there are certainly families within school community who are on the breadline and may have used food banks. I think it's fucking crass for the school to be using a food bank as a spectacle?! We donate weekly financially and feminine hygiene products, but the school don't seem to have thought this through at all, what if one or more of the DC in the 3 year 1 classes have visited that food bank?! How do I word these concerns without being 'that' parent? Or AIBU and overthinking?

The 'trip' is designed to fit in with a superhero topic at school - the food bank volunteers are being framed as the superheroes (tenuous link?) the food bank volunteers are amazing, but this feels wrong on so many levels.

OP posts:
Report
whistledowntheway · 26/01/2023 11:13

MaoamAddict · 25/01/2023 22:30

Have name changed as the situation is very specific. DC is in year 1 at a lovely school, but we've just received notice that a school 'trip' will be taking place to a local food bank. The school have asked for us to pay for transport (not a problem) and have gone on to say that the children will be packing food, handing out food parcels and seeing behind the scenes of a large local food bank.

We live in a middle class area with a minimal number of DC on pupil premium but there are certainly families within school community who are on the breadline and may have used food banks. I think it's fucking crass for the school to be using a food bank as a spectacle?! We donate weekly financially and feminine hygiene products, but the school don't seem to have thought this through at all, what if one or more of the DC in the 3 year 1 classes have visited that food bank?! How do I word these concerns without being 'that' parent? Or AIBU and overthinking?

The 'trip' is designed to fit in with a superhero topic at school - the food bank volunteers are being framed as the superheroes (tenuous link?) the food bank volunteers are amazing, but this feels wrong on so many levels.

I agree with you OP, don't like the idea. Could be very upsetting for any children whose family uses the bank

Report
Puzzledandpissedoff · 26/01/2023 11:20

What's wrong with inviting one of the staff into school to talk to the children about this?

Obviously it's a worthwhile thing for them to learn about, but in the context of a bunch of 5/6 year olds rocking up and "interacting" with the users, that "poverty safari" comment sounds about right to me

Report
Thesenderofthiscard · 26/01/2023 11:22

Don't see the issue. Using a food bank isn't shameful. It's now part of life, and even MC children should know that. They're learning about volunteering, among other things.
Tell the school you don't want your kid going if you think it's that bad.

Report
Puzzledandpissedoff · 26/01/2023 11:25

I can't even imagine the extra work having 90 5/6 yo kids in a foodbank would give the volunteers

Yes, this too, but never mind eh? They're only volunteers, so can easily be inconvenienced as part of some box-ticking exercise for the school Hmm

Report
Elleherd · 26/01/2023 11:27

Having the children learn and see behind scenes how a charity works is ok. (though food banks in current form shouldn't exist)

Forcing those who have had to ask for charity to then have it handed to them by their neighbors/neighborhood children, sounds like a Tory party wet dream!

Beyond discusting! Both for foodbank users and the unwitting children involved!

Report
Catspyjamas17 · 26/01/2023 11:29

It does seem a little ill-judged for kids this young. I'm not sure they would be much help to the volunteers.

DD2's school runs their own foodbank and the pupils take it in turns to help out and sort the food, but they are 11+. Different kettle of fish.

Report
BlackeyedSusan · 26/01/2023 11:29

MaoamAddict · 25/01/2023 22:34

No, please don't think this is me not wanting my Dc 'exposed' to the food bank, we donate weekly, speak to DC about how fortunate we are etc. my worry is that if I was a vulnerable person using a food bank, I wouldn't want to see 90 5-6 year olds there for a school trip like it was entertainment?!

This.

It's hard enough needing help, admitting you need help and then to be confronted by lots of kids. It's like poverty tourism and it's not ok.

Report
Scooopsahoy · 26/01/2023 11:36

I’d also be very uncomfortable with this. It feels like the trip sets up the food bank and the people who use it almost like animals in a zoo for the nice middle class children to gawp at. And the emphasis on the volunteers as superheroes, rather then on the disturbing fact that food banks need to exist in the Uk in 2023, feels misjudged.

I can maybe imagine the trip working better for older kids where it could act as a starting point for discussions on unfairness and inequality in our society. But no, it’s not a well thought out trip for Year 1 in my view.

Report
saraclara · 26/01/2023 11:36

Thesenderofthiscard · 26/01/2023 11:22

Don't see the issue. Using a food bank isn't shameful. It's now part of life, and even MC children should know that. They're learning about volunteering, among other things.
Tell the school you don't want your kid going if you think it's that bad.

Again, it's not about the children! It's about the service users being treated with dignity and confidentiality, rather than being paraded as a learning resource at best, the equivalent of a zoo animal at worst.

Forcing those who have had to ask for charity to then have it handed to them by their neighbors/neighborhood children

Exactly. It's appalling treatment of service users.

Report
maryberryslayers · 26/01/2023 12:14

I completely agree. It's a service where people using it are often at breaking point, having not being able to feed themselves or their own children.
The last thing they need is 90 kids staring at them like monkeys in a zoo.
I'd find out more. If the kids are 'behind the scenes' only and won't see or be seen by service users, then fine. But if that's not the case I'd strongly object and wouldn't be allowing my children to go.

Report
Jijithecat · 26/01/2023 13:05

I think part of the issue is that all food banks are different. If it's a big warehouse set up, running for a long time with clear policies so that the children can see the behind the scenes perspective then that is one thing.
If it's an on the fly set up in response to covid/cost of living set up by someone well meaning but naive who is very much learning as they go and it's run from a tiny room in the local village hall then that's another.

I would also be concerned about service users coming into contact with children. Human beings are all different. Some may be delighted to see children there, others very much won't and it may well impact on the choices those service users make on their visit. The last thing they need is to forget to ask for an essential item because they've been distracted by a bus load of school children staring at them and openly commenting on their choices.

Report
bluegreygreen · 26/01/2023 15:07

Aprilx · 26/01/2023 06:24

Not everybody loves kids. I don’t particularly and if I needed a food bank and saw a bus load of children helpers at the food bank, I would turn around and go without.

Maybe you have never been poor, I am not poor now but I grew up poor. And I did feel ashamed and embarrassed about it. And actually children can be quite cruel and I was often mocked for having no money and being on free school meals. Now should I have felt ashamed, well no of course not, but it doesn’t change the reality. I think your post lacks an understanding of reality.

Agree with all the comments (from @saraclara among others) emphasising the viewpoint of the service users, rather than the children. It's concerning how many are determined that this would be a beneficial experience for the children, regardless of the loss of dignity and privacy for the service users.

Like @Aprilx I grew up poor. On the council estate where we loved there were sometimes food donations available (no formal 'food bank' at that time). My mother would have been mortified had she had to run the gauntlet of a group of middle class children in order to benefit - and might well not have gone in.

Also agree with Aprilx's comment regarding the potential for bullying if a classmate's parent is there at that time.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.