Train delay and School comments

[HarrowToCroydon]

This article where a school trip got affected due to a train issue.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/train-passenger-describes-insane-11-hour-journey-to-edinburgh/ar-AA1hgSJm?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=25bfc61851b34909a01cbacaf117e103&ei=34

Pasting some statements -
"An X account for Greenfaulds High School posted images of the stranded children eating chips while sitting on the concourse floor at Preston station."

“If we had not, we would have 50 young children abandoned on the streets of Preston once the station closes."

AIBU to think that such events would contribute towards building some form of resiliency in the Children?

Rather than complain, should the school and parents be a little happy that the children were pushed out of their comfort zone?

Have you ever been in charge of a school trip of other people's children?

I don't think anyone should be 'happy' at what the Tories have done to our travel infrastructure. The fact people can't reliably get from A to B anymore is really not good.

I don't think the teachers were being unreasonable at all. It sounds like they and the children did show resilience, stayed calm, got their own coach, got some food etc when the train company weren't giving them any information....

Absolutely I’d be delighted my 12 year old had learned resilience by being stranded in a small town, with a bag of chips, not getting home til gone 3.00am with the expectation of school (and work for the parents) the next day. Fabulous.

Pushed out of your comfort zone is one thing, waiting with 50 kids and no way transport them home and very limited means to feed them, and no shelter is quite another.

No - we almost take for granted how terrible the train service is in the UK as it is when it comes to minor delays and cancellations; we certainly shouldn't accept extreme situations like this or be bringing children up to accept them.

When my train is delayed I don't see it as a marvellous chance to build my resilience so no, I wouldn't expect that of my children either!

What would the children learn?

They could not get in the cabs.
They could not hire a coach.
They could not leave the station to find a chip shop.

So one or more of the adults had to organise food and transport.

The children got to learn
a) how to sit in a train station and
b) eat takeout
c) wait for a bus and
d) be driven to their school late at night in a bus

Not much learning resiliency is involved except for accepting things did not go to plan and that some adults will sort "stuff".

It shows the difficulty of school trips, I'm sure it was a bit of an adventure at first but they would have been incredibly tired by the end. I was on a trip that was over 2.5 hours delayed (meaning getting back at 2am not 11.30pm) and I had had it! It's hard once you get to a certain point, the teachers are who I feel for but all was ok, everyone got home safely and it's one to spin a yarn about for the kids and staff!

I agree with you OP. It's not the school's fault what happened, and it's shit that it did, but it's a lesson for the kids that sometimes things happen which are beyond your control. In these circumstances, it can be incredibly stressful and unpleasant, but you have no choice but to pull together and make the best of it.

Avanti’s inability to transport the children on the journey they had tickets for didn’t build resilience and resourcefulness in the children, it tested the teachers’ skills in getting hold of a coach.

Since the teachers did manage that, while I doubt it was an experience that will have lasting negative impacts on them throughout their lives, but it’s a bit smug-wankerish to suggest people should be pleased about it.

I don’t understand your issue; the children were fed and got home eventually, safely, in a group. I hope the staff had a dispensation to go in at lunchtime, but if there were 12 teachers, probably not!
We used to have to deal with this sort of stuff ( arrive in Rome with school party late at night and find hotel had double booked) before mobile phones and the Internet, and we coped.

Things don't go according to plan. Delays happen, cancellations happen. I agree that trains should run on time and not be cancelled. But things happen.

How else will children learn that things do not go to plan.

No it's not a learning experience if anything children have learnt not to trust the rail network.

The issue was the track was deemed unsafe. The rail staff were stuffed to I bet the driver and crew just wanted to get home at the end of the shift too.

What could the children learn?

That things do not always go to plan.

I think this is what is called 'toxic positivity'.

"Well we had twice that many children and a tsunami, and we were robbed by bandits and we coped".

To not trust that travel will go according to plan, isn't this is a good thing to learn?

You've quoted random bits without sufficient context. The complaint is that the alternative transport was not suitable for the children as quite rightly they cannot travel alone in a taxi. The school had to organise their own coach, if they hadn't they'd all have been stuck in Preston. I think it is fair enough to be annoyed by the lack of thought by the rail company - they should have organised a coach if taxis weren't suitable.

I call it learning to cope. If this delves into 'toxic positivity' then so be it.

Perhaps it is Avanti who need to learn. It used to be possible to divert trains via the Settle and Carlisle line using a diesel locomotive. The crew knowledge was cut back a few years ago.

The kids learnt to cope there is no complaint from the school there about the train delay. There is complaint about the alternative transport offered. Again, You're just picking random bits of the article.

Loads of secondary school kids get buses to school. They get plenty of opportunities to learn that travel will not go according to plan

then there are kids who get trains who are impacted by strikes and kids who get the underground who are impacted by strikes

It's not like it's such a rare life lesson that we should be congratulating the train company for providing them with a learning experience

Well done to the teachers for creatively managing a situation and getting their charges home safely.

THAT (getting them back safely) was their priority, not teaching a lesson on resilience. And frankly, what they already went through was sub-optimal and required some resilience.

Take 50 kids on a school trip yourself, and then let me know what you'd do in similar circumstances.

It's a city

There are much easier ways for children to learn that things don’t always go to plan. A couple of train trips with their parents is enough to teach them that our train services are shit and can’t be fully relied upon.

This did nothing but test the teachers who once again were forced into going above and beyond for their students.

What could the children learn?

That things do not always go to plan.

They'd already learned that. It was the entire reason that they were sitting on the platform eating chips @HarrowToCroydon