DS's school trip was offered on a 'first come first serve' basis and is now being drawn at random from a hat

[Worriedaandconfused]

AIBU to think the school should honour the first come first serve basis they initially stated for allocating places on the school trip?

They have, due to a 'huge response' of requested places, decided to draw names at random on Friday.

After promising my child a place and ensuring I handed the form in promptly to the teacher (in fairness, it sounds like a lot of other parents did, too), I'm now going to have to explain to my 4 year old he's unlikely to have a place.

How do your own DC's schools handle situations like this where there's limited places and lots of interest?

I’m the OP could use ChatGPT or similar if they wanted to. They wanted real world experiences.

yes, i just wrote the threads title into the program

4 year olds what kind of school is this? If it’s part of the curriculum surly they have to offer it to all. I would not be happy with this at all. High school yes and out of my three who all wanted to go to the big school trip in y9 2 were lucky the third not.

What is this school trip for 4-year-olds that doesn't include the whole class? I've never seen this before in many years of teaching. Normally, you organise it as part of the curriculum and it is therefore available for the whole class. Of course there are some students that might not be able to attend for whatever reason.

He'll survive.
YABU

to give a better and detailed response other than what my original one was which was why change the method when it was originally first to get the agreements in etc

How about you don’t derail the OP’s thread with your AI testing. The answer is neither helpful nor relevant. Start your own thread of AI generated answers and get people to comment on them.

If everyone is spotting that it’s AI so quickly and not in a positive way then maybe it isn’t a great approach to commenting on threads.

That’s awful doing a trip that not all can go on at that age. And first come first served penalises the kids with the busiest/least organised/neglectful parents. So unfair.

It's a discussion forum for humans. If you don't think your thoughts and opinions are worthy to post (which I'm sure isn't true) then just don't post rather than copy and pasting from a bot.

i can understand your perspectives my apologies all

thats understandable, my apologies and i understand your points

To those who say "names out of a hat is fairer": the school created the unfair situation when they decided to offer the trip that could not accommodate everyone. This is absolutely wrong.

I am yet to read all of the comments but to answer some of the questions so far:

The trip is to the theatre and the school obtained 'a limited number of children's spaces'. They are running two separate trips (one for EYFS/KS1 and one for KS2) to watch different performances. I don't particularly agree that they should run the trip like this, and do think they should offer it to one year group so all the children eventually get a chance. E.g. if they offer to Y1, next year all of the children in my DS's class would have the opportunity to go next year. However, I heard from another parent this morning that 'all the children that want to go, usually get a place' so I don't think this has been an issue in the past.

I didn't necessarily'promise' - wrong choice of words. As my child is 4, I asked him if he wanted to go and explained what the trip involved. He knew I'd put money in the envelope etc. and had agreed that he can go. I don't think it's age appropriate to expect DS to understand the complexities of the school not organising enough places for everyone so he may need to miss out and didn't feel it necessary to discuss that with him at that point.

I was the first to hand my payment to the teacher, so technically should have assured my child's place. There was no deadline - just a 'first come first serve basis' expectation.

The history department at my Middle School (yes, these doses exist in some parts of England) it was done on set (so top set gets priority, then 2nd, then 3rd etc). I really hope this has changed but sadly doubtful.

Gosh, I thought that it was a fancy ski trip at secondary or one of those feel good & help out / work experiences painting a classroom in a developing country.

I agree, it's pretty poor for a primary school not to offer a place for everyone who wants to go.... unless they take 4 year olds on trips abroad?

First come first served just completely punishes children of busy or disinterested parents. YABU.

The school is also BU for organising a trip without the capacity for the full class.

I am not sure if it’s legal to exclude children from a trip like this. If it’s part of the curriculum , and taking place during school time there should surely be equal opportunity for everyone to participate.

Don't mention it again, your 4 year old will forget in a nano second. Take your child out of school that day and go somewhere nice instead! Oh and it won't be drawn fairly anyway, you'll learn this as your child gets older...

This is so weird. If people are paying, can't the school just contact the theatre to buy more tickets? It's not as if they are free tickets!

Otherwise, I agree with you, OP, I think it should be for the whole year group eg Y6 and Y2, then everyone will get to go when it's their year. Or even Y5&6 and Y1&2 if they have enough places for all the children who want to go. But not a random mix of children from different year groups if some wanted to go and can't.

This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard about a primary school.

Ours would never, ever exclude kids and play stupid games with childrens expectations like this.

Has anybody complained? Where are the governors? The PTA? Are you all drunk?

Well if you’re that cynical @Iwasafool then you’d have no reason to believe they wouldn’t do the same with FCFS

Trips for 4 year olds they can't all go on is the problem. They aren't big enough to understand this sort of stunt!

I hate this kind of thing. DDs primary are doing a Halloween disco, tickets are first come first served and can only be bought at the school reception at 9 am or 3.20pm.

I'm having to buy for several families who are at work during those times, and the only reason I can do it is that I WFH so can nip across and do it on a break while my child is in afterschool club because it's still during working hours.

School activities should facilitate the whole year so no kids are left out.

However, I heard from another parent this morning that 'all the children that want to go, usually get a place' so I don't think this has been an issue in the past.

How odd-I wonder what’s different this year!

I’d be cross-it’s a stupid way to do things for 4 year olds.