To think the school were neglectful?

[frogshead]

Dd (8) went on a school trip yesterday in a heat wave, 40 minutes each way walking to and from a museum.

I sent dd with 2 bottles of water and she didn’t drink either of them and a hat which she didn’t wear.
She arrived home with a headache and has had diarrhoea since.

I know this was partly down to her but she is juts a child and nobody encouraged her to wear her hat or drink anything all day.
I applied sun cream before she went so at least she had that.

Not UK here but in this country, no primary school child would be going on a school trip without a hat on. But I assume it isn’t a compulsory part of the school uniform where you are so I’m not sure that the school have been neglectful.

As for the water, it’s your job to make sure she has some, and that is where anyone’s responsibility stops for an 8 year old. She will drink when she is thirsty.

i would bet my house that she was told to drink water at some point during the day. The school is not neglectful because they didn’t stand there and watch to ensure every child consumed water as they were reminded to. It is also not their fault if your child chose not to wear a hat. They can’t force hats on children.

Op I’m sorry, she’s old enough to take responsibility for herself.

I bet the school told them to drink and told them to wear their hats if they had them. I bet she just didn’t.

And you're 1:1. There's a huge difference. She's 8 and unless there's a reason she can't determine if she's thirsty or not then she's more than old enough to drink water herself.

If you have a HT that lets you. I doubt the class teacher wanted to go either 😂

Couldn't wait to get a bit of teacher bashing in, could you? If MIL had taken her she wouldn't have been supervising her along with many other children, so it's not comparable.

Doesn’t your dd drink water when thirsty at home ? Or do you tell her to drink every hour or two? I know that some kids with SN don’t recognise being thirsty and hungry but ime an 8 year old know when they are thirsty and that drinking water will sort it out. Have you asked de why she didn’t drink?
Also doesn’t she wear a hat when you take her out in summer or for summer playtimes? If she takes hers off when she’s with you then it’s not surprising that she did the same at school.
Neglectful would be if they left the water bottles at school.

Would the MIL be responsible for one child or 30? Changes things slightly doesn't it.

They should have cancelled the trip. No matter how much you remind them, there will always be kids that forget to drink. Please do tell the school that your daughter is poorly as they'll need to review their risk assessment policies in future to take account of extreme heat. Hope she's better soon.

I haven't bashed any teachers.

I'm just saying that MN is almost never willing to accept that a teacher did something wrong. I think teachers generally are fantastic, but I am willing to accept they make mistakes at work, just like anyone else.

School do have duty of care and OPs child came home with heat exhaustion, she's right to question what happened.

This. I’m sorry she’s unwell but maybe she’ll learn an important lesson here!

They should review their risk assessment processes because one child didn't follow instructions or use the water and hat provided,, and one parent goes whining to them?

Yep, OP is right to question what happened.

She's totally wrong in her interpretation of the problem though.

And yet I grew up in a place where this kind of weather was prevalent every summer and somehow survived without water bottles or constant reminding. We were outside all day. Walked that far to the mall. Played sports in the heat etc. it’s isn’t Armageddon just because you aren’t used to it.

Honestly the total overreaction to this weather for healthy people is ridiculous.

If the whole class or significant numbers suffered heat exhaustion you might have a point. This is simply a child who didn't do what she was told to do and didn't use the resources she was given.

If your child can't be trusted to follow instructions perhaps it's safer she doesn't go on school trips.

Except that MIL would have been looking after 1 child and not 30.

MIL would also have the capacity to stop whenever the child asked. In a class of 30, you need to do things at the same time. It's why we schedule in frequent toilet breaks on a school trip and don't just stop to find one everytime an individual child asks to go. (Childen with specific toileting requirements would be factored into staffing levels and the risk assessment before anyone asks about children with additional needs.)

What would you expect a teacher to do beyond give opportunities and reminders?

You have no idea what she was told to do though. So OP is right to find out what went wrong.

We also don't know if any other children have heat exhaustion.

Which is why I advised asking the teacher in good faith.

Yabu. Do people in society genuinely think that teaching staff and educators don't have common sense and care for the children in their class? Of course the teaching staff want the children to be healthy, comfortable and happy - just like they would their own children! Many teachers are mums themselves. Of course they tell the children to go to the toilet, put their hats on, have a drink, stop for a drink break at a safe place, keep on moving, have another toilet and drink break when they reach their destination, etc etc.... it's literally their job. Educators do it for the children, because they certainly don't do it for the perks of the job.

So no, it isn't the schools fault if your daughter didn't wear her hat or drink her water. Children forget they have one, or misplace it, or find it uncomfortable to wear so take it off, or can't be bothered to put it on to begin with.

Presumably her mother provided her with a hat and told her to wear it and told her to drink her two bottles of water. And it's inconceivable that she wasn't told by the teachers.

No i don't think they were neglectful

She will 100% have been told over and over again to drink her water and wear her hat. What did you expect school to do if she wasn't listening? Glue the hat to her head? Feed her water like a toddler? In future tell her do as she's told and explain why hats and water are important.
And anyway, the headache and diarrhoea might be entirely unrelated. Kids get bugs all the time.

We don't know what they were given in terms of opportunities or reminders. I think a lack of hat should have been spotted in every head count and ought to have led to a direct instruction. Now, it's possible that the child refused to wear it, and if so OP needs to know.

Also this. Please respect the 48h rule if your child has had diarrhea!

I work in a First school, so Foundation to Year 4. I work with Year 3 and 4 (non-teaching role) and always remind the children to drink plenty of water and wear their hat. What I can't do is force the children to do this. At 8, your daughter is most likely Year 3, unless she's a young Year 4, who hasn't had her birthday yet. I would be expecting this age group to start taking responsibility for themselves. A child knows if they're thirsty or not. I would also find it very odd that no staff member reminded the children to wear their hat and drink. You need to check this information with the school. Staff can't stand over each child making sure they drink, especially on a school trip. You perhaps need a chat with your daughter about taking responsibility for herself, and using what's happened as a consequence of not doing so.