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.

I'm sure you're right. But no one noticed that OP's daughter wasn't doing it. That's the problem. At no point should there have been so many children and so few adults that no one noticed her hat wasn't on / she wasn't drinking when everyone else was.

If a child had wandered away from the group and no one noticed would a few little pep talks along the way have excused their oversight?

The problem is that several people are saying the school should have done more, reminded the childen whatever and the risk assessment should be updated.

The only update you could make to the risk assessment would be "as there is a heatwave, children should be encouraged to take more frequent drinks and wear their sun hats".

The children would still have to follow the instructions to have a drink or put on their hats.

No suggestions from those who think the school should have done more to suggest what the school should have done beyond what the school would have been doing anyway!

At my school, "It's hot, don't forget to remind the children to drink!" is the sort of thing the HT would say as we were walking through the door. And we'd all privately roll our eyes because we had already considered that. But we'd also know he was only saying it in the way you tell someone to "drive safely" and not because he seriously thinks we wouldn't do it without his parting words.

It wasn't a 2 hour walk. It was 40 mins walk, time in a cool museum, 40 mins walk. Perfectly fine for the temperature.

But you're presuming no one noticed and said anything, you're taking the OPs word for it that her child didn't drink anything, didn't wear her hat, didn't get reminders, didn't have her water bottle refilled etc. The likelihood is if she's the only child unwell she's the only child who didn't follow the specific instructions and reminders or she's coming down with a bug.

Why do you presume no one noticed?

You have made your own child incapable of thinking for herself by blaming everyone else for her shortcomings. All of this is her fault. All of it.

I'm still curious as to how the OP knows that her dc wasn't reminded to wear a hat/drink water.
DC: I don't feel well
OP: You were out in the heat today. Did you wear your hat/drink water?
DC: No, because the teachers didn't remind me to.
OP: WTF? Didn't you KNOW you were thirsty?

Makes no sense.

Don't you teach your child to drink when it's very warm? The teachers will have reminded the children on numerous occasions to have a drink and put their hats on if I were you I would teach your child that when it's warm have plenty of water to drink and when an adult asks them to do something to follow their instructions instead of ignoring them after all and 8 year old is not a baby.

People are to quick to judge teachers when they should be looking at their own short comings.

No suggestions from those who think the school should have done more to suggest what the school should have done beyond what the school would have been doing anyway!

I think they should have done more. I think they should have stopped regularly and watched the children drinking, to make sure it was done. Not 'reminders' and then assuming all the kids were doing it ad hoc. I also think they should have been aware of who had a hat on or not.

Yesterday was exceptional - sun safety should have been a massive priority, even if it might not normally be. The adults should have been on tip of this -- and quite clearly they were not.

Oh, and as a teacher, I would be ROYALLY pissed off if a parent came into complain because their child hadn't worn the hat/drunk the water that was in their bag, and told their dm fibs when I had told them a billion times to do so.

Also, is diarrhoea a symptom of over-heating? (genuine question - I've not had it).

But the child is eight. What are the staff supposed to do, force her to drink? If there is a reason she isn’t drinking after being reminded then that is something she is choosing to do which is an issue for her parents to deal with. And as for wandering off, believe me, on a school trip you spend the day counting the members of your allocated group.

Nothing clear about it. I expect she was repeatedly told to wear her hat and to drink.

I am so looking forward to our school trip next week, where I'll work an extra six hours for nothing and spend my time trying to convince kids to do obviously sensible things they need to do to avoid becoming ill.

Oh, and there are several kids who point-blank refuse to take their jumpers off in this weather. It can be a sign of neuro-diversity although not in the case of the 8-year old I had the debate with on Thursday. He was purple in the face and eventually took it off but 10 mins later had put it back on as he "was cold."

I think teachers should have insisted on hat wearing and reminded kids to drink. Sure they can’t force them to drink but it’s not hard to say remember to drink every time they needed a drink themselves

Why does everyone keep talking about 1 adult and 30 children? Do you actually think one adult takes 30 kids on a trip alone? There will have been likely 3-4 adults there and I actually don't think it's that difficult for one adult to make sure 10 children have all had a drink. As a previous op said, a 5 min rest with a drink, make sure you've seen each of your 10 (or less) children have some.

Kids are rubbish at recognising thirst. Parents and teacher should always be aware of this. Thirst causes irritability, inability to concentrate, headaches and tantrums and is easily avoided. The trip was high risk due to the extreme weather conditions, so staff should have been particularly alert.

I probably wouldn't complain, as it's not completely neglectful, but you need to train your child to drink a certain volume of water at regular intervals and recognise that hot weather + exercise is not safe without hydration.

Thankfully most parents (I'd hope) are grateful and understand that trips are hard to organise and run. Sadly it's the idiots that tend to stick in the mind and make schools decide to stop doing things like this.

No, it is unlikely to be down to dehydration or heat stroke. Dehydration symptoms are more along the lines of feeling dizzy and lethargic, dry mouth and eyes, not weeing or having too strong wee. Heat stroke is similar but with sweating, flushed skin, rapid heatbeat etc.

What makes you think they didn't?

I expect she was. It doesn't matter if they were reminded, if no one noticed they weren't doing it that's negligence.

Nope again.

No, it's not hard and THAT IS WHY THEY WOULD HAVE DONE SO.

So you'd rather an entire class of kids missed out entirely because you baby your child so she can't even decide when to drink for herself?

Just because it was free and no coach involved doesn't mean it's possible to rearrange it when there's only one week left of school.

Not everything is about you and your child.

The fact that OP's daughter didn't wear her hat or drink anything all day...

Once again, 'reminders' are not enough. Quite evidently. And especially in a heatwave like yesterday. That changes the norms - and adults should be on top of the risks even more.

They can't force the child to drink