To think you either organise a fun school trip for the whole of year 7, or for none of them?

[BretonStripe]

Ds is in Yr7 in a large state secondary - circa 1700 pupils inc 6th Form.

The other week parents were asked to fill out an expression of interest form for an upcoming end-of-year enrichment trip to a fun place not far away. Ds and all his friends all wanted to go, so I duly completed the form.

We found out last week that it was oversubscribed and only most of the kids got a space. The rest, inc ds who was gutted not to get a place, have to stay at school where teachers "have worked hard to come up with some engaging enrichment activities" for them there.

Apparently names were chosen at random, and no, those who wanted to go who didn't get a place won't be given priority on future trips. I think the school should have booked somewhere where all 300 kids could go, split over two days like other local schools I know, rather than disappoint a load of 11 and 12 year old children.

AIBU? What do other schools do?

This is awful 😞 and I’ve be contacting the school to say so and no sending him in that day and doing something nice myself - that’s not acceptable

This is ludicrous. They should all go.

DS is at a huge school. There are 2 Y7 activities. One is definitely more popular and they draw lots but all get to go do something off site.

Appalling. What on earth is the logic behind that?

Our school do a big trip to a theme park or similar for some kids and others stay at school and do "fun" activities. The big trip goes to those with the most house points though,which seems fairer than your son's school's method.

It should br available for a small minority or for all. Not the majority either just a handful left out.

I think that's not very well thought through by the school.

If my DS had been disappointed about something like this, I might have been tempted to organise something for that day.

Oh, I would love to take him out for the day and do something else instead. But I'm starting a new job tomorrow and will be working, sadly.

DD’s school is like that for every single trip. Sometimes numbers/ interest matches the number of spaces , sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes she got in, sometimes she didn’t .

That's rubbish. It should either be all, or it's an earnt reward for those with a certain number of merit/ house points. Not just a random free for all, which generally draws speculation that it's not actually random

That is a disgraceful way to treat 11/12 yr olds. I wouldn't sent my DC into school on that day, no matter what alternative I could provide.

Wow that's really bad

I wouldn't be happy

My child is also in year 7 in a school roughly the same size (although it doesn't have a sixth form)

They're having a reward morning on the school grounds with an inflatable assault course, football darts, penalty shoot out, basketball, pizza and ice cream van. If you haven't met the 'qualifications' (bad attendance or whatever) though, you can't go.

I have complained, but get their usual cold, corporate, responses that seem like they've been written by a politician as there are lots of words but zero action nor accountability.

The way they did it was horrible, too. Only parents/carers of children who DID get a place got an email to let them know. So DS's friends started talking about it and getting excited, and my friends were texting me to let me know it was on ParentPay to pay now. Check ParentPay and there's nothing there. Cue confusion and some people posting on our private Yr7 Parents FB group.

School told me they only have the ability to inform parents of children who got a space, NOT the ones who didn't. So if you didn't receive an email and there's no payment option on ParentPay we must assume we didn't get a space. I call bullshit on that!

They said it's something to do with the large size of the school and logistics. I said if it was to do with ratios then why not ask for parent helpers?

Honestly, my ds is so upset. I know life isn't fair and that's just how it goes sometimes, but his cohort missed out so much in Year 1 and Year 2 due to Covid, and I just think this is such a lovely idea...and a wasted opportunity to bond the new cohort.

That's the other thing, if you were in the Top 25 for collecting Positive Points last term then you were guaranteed a space if you wanted one. But that's it. So all the kids with terrible behaviour will be allowed to go over my DS, who has a brilliant record.

This is how my ds school seems to do it too, everyone who wants to go puts their names down and then they choose 'out a hat' who gets to go. If you don't get selected, tough luck, you don't get priority for the next trip.

He's now in S5 (5th year of secondary school) and has never had a trip. Some of his friends have been on multiple each year. I've emailed the school and I didn't get a reply.

Wow that's really bad as well

Hearing these is making me glad that my child's school does it like they do then

An expression of interest indicates you may not make it so there was no surprise on that front. Were criteria for selection set out from the start? That would be the key thing for me.
The school I went to, trips were organised per form so some years you got to go, others you didn't when your friends might have. Can't say it bothered me.

My son’s school has 330 in his year group. Since y7 they have 2 days enrichment in the summer term , 1 on site & on off site (theme park, zoo etc). All children get to participate in both (off site if paid for obviously). The school split the year group into 2 halves, so one half does the off site first then onsite & vice versa. Your schools reasoning is awful!

That’s shit, makes me wonder about some of tne people who work with kids, yes it’s logistically more complex but you do multiple days, you sort it, you ask for expressions of interest before booking it. You don’t make it the kids issue.

If there are a limited number of places for a good reason, then this should have been made clear from the start.

If your child wanted to go, you completed the online expression of interest form. Not all students want to go (like my other child in Yr10), so that's fine.

It did say if oversubscribed then they'll choose names at random. They didn't make it clear that if you don't hear back at all then just assume you've not got a place. DS found out via his mates who were all excitedly chatting about it, then was worried I'd not filled out the online form (I had).

Most of his friends aren't in his tutor group, so hoping they do mix those staying behind up in case there are one or two not going on the trip.

It’s disappointing but if they can’t take everyone who expressed an interest, then they can’t.
Not everyone gets to go to every trip. There were trips I’d have liked to go on at school but didn’t get to due to various reasons.
Maybe the alternative that the school are arranging for this that aren’t going will be really fun and enjoyable as well.

It was common in my daughter's old school. The difference is that they made it very clear from the start that they only had x number of places and it would be names in a hat. If your school didn't make that clear, that's rubbish.

300 students even if over 2 days is a huge school trip to manage.

DD’s school also does this. You express interest for a trip , if you get in you get an email and the trip shows up as a payment on the parent app.

Even when it’s a whole year thing some kids don’t want to go. I used to run the activities back at school for kids who didn’t want to go.

it was usually kids with anxiety, autism etc who just didn’t want to do any kind of school trip.

it’s normal if a trip is over subscribed to effectively pick names out of a hat.

the way they told you (or rather didn’t tell you) is not good.