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 really common. Dd didn’t get on any of the trips. They are picked at random but I did email and ask that those that didn’t get on one trip are put to the top of the list for the next one. This was after friends dd went on third trip and dd hasn’t even been on one.

In this situation I would definitely be writing to the governors and the local authority. Ridiculous . Either everyone goes or no one does. It is completely different to a trio where there are maybe 20 spots and the rules of selection are made clear before you signed up.

That’s terrible. Why don’t the well behaved kids get the points?

DS is in year 7. The whole school had a choice of 6 trips, plus a free fun day at school. Booking was released in 3 tranches depending on the behaviour points each child had. That seems fair.

Our school makes it a “reward” trip that you can only go on if your attendance is above a certain % and you have no behaviour marks against you. I’m not sure which is worse tbh. Punishing kids who have been ill / made a mistake, or making it random.

It was an expression of interest that the OP filled in. They only found out last week that not all children can go and that names were selected at random. Two different time points.

How could she pass on something when filling out the expression of interest that she did not know?

You're saying your dc school has 7k pupils?
The largest school in the UK has 2600 pupils.

Ok it’s just expression of interest usually comes with a caveat to say we have limited capacity otherwise it would just be set up as a regular trip where parents pay to secure the place.

No, not a typo; you've misread! State secondary including sixth form has 1700 pupils in it (the whole school). I believe there are circa 300 per year group 7-11, plus circa 200 for sixth form.

I did explain to him at the start, but he's 12 and is neurodivergent...99% of his friends got a space, so of course he's upset and disappointed at being left behind at school.

He really doesn't want to go on his own on the weekend, I've tried suggesting that. It is something different entirely.

I agree 300 pupils is too much for one day trip; so why not spread it over two separate days? Could be over term six if all in one week is too much (though like others have stated; this time of year is quiet for a lot of secondary schools - Year 11 have gone, year 10 may be on work experience etc). If money for coaches is a factor then increase the small fee they're charging.

Also, I do think Year 7 (and possibly 8) is different. They are still young and secondary school is so new and different for them. By year 9 the shine of going on a School trip has worn off (I have older children and that was the case with them).

I'm sorry to hear the stories of people who were disappointed in this way and still remember decades letter. No, nobody died, but it's still hurtful and avoidable.

Good life lesson - it isn't always fair and we don't always get what we want.

My dc2’s secondary was huge, 800+ a year so they offered multiple options for the end of year fun day, one was at school and free, one at school not free (usually inclusive drama/music type thing) and 3-4 other options. You didn’t necessarily get your first choice though, dd thankfully didn’t care as she preferred the music/drama thing which was never oversubscribed and she got priority as autistic and struggled at busy places, by the end she was helping run the activity

Liberally all of DS's school trips are over-subscribed. Luckily he did get onto one which was terrible and a total rip off (secondary school outdoorsy trip but activities less advanced than they did in primary Y4, and the activity centre was a dump), so he's not bothered to even express interest these days.

This is exactly the same for my daughter (not in Wiltshire are you OP? 😂) what's really annoying is that a few weeks ago they put up the names of the '25 top students' in assembly who were guaranteed preference for the the trip and her name was on it so she was looking forward to it but somehow it didn't get actioned and all places got given randomly. Now she doesn't get to go and all her friends do! I've emailed the school but they are ignoring me, they just sent out an all-parents email saying they had a few complaints but decision is final etc...

Gutted. I'm going to take a day off work and pay for her and another girl who didn't get picked and take them in the school holidays. More expensive for me (and I'm a poor single mum) but I think it's so unfair I have to try and make it better for her.

It's a ridiculous system, my kids school do an end of year reward trip and those who have 0 behaviour points get to go, if the trip still has spaces they'll open it to those who have less than 5 behaviour points. This seems like a much better system than just pulling names out of a hat, your poor son.

DS's school seem to manage to take everyone for all trips apart from residentials (it is only 5 form entry though). For residentials there's usually space for about half the year and it's first come first served, which is a crap system as it relies on parents to see the email when it's sent (usually in the middle of the working day) and be able to pay the deposit immediately.

My ds is still annoyed about missing a history trip to Belgium when he was in Y9. It was only a very long day trip so I think they could have run it more than once. They asked for the deposit with the "expression of interest".

He was cross because he was going to do GCSE History and thought the kids who were going to do history should have been at the top of the list to go.

And to add insult to injury the school then blithely retained the deposit and applied it to a camping trip he didn't want to go on. It was more or less a three line whip to go to that one, so it shows it can be done when they want.

Ah great attitude, Life is shit so we'll make it even more shit.

My lads school offer a choice of 3 activities; a theme park, cinema and bowling or the Zoo. I haven't heard of anyone missing out on their first choice. I think theh book coaches and tickets according to numbers. Those going cinema and bowling will alternate, so one group bowls in the morning and cincema in the afternoon - then swap.

Well I have 3 times said I will pay for granddaughter end of year trips of one sort or another where its just names in a hat. She's not got picked for any amd shes now year 10! So she's getting a holiday after GCSEs to Spain or Italy

But this isn’t where you learn that lesson though.. Training for a race, you don’t win is tough but builds resilience. Studying for a test you don’t do as well in as you hoped, ditto. Missing out of a job you wanted, Hard, but you have to pick your self up. I agree resilience in children is often lacking and they need these lessons . But this is not that this is a school trip where places were picked at random and 99% of pupils were picked. It would have been different if 10% were picked. The children not picked in this scenario are not learning anything other than some teachers are cruel.