To be angry with holiday camp?!?!

[Woolwichchicken]

I’ve booked several morning sessions 9am-1pm with my daughter so I can do some KIT work on maternity leave. The camp is at her school but run by an external company.

they have taken her on an all day trip to central London, I knew the trip was happening but stupidly assumed she would be be going as I had only booked a morning session. I assumed some of the staff would stay at the school campus with the morning kids.

i know it might sound silly but I’m don’t feel comfortable with people taking her to central London as the camp is mostly staffed by people who seem to be teenagers. We went to pick her up at one and jo kids came out. They also aren’t picking up their phone, so now I’m having a full on panic that she is somewhere in central London.

As a disclaimer I know she goes in school trips, but that is with her teachers who are much more experienced.

I think my DS also attends the same camp. I have opted out of him going on Fridays because of the trip.

You can't leave one adult alone with the kids, so would need to leave 2 adults with the 4 half day kids, which would be practical. They probably have a ratio of 1:8, so if there are 32 kids in the camp, they'll be 4 adults. Leaving 2 behind with 4 half day kids, would mean only 2 adults managing the other 28 full day kids in central London, which wouldn't be safe.

from a logistics perspective it makes perfect sence that they either need to all go or no one go. The bit that doesn't make sence is why OP was allowed to book a half day when they have an all day trip planned.

I would likely have thought the same. Sorry if I missed it but did you fill any forms giving permission for the trip? Normally I have to do that with trips.

YANBU

I'm sure it will be fine but I would also be unhappy with my 8 year old being supervised by teenagers in central London (presumably popular/tourist type sights, not a quiet park). Especially since the risk assessment and communication practices seem so poor.

People saying "what do you think will happen?" have a failure of imagination.

Yes, I see they couldn't leave just one staff member behind.

My point wasn't really about specifically leaving exactly one staff member behind, more that it was an easy assumption to make that the camp may have kept the half day kids back with staff to supervise them. The camp needed to have been explicit that those normal lunch time pick up arrangements were not in place rather than the other way around with parents needing to think to ask.

You need to ask / check in the future. At our nursery if they do day trips they let morning session kids stay longer so they can go on the trip. I think you are being overly anxious; my 1 year old goes on day trips!

I would be annoyed too OP as you usually have to sign consent forms as well.

I would have assumed there’ll be some kids doing half day and some doing the full and the trip.

I wouldn’t want holiday club teens taking small kids to London either.

Maybe she did say something. Who knows. The OP can’t get hold of her daughter who she was supposed to collect three hours ago.

Why would you assume there would be staff hanging around just for the morning kids? Surely if you knew about the trip you would have checked?

My DC have been to those types of camps - they have a "trip day" once a week and the paperwork you sign when you register your child includes permission to take them out if they attend on that day.

ETA: Just read the OP update and it sounds like this club does the same thing so if you send your child on a Friday they will go on the trip. Some bad communication somewhere.

I would have also assumed that if I’d only booked for half a day there would be the option of staying behind, not going on the trip.

I've seen some bat shit crazy posts on here but...

-oh they've taken my child to London (but I actually live in London)

• I didn't know (but I signed a form)
• I expected to pick her up at one (but I knew they did trips on a Friday and it's really really unlikely that they would split the kids up)
• I didn't ask them about it (but I paid what I was asked and I knew they did trips on a Friday)
• It's Friday and I wanted to pick her up at 1 (but I knew they did trips on a Friday)

Op are you on glue

You will be required to pay for the difference between a half day and full day, because a half-day childcare wasn't available on the day you selected.

Sounds like miscommunication on both sides. They shouldn't have accepted your half day booking on a trip day and spoken to you to cancel or change to a full day. I assume maybe this was overlooked by someone and maybe all they saw was your DD being booked in for the day - maybe staff also all thought someone else had spoken to you about it.

However it seems daft that you got a message about the London trip last night and didn't query it. A quick can I just confirm what is happening with any half day children text/email could have been sent to them in response.

I also think you sound a bit judgy commenting on teenagers. Is it not a proper childcare facility? In which case these teenagers are going to have some form of qualification.

They actually apologised for the misunderstanding, so I think not. It’s not my fault there was an error.

Anyway she had fun and is home now. But I haven’t booked anymore trip days. So she will be on campus for the rest of her booked days.

they also provide packed lunch for some kids (not mine), and, apparently those kids didn’t get given their lunch until they returned around 3:30, but the staff bought themselves food. So I do think it was badly organised.

So they had no consent to take her off site??!!! So bad!

At 8 years old she’ll be fine. When I was a teenager with my teacher mum, I took school kids of same age to Camden from Stockwell on the tube and we went on a canal boat ride.

Your OP was a bit confusing because it looked like you gave consent. If you didn’t give consent then no she shouldn’t be going. Are there staff available there to look after children not going on the trip?

I also checked the terms and conditions on the booking confirmation link and the page is blank so that’s great too

Blimey OP, sounds like a colossal balls-up on their part taking your half/day booking when no half/day bookings were available that day and obviously not checking everyone on the trip had the relevant permission forms etc. I should think they bloody well aren’t charging you.

Honestly, I just assumed she would be there 9tam until 1pm like I had paid for.

She’s been at other camps that have done local trips before and returned by 1pm. In my opinion, there’s a difference between local trip to the park/bowling alley/cinema and a 1 hour each way bus trip to central London when it’s 28 degrees.

But either way, I just assumed there would be some staff staying back with the half day kids, there was also a 1pm-5pm slot available to book. I only booked the morning sessions for several days, but as I said above the t&c link is blank.

No that’s a fair assumption from your point of view. Up to you if you don’t feel your daughter is ready to travel to central London with teenagers.

That’s really poor actually. They should have got permission from parents to take kids out(either as a one off or ongoing) it sounds poorly managed.

I understand the mistake, and why you would assume she would stay at school.

But you are completely over-reacting.
If she's safe enough when it's convenient for you, she's safe enough for a full day. "central London" is not Bagdad, what's the issue?

Would you really have preferred that she was left at school all morning, alone (with only one adult to supervise) when everyone else was on a tour?

You are not missing out on spending time with her for a short afternoon.

I can understand why you were confused. I wouldn’t necessarily be bothered by the teenager part unless they’re all teenagers. I’m assuming the leader was an adult. I’d be bothered by the whole admin aspect though which seems lacking. I’d also want to chat to my child about any worries … being sick on transport in our case. What did they go and do in central London ?

It sounds like poor admin on their behalf.

It seems that Fridays are trip days, but if you still have the option to book (and pay for) just morning or afternoon slots on Fridays then it's reasonable enough to assume that your child wouldn't be included on the trip.

It could be very inconvenient for a working parent to arrive at 1.00 to drop a child off for an afternoon session they had booked and paid for, only to find the place closed as everyone was on a trip.

I have learnt to question things rather than assuming, but I only learnt because of situations like these. So OP, the next time you find yourself in a similar situation, question it.