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.

Yeah OP, fancy getting cross when you turn up collect your 8-year-old at a school club only to find the organisers have buggered off miles away with her without your permission and won’t be back for hours even though you may have had an important appointment or a plane to catch or something, it’s not like it’s a massive safeguarding issue or anything.

You should have checked it properly, why would they have staff stay behind with one child?!

I expect she thought that there were several kids on the short day!

im surprised that they took - especially as OP hadn’t paid. I’d have thought that would have been a prompt to the organisers.

Absolutely not! OP booked half day and then found her kid had been taken to London without her consent.

why on earth would be pay?

@ldnmusic87 it’s not the OP who should have done the checking…

People love to be pernickety on here OP. I totally get where you're coming from. You expected: All-day kids going to London. Half-day kids have someone looking after them till 1pm at the usual place. That's what I would assume too.

Why were they offering afternoon sessions on that day? Imagine paying for pm childcare so you can go to work, turning up at 1 to find a locked building 😵‍💫.

And regardless of the fact it went okay, they still took your daughter off for a day trip without permission so they should expect feedback about that.

They shpuld have clarified there were no 1pm pick ups today in advance.
I would have thought it was obvious as they are on a day trip sue to the time it takes to get somewhere and organised and same for rounding every one up and travelling back.

Every one we sent our kids to in the original papers it covers this by say about trips and by completing the form you give permission
granted it’s not glaring obvious
and tbh I only know be we panicked we’d missed a permission slip for a trip and then this is when it was pointed out

I think the problem is were that used to the way schools do things we assume this is the same

I don’t really get what you want from this forum. Yes YABU to be angry. Maybe the camp didn’t make it clear she was going, but you didn’t ask either. I don’t see why that’s their responsibility.

The booking system is shonky AF if it allows you to book a half day on days where half days are not available. It would really stressed me if I'd turned up to collect my child, only to discover they were miles away on a trip I hadn't anticipated.

YANBU

My dc did camps, if you did half days but there was a trip you had to do the trip, nobody stayed on site

I knew the trip was happening but stupidly assumed she "would" be be going as I had only booked a morning session.

Took me a moment to work out what the issue was here - presumably you meant "wouldn't"?

If you are not happy with teenagers (and I don’t believe they are all teenagers) taking your child to central London then I am amazed you are happy for them to look after her at all.

Apart from anything else, it is in the company’s interest that the staff be well trained and vigilant about the children on the trip to London. They’ll want to avoid anything that might leave them open to litigation or unhappy parents that might adversely affect their business by word of mouth. How old is your daughter? Four? Nine? I understand your anxiety, but agree that miscommunication and assumptions on both sides contributed.

How would Op have known there was only one child ? It’s entirely normal for some children not to go on a trip and stay at the holiday camp with staff. DD went to one during school holidays frequently but never wanted to go on any of the trips, she and other kids who weren’t going. Entirely normal.

What do you think happens in “Central London”? She’s as safe there as anywhere else.

Lunacy. Did you sign a permission slip or not?

If she is only 8 I can see why you're worried.

i would be absolutely fuming

im assuming that you haven’t filled out a medical sheet or contact info or indeed consent for this trip! They have effectively taken your child off the school site without your consent! Which I’m sure is illegal

Wouldn’t she have needed to fill out a medical sheet and contact list, even if she was picking her daughter up at 1:00 pm? It’s absolutely standard when working with young children.

This will have been an error on @Woolwichchicken part I can almost guarantee!

Exactly. But it would appear that no other child at this entire camp was booked in for a half day as otherwise there would have been others in the OP’s position of (apparently) not being informed about this.

I don’t think you can have just 1 staff member, there needs to be at least 2

The sheet officially covers the entire camp and would include all trips and activities?