School trip by tube amidst terror

[Onlyme100]

Hi all. So my dd who is 7yrs has a school trip. The class is to take the tube and visit a central London museum. I cannot sleep and feel so anxious about her travelling by tube. I know we shouldn't "give in" but that's a child. I also checked the govt website which says at current the threat level is "critical". I would feel bad for having her miss out but bad for sending her knowing the threat level. Please all mums out there... please can someone give me some honest advice.

Practical advice: Keep your worries away from your dd (I guess you're doing that by posting here); eat a cake or chocolate on the day of the trip (then you can worry about your GI index instead!); keep distracted.

The odds are marvellously in favour of it all being fine, but you know that.

I would raise my ck verbs with the school. I don't think it's really appropriate to take children that age on public transport for a school trip even in the abcence of a terror threat tbh.

There are masses of school trips involving children until 10 on the tube every day - I often see them. IIRC TfL ask schools not to send large groups on the tube during rush hour, which is when a terrorist attack is mostly likely (though still very rare. I don't think anyone has died in a terrorist attack on the tube since 2005).

*under 10

ttBB London belongs to them. I think a really important thing that schools teach children is the wider geography in which they live. It is amazing how many children in London live in families that just don't travel outside their local area - right down to children not using a local park.

The knowledge that they can use public transport to travel around, and that they live in a part of a big city, with many interesting things to visit is an enormously important thing to learn - from a young age.

I once overheard a girl (in her twenties) on a 25 bus, pointing at St Paul's and saying: "Look, look! It's that building, that was in that film!" - and I've met plenty of children who've never used a bus to travel outside their borough.

School trips, on public transport, will be well-managed, in an age-appropriate way. It's a really important thing for children to learn.

Your not alone op i am exactly the same with my ds (not that ive voiced it) if he ever had to go to london i would feel the same and my dh works in london 5 days a week. I dont worry about dh as hes old enough to look after himself but when its your young child i can relate how your protective instincts want to kick in as "if" and a massive "if" something happened you would not be there to do anything. I think thats the real concern really but then in the grand scheme of things they could get injured or in an accident anytime anyday anyway so it is our problem really not that itll probably change your mind

Well don't let her go then. Simple

I live in London too and totally understand your anxiety. My kids go to different schools and one I am utterly trusting of their ability to have a good safety plan in place - one of the teachers actually went to do an extra risk assessment at a weekend for a trip after the last attack. SO for the kid at that school I let her go and felt fine about it.

The other school, frankly, I am not utterly trusting of. They needed parent helpers so I volunteered. I don't suppose my being there would make any difference whatsoever (except that I do have some emergency situation training) but it made me feel a hell of a lot better about it.

I think you should ask to see the risk assessment and particularly in regard to the terror threat. If they are aware and prepared that is much better than blindly assuming it'll be all right (which let's face it it probably will!).

It's currently Severe. It hasn't been less than Severe since 2014, and has never been less than Substantial since the system began in 2006.

School trips, on public transport, will be well-managed, in an age-appropriate way. It's a really important thing for children to learn.

Agreed. When we were small, my mum used to take us up to London and we'd travel round by bus and tube. So when I was old enough to travel up on my own I knew how to use the tube and was quite confident about doing it. Children need to build up experience so it's no big deal when they come to do it themselves.

OP, one thing you could do, if she can't do it already, is teach your dd to say her name and home address, and the name and address of her school, and be able to repeat it to a person in uniform - tfl person, police, security staff - so that in the unlikely event of her becoming separated from her group she can be identified and the right people informed quickly.

(A friend and I got separated from our group in the BM once when we were about eight. We'd been dawdling and not paying attention. We found them ourselves without any alarms being raised. I still remember scuttling past the mummies wondering if we were going to be in trouble, but not scared about being lost.)

I do understand your concerns too, and would want to be absolutely sure of the teachers and staff supervising the trip, so that's what you need to ask yourself. For me I would be far more worried about my dc getting lost at that age! It won't be during rush hour so that reduces the risk of terror attack down a bit, plus we live in the north and as we all know only too well locally the tube/London is not the only target, so there is potential risk everywhere.
I always put a card with our names and mobile numbers plus the school name and phone number on it in a little pocket in my kids rucksacks when they go on a trip. They know it's there and to look out for a station supervisor, police officer, security steward etc if they get lost or failing that someone else with children. Also to insist on standing still so the teachers can come back for them.
This all stems from a very scary day on the beach when our eldest DC got lost aged 6. It was only for 5 minutes but I realised we had never explained what to do if he got lost at any point and I could see him beginning to panic as I spotted him and rushed towards him. (We now always allocate a meeting place at the beach just in case) Took years off my life that did.

I would raise my ck verbs with the school. I don't think it's really appropriate to take children that age on public transport for a school trip even in the abcence of a terror threat tbh.

Hahaha WHAT?

Why are your children too special for public transport? (Which is substantially safer than private cars?) You do realise driving into central London is basically impractical madness right?

London is NOT "amidst terror" - it's perfectly ordinary here. I guess you're too young to remember IRA bombings of Manchester & Warrington? No Tube there.

Bear in mind that the risk of a terror attack happening in London anytime soon is not the same as the risk of a terror attack in London affecting your DD on the day of the school trip.

The former is a significant risk. The latter is a very small risk.

I agree with Cat . We live in London and my 6 year old is going on a school trip into central London next week. One of the expressed aims of the trip is to help them understand the difference between local and wider London.

There are loads of local kids who barely leave their own postcode, so I think there's a real value in this, as well as what they will learn about the buildings they are going to see etc.

I live in London, and refused to take my DD on the tube for fear of a terror attack for over the first 2 years of her life.

A few months ago, I plucked up the courage (and it took a lot of courage), to travel one tube stop with her (3 minute journey) to the large town that neighbours ours. I was a complete bag of nerves, and the 3 minutes felt like 30 minutes. I felt better a few hours later for having braved the journey though.

I made the above journey about 10 times, and it gave me the confidence to take my DD on a 40 minute tube journey to a location very far from Central London (there's no way I'd risk taking her through there). We had a lovely day, and I was certain I'd do the same, or a similar journey again - and then the Parsons Green attack happened and I haven't taken my DD on the tube since. I just feel like I can't.

Is there any way you could drive your child to the location they're to visit and pick them up after, or have someone else do it for you? Or take a bus (if you're ok with buses) - I avoid taking buses with my DD too. I'm sure that if you could arrange alternative travel for your child, and told the school about your anxiety, that they would cooperate.

How do you usually travel around onlyme100?

Some of us get the tube every day to work and my DC's got to tube to school. We can't not go to work and school.

Here's my advice - seek treatment for your anxiety as not being able to sleep and feeling this level of anxiety about a trip on a tube and going to a London museum is not normal.

Argeles. Seriously? Drive to the venue???? Can you imagine if every parent insisted on driving their precious one on the school trip? Thousands of children from London and beyond go to the Kensington Museums for example, every day of the week. If you wanted to completely disrupt London then that's the way to do it, forget terrorist acts, overprotective parents following your advice would bring the capital to its knees.

I hope you are not passing on your fears to your DD, you are doing her no favours.

When I was in school in the seventies, the IRA activity was at its height.
We had several bomb threats at my school. It didn’t stop us going to school though.

Far more dangerous to drive your child than for them to go on the Tube.

Far more dangerous.

And why are we teaching our children such fearfulness and anxiety? Children have it tough enough without infecting them with unreasonable adult neuroses.

I would let my kids use the tube.

Focus on practical things to help you. What is their staffing ratio? 1:6? I know some schools go even lower if using public transport. Will they have hi vis vests on? The teachers will probably have done the journey for a risk assessment, the staff know which children they have, probably a whistle which they could blow if something awful happened and they were trapped - in the nicest possible way, your child is probably safer travelling with them than with you. It's really positive that you recognise this as anxiety, because that is you realising you aren't being rational. It's just hard to move beyond that .

I lived in central London in the early 70's
the IRA were setting off bombs nearly every week in some seasons

terrorism nowadays is far more "Four Lions" than a real threat