On Friday I'm going on a school trip with year 1

[faintpinkline]

As a parent helper.

Ummm what am I actually letting myself in for here? Can anyone tell me what my duties will entail?

Really looking forward to it but not sure what I'm doing though school did say they'd give us a quick briefing in the morning.

Its all 9-3 and I have to bring a packed lunch

It'll be fine - where are you going?

Make sure you do get a good briefing - our school always do one the day before now. Make sure you know what time you need to be back at the coach/meeting place!

You'll probably have a group of children to look after and a very structured list of things to do/see. Depending on how many kids you have, think about best way of controlling them as they walk (eg 2 x hold hands). Be strict about keeping them near you - scarily easy for one child to wander off whilst others are looking at something.
Loo breaks are tricky - can be useful to team up with another group so one adult looks after all kids who come out of the loo and both adults can have a wee.

Expect them to ask for lunch from about 9.30

Oh, I find it easier to think of yourself as a teacher not a mum for the day -as long as they all get home safely, it doesn't matter if they don't all go home saying 'xx's mummy is SO lovely & nice" ....

You will spend most of the day counting frantically!

And wishing the school uniform policy was even stricter so you can spot them all more easily.

You probably won't be allowed to do loo duty - unless you are counting them in and out from just by the door.

Take spare food/water/tissues.

I matroned a dancing show for that age group. Letter to parents was quite clear - named shoes, packed lunch and drink, pink ballet socks.

Spent most of the time trying to match unnamed shoes to children. Time to put your shoes on girls - I don't know which are mine.

Miss i'm thirsty - you are fine to have a drink - I haven't got one. Ditto i'm hungry (what did they think the child would eat for lunch?!)

Rest of my time was spent in the toilets.

Have fun!

It depends on the trip, where it is and what you are doing tbh. Also depends on how many other people are going.

I work in Y1. Our last trip involved us splitting into 3 groups of 10. Each group had a member of staff and one or two parents per group. We try to avoid leaving a parent with a group of children on their own if we can. If we do need to then we will put two parents together, and we carefully select children for each group also.

Typical things we ask our parents to do:

If walking - walk on outside of pavement, nearest to road
Hep with road crossing - may be standing in middle of road to ask cars to stop, etc.
Accompanying a group as an extra pair of eyes/ears
If with a group with no teacher - regular checking group numbers, etc.

We ask our helpers to wear a hi vis vest - sorry!

We tend to have a member of staff to do formal number checks, registers, and toilet visits.

All parent helpers are given a copy of the risk assessment for that trip.

We don't give parent helpers the job of carrying or administering medicine, inhalers, etc.

Is that it???

This is really helpful thank you. will stock up on some little cartons of drinks and some wet wipes. Hardly dare do food as so many allergies about I'd end up killing someone knowing my luck!

I think the school insist they go 2 by 2 and fortunately the school uniform is quite distinctive.

We are off to a science museum

Don't assume you will be with/near your child as most schools don't allow it (worth explaining to ds/dd so they don't expect to be with you and then get upset). Usually whole class will meet up for lunch but not always (I once took all my ds's stuff in my bag lunch, raincoat etc and we didn't meet up so had to get his lunch to him). I wouldn't take spare drinks for them and would only give a child i don't know water. Itll be fun but agree you'll be counting kids in your sleep that night! Oh and keep your eyes peeled for the 'one' that constantly loses his lunch/coat. My record was on a beaver trip one lad managed to leave his lunch behind 4 times in 3 hours!

I've tried to prepare dd for the idea I'll probably be allocated to another class - not sure she's taken it in

FWIW we always put parents with their own children. That's been the case on all trips I have been on. We find it easier and causes less hassle, esp at the start of the trip.

Oh - and we would not expect parent helpers to provide children with food or drink, and tbh would rather they didn''t - incase of allergies, etc.

I wouldn't do extra drinks etc either. Not your job and too risky. I am helping on a trip next week taking reception children to the Natural History Museum in London. Scary!

All you need to do is not lose anyone's children!

Her teacher said tonight it was small groups of 6 per person and dd would be in my group as in their experience the children try to run off to join their parents groups anyway

One thing we do is swap mobile numbers - or at least have a list - just in case there is a problem and you can't find anyone to ask. You can also ring school in a dire emergency and ask them to contact the lead teacher. Remember they don't work in lifts - stairs are good
I'm also quite bad at setting my phone alarm a good 10 or so minutes before we're due to meet up so that I have plenty of time to round them up and get to meeting point.

Love school trips although like another poster says you do spend the day counting over and over.

Agree we taking tissues, spare carrier bag for rubbish, contact number in case of seperation. If not crb checked you'll probably not do toilet duty which can be fun!

Make sure your packed lunch is small and easily ate, you'll spend lots of time helping children open things or peeling fruit

I think asking a parent helper to look after 6 Year1 children is too many-we wouldn't ask parents to have more than 4-holding hands with 2 whilst the other two hold hands and walk ahead of you.

Hope you have a lovely time. I have been a parent helper on a number of school trips, DS is now in Y2, and have always enjoyed them.

You do sometimes feel abit like a sheepdog as you try and keep your group all together, and you will probably get to know the name of at least one of your charges really well as you are constantly having to say their name for various reasons!

And at the end of the day a bottle glass of wine is always well deserved

We had a fantastic time. the parents did turn out to have groups of four with teachers and TAs having groups of six. I knew them all from various birthday parties which made things easier and they were all lovely. We seemed to walk a long way but if anything aches it my brain They asked so many questions