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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Travel to events

19 replies

andrewm · 08/07/2013 21:18

Hello,
The small local village school my kids (10 & 8) attend has always been particularly unhelpful when it comes to arranging travel to and from most events which happen during school hours. We tend to get a note, not more than a week before, stating our child(ren) are attending the event, "Please arrange for them to be dropped off and picked up".
Fine, but we both work. The expectation seems to be that there is always one parent available. The general school response is that we should arrange things with the other parents, but this can feel like we are constantly asking favours.
Is this a common practice? I've raised it a few times but the school aren't interested. Other parents make comments but never seem to complain

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LaBelleDameSansPatience · 08/07/2013 21:28

A coach to an event will cost something like £180. So, even if there is a large class for a small school eg 30 children, you would be paying £6 per activity just for transport. A lot of parents can't/won't/don't think they should have to pay that much, so it has to come out of the school budget, which means events can't happen - budgets have been cut.

Fairenuff · 08/07/2013 21:33

What happens if you have no way of getting the child to the event?

Fairenuff · 08/07/2013 21:34

What happens if you have no way of getting the child to the event?

Fairenuff · 08/07/2013 21:35

Such a good question, I asked it twice

LaBelleDameSansPatience · 08/07/2013 21:36

There are always other parents who will help out, at least at our school.

steppemum · 08/07/2013 21:39

when we were in a small village school the note said:

children are going to x event, we need parents to take them, please fill in below if you are available and how many spaces you have in your car

Then school collated results and we parked in car park and were given note with names of the children on and we piled them in a set off.

We have a people carrier and I don't work, so dd2 and I went to lots of things with a car load of kids. I was happy to do it, and there was no favour to particular parents involved.

Teachers were not allowed to take kids in their cars (insurance, as they would need work car cover)

Original poster

andrewm · 08/07/2013 22:01

steppemum,

I made a suggestion along those lines, it seems so sensible. Can't think why they didn't go with it

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steppemum · 08/07/2013 22:23

I'm guessing that there isn't anyone willing to co-ordinate it, or they are afraid that there will not be enough volunteers
But IMHE, parents find it easier to offer x places to the school rather than goiing round at pick up time trying to work out who can do what.

xylem8 · 08/07/2013 23:59

We have had a sponsored walk letter like this this week. we need parents to transport children to point A , and then pick them up from point B.
Both points are about 5 miles from school.The school is in a very rural localtion with many nice walks without needing any transport at all.

Fairenuff · 09/07/2013 08:19

What happens if you have no way of getting the child to the event?

(Third time lucky)?

steppemum · 09/07/2013 16:14

sorry fairenuff - that never happened with us so I can't answer. With us, it was all or nothing - we have transport we are going, or we don't have transport, trip is off

Fairenuff · 09/07/2013 17:06

Thanks steppemum but the question was for andrewmm

Original poster

andrewm · 09/07/2013 19:25

fairenuff, it always works out in the end, it's just that the working parents have to run around and ask favours over and over again.
It's not really a major issue in the grand scheme of things, I was just curious about whether it was just us.
The attitude of the school does get my back up though

OP posts:

Iwantacampervan · 09/07/2013 19:35

If a school arranges transport ie asks parents who can drive and allocates children to cars then they have to ensure that the parents have CRB checks and the correct insurance - also you get some parents who will make a fuss about knowing who is taking their child. If you make an arrangement with the parent yourself then the CRB etc does not apply as it's not co-ordinated by school.
This is what happens at our schooland what we were told for Scouting evenings too.

Original poster

andrewm · 09/07/2013 19:51

thanks Iwantacampervan, that makes sense

OP posts:

Fairenuff · 09/07/2013 19:57

If it's too much hassle, just tell the school that you can't get your children to the event and see what they do.

roadkillbunny · 09/07/2013 22:06

On the odd occation children need transport to a school related event either in school time or right after our small village school does exactly as steppemum's school with the letters.
For a some sports fixtures dd was on the team for recently the qualifiers where held after school and as dd was a late addition to the team I was unable to offer transport but it wasn't an issue as there where seats available between the cars that parents and teachers already had going. For the finals that took place in school hours we where able to offer transport however as only one the team dd was part of had qualified they didn't need any extra drivers beyond the spaces available in the teacher and the CRV checked parent who was providing the required extra supervision for the whole day trip.

At our school at least it is understood that not all parents can offer transport due to lots of factors and nobody resents that, people would feel much worse if a child wasn't able to take advantage of opertunities due to the parents not being able to provide transport.

It think the point to push would be the early organisation if these things, that way if you don't get enough people coming forward alternatives can be considered. If they leave it to late then options become extremely limited.

Interesting about the CRB check thing, not something that has ever been stated as needed for this at our school. All parents know each other so issues about not knowing parents isn't an issue and a list if which child has been allocated which car is issues at least a few days if not more in advance so if you did have a problem with the car your dc had been allocated you could request a shift about without any problem.
I do accept that our kind of system (not required crb etc) would only work in a small, tight community school like ours so you are not putting your child in a car with a complete stranger to you.

LaBelleDameSansPatience · 10/07/2013 21:09

The attitude of the school does get my back up though ... what exactly do you mean .... trying to arrange fun, educational activities for children? Would it be better not to bother? Believe me, they are extra work for teachers.

mikkii · 10/07/2013 21:18

I am in a similar position in that we both work, but our school also asks for volunteers who can help. There are a pool of parents who either don't work or work for themselves so can help out.

I appreciate the fact that I don't have to keep asking for favours, I have to do that often enough for help after the after school club (thanks Scottish bird ) but I know another parent was unhappy when we were not aware that this was how the kids travelled for a local trip recently.

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