Has this school trip broke any regulations/laws?

[emma16]

I would appreciate some help here please, my 5 year old daughter went on a trip with 2 other classes from her school on Friday to a wood which I was initially concerned about as we go there ourselves on a Sunday etc for walks & have never seen any facilities there.
I raised my concerns with her teacher the week before they were due to go, to which she hardly knew anything of the trip & when i arrived at home time another teacher i know told me that she'd been there & there were facilities, and 'as if' they'd take 3 classes of kids somewhere where there wasnt!
I wasn't pretty hot about this trip seeing as they've waited until the middle of November to do it, and as any genuinely concerned parent, I was worried about how cold my daughter would be seeing as they were leaving just after 9am & not returning to school until 3.15pm.

Off she went anyway, but when my husband picked her up from the woods car park the first thing she said to him was 'im so thirst daddy & my head really hurts'. He brought her home & we found out that they had not taken their water bottle's with them & she'd had nothing to drink whatsoever all day, despite being active for 5 hours walking & doing activities.
We also found out that there were no toilets provided & her & 3 of her friends were taken by some assistant she doesn't know to wee behind a tree out in a public wood!!!
She also told us, when questioned by us, they never went in any buildings & were outside all day. They'd sat on little stools under a sheet to eat their pack lunchs.

Now some of you on here will think i'm over reacting no doubt & appreciate it if all you want to say is a snide comment about my over bearing parenting, but, in my opinion i feel they have done wrong.
I have made several enquiries with other people & as far as they know, there are no facilities whatsoever up at this wood, which my husband & I are going to visit this morning to find the country ranger & ask him himself.

If there aren't this means that no risk assessment could have been carried out, those teachers lied to my face after voicing my concerns, they let my daughter go without any fluids for over 5 hours despite being active & came home ill & with a headache, they let some stranger to her pull her pants down in a public wood to wee, and they gave them no form of shelter/heating for even a short period of time just to warm them up before going back out again.
Is any of this ok, does anyone with some knowledge actually know? From a parents point of view there's all sorts wrong with it. If there were facilities why did they choose not to use them?

"unless the school advised me differently"
I'm not convinced they didn't, actually.

I agree mrz

I mean really, worse case senario they have two drinks

Is water rationed now?

I think you need to be discussing this with the school, establishing the facts from their point of view and asking the why your dd seemed not to have had a drink and what they did about toilets.

Talk to the school, you are absolutely entitled to ask the school about any concerns you have and none of us can answer on the school's behalf.

in the first post the op says they were returning to school at 3.15 then says daddy picked her up from the woods car park- why?

DD2 would have been cold, embarrassed (I don't think she would pee behind a tree) and fed up. She doesn't do 'outdoors'. She left Sciuts in the grounds she likes neither hikes nor camping.

This despite living in the country and trampolining in a Tshirt and shorts in the snow.

DD1 would have muttered if they really didn't have a drink, but otherwise loved it. (At 15 she hikes, camps and gets cold and wet for fun)

So I think my concern would be, that it was a trip that not all DCs that age, would have enjoyed and they are, IMO

Too young to be told to grin and bear it.

I did Brownies and I've had 7yo who wouldn't have liked it, while the older ones would have been fine.

I absolutely don't believe there were no loos, adults were obviously on the trip and as an adult I wouldn't pee behind a tree on a school trip-can you imagine the Daily mail headline ?? I certainly couldn't hold on for five hours.
Neither do I believe your child was taken behind the tree by a stranger, only a crb checked adult would accompany a child to the loo for a wee let alone a tree.
I find it hard to believe that 90 children went without a drink, neither would I expect an adult to have to carry a box of 90 water bottles. I think it more likely that your child did not pick up her bottle.
I do think you are blowing this out of proportion and this is why school trips are so blinking hard to do. I also think that your comment that your child is precious is a bit daft-all of our children are precious, You are going to come over as a bit doolally if you think yours is more precious than anyone else's.

Must admit to being a little shocked that you are so nit picky about the school and yet you need someone to actually tell you that your child needs a drink on a school trip. Do people really need to be spoonfed every little bit of commonsense info these days? I suspect this is why I end up rolling my eyes at school letters about trips in January that tell you your child needs a coat. No shit....really?

And I had to pee behind a bush yesterday miles out in the countryside with the dog. No body died and I do hope nobody saw my 'foo'!

Oh and I always end up carrying at least two spare packed lunches with drinks from the kitchen as frequently parents fail to provide a drink or enough lunch.

If it were a forest school wouldn't OP know that? Our forest schools make a big song & dance about it (we have beach schools locally, too).
No drink all day = bad in my mind, but rest no biggie if teachers prepared to deal with poonamis. Nice change.

You sound way over the top on just about every part of the trip. Even your dig about not opening windows enough in the classroom. You should learn to pick your battles you are certainly going to need to with your attitude towards school trips. 'Tracking down the Park ranger' ffs!!

Oh my goodness you would hate my children's school!
They recently had an overnight camping trip , on a farm owned by the school.

No facilities!
Weeing & pooing behind trees!
Thankfully hand gel was provided :-)

The children in pairs were all given a disposable BBQ to cook their supper, under supervision of course!

My DD is in year 3.

Forgot to add I thought this was a wonderful adventure for her .

I wouldn't have been happy about the lack of drinks (school should have checked that all the 5 year olds in their care had drinks tbh, whether it was the parents' fault or not) and the lack of toilet facilities.

Wrapping up warm and spending 5 hours outside doing activities in November = not a problem.

My DS also goes to a school where they aren't allowed cartons of drink in their packed lunches, but have separate water bottles. Unless told otherwise I wouldn't know that the lunch box rules were different for trips - so why would the OP?

I think you need to calm down about a CRB checked member of staff supervising your child having a wee. As a reception teacher, myself & my TAs have had to change plenty of children this term- I have 2 with medical needs still in nappies also- & yes we do see a child's private parts, but ffs, we're doing our best to care for the child's needs.
Regarding the eating outside etc, I don't have a problem with that & I take my kids to forest school, my class are outside no matter what the weather.
I would be very confident a risk assessment was done, we can't leave school without one!
Talk to the teacher & HT to reassure yourself but for gods sake, calm down & chill out

I dont think you should have let your DD go on this trip. No school trip is compulsary. I say this not because I think from what I hjave read the school have done anything wrong but it screams out that it goes against everything you want for your DD. Which is fine - we all bring up our kids differently and most of us do an OK job at it considering there is no instruction manual.

You say you had concerns beforehand. You discussed these prior to the trip but I get the impression you were still not happy. So why let your DD go?

I am a great believer that kids should experience different things. Some they will love and others despise. I have 2 DDs. SO different. DD1 would have loved this trip but DD2 would have moaned all day long. I still would have let her go though because of wanting to give my kids a broad experience of life as possible.

The fact is being outside all day in November (and to be fair most the UK is yet to have a proper cold snap) is good for kids. Modern life makes us think they need to be wrapped up in the warm and only let out for short periods. Kids need more fresh air (especially in the winter) than most get tbh. You say you warpped your DD up because she feels the cold. Its is still more autumn than winter and yes its cooler but proper cold cold. Is perhaps possible she was too well wrapped up for an active day? Perhaps part of the reason for her headache was being too hot with all the physical activity.

The drink thing could have been made clearer on the school letter about the trip perhaps. This is something I would raise with the school but not in an accusationary way.

The toiletting - I suspect toilets were available but your DD wanted to go again when they were mid activity away from the toilets. Not ideal but we are into the countryside and my girls have often had to stop for a call of nature. Peeing in the woods is not the end of the world.

I do think you need to chill out about this. I have some sympathy. DD1 is 15 now but I recall her first school trip and I was a wreck all day long worrying. You do seem to be taking a very aggressive and negative stance towards the school. No one is out to lie to you. It would cost them their career probably.

I do think you need to contact the school and approach them for a discussion about the trip to put your mind at rest. Do not whatever you do go in with accusations and stating shortfalls. Kids only ever (even when questioned) give you snippets of info. Kids rarely know or understand the full story. The world through the eyes of a 5yo is very different to the same world through our eyes. Dont take everything your DD says as fact. I am not suggesting she is lieing but she may be out of context and not saying the whole thing. Dont make a tit of yourself at school by accusing the school of anything based solely on what your DD says.

Perhaps OP you could report back with the facts surrounding this trip once you have had the discussion. I wonder if this is the first time the school have run this trip or if they run it every year? It maybe they need to make improvements for next year if its a new trip and therefore may appreciate parent feedback.

But please do chill out you seem to have got really het up over this. We all love our kids to the end of the world and back again but they can cope with dirt, freshair, and chilly days. Its all part of the adventure of childhood. Childhood should not be sterile and centrally heated as a constant.

You should thank your lucky stars if they weren't allowed drinks- just think how many more times the children would have needed to risk life and limb weeing behind a tree, in front of a random stranger, if they had been slurping from a water bottle all day.......

Sorry, meant to add that in my opinion, the school haven't broken any guidelines- as long as there was a risk assessment done which was approved by HT

I'm just trying to think.....
The "No pooping in the woods" Law of 1825 and perhaps The " Warm Coat on school trip" regulations of 1936.

......otherwise, sounds fine to me!

Starballbunny - you can't dp trips that will please every child... I think at 4 they should grin and bear it... part of life is trying new things; you don't need to like everything but you must try

I am a teacher and a parent, my kids would have loved this trip. However as a teacher I have found myself more reluctant to arrange these trips (and they are a huge hassle to arrange).As some parents really do believe their children are made off glass and so easily damaged. I would never do anything to the children I teach that I wouldn't be happy doing to/with my own children. All teachers I know feel the same

Some kids will love these trips some wont, its through having different experiences that we can find these things out.

As a parent of older children remember your kids are at school a long time. And the chances are you will hit serious issues at some point. You will need your voice to be heard at these important times , so be careful about what you define as a problem.

On a practical note always send your kids with more food drink clothes than you think they will need.

It sounds a great trip to me, I can't see anything wrong with it, except lack if drink, but I can't help thinking she didn't tell anyone. I take schools pond dipping and bug hunting. When they arrive we take them to the loo because there are none in the area of activity which is quite a walk away. If they are desperate that have to go behind a tree. All children should be out in all weathers IMO, if appropriately dressed.

Hmm, DS1 doesn't have packed lunches normally so I might assume the water bottle would go too.

But other than that, YABU. Also, when weeing in the woods, isn't it pretty difficult to expose a bare naked anything as it's all kind of covered by the squatting and the clothing?

Would parents honestly not think to include something to drink if they were having a family day out and packing a picnic?

Mrz, I would send a packed lunch and the water bottle; I wouldn't necessarily put an extra drink in the packed lunch in case the water bottles didn't get taken.