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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

Parents asked to give lifts for school trip

69 replies

bizzybeing · 03/10/2023 08:25

My DC is in year 3 and I've had a message to say they'll be going on a school trip in a few weeks time. The trip is fairly local so the children will walk there (30-40min walk). The school feel it's too far to expect children this age to walk back to school as well so they are asking parents to arrange lifts back to school amongst themselves.

The children need to be collected from the trip and then dropped back to school before the normal end of the school day.

Is it normal for schools to ask parents to provide transport to trips during the school day? I've not heard of it before but it seems to raise various safeguarding issues to me.

DP and I will both be working and can not take time out in the middle of the day to collect DC ourselves so will need to ask another parent to help. The class WhatsApp has several people offering so that shouldn't be a problem but we're new to the area so I don't actually know any of these people.

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Janieforever · 03/10/2023 08:28

I guess as it’s so close lifts is the best option, rather than transport, what is it a couple of miles. and you can always refuse the trip.

whattttttodo · 03/10/2023 08:30

Other alternative is hire a coach. Our school area coaches are £15 per child. Would parents prefer to pay that?

TeenDivided · 03/10/2023 08:55

I guess the difficulty is that you are new so don't know the parents. Usually by y3 you would have met the parents and formed your own judgement as to who you would or would not let drive your child.

How are the teachers getting back? They can go in a teacher's car.

Embarrassednamechangeadoddle · 03/10/2023 08:56

I find it odd the school would ask parents to transport children in the school day and to arrange something informally. What if a parent doesn’t drive or have a relationship with any of the others. They’re expecting some parents to transport multiple children in the school day - I’m guessing they won’t have DBS etc. I find that unusual and have never heard of a school asking parents to arrange car shares for in the school day. Parents doing this informally is one thing but the school instigating it feels unusual to me.

crumblingschools · 03/10/2023 08:58

DS’s Primary School did this. They had a school policy on it, so had to show driving licence etc. A parent wouldn’t take someone else’s child on their own

QuiltedHippo · 03/10/2023 08:59

Don't they all need car seats too? Fine if you all collected your own child but that won't be possible.

TeenDivided · 03/10/2023 08:59

I wonder if it is in fact a choice between

you walk back
parents arrange lifts

MariaVT65 · 03/10/2023 08:59

Yes i find this quite odd as well. PP made a good point - what if some parents don’t drive?

The work thing will clearly be an issue for a lot of parents.

Also i’m not 100% sure as my child isn’t that old yet, but if you’re also depending on lifts from others, wouldn’t there be a car/booster seat logistic to get round as well?

crumblingschools · 03/10/2023 09:01

Again when our school did it, if car seats were needed people would bring in booster seats.

Embarrassednamechangeadoddle · 03/10/2023 09:05

@crumblingschools when you say a parent wouldn’t take someone else’s child alone, you mean the child’s parent had to be there too? Or just any other parent. It’s the DBS/safeguarding but I don’t understand. To help at out school the parent has to be DBS checked or be with a member of staff at all times. I’d assume most schools have some similar policy, wouldn’t that be the same for the lifts as it is in the school day on a school activity?

Frodedendron · 03/10/2023 09:11

What do you think is the safeguarding risk? Do you mean that they might be dangerous drivers or that they might abuse your child? For various reasons (lack of time on a short journey, other children present) I would suggest that even if your child has the misfortune to be driven back by a paedophile, they are unlikely to choose this opportunity to abuse.

Driving - well, I would imagine most parents of school age children have had licences and been driving for several years, they won't be high risk younger drivers, but you could ask the school to check licences.

I think it's the most sensible option given the length of the journey.

crumblingschools · 03/10/2023 09:12

@Embarrassednamechangeadoddle if someone volunteers to drive and their child isn’t going (unlikely) they wouldn’t take someone else’s child on their own

kitchenhelprequired · 03/10/2023 09:18

I'm quite surprised a school would go down this route with safeguarding/car safety/insurance etc issues - however innocent and well intended the request seems wouldn't they be liable for every and all eventuality during the time the children aren't in their direct care? it sounds like a legal nightmare.

crumblingschools · 03/10/2023 09:23

Just looked at the school policy on website of DS’s old school. They require parent drivers to have DBS and there is also checklist re licence, insurance etc. Maybe check whether your school has a similar policy. What tended to happen was that it was the same parents who volunteered.

MrTiddlesTheCat · 03/10/2023 09:25

What will happen with children whose parents haven't been able/willing to make arrangements with other parents? It seems very weird that the school are taking the children out but then abdicating responsibility for getting them back.

ReadyForPumpkins · 03/10/2023 09:26

Coaches are quite expensive so I can imagine this is the best solution.

Littlepic · 03/10/2023 09:26

As a school governor I would say this is a big no and shows poor safeguarding policies from the school. Anyone transporting children for the purpose of a school activity (trip, sports fixture etc) must be DBS checked by the school and must also have business insurance on their car, which has to be evidenced.
I would flag this up to the head teacher.

Topseyt123 · 03/10/2023 09:27

Ridiculous. Aside from those with medical issues, most children can walk there and back.

If I were required to do anything like that I would tell them that I would collect my own child from the trip and, assuming it was the end of the school day, would be taking them directly home. Not farting about going back to school just for registration, waiting about for that and then leaving again.

I'm very surprised that this is even being considered due to the rules on DBS checks and insurance etc.

BCSurvivor · 03/10/2023 09:29

I may be out of touch as regulations change, but I thought it was illegal for parents to transport other children on school trips because of insurance issues.

crumblingschools · 03/10/2023 09:32

@Topseyt123 that’s why the school should have a policy on it

TeenDivided · 03/10/2023 09:33

I can imagine a situation like this:
They have run the trip before, and found that the walk home was too much, or that some parents thought it would be too much.
So they said to parents, if you want to drive your child (and friends) back to school that's fine by us if you arrange it amongst yourselves, we can't get involved.
That worked well, so this time to pre-empt the moaning about it being too far they have put it forward as an option.

Prettypaisleyslippers · 03/10/2023 09:34

We do lifts if it’s fairly close, saves on a coach hire, happily parents WFH or SAHP volunteer, normally a couple of families have larger cars, so take 5/6 DC (I do) no one gets left out, teachers do handover on return. I make sure I take the same ones back as I took, no swapping.

I have a couple of booster seats but asked parents to provide if needed. In the hot weather I was the cool Mum who took cold drinks on pickup.

Embarrassednamechangeadoddle · 03/10/2023 09:58

@Frodedendron “What do you think is the safeguarding risk? Do you mean that they might be dangerous drivers or that they might abuse your child?”

^
I just meant that most schools have strict policies around adults not employed by the school being allowed alone with children in school. Usually requiring someone to have a DBS or be supervised by a member of staff. I would have assumed the same policies would apply in this situation given it is a school activity in the middle of the school day. Of course it would be different if the school day ended at the trip and parents informally arranged to get their own children home.

Bumblebee2022 · 03/10/2023 10:18

Dd is 17 now, but I remember when she was at primary school(so probably 7-9 years ago, I did it more than once), transportIng her and other members of the school choir to a local care home to do a Christmas concert for the residents. It was during school hours, so essentially a school trip. I was well known to the school, but my dbs wasn’t through them and they never asked to see my certificate (I worked in early years and volunteered for guiding at the time), nor did they check my driving license or car insurance. There were several other parents volunteering too. It wasn’t one to one, as each parent would have had several children in their car and I didn’t really think anything of it at the time, cheaper than hiring a bus (costs have rocketed) and easier and less time consuming than trying to get them all to walk a long distance when some of them won’t be used to doing even short walks.

caringcarer · 03/10/2023 10:38

If you drive another parents child you would need business insurance. If you were going to be alone with another parents child you should have had a DBD check. I'm surprised it passed the risk assessment.

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