DD in reception is going on a school trip...what parent/child ratio would you think is necessary?

[HuwEdwards]

One parent has told me that the ratio mentioned in the school letter about the trip is insufficient. She is going to voice her concerns to the teacher and if not addressed, stop her DD from going.

What ratio would be acceptable to you?

It's a full day trip btw.

one adult to 5 chn?

At our school
DD is in reception it was 4 kids to an adult on her school trip last week

ok, so our school is proposing 1:10

Bumping as I'd like a few more views pls!

That seems quite high, I am not sure if there are any legal ratios that they have to adhere to.

When I went as a parent helper on a trip in reception the ratio was 1 adult to 4 children. that ws quite enough for me and I needed a glass of wine when I got home! In my very limited experience i would have said 1:10 was unmanageable at Foundation and KS1

The RoSPA site says this:

"Some LEAs set their own levels of supervision for off-site visits, which county and controlled schools must adhere to. In other schools decisions must be made, taking the above factors into considerations as part of the risk assessment. Staffing ratios for visits are difficult to prescribe as they will vary according to the activity, age, group, location and the efficient use of resources. However, a general guide for visits to local historical sites and museums or for local walks, in normal circumstances, might be:

1 adult for every 6 pupils in school years 1 to 3 (under 5s reception classes should have a higher ratio);
1 adult for every 10-15 pupils in school years 4 to 6;
1 adult for every 15-20 pupils in school year 7 onwards."

I've been on a few KS1 trips and the ratio for those was usually 4/5 to 1 and I always spent the whole trip counting heads. I don't think I ever went on a reception trip but would have assumed it would be even lower.

10 to 1 is def too high - do they use the buddy system so they only have to count pairs, not singles?

1:10 COMPLETELY impractical IMO. We do 1:4 on ours.

when we take beavers out we always have 1 adult for 5 chn - they're 6-8

This is really interesting...it's a trip to the zoo so potentially lots of places for children to be attracted by. I am amazed that our school (a fairly good one) appears so out of kilter.

arrgh - I lost a child at the zoo once! 1 to 10 is bonkers.

we are going to Weston in two weeks and the ratio is 1-3. On previous school trip was 1-4 and it was a hidiously knackering experience.

But when you say the ratio proposed is 1-10, does that mean for parents only? because the teacher/TA also count in the child adult ratio, so if they have 30 children and they want one parent for every 10 children, they'll need three parents but with the teacher/ta as well that will bring down the ratio to 1-6.

well it's 60 children (2 reception classes)and I know there are 2 teachers and 2 TAs.

The note that came out went along the lines of 'we will be asking for parent volunteers but will be keeping this to one or two. We will ensure we maintain a ratio of 1:10'.

Why would they limit? Am wondering whether it's space on the coaches or some or such irrelevance.

we have 1-3 in year 1.

I help out ocassionally in class and I know of at least one child with very challenging behaviour.

Am thinking if this child kicks-off, who will be watching the other 9?

Sounds mad Ruby, that this is even a factor, doesn't it?

we had a letter home the other week about their trip and it went along the lines of

we need 20 adult helpers so if we are unable to get this many the trip will not be able to go ahead.

1-10 is unacceptable, especially in such a public place.

The school should check in advance if they can get hold of more CRB checked parents- lots of parents have already had this done for reasons of work/older siblings/voluntary work etc. I think a ratio of 1:5 ought to be an absolute minimum for this age. When I went with dd's Yr 5 class to the zoo we still had a ratio of 1:5 and it was needed.