Panto trip for reception class

[lulu2]

dd started school in September and the whole school is going to local town to see panto on last day of term and i am worried about it. i am worried about the bus trip and the seat belts on the bus and i am worried for her safety. I woke in the night and fretted about it and today i am feeling like i won't let her go. Dp says we must let her go as it will be good for dd as well as her having a great time.
Any views?

Let her go. The school will have done this hundreds of times, she'll be fine and love it. don't make her be the odd one out.

Why are you worried? There aren't any belts on public transport buses, so what will you do if she needs to take one of those?

She will be fine.

I was really worried about ds's trip to the local theatre to see a Christmas play Arabian Nights as he doesn;t like the theatre and said he didn;t want to go.

However he was fine, they teachers sat the nervous ones next to them (I snuggled up to Mrs G when it went dark"). All coaches these days have seatbelts on them and these trips are generally run with military precision.

She will love it.

She should go. The school staff know what they are doing and the safety of the kids will be their first priority.

Isawmumi is right - there are no seatbelts on buses as a rule. Chances of them being in an accident are tiny.

My dd (4) is at panto in town today with preschool. They went on the tube.

Let her go.

If they hire a coach or minibus, it will have seat belt (it's the law now), if they go on public transport, well - what do you do when she's on the bus with you?

They will be very experienced and oganisae and will have done a full risk assesment in the planning of it.

If they ask for parent helpers is there any chance of you going?

But, really - let her go. There will be at least one school trip per year, they are a highlight for the children. It would be v mean to stop her, given that there is no reason to!

Sorry, of course coaches do generally have seatbelts. My point was that children who travel on public transport day to day don't get to wear seatbelts and that wouldn't worry me.

What are you worried about? Is it just the seat belt thing? A lot of coaches do have them now - why not ask the school?

I had similar worries when DD went on a Nursery school trip. I've spent hundreds of pounds on getting her the correct fitting car seat, yet she went on the school bus with just a lap belt- she wasn't even 2 stone at the time.

She had a great trip though. This week, she could have gone to the panto but she is full of phobias (even NumberJacks/Charlei and Lola scare her) that we thought a panto would finish her off! She is still in Nursery though.

PS Public buses are not an issue for me round here, we get one bus on a Wednesday.

she'll be safer with them than you... I stress more about school trips with my class than with my own children...I am forever counting and re-counting them.

She will fine...you MUST MUST MUST let her go

All evidence seems to suggest that the most dangerous place for a child is in their own parent's car; that's where most of them get killed. After that, the most dangerous place is probably their own homes.

This is not actually about safety as such, it's about learning to let go. It gets easier.

I accompanied my year one dd on a similar trip last year. The school's risk assessment was 10 pages long (included every piece of information down to exactly who was on which coach, pupils and staff). It was run with military precision!

The teachers were fab and all children belted up.

Both ds and dd will go this year and I'll stay at home and relax

as an aside - how can you spend hundreds of pounds on a car seat?

My mistake- should have written 'car seats'. Rear facing baby seat, rear facing toddler seat, new rear facing toddler seat after accident, forward facing seat... adds up!

At 39 weeks pregnant, I went into school and insisted on being told how they would manage taking the whole school to a panto, how they would ensure all the children got safely into the theatre etc

They will have had to complete a detailed risk assessment before undertaking this sort of trip. My ds's nursery head showed me one by chance last year. About an inch thick!

It honestly wouldn't occur to me to be concerned. My ds goes on his theatre trip next week. Today he went to church to rehearse for the school play. They went by coach. I didn't know he was going and neither did he as he has been home unwell this week. He gets a coach to after school care most days too. He's 4 and usually tells everyone that they must fasten their seat belts.

All coaches now must have seat belts. It is the law.

She must go. They will have a wonderful time and she will be safe ... believe me, I've helped out on many school trips and the teachers are very thorough. There will be seat belt checks, head counts etc etc. Each teacher will have a small number of children to supervise.

If you are really worried, could you volunteer to go along and help?

Do you do a risk assessment before you take her to the supermarket? - No? Well they do one for these school trips!

If it was my DS (who is about to start in reception) I would be more worried about him being scared by the "baddies" during the pantomime than his overall safety TBH.

As everyone has said risk assessments will have been carried out, coach will have seat belts, the staff will have done trips like this many times before etc