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Original poster

Yr 3 staying in a youth hostel open to other residents

182 replies

luciemule · 15/10/2009 17:54

Hello -haven't been on MN for ages but wondered if anyone had experienced the following:
Next year, my DD is potentially going on a 2 night residential trip and they're all staying in a youth hostel (a really nice one). However, when questioned, the school have said that the children will be staying in unlocked rooms of about 3. Once the staff go to bed at night, any other of the hostel residents could enter their rooms. I am very NOT ok with this set (case of Caroline Dickinson, Brittany 1996)and feel that further measures could be taken to ensure more security at night. I have written to the hostel to double check what they say and they said they issue group leaders with keys to lock all rooms but the school told me they can't lock the rooms due to fire regs. I need to talk the head about the risk assessment but she's sooooo keen on the whole school trip (as I am in an ideal world) and I fear she'll shoot me down in flames before I've begun. What's a good way to approach this and get a satisfactory outcome that doesn't result in my child not going (which is what we'd decide if nothing is done).

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Bucharest · 15/10/2009 19:06

Gosh, pity the poor adults who have booked in at the same time as a school party!

Seems a lot of money to me as well, btw.

Squishabelle · 15/10/2009 19:17

yes - if I have worked it out right £5000 is more than enough to boook a YHA for sole use. Me smells a rat!

Original poster
luciemule · 15/10/2009 19:23

how do you mean a rat squish? I guess they have to pay for return coach hire (about 2 hrs). There are no organised activities as such that need to be paid for as it's literally classroom stuff and walking.

OP posts:
Squishabelle · 15/10/2009 20:04

Oh sorry forgot to factor in the coach hire there and back. Thought £100 was for the YH only. This could be right then. Coach hire can work out quite expensive per head. DD recently had to pay £15 for return travel to somewhere only 12 miles away (school trip).

Clarabel22 · 15/10/2009 20:20

Oh good heavens, that would be an absolute no no for me. Surely they have sole use of the place. Maybe they hadn't thought it through properly, but I wouldn't send my child on the trip unless the building was locked to others not involved in the school trip.

Toffeepopple · 15/10/2009 20:30

I have stayed in several YHA hostels. They have all have those locks (can't remember the name) where they are "locked" to outsiders going in, but not to children going out. Isn't that all that is necessary in terms of fire? Or are the staff saying they want to get into the rooms as well?

hocuspontas · 15/10/2009 20:36

No way! You wouldn't leave your children in an unlocked room in a hotel while you were asleep in another would you? I wouldn't even do that now and my dds are a lot older. How ridiculous. Ask to see their risk assessment of the trip.

Squishabelle · 15/10/2009 21:36

Hocus - the doors will not be unlocked ie no-one will be able to get into the rooms unless they have a key. But they will be able to be opened from the inside.

Squishabelle · 15/10/2009 21:38

What I find really really sad about this whole thread is the general concensus that our children must never encounter strangers.

yummyyummyyummy · 15/10/2009 21:51

I think your DD has more chance of being hit by a meteor as she sleeps in bed than molested by a stranger who might be unfortunate to sleep in one of teh 4 empty rooms.
I say you should Home Ed her

piscesmoon · 15/10/2009 22:08

I think that a stranger would be mad to stay at the same time as a school party-I can't see any wanting to.

Clarabel22 · 15/10/2009 22:09

"I think your DD has more chance of being hit by a meteor as she sleeps in bed than molested by a stranger who might be unfortunate to sleep in one of teh 4 empty rooms."
Squishabelle, where did you get that statistic from eh? Don't be so dismissive of OP's concerns, which are very reasonable. Why do so many MN users feel free to show their contempt for others in this cowardly fashion. If you can't say anything constructive, button it.

TheBossofMe · 15/10/2009 22:19

luciemule - are you absolutely sure that anyone can get in the rooms with the kids in? Every YHA hostel I've ever been in has lockable doors, with no way to disable that lock. I think what the teachers mean is the doors to rooms wont be double-locked (ie the kids can get out in the case of a fire, but no-one can get in)

Clarabel22 · 15/10/2009 22:20

Sorry Squishabelle! Yummyyummyyummy was the target of my wrath there. I must be tired. Will go to bed now.....

paddingtonbear1 · 15/10/2009 22:25

we stayed in a YHA at the same time as a school party, years ago. I think it was in Ireland. The kids ran riot, it was a nightmare! Never again. (Not saying your dd's class would be the same lucie). The dorms were much bigger then, the whole place was much more open. I'd have thought these days a school would have sole use, but it does cost more. The wardens used to warn us when we rang up to stay at a YH, if there was a school party in - and we'd stay somewhere else! Most people would do the same I'd think. I'm with you though, I wouldn't be very happy if I thought dd was staying in an open room away from the staff.
I think back now to the days I was in a YH group.. we had xmas parties at various hostels, noone else ever stayed at the same time.. I wonder why!!

seeker · 15/10/2009 22:33

So you're going to stop your dd having a fabulous trip because of one ghastly incident that happened in a hostel, more than 10 years ago.

In my opinion, you are being unreasonable.

hotpotato1 · 15/10/2009 22:57

clarabel wrote '"I think your DD has more chance of being hit by a meteor as she sleeps in bed than molested by a stranger who might be unfortunate to sleep in one of teh 4 empty rooms."
Squishabelle, where did you get that statistic from eh?'

Yummy wrote 'I think'.She makes it clear she is stating opnion not fact

Ivykaty44 · 15/10/2009 23:03

I am usually all for letting children have risks and not really very protective. I am fairly up for allsorts of adventures myself including camping

I am not sure though I would be happy about this one and thinking would I go to bed at night in a hotel and leave my door unlocked - would I be happy about that and (I have worked in hotels) the answer is no I wouldn't for all sorts of reasons and most of them unsinister.

So would I expect my dd to do something I wouldn't want to do - no.

And now I am wondering if being under canvas is differnt or not and can't make up my mind - why am I ok under canvas but not in an unlocked hotel room?

Probably because I have had a drunk get into my room by mistake after 15 minutes of me lying wondering what was going on he managed to use another key to get my room open - and I said no this isn't your room and he looked at the number on the key and said sorry upstairs - this is the type of mystake that happens in hotels and children in unlocked rooms wouldn't cope with.

so sitting on the fence but more worried about mistakes and odd happenings rather than sinister

piscesmoon · 16/10/2009 08:37

I agree that it would be ideal to have the whole hostel-however it would put up the price if you had to add in the price of the empty rooms onto each child's price.
I think that the risk is minimal.

  1. The YH would have to warn people that most of it was taken by a school party and them most people wouldn't want to stay. I wouldn't!
  2. The YH isn't going to book a single man or anyone who might seem a risk.
  3. It will most likely be families who have the extra rooms.
  4. If they were in a tent it is fairly easy to cut the canvas at 3am.
  5. If they had a whole building with lockable doors a paedophile could get access- if they were really determined and pre planned.
  6. I wouldn't want my DC in a locked room-the fire risk is far higher than the few extra residents entering.
7.The Caroline Dickinson case was one child in 13 years. We don't know how many hundreds of thousands have stayed in similar situations entirely unmolested.(my DS and 19 others were fine in 2005)
  1. If you had the statistics for the DCs killed or injured on the roads this week -you would be shocked, but you would still get in your car with them.
hotpotato1 · 16/10/2009 09:23

I think it would put the other hostellers in a diifficult position too.I am not sure as a single man I would like to be put in a position where I could be wrongly accused

piscesmoon · 16/10/2009 09:28

I would look into it more thoroughly. Could a member of the public stay if they were not CRB checked? It seems a bit weird that they can't go in the classroom if they haven't been cleared and yet they can stay overnight!

NancyBotwin · 16/10/2009 09:36

My dd has been on several PGL residential trips with school and how they do it there is each room can be locked from the inside but not the outside - so they are warned not to leave valuables in the room when they are out as anyone could get in but when they are in the room, esp at night, they can lock it from the inside. Although several schools may be there at any one time, all the staff and teachers are CRB checked.

I know all this because the schools have always made a point of telling parents what the arrangements are. I am a bit surprised that yours is taking such a laid-back attitude to this aspect of the trip - I would be tempted to ask for a copy of their risk assessment.

Original poster
luciemule · 16/10/2009 09:46

Thannk you ladies for those generally helpful ideas.
I think the stas thing is somewhat iffy because it's surely about control and when I take the children in my car they have the best car seats we can afford, I never exceed speed limit etc so I'm reducing the risk as much as possible. Schools have to carry out such rigourous risk assessments, it surprises me here how they haven't thought about the sleeping factor.
Yes I know the risk is extremely low but how many people would leave their child sleeping in an unlocked hotel room just because stats of things happening were low?

Have mailed YH and asked how much extra it would be to have sole use of the main building as it's only those 4 rooms that haven't been booked. Then that building would be secured by key cards and we'd be happy with that. Then I'll put it to the head teacher...........that could be another saga altogether!!!

OP posts:
catinthehat2 · 16/10/2009 09:47

Where is the risk assessment? Have the Governors really and truly signed this trip off with that enormous hole in the planning? THese are 7&8 year olds, and its not satisfactory at all.

Zoya · 16/10/2009 09:52

'I am very NOT ok with this (case of Caroline Dickinson, Brittany 1996)'. One case, 13 years ago, in a different country and a hostel run by a different organisation. Presumably you never let your child walk down the street or go in a car? Because around 5,000 children die or are seriously injured in traffic accidents in the UK every year (stats from the AA). They are at far more risk from traffic than from marauders in a hostel.

That was a horrible case, and it's understandable that remembering it makes you feel sad and anxious. But if you do a realistic risk assessment, you will see that there is no need for you to panic about this.