11 yo child first school trip

[Sammyspurs]

My verbal dyspraxia (same condition as Chris Kamara). 11 year old SEND child is going on their 1st foreign school skiing trip in a couple of weeks to Italy and I’m terrified! Will they understand him when he asks for help (we don’t know the teacher organising the trip!) will the instructors help him to do up his ski boots, is he likely to be left on his own and ski off a mountain…. Am I being irrational and overthinking? He’s really looking forward to it! Any positive stories of any parents letting their young child on school skiing trips? Tia

My 11 year old Ds is going skiing with school next week and I have the same worries so I’m basically here for the reassuring answers.

i keep telling myself they run these trips all the time, the other kids seem to really enjoy them….. it’s bad press if kids ski off the side of mountains unsupervised…..

Hundreds of schools and thousands of kids do this type of trip every year.

The skiing itself is all organised by the local ski school and the travel company (these are almost always specialist school travel companies like Club Europe or PGL). The teachers and reps should be doing all the pre-lesson preparation, then the professional instructors take over and make it a fun week for the kids. The instructors will speak English. Nobody is getting left on the mountain - the instructors stop and count heads every couple of hundred yards and often there is a school teacher in the group who skis at the back of the group. As a beginner, he'll be on the beginner slopes for most of the trip, not up on the wilder parts of the mountain. As with everything these days to do with children, safety is a priority and the teachers, coach company, ski school and organisers will have done pages and pages of risk assessments.

You should make the teacher in charge aware of your son's needs and they should be formulating a plan to make it as much fun as possible for him. Does he have a couple of friends that he gets on well with and feels comfortable with - if so, the teachers should ensure that they are placed in the same group for ski lessons. The instructor MUST be informed of his needs, and one of the school teachers should ski with the group at least for the first couple of days in order to support him if necessary.

There's another similar thread here >

Ski Trip Anxiety! | Mumsnet