 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I hear Crystal are quite good.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Better start work on your RA's! Also CRB checks for all the adults who will go anywhere near children not their own!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| davehk wrote: |
| Better start work on your RA's! Also CRB checks for all the adults who will go anywhere near children not their own! |
What CRBs for every adult on the trip then? That would be needed? For parents who are on the trip with their own kids? OK so is it better/easier/more straightforward to have the trip as all family groups, no unaccompanied kids?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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sarah, Don't official school trips normally occur during holiday periods not term time??
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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kitenski, I thought that too. Plus as it's a small school, would there be enough uptake to make the trip viable?
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sarah, we used to get primary school groups now and then, always good fun if a bit alarming (I am not used to having small children present themselves to me for zipping/wiping/buttoning etc  )
I would go with a specialist operator (recommend SkiBound or Skiplan), especially if you have not organised a trip before - they have done this for years and will be able to give you plenty of advice both before and during the trip.
I would AVOID taking loads of parents. In all my seasons doing schools I only ever saw one what we used to call 'fake school group' which wasn't an utter pain in the bum for both us and the party leader. The parents whine incessantly about everything and frequently undermine the teaching staff by insisting that their little darlings don't have to do what everyone else is doing, or questioning the organisation/provision of evening ents/standard and fit of equipment etc etc. The kids obviously cotton on to this very quickly and take the mickey. If you think of making the trip open to families you need to make it very clear to the parents right from the off that this is a school trip, the food and facilities will be kiddy-oriented and the children are in the charge of the trip organisers, not their parents.
For a small group of little kids I'd highly recommend SkiBound's Hotel Frejus in Serre Chevalier - small hotel, about 10 metres (if that) from the lift, right opposite the baby slopes and ski school meeting point. You can easily take them all back for a hot lunch and a rest, and they never have to walk any significant distance in boots and carrying all their stuff. The manager in that hotel is excellent, has been there years and has a 5-year-old of her own.
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My son went with interski on a bus to Italy when he was year 6 and really enjoyed it.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Some prep schools run ski trips but I think they are done on the basis of whole families participating rather than the children going on their own with teachers. I think the trip would then be booked through one of the tour operators specialising in school ski trips. If you are feeling bold maybe you could phone a prep school in your area and ask if they do a trip and could recommend a School orientated TO. I don't know what the rules are about whether the trip can be run in term time. Schools in our area have a week long outward bound type trip in yr 5 in term time so maybe an official school ski trip would be possible.
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School ski trips I've been aware of or participated in have been in school holiday time.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| pam w wrote: |
| School ski trips I've been aware of or participated in have been in school holiday time. |
Yes I thought so too. Otherwise how can the head justify authorised absences when the children who don't go will be disrupted when the other kids need to catch up? (opening up the usual can of worms not my intention...  )
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Shimmy Alcott, it's not that bad, people do it all the time.
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You know it makes sense.
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Lizzard, You have been in France too long, having any contact with kids in the UK is becoming too much trouble.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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having any contact with kids in the UK is becoming too much trouble.
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It's lucky that not everybody has that attitude or we really would be lost, as a society.
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Poster: A snowHead
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pam w, easier to pick up from a repeated trip aswell. Not so easy starting from scratch.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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rjs, I don't see any schools ops going out of business, so evidently people are still doing it all the time.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Lizzard, I think he means as a parent organising something - not just booking through an operator.
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surely the likes of skibound can not run a business based only on school holidays. They would only have 5 weeks of business per year.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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kitenski, I think they can be in term time although yes more usually in the school holidays.
Sitter, good point, it is a very small school so uptake may be an issue.
Lizzard, thank you very much, very encouraging and lots of stuff to look at. Although I guess this may be classed as one of your 'fake' school trips  after all I am the parent of a 5 year old and I would want to go on it and we can't take very young ones without parents.
snowymum I might well do that, although I did see something online about a group of Kent primary schools, state I think, who ran a joint trip each year, it seemed well established, I thought about contacting them.
Shimmy Alcott, funnily enough I did have a nasty blow to the head yesterday, walked into a door , then the idea came to me last night
Thanks everyone, loads of useful comments 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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snowymum, plenty of schools do term-time trips - cheaper, better ski school times, not fighting with dozens of other groups for ice rink/bowling/swimming slots, more flexibility etc etc. They frequently bring ex-pupils, students, retired teachers and other volunteers as helpers in order to minimise the cost to the school of supply cover.
Skiplan and SkiBound both sell to adults as well, but they generally have far more than five weeks worth of schools business.
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sarah, I work in education, and you will find that local authority policies/advice will vary county to county. Best thing to do would be to contact whoever authorises trips and visits at your local education authority and speak to them first. In Central Bedfordshire where I'm based there are strict guidelines on adults who are not employed by the school "tagging along" - I believe a few schools used to do "fake school ski trips" a number of years ago, and because of problems these are no longer able to be authorised.
If you are up for it though give it a go (we have some smaller schools locally who run joint trips quite successfully every year) - but be prepared for a shed load of work and hassle...I should know, the bloke who shares my office organises them for the school I'm based in...you should hear the language sometimes!!
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+ 1 for skibound.
Why not team up with the secondary school and use it as part of the 'transition' planning for the older kids who will be going up? and it increases your numbers so the costs will come down.
Not CRB'ing parents wold be a liability no no and generally parents are good for day trips etc but a full week is not really a good idea.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I started going on school ski trips from the age of 8. Admittedly this was a very long time ago and there was nowhere near as much red tape as today. But I'm pretty sure it still happens in lots of schools. Find another school that offers this and pick their brains?
Oh, and we used to go the first week of term in mid January if that's any help. And we had evening lessons and prep whilst we were there so we didn't 'miss' anything.
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As an ex head teacher (primary) the thought fears me with dread. Do you know how much organisation and planning goes into a day trip or even a weeks residential in the UK? Depending on your authority you might find resistance to this idea.
Have you run this idea past all the other parents? From experience I had parents who made a fuss over day visits let alone ski trips abroad.
You have a right to take the kids out of school if you want to. Just do it authorised or not.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
the thought fears me with dread
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It does what?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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sarah, see pm.
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You know it makes sense.
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i woul dhave thought most of the fun for the kids going away on a school ski trip is to be getting away from their parents?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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sarah, I took mine out for two weeks authorised absence last year and then, in June did an unauthorised week sunny hol aswell as ph and I REALLY needed a break. I told the head and teacher in advance (the Head told us to "I never said this - enjoy yourselves"). Bonus was the fact that they'd already stopped recording attendance for the year (so near to summer hols) so it wasn't even noticed by the authorities (if indeed they'd notice anyway  ). Luckily my eldest, the only one at school yet, is NEVER ill off school so we have a good attendance record overall. Due to the building works at her school this year I've actually booked a half term holiday for Feb as I'm not sure how disrupted the year is going to be.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
i woul dhave thought most of the fun for the kids going away on a school ski trip is to be getting away from their parents?
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Probably not at primary age though, but have to add not sure why you would want to organise a primary school ski trip anyway.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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beequin, so that the children can learn to ski/enjoy the mountains/benefit from a new experience maybe? All the primary school groups I've dealt with have had a tremendous time.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| beequin wrote: |
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i woul dhave thought most of the fun for the kids going away on a school ski trip is to be getting away from their parents?
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Probably not at primary age though, but have to add not sure why you would want to organise a primary school ski trip anyway. |
I don't particularly want to organise a school trip, I am not a masochist, but I do want an extra week away with my usual group of friends all of whom have young kids at the same school and who won't take unauthorised absence so this might be a way of doing it, making it an official school trip open to all etc etc
Lizzard spot on, the kids would have a great time and we might get a few new converts to skiing thanks for the PM, very much appreciated.
Shimmy the prob is that last term the head informally agreed with one of the parents that our four families could have a week off next year, authorised. Great. But we didn't get it booked and don't have it in writing. Now at the start of term a very stern letter has gone out saying that no leave will be authorised for holidays in term time at all and don't even ask so we are scuppered for getting authorised. Problem is that quite a lot of people were taking 2 and 3 weeks off in term time and this has brought the school's attendance figures as a whole down to a level which is not acceptable, hence the clamp down. Doesn't matter about individual attendance figures now, they don't care, like with a lot of things, there is now a blanket policy. What is worse they have implemented an attendance incentive scheme and got all the kids to buy in to it 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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sarah, we're lucky. We get 2 weeks authorised if the attendance of the child is normally good. It would be really frustrating if that was not the case, as my eldest has excellent attendance. You then have parents who let their kids off with the slightest sniffle (or moan); lots of short term absence is far more disruptive than a week of planned pre agreed absence.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
We get 2 weeks authorised if the attendance of the child is normally good.
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that seems a really good policy - encourages good attendance, too. Sensible compromise.
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| pam w wrote: |
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We get 2 weeks authorised if the attendance of the child is normally good.
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that seems a really good policy - encourages good attendance, too. Sensible compromise. |
That is what we had. Just wait though. Once attendance figures for the school as a whole drop below an acceptable level then wham! they slap the no holidays in term time policy for all on you  Pretty sure someone else reported this recently, I think it was Megamum.
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AS long as the child has over 93% attendance when applying for holiday, it is granted. Go when permission has not been granted we fine them!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I'm sure parents are legally entitled to take pupils out of school for 10 days a year. This is certainly the case in every school I've worked in and every school I know.
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what enforcement is there for this "fining"? Is the legislative authority for these school "fines"? Given that it IS a legal obligation to send children to school, what happens if the parents simply ignore the fine. Lots of people (too many) seem to get away scot free with ignoring fines given in proper courts.
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FAQ
However I did go on the ski trip 
