Cancelled school trip

A question about : Cancelled school trip

DD's come home from school today really miffed that the planned school choir trip to Paris at half term has been cancelled due to the current state of affairs there. One teacher was happy to go according to DD but none of the other teachers were. I'm not going to grumble too much, I'm sure the school will have parents complaining either way. I obviously wasn't having nightmares about DD's safety or I'd have pulled her out of the trip myself!

Just wondering if anyone else has got children going to France at half term and what other schools are doing?

Jx

Best answers:

• Our school would cancel trips in these cases as we would not be covered for any incidents concerning civil unrest during the trip. Trips abroad are normally automatically seen as high risk and so county hall have to give the okay (including academies) and it may be out of the schools hands as they are able to remove permission in certain circumstances.
• Better to be safe than sorry. I personally would not let any of my children go there at the moment.
• I haven't heard anything official yet, just that DD had choir practice after school and the one teacher is happy for them to go, the others are saying they don't want to. I'm sure there will be advice from the LEA at some point as there will be lots of schools either going to Paris or France in general at half term.
  I can't say I've been following the events closely but I would have thought that with the amount of Police now on the streets of Paris then the likelihood of anything happening soon is low. My view is that they could postpone until a "safer" time and then their ferry will sink!
  Jx
• Looks like the terrorists have won then! - Well done that bunch of cowards at the OP's kid's school.
  What a lesson to teach for the future.
• Unless the government issue a 'don't go there' warning I cant see why they shouldn't go. tbh, I think I would feel far safer in Paris than almost anywhere in the world - the French are really pulling out all the stops to protect their capital.
• When's your 1/2 term Jane? It's w/c 16th Feb here, so still a few weeks away, anything could change in that time. I'd have thought your LA would advise within the next week or two.
• Has the trip already been paid for? Can't imagine insurance would cover cancellation unless the FCO give official 'don't travel' advice.
• I wonder why the school has cancelled it - after all Paris will be no more dangerous than it was before and I would imagine with the level of security being announced day Paris would be some what safer than other cities around the World.
  The point about this situation is that ANY city (let alone a capital city) is 100% safe
  oops that should read NO city!
• So they are not saying don't go!
  Jane, I was in a school choir which travelled overseas and we sang in some amazing places. but Notre Dame wasn't one of them! it would be totally surreal to sing THERE!
  I am not sure the school could cancel the trip unless there was a complete ban on travelling to Paris, without losing the money. The kids would be sooooo disappointed and I really don't see the threat being any worse than if they went to London - which also has a high terrorism threat rating.
• Jane - I think if an area is especially dangerous the advice is 'Don't go'. They haven't said that - just to be vigilant.
  Re - The money paid for the trip, will probably be to a travel agent. unless there is a good reason for cancellation, the money wont be refunded. you, and the other parents need to meet with the trip organisers and ask what the position is.
• It is very disappointing, but think of it from a teacher's point of view.
  A school trip abroad can be stressful, so with the heightened threat level and increased security measures it will be much worse.
  It's likely that some of the planned visits, such as timed visits to the Eiffel Tower couldn't run.
  As a teacher, I wouldn't relish the trip. But sorry for your daughter, Jane.