Thoughts on 9 year old going abroad on school trip ?

Hithere

What an amazing opportunity to see different cultures and ways of living.

Surely there will be other opportunities when they are a bit older and able to appreciate it more.

12 and 16 is not 9, though, Cold.

I would question the value of a trip to Greece at age 9.
Outdoor activity centres in the UK, exploring parts of their own country first.

Cold

Is this a state school in the UK? Or an independent school? Or a non-UK school? If they are just starting to talk about it/plan the trip then it sounds like they won't be going until next year when the kids will be 10 or 11. Many independent schools run school trips from younger ages for educational, sporting or musical tours,

When I was at school in the 1960s 10 and 11 year olds from my school used to go on an international "educational cruise" each year on the SS Nevasa (a converted second world war troop ship).

It's important not to pass on fears to our kids. My kids did not go to school in the UK so trips, both domestic and international, were pretty normal. Some included stuff that would never be allowed in the UK - but the kids were happy for the experiences that they promoted. There were 2 that made me nervous, but I tried not to make my own fears influence the girls. The first being DD1 aged 12 going to Norway to an international science and engineering competition for kids - it was just a few months after the Utoya massacre and the sleeping accommodation had to be patrolled at night by teachers and Police because of "copy-cat" threats. The second was when DD2 aged 16 went on a school trip to Israel and the Palestinian Territory.

I am pretty sure the SS Nevasa is the ship my friend went on in her teens ….I mentioned her earlier in the thread and was so homesick and said it was a horrible time. She would have been about 15. I also remember her saying when they docked at places and were in busy markets etc they got “touched up” by local men which scared her.

Drina01

Yes a worrier but also trying to keep her safe. I’ve been a big part of bringing her up to her 9 years. I just can’t see what she would get out of such a trip that she couldn’t get say in the local area (steeped in Roman history she doesn’t even know about) or somewhere in UK. If it’s Ancient history our University Museums etc do a good job for that age. She doesn’t even know why she would be going ! In UK if anything went wrong it could be put right more easily. 9 is very young still to embark abroad - talking Primary School here. If she needed help she couldn’t explain herself.

Shame they don't think about all the Roman heritage that has been found in the UK. Hadrains wallwould be a good start. Well as a Grandparent I would be quizzy as to why the school think a trip to Greece is beneficial, what is she studying etc. Mythology is just that, not real . Yes it's the parents decision, of course,but as general interest I'd be asking. Same as I did when my GC went on any school trip.

My understanding of the Ancient Greece component at KS2 is that the children study what Greek life at the time was like, and learn about influences on the western world.
A bit like with the Egyptians, but there again, I've never known any KS2 trips offered to Egypt. 🐫 🐫

Mythology is just that, not real.

🤔
It's not just mythology; there is much to appreciate in Greece but I think 9 is too young to take advantage of what is on offer.

As a parent, I have been on many school trips, always put in charge of a group that did not include my own child, and trying to keep an eye on a group of seven or so boys aged 8, 9 or 10 is like herding cats.
That was just day trips in this country.

I wonder has this 9 year old been on a residential school trip before. If not I would be questioning why the school is offering Greece as a first away from home experience. A few days in the first instance is usually enough for any child, and helps develop independence, more isn't necessary.
As for the walking home from school most schools encourage it in Y 6 before the transfer to secondary ed. Before that they usually require a parent or carer to collect the child. I think end of year 5 and in year 6 is early enough. It also depends on the journey involved.

I began to think that the older primary children were far easier to look after and keep together .

I went to a small private school for girls. One trip was on a barge through Liverpool docks. We had the best of times with all the sailors waving at us which we thought fabulous at the time. When 4 or 5 of them jumped in and began to swim towards us we were all uushered inside and sped off to disembark.

My elder sister went on a cruise round the Greek islands. The poor teachers ended up sitting in the corridors all night as some male ship staff weber being invited, by the girls, to their cabin.

No more cruises happened.

I don't think you stated what time of the year the trip would be, Greece is red hot in the summer, in fact right now southern Europe is experiencing extreme 40 degree weather, not conducive to taking school parties out and about. As others have stated Greek history overlaps with mythology, and although the latter is quite fun to learn in junior school years, The Minotaur etc. it's as fabled as Disney. Nine is ever so young to take in wall to wall culture anyway, I remember doing Rome aged 20 and felt like running for the hills, all seven of them, after a couple of days When I returned twenty or so years later I was far more receptive to the amazing sights and sites on offer.

The first residential school trips our children did were in year 6 when they went to the Isle of Wight for a week which seemed to be well received, lots of child centred fun and learning activities, I was pretty relaxed about that, like you not sure I would have been if it had been abroad somewhere.

I would have reservations about a nine year old going to Greece as well. I appreciate some are more mature than others but in general I think it's too young.
As other posters have said I would question the value of such a trip for a nine year old.

My dad was a teacher and went on three school trips - one was the Channel Isles, one was camping in Wales and the third was France and the Loire valley - and mum went too. (Spouses were allowed to go too, in those days, as long as they paid. I don't know if that still happens.) Anyway, on the Welsh and French trips they were shocked by the lack of care and supervision by some of the other adults, including the people who were ultimately responsible. Mum and Dad did their best to keep an eye on all the kids but they were worried that some would end up lost or hurt, due to the general lack of care. Mum said that it was sheer luck that none of the children came to harm, and that she was never letting her kids go on residential school trips.

Of course, a lot of trips are well-run, no doubt, but I wouldn't bank on it. Particularly if my child was only 9 years old.

Personally, I am glad to hear that schools are trying to peruade modern parents to stop molly-coddling their children.

Unless you live in a very rough area, any nine year old should be able to walk alone to and from school. If they are not, then it is time they began to learn to go out and about during daylight hours alone, either walking or by public transport.

Likewise, it is far better that a nine year old learns that homework that either was not done or scamped gets her into trouble at school, than that she leaves school at sixteen still not knowing that actions have consequences.

Old fashioned views? You are at liberty to think so, but forty years of teaching children has led me to believe that it is harmful not to teach them levels of independence suitable to their age group.

As to a nine year old going on a school trip abroad. What are you afraid of? No teacher is going to allow any nine year old, whether young or old for her age to wander round a foreign city without adult supervision!

You can safely assume that the children will go everywhere together as a class, with the two members of staff who are with them at all times.

The girl wants to go, her parents are content to allow her to, and her teachers believe that the children they are taking abroad are obedient enough to do as they are told, otherwise they would not be taking them.

So please, worried gran, button your lip and stop worrying if you possibly can.

I’ll be honest, a lot of the comments here feel very old fashioned and domineering. It’s really not up to you what the school do and what your GC do if parents agree. And you think your daughter has been brainwashed by the school?! I’m cringing so hard I think I strained something.

I wouldn’t get your hopes up of having any say in your GC’s extracurricular opportunities when they’re older if this is how you react now.

In P7 our older DC went to Dounans camp for 2 weeks in the Summer term
It was in the Scottish Highlands
The children slept in bunks in wooden chalets and ate together scout style. They had outdoor lessons and I still have some of the journals they wrote.
Ours loved it but even there, an hour from home, some children were unhappy, missed mum's cooking and came home after the first week. Some still wet the bed.
I know DC are more sophisticated these days but somehow 9 still seems too young to get much from a school trip to Greece
Greece is fantastic and with the family could be interesting to most DC but with the school?.

grandtanteJE65

Personally, I am glad to hear that schools are trying to peruade modern parents to stop molly-coddling their children.

Unless you live in a very rough area, any nine year old should be able to walk alone to and from school. If they are not, then it is time they began to learn to go out and about during daylight hours alone, either walking or by public transport.

Likewise, it is far better that a nine year old learns that homework that either was not done or scamped gets her into trouble at school, than that she leaves school at sixteen still not knowing that actions have consequences.

Old fashioned views? You are at liberty to think so, but forty years of teaching children has led me to believe that it is harmful not to teach them levels of independence suitable to their age group.

As to a nine year old going on a school trip abroad. What are you afraid of? No teacher is going to allow any nine year old, whether young or old for her age to wander round a foreign city without adult supervision!

You can safely assume that the children will go everywhere together as a class, with the two members of staff who are with them at all times.

The girl wants to go, her parents are content to allow her to, and her teachers believe that the children they are taking abroad are obedient enough to do as they are told, otherwise they would not be taking them.

So please, worried gran, button your lip and stop worrying if you possibly can.

Oh come on it’s not mollycoddling to worry about a NINE YEAR OLD going on a trip to Greece. My kids played out close to our house, ran wild on camping trips with us and were definitely not mollycoddled but this trip would be a No from me.

Just thinking about terrible incidents of kids abroad on school trips and can remember an older girl drowning in a lake in France, an older girl getting raped in a hostel where somebody wandered in off the street, Madeleine McCann, little Ben who went missing years ago on his grandparents land wasn’t that Greece and little Emile who disappeared from his grandparents holiday home in France last weekend.

As others have said what can 9 year olds really learn from a trip to Greece? We have such wonderful technology now that they can learn so much from the classroom or their home and leave the travelling to their teenage years.

I think 9 is too young to be going abroad on a school trip Drina and wouldn't have wanted either of our boys to have done so at that age, but it's the parents decision.

When he was 9 my DGS was musical and was the youngest member of a musical ensemble. The next boy nearest his age was 12 . DGS was invited to go with the group on a 4 day visit to Belgium to play at various concerts . His parents knew the head of the group quite well as he taught music at the school so allowed him to go .
He went and really enjoyed it the only thing was he had eaten only snacks and crisps the whole time as he didn’t like the food (fussy eater ). Also he hadn’t bothered to get washed or changed clothes in that time as there was no one to make him 😂😂😂 .

Those type of incidents are very rare Primrose53 but I get where you're coming from.
The school can do all the risk assessments they like, but it's pretty useless when you never know what catastrophe will strike.

Something just made me look at travel advice on Govt website and for Greece it says in bold “terrorists are likely to carry out attacks in Greece.” It says they can happen in areas frequented by foreigners.

As Joseann says above incidents are very rare but parents do need to be aware.

If people agree for their kids of 9 to go to places which have warnings like that then that’s their choice but we all know from shootings in several countries that there are some crazy people out there.

I think children could learn quite a lot from a trip to Greece.

By coincidence, when my son was 9, we went on a holiday to Greece, which included a couple of days in Athens. When he returned to school that September, the history topic was Ancient Greece. The teacher asked him to take in some of the pictures he had standing in front of the Acropolis, some of the postcards he'd bought and one of those souvenir Greek vases. He wrote about the Acropolis and how it's much higher than the surrounding area and you could see for miles. He didn't have to imagine what it was like because he'd been there.

By the time my younger DC were in P7, Dounans had closed (lack of government funding) so one DC was offered a weekend at an hotel to learn table manners amongst other things. We didn't let him go as for the same price we could take all 4 camping .
Our youngest had nothing at primary school but a week's coach trip in Europe in S3 (age14)

The best and most memorable trips were the exchanges with our Twin Town where aged 13 to 15 they stayed with a family in France and the French child came here.

But that's different growstuff as you, the parent, were with your 9 year old son and presumably responsible for him alone. I'm guessing you slept in the same room?

But growstuff he was with you not on a school trip.
My DGS aged 10 was in Greece last year with his parents and had a wonderful time. He wrote a blog and educated us all.

Joseann

But that's different growstuff as you, the parent, were with your 9 year old son and presumably responsible for him alone. I'm guessing you slept in the same room?

No, we didn't sleep in the same room.

I wasn't intending to comment on the wisdom of a school trip to Greece, but whether a 9 year old could learn from the experience. Some posters have denied educational benefits, but I think there are.

If someone offered me Hadrians Wall instead of Greece I would be very unhappy

As I say both my children went to Germany in year 5 and France in year 6. It was a very well travelled school. They gained enormous benefits from both trips.