Ah, school trips—one of the best parts of the education system, in my opinion. They're right up there with pizza Tuesdays and passionate teachers showing us that learning can actually be fun. However magical we might think all school trips are, the fact is that some of them end up being complete disasters.
Just how disastrous are we talking about? So disastrous that teachers ended up sharing them on a thread on Reddit. And the stories are eye-opening: there are just so many ways that a simple class trip can go wrong. It's like the Universe has it out for these teachers (though there are some things they can do to prepare themselves for some bad scenarios).
Check out some of the best real stories shared by teachers below, upvote the ones that made your eyebrows jump into your hairline, and if you've got any strange school trip experiences to share with us, drop us a comment at the bottom of this list. Hear that bell? It's time to start reading.
Bored Panda wanted to learn about how best to prepare for school trips, so we reached out to trained primary school teachers Tom Rose and Jack Pannett from the United Kingdom. "School trips are very challenging, especially for newer teachers, because of the constant changing of locations or 'transitions' as teachers usually refer to them as," they said. You'll find our full in-depth interview with them below. If you're an educator, you won't want to miss it!
#21
I was on a field trip to a local forest preserve with my third grade class, and there was a boy on the trip with special needs who was also a flight risk. Well, at one point he darted back towards the bus and I took off after him. But instead of going to the bus, he ducked into the poison ivy and poison oak-riddled woods 250 feet ahead of me! And to make it even worse, he was wearing camouflage for this field trip because that's what his dad always wore in the woods, so as I got into the denser part of the forest, I had to rely entirely on sound to try to catch up to him. Eventually he ran back across the main road and down the river bank, right towards the rapids, which were flooded due to a recent storm! Now, I’m a strong swimmer, but I knew that flood waters are nothing to mess with, and that if this kid got in the water, he would drown. So, I slid down the river bank as fast as I could, and caught up to him just as he started taking off his socks and shoes. I quickly grabbed him, threw him over my shoulders, and walked him back up the steep, slippery bank. Then back on the bus, while waiting for someone to come pick him up, he started complaining...about a rash.
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93points
Another vital part of organizing school trips is communication. I'll repeat that so we're crystal clear: communication. You gotta do it. It's always better to overcommunicate and irritate the heck out of someone than to not communicate enough. Why? Because someone will always misinterpret what you said. So you gotta repeat everything a hundred times (sometimes, that's not hyperbole) cuz that's how people learn.
Something else that teachers should be aware of is their students' medical requirements. Maybe Jane has a peanut allergy. Perhaps Robert has asthma and needs to remember to pack his inhaler. This is where a teacher's personal connection with their students plays a pivotal role. If you're aware of what could go wrong, you can stop disaster from striking.
#22
When I was in the 2nd grade we took a field trip to the forest preserve. For me it was an awesome field trip, being led by a guide through this cool hiking trail and learning things about nature was my kind of thing.
About halfway through the hike a few of us decide to take "the fun" way across a thick log over a little creek. This kid named Marcelo was in front of me and he was goofing off a bit too much and slipped. He fell into the creek, but in the process smacked his face into the log. We helped get him out of the water and noticed that his mouth was bleeding profusely.
When he smacked his face on that log he got a stick about 2 inches long jammed up into his gums. It was pretty damn gnarly and the park ranger that was leading the hike called for an ambulance.
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83points
#23
Not a teacher, but in 4th grade a turkey flew through the windshield of the bus. We were driving through the middle of nowhere on our way to a farm or something, don’t remember what it was supposed to be because we just ended up going back to the school.
Some teachers near the front were picking glass out of their forehead, think the driver was mostly okay but still needed to get checked out. I don’t think any of us kids were hurt at all. Maybe we were too short at that age for the glass to make its way over the seats enough to actually maim anyone? I have no idea.
But yeah, a teacher kicked the dead bird off the bus, did a quick head count, fluttered over the bus driver, and then we just lined up against a wooden fence at the edge of someone’s property while waiting for another bus to come get us.
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81points
#24
Once my boss messed up and we got to the airport late and we missed our flight. So 40 kids and 7 adults and he refused to split our group up. We ended up having to stay an extra night. It was a nightmare since our bags made it and we didn’t.
Also had a student fall off the train platform and onto the tracks, breaking ribs and knocking herself out cold. She looked like a ragdoll going down and I felt helpless just trying to keep the other kids calm. She was okay eventually :/
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80points
Of course, a school trip isn't just about fun. It's supposed to be educational, too. So it's incredibly important that your students understand why you're on the trip in the first place. Sure, it's fun to get out of the school building, but we're going to the art museum for a reason, not just to muck about.
#25
At an apple orchard with young preschoolers. One kid, who was always an issue in some way or another, pooped his pants. Fully. And didn’t say anything. I just happened to pass him and smelled it. There were no restrooms, just a port o potty. Had to stand him on the edge and try and get as much as the flattened turd out of his pants because there was no way he was going to sit in poop filled pants for the 30 min drive back. I was gagging and the kid was doing everything but following my directions. At one point I thought he was going to fall into the hole. It was awful.
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76points
#26
I work with 18-21 year old students with disabilities. We took the students on our annual canoe trip at the end of the year. It’s typically like a two hour canoe ride through a chain of lakes and this particular year didn’t go so well. One of the students was aggressively yelling at other students to “paddle harder”. Another student got annoyed and turned around and started beating this student with his paddle. We had to get all the canoes (there were probably 7 of them) to shore to get these two students out because they were bludgeoning one another!
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76points
#27
Not a teacher but I was a student. We went out ice-skating. A 190-pound guy I sorta knew (he was in one of my classes, didn't like him but I was too nice to tell him off) was having trouble staying up and I was the closest person to him so he grabbed me and used me for stability. Only problem was he was putting all his weight on me and ended up pushing me down, then because I was what was keeping him up, he fell and in the process stepped on top of my fingers and sliced 4 of them open. I really really despise that guy. I'm okay but I still have the scars and a story to tell.
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74points
You could also pack some game or sports equipment with you in case there's an hour or two free when you all have nothing to do. You should also consider avoiding planning trips for Mondays because parents tend to forget things over the weekend. And then you can end up with a situation that you'll be describing in an awful lot of detail on Reddit about how the trip went wrong quicker than kids get up from their desks when the lunch bell rings.
#28
9th grade student got caught with beer in his energy drink bottle. Student very nearly got hit by a car. A third student vomited. All on the same trip.
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72points
#29
When I was in fifth grade, my class took a field trip to Washington DC. It was my first ever overnight school trip and a huge deal because we weren’t in a wealthy area. It was basically a long weekend whirlwind tour of museums and such. To save money, we stayed in churches to sleep. There was onechurch that had a large activity room so we all slept there on the second night. Boys on one side, girls on the other, chaperones in the middle. An entire wall was windows without any coverings. At about 1:00 in the morning, some girl starts screaming. We all wake up to see this guy standing in front of the window staring in at us. He ran off, but word spread that he was exposing himself and the chaperones moved us to interior rooms and called the cops.
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66points
#30
I was a new teacher when the whole grade went on a field trip during the first week of school.
In fact, I was so new that nobody - not even my colleagues - noticed that I wasn’t on the bus. So it left without me.
(Fortunately, the destination was only about 15 minutes away, so it wasn’t a big deal for me to jump in my car and follow the bus there.)
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65points
#31
Band trip to Disney World. Lead bus driver "knew a shortcut". This led to 5 large motorcoaches lost in an orange grove somewhere near Orlando. No idea how much damage we did to those trees, the roads really weren't designed for huge busses.
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65points
#32
not a teacher but once went on a trip to the woods, one kid climbed up on of the trees. after 10 minutes of sitting in the tree he decided to go down, and one branch snapped and the kid fell, there was a small twig just sticking out of this kids thigh. rushed to the hospital later and is doing fine now
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60points