The Telegraph is reporting that one of Britain’s leading independent schools is being urged by parents, including a senior surgeon, to cancel a trip to West Africa in light of the Ebola crisis…
Staff at £10,500-a-year Cheadle Hulme School are planning to take the party of 25 sixth formers on a week-long excursion to The Gambia to give youngsters an insight into the country’s way of life.
But the trip, organised by the geography department, has provoked protests after fears the pupils will be staying 400 miles from the border of Sierra Leone, where the Ebola virus has killed almost 7,000 people and where 500 new cases are reported each week.
Parents from other schools have also expressed concerns over their children travelling on buses in future with students from Cheadle, in Stockport, Greater Manchester, who go on the excursion.
A leading surgeon, whose daughter was due to go on the field trip, urged the 1,400-pupil school – nicknamed Hogwarts – to “see sense” and cancel the excursion after he and an international group of leading medics postponed a humanitarian medical mission to Ghana, West Africa, because of the epidemic…
Head teacher Lucy Pearson said: “We have followed guidance from Public Health England, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Liverpool School for Tropical Medicine and the UN in carrying out the Risk Assessment for the forthcoming biennial trip to The Gambia, taking into consideration the specific concerns which some parents have regarding travel in West Africa at the current time.
“The official advice given indicates that the trip is safe to go ahead. “We have held a special meeting with parents to explain, share and discuss this advice, understanding their continuing apprehensions, and gave parents and students the choice as to whether they still wished to continue taking part.
“A small number have chosen to withdraw yet all families bar one are happy for the trip to continue.”…
More at: Ebola fears over top independent school’s field trip
We’ve had some blatant over-reactions from parents based on misplaced Ebola fears, but this is clearly more of a grey area. What do you think the school should do? Please let us know in the comments or via Twitter…
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