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OT - Mass Hysteria?
I was away from home last week. I took a class of 24 nine year old
children on a geography field trip, with one other teacher and a teaching assistant. On Wednesday, at about 7pm someone arrived with a handful of mail for the children. (One of the children's grandparents works with someone who lives close to the centre where we were staying). At about 7.30 we organised a campfire and songs for the children. At about 9.30, tired and excited, we returned to the dormitories and classroom. One of the children slipped and badly cut his cheek, just below the eye. The cut was certainly the deepest I have ever seen, and definitely required proper medical attention. Among our school staff was a teaching assistant who is an experienced first aider, so while she treated the child, I went for help. I used the radio in the visiting teacher's staff room to contact the duty centre teacher, and she called for the ambulance. I returned to the dormitories and classroom. The injured boy was being well cared for in the classroom, but in the girls' and boys' dormitories there was mayhem. Five children had vomited, and all but three children were sobbing, asking for their homes or mums and saying that the place was cursed. Many were finding breathing difficult, and three had asthma attacks. During my ten years as a teacher I have experienced children with many injuries, including broken limbs, a head trapped in railings, lost teeth and several non-trivial cuts. The most serious of which I have had to deal with personally was a dislocated and broken ankle, where the bone protruded in woodland during a night time cycle ride, when we had to wait over an hour for help to arrive. But never have I experienced children's reaction like this. Googling for "mass hysteria" the definition doesn't quite seem to fit, but I expect that it was it was. The combination of tiredness, letters from home and excitement over the camp fire led the children to make themselves ill over a minor accident. By 11.30, and following hot chocolate and a biscuit, and writing get well cards to the injured boy, all was calm. The injured child has had to have ten stitches, but is otherwise well. |
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OT - Mass Hysteria?
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OT - Mass Hysteria?
Tom Crispin wrote:
I was away from home last week. I took a class of 24 nine year old children on a geography field trip, with one other teacher and a teaching assistant. On Wednesday, at about 7pm someone arrived with a handful of mail for the children. (One of the children's grandparents works with someone who lives close to the centre where we were staying). At about 7.30 we organised a campfire and songs for the children. At about 9.30, tired and excited, we returned to the dormitories and classroom. One of the children slipped and badly cut his cheek, just below the eye. The cut was certainly the deepest I have ever seen, and definitely required proper medical attention. Among our school staff was a teaching assistant who is an experienced first aider, so while she treated the child, I went for help. I used the radio in the visiting teacher's staff room to contact the duty centre teacher, and she called for the ambulance. I returned to the dormitories and classroom. The injured boy was being well cared for in the classroom, but in the girls' and boys' dormitories there was mayhem. Five children had vomited, and all but three children were sobbing, asking for their homes or mums and saying that the place was cursed. Many were finding breathing difficult, and three had asthma attacks. During my ten years as a teacher I have experienced children with many injuries, including broken limbs, a head trapped in railings, lost teeth and several non-trivial cuts. The most serious of which I have had to deal with personally was a dislocated and broken ankle, where the bone protruded in woodland during a night time cycle ride, when we had to wait over an hour for help to arrive. But never have I experienced children's reaction like this. There is nothing more likely to change the whole atmosphere of a camp/residential experience more than contact with home.Contsact that is more often than not initiated by the parents rather than the YP, why can't parents let their children enjoy the experience without interfering? I have had kids fall over with "tummy upsets" ( If they are feeling miserable it's always the tummy that gets it) one by one like dominoes after just one mobile phone call from/to mummy Googling for "mass hysteria" the definition doesn't quite seem to fit, but I expect that it was it was. The combination of tiredness, letters from home and excitement over the camp fire led the children to make themselves ill over a minor accident. By 11.30, and following hot chocolate and a biscuit, and writing get well cards to the injured boy, all was calm. You fed them after dark? You mad impetous fool you! |
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OT - Mass Hysteria?
You poor thing!
I dearly hope that no complaints/litigation follow! Accidents *will* happen and I'm willing to bet that the lad with the cut face was not terribly put out by the incident. Nine-year-olds can be fairly brave/philosophical about this sort of thing IME. I think this was mass hysteria precipitated by all the factors you listed. I suppose the only lesson to be learned is that kids mustn't get too tired/hungry/excited etc HOW BORING!!! -- Helen D. Vecht: Edgware. |
#5
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OT - Mass Hysteria?
Tom Crispin formulated on Saturday :
I was away from home last week. I took a class of 24 nine year old children on a geography field trip, with one other teacher and a teaching assistant. On Wednesday, at about 7pm someone arrived with a handful of mail for the children. (One of the children's grandparents works with someone who lives close to the centre where we were staying). At about 7.30 we organised a campfire and songs for the children. At about 9.30, tired and excited, we returned to the dormitories and classroom. One of the children slipped and badly cut his cheek, just below the eye. The cut was certainly the deepest I have ever seen, and definitely required proper medical attention. Among our school staff was a teaching assistant who is an experienced first aider, so while she treated the child, I went for help. I used the radio in the visiting teacher's staff room to contact the duty centre teacher, and she called for the ambulance. I returned to the dormitories and classroom. The injured boy was being well cared for in the classroom, but in the girls' and boys' dormitories there was mayhem. Five children had vomited, and all but three children were sobbing, asking for their homes or mums and saying that the place was cursed. Many were finding breathing difficult, and three had asthma attacks. During my ten years as a teacher I have experienced children with many injuries, including broken limbs, a head trapped in railings, lost teeth and several non-trivial cuts. The most serious of which I have had to deal with personally was a dislocated and broken ankle, where the bone protruded in woodland during a night time cycle ride, when we had to wait over an hour for help to arrive. But never have I experienced children's reaction like this. Googling for "mass hysteria" the definition doesn't quite seem to fit, but I expect that it was it was. The combination of tiredness, letters from home and excitement over the camp fire led the children to make themselves ill over a minor accident. I had a similar experience with a Year 6 group a few years back. One of them sprayed deodorant into a fire alarm sensor (yes, quite) and the simple experience of evacuating the residential centre where we were staying sent the whole lot mad. It took about half an hour to get anywhere near calming them (although this wasn't helped that we couldn't work out how to turn the rather loud alarm), and we (or rather I) had the vomit thing to sort out, too. By 11.30, and following hot chocolate and a biscuit, and writing get well cards to the injured boy, all was calm. The injured child has had to have ten stitches, but is otherwise well. Glad to hear it. -- Simon |
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