Far from “ticking off” a teacher for allowing pupils to lunch by a beach without doing a risk assessment (TES, January 26), I would have congratulated her.
As a teacher and head for 30 years, I organised many trips - before and after health and safety mania. To drag this teacher through a disciplinary hearing at the General Teaching Council and expect her to “show remorse and insight into her failings” is pathetic. She did a risk assessment with her eyes and brain. The spot looks great to me, and just the sort of place infants should be taken for lunch and play.
This episode shows why health and safety and the GTC have a bad name, why many pupils are denied life-enhancing experiences, and why teachers are more and more reluctant to take responsibility.
David Witt Malmesbury, Wiltshire
