When an absence of adult supervision and lack of awareness of the risks led to four fatalities
What happened?
In May 1985, fifty-one primary school pupils visited Land’s End in Cornwall for a week long adventure holiday.
While the majority of the children and all of the three teachers and two parent helpers were at the top of the cliff arranging photos around the famous Land’s End signpost, eleven children aged ten to twelve years scrambled down a cliff path to reach rocks approximately ten to fifteen feet above sea level.
Although the sea was calm, a large wave drenched them and swept four of the children into the sea. Of the four, one girl was washed into a cleft, but another boy was also swept into the sea trying to rescue the others. Four boys died, only two bodies were recovered,
While it is clear that the children were unsupervised when the tragic accident occurred, there are conflicting accounts by the children who survived and the teachers as to what advice or instruction the children were given.
Legal Outcome
An inquest was held the same year in Cornwall, and the verdict was Death by Misadventure.
Both the headteacher and a teacher Robert denied any negligence at the inquest. The teacher stated he was unaware of the cliff path and did not see any children go down it. The headteacher claimed he did not think the children were in any immediate danger, but had sent a pupil to tell the children to come back up when he became aware they were down there.
The local authority carried out their own inquiry. They made twenty-two proposals for the future organisation and conduct of school trips.
The report was critical of the conduct of both the headteacher and teacher. It found that the headteacher’s ‘preparation and planning for the visit was inadequate and, in a number of ways, seriously unsatisfactory’, and noted he ‘failed to organise sufficient supervision and failed to act when he saw the children in danger’.
The teacher resigned soon after the inquiry. There were no criminal proceedings.
What can we learn from what happened?
This tragedy happened many years ago, and a number of lessons were learned.
The disaster subsequently prompted the Department of Education and Science‘s national guidelines for school trips, Safety in Outdoor Education. It also resulted in the widespread adoption by the UK’s education authorities of new safety recommendations made by the National Association of Head Teachers.
In response to recommendations made at the inquest, six noticeboards were installed at Land’s End to warn visitors of the ‘natural hazards and potential danger’ of the cliffs and sea.
Footnote:
I have a personal connection with this case study – I attended the same school, and my mother worked as school nurse there until a few years before the tragedy, so all those involved were known to my family.
Source of Information
Wikipedia