Some people are really not impressed with this school’s idea of a day out

Most of us remember the school tours that we used to go on as kids.

They were the best part of the whole year, in fairness.

Hanging out with your mates away from the confines of a classroom, doing fun stuff that you'd never get to do with your parents and basically making memories to last a lifetime. 

Oh, how we miss them. 

However, one school in the UK has come under fire (excuse the pun) for taking their students to West Midlands Police, where the kids were allowed to shoot targets with toy guns. 

It's all a lot more innocent than it sounds, but some people were shocked that this was the school's idea of a day out. 

"Why? Which subject area does this cover? Since when did replacing cooking and gardening with shooting ranges become a life skill?" wrote one under the Facebook post shared by West Midlands Police. 

Another said: "Not comfortable with these pupils practising shooting even if it's with toy guns. Surely there were other ways to help them – not carrying weapons maybe?"

The special day out had been organised "as a thank-you to the pupils who’d written touching letters of support in recognition of the force’s efforts to keep people safe following the recent terror attacks."

Explaining the reason behind the trip, Deputy Head Dawn Chapman said: “After the awful events in Manchester and London we were talking in class about how to stay safe and who protects us. Many of the children had said how they’d seen more police in Birmingham and officers carrying guns.

“We wanted to stress to them that they shouldn’t feel scared and that the officers were there to keep people safe. It was a really good discussion and it ended with the children saying they’d like to write letters to the police to say thanks.

“It was a lovely surprise for us to be invited to the police base and the pupils had a fantastic time, especially on the range and using the sirens and flashing lights − as you’d expect the noisy things proved particularly popular!”

In this day and age, it is important that kids grow up both understanding and respecting the police.

And what this school did will certainly go a long way to building this confidence.