Accrington Web - A little bit of advice please

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Tinkerbelle

13-11-2006 08:06

A little bit of advice please

It's that time of year again. Me v's the P.E. teacher.

My oldest has problems walking, nothing serious it's a form of flat foot but it affects her balance quiet badly. One thing she really struggles with is running. She partakes in most P.E. lessons but cross country running is just not her thing. Every year I have the same argument, I send a note in excusing her from cross country and every year the teachers say she has to do it. I've had to keep her off school this morning becuse she flatly refuses to do it. It's not just her physical inability to do it, it causes the other kids to ridicule her.

I don't know though, to me, it feels right to excuse her for the above reasons but every year the teacher tells her "no you will do cross country". Am I just being to soft excusing her or am I doing the right thing?

lettie

13-11-2006 08:12

Re: A little bit of advice please

As a fellow hater of cross country running, or any kind of running for that matter.... I would excuse if it were down to me. You may need to speak to the head teacher and offer that your little un does another activity in its place..:D

Tinkerbelle

13-11-2006 08:16

Re: A little bit of advice please

lol! :)

Mtheads just said your going to have to ring and have a word with the head but I just think it's such a silly thing to have to ring and bother her with.

Mick	13-11-2006 08:19

Re: A little bit of advice please

Thats what she is there for give her a ring and explain things i am sure she will understand and sort it out for you tinks

Tinkerbelle

13-11-2006 08:22

Re: A little bit of advice please

Yeah that's true Mick :)

garinda

13-11-2006 08:24

Re: A little bit of advice please

She should do what I and lots of others did, pretend to do it. Set off running, then start to stroll....then hide and join up with the others when the first few have got back.

What a show up though, her dear old Mum unmasking her on here.:D

Tinkerbelle

13-11-2006 08:34

Re: A little bit of advice please

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

What a show up though, her dear old Mum unmasking her on here.:D

Tough! Call it pay back for graffitied accyweb meet photo :D

accymel

13-11-2006 09:18

Re: A little bit of advice please

If you do have continued hassle i would also get a doctors note to back up any medical problems that effect her doing activities in PE that effects her condition.

flashy

13-11-2006 09:43

Re: A little bit of advice please

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinkerbelle

oh dear P.E lessons this takes me back stinks, as i recall neither of us did P.E....EVER!!! me n stinks used to wander round the school instead, annoying teachers and having a sly fag in the toilets,ah those were the days *sits back with her pipe and slippers reminiscing* :D

Tinkerbelle

13-11-2006 10:01

Re: A little bit of advice please

........ :rofl38:

I hope that's a peace pipe your smoking, I might need a few drags on it soon. I'm still waiting on the return phone call. ;)

I never have quite picked up the art of having a decent conversation with with teachers have I!! :rolleyes:

Neil	13-11-2006 10:02

Re: A little bit of advice please

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinkerbelle

lol! :)

Mtheads just said your going to have to ring and have a word with the head but I just think it's such a silly thing to have to ring and bother her with.

Tinks, phone the school and make an appointment to see the head. Don't talk to her on the phone, go and see her, it is much better face to face. Don't worry about thinking you are wasting her time, it is you child you are talking about so nothing is more important, I expect you will get a similar reply if you tell her you don't want to waste her time. Explain the situation and that every year you have the same problem. Ask the head to sort it out for you so that you won't have to explain it every year from now on. Face to face always gets the best results.

WillowTheWhisp

13-11-2006 10:03

Re: A little bit of advice please

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinkerbelle

In my opinion you are perfectly correct in asking for her to be excused and it sounds like the school/teacher is being unreasonable in insisting she does this. If it's a different teacher each year and the same problem occurs each year then I would definitely have a word with the head about it.

What is it with teachers and cross country anyway? Why should a child have to do it? I'd have thought a letter from you as the parent should be adequate reason for them to excuse your daughter.

flashy

13-11-2006 10:05

Re: A little bit of advice please

look stinks do you want auntie flashy to come over and sort it out? i'll tell them for ya *goes back to the pipe*

Tinkerbelle

13-11-2006 10:07

Re: A little bit of advice please

I know, I will if need be Neil. I'm waiting on a call from the P.E. teacher herself, which I'm hoping the situation can be resolved with her rather than disturbing the head. If I get no joy I will speak to the head about it.

WillowTheWhisp

13-11-2006 10:08

Re: A little bit of advice please

Good luck. Hope they can see your point of view.

Tinkerbelle

13-11-2006 10:15

Re: A little bit of advice please

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

[COLOR=darkorchid]
If it's a different teacher each year and the same problem occurs each year then I would definitely have a word with the head about it.

In the 1st year I spoke to the P.E. teacher over the phone, it was a different teacher and we resolved it pretty quickly, the teacher is still in school but now teaching a different lesson. My oldest has explained to her that I'd spoke to the previous teacher ad that she was excempt from doing cross country and only cross country, surely you'd think there could be some form of communication between 2 teachers in one school

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

What is it with teachers and cross country anyway? Why should a child have to do it? I'd have thought a letter from you as the parent should be adequate reason for them to excuse your daughter.

I thought exactly the same, I'm her mother and if I wanted to excuse her because she'd broken a nail it should be my right to do so!

Quote:

Originally Posted by flashytart

look stinks do you want auntie flashy to come over and sort it out? i'll tell them for ya *goes back to the pipe*

If I get no joy I'll get a look at her, check out the opposition and let you know :D

flashy

13-11-2006 10:18

Re: A little bit of advice please

If I get no joy I'll get a look at her, check out the opposition and let you know :D[/quote]

:banlama:

WillowTheWhisp

13-11-2006 10:58

Re: A little bit of advice please

It may well be that a lot of children just don't fancy doing cross country - cold wet weather doesn't help either. I remember hating outdoor sports in winter with freezing cold legs but enjoying being out of school in the summer in the fresh air.

Then there's this government thing that children today don't get enough fresh air and excercise so schools are encouraged to make sure the pupils don't skive off for no valid reason so perhaps the school's policy is to try to get 100% participation in all the PE lessons including the cross country running.

It puzzles me too why notes from one year don't seem to get passed on to the next year's teacher.

nikkival

13-11-2006 12:02

Re: A little bit of advice please

I was under the impression that Cross Country was no longer in the PE curriculum as it poses a health & safety issue? The teachers can't supervise all the children as they generally spread out over the course and only have checkpoints at a few places, so if a child stumbled and hurt themself or had an asthma attack, there is no responsible adult present to deal with it.

If I were you Tinks, I'd ask to see their H&S policy on cross country and see what reaction you get! I may be wrong but I'm sure this came up when I was a school governor, as we had to do H&S assessments before any activity which was off the school premises, even before walking the children down Union Road for a Geography lesson to see what the hazards where or how things could go wrong.

WillowTheWhisp

13-11-2006 12:08

Re: A little bit of advice please

If that's so nikkival I don't think the local schools have been made aware.

My eldest faughter has asthma which is affected by cold weather. She struggles doing cross country in winter but the school is never very keen to excuse her so I can relate to this topic.

Tinkerbelle

13-11-2006 12:15

Re: A little bit of advice please

Hiya nikkival

I don't think it's cross country as we knew it anymore. They stay within the school grounds. I think it's about 10 laps of the school field.

Mick	13-11-2006 12:16

Re: A little bit of advice please

We have 2 son's and 2 daughters but we never did have a faughter willow

WillowTheWhisp

13-11-2006 12:19

Re: A little bit of advice please

drat! :D slip of the finger there.

I can't even edit the thing either :D

nikkival

13-11-2006 12:38

Re: A little bit of advice please

I can sympathise Willow, my son also has asthma, but at Rhyddings he hasn't had to do cross country so far so I haven't had to cross that bridge yet! Sorry Tinks, wasn't aware that they stay in the school grounds, maybe that's H&S related?
My son did have some problems last year in PE, a few kids picked on him in the changing rooms and called him a fat **** and he really lost his confidence. It got so bad that he was falling over on purpose to injure himself so that he didn't have to do PE. I spoke to the school, I dealt with the department head for PE, and completely withdrew him from PE for a few months, they were very understanding and said that they can't force a child to do something they feel uncomfortable doing and found him something else to do.
Thankfully, I've managed to boost his confidence since then and he goes to the sports centre regularly with family to play badminton and he's now back doing PE at school and hasn't had any further issues. The worst part about it is that he isn't even fat and had a complex about it for around six months.
Talk to the department head and mention the ridicule, drop the word bullying in the conversation, they don't like that word! I think you're doing the right thing keeping her off and hope that the school will take it seriously, as someone who's been there recently I completely understand what you're going through. Good Luck

Tinkerbelle

13-11-2006 12:44

Re: A little bit of advice please

Awww kids can be so cruel. I'm glad you've managed to get get him back on track nikkival :)

Billcat

13-11-2006 14:28

Re: A little bit of advice please

Hi Tinkerbelle!

While I am not fan of cross country running, I do believe that some form of regular exercise should be encouraged for everyone. Perhaps a good alternative might be walking? Seems to me that might be a workable substitute and that your daughter (and others disinclined to cross country) could do it at the same time on the same course.

After all, it's not so important what type of exercise you do, so long as you do it regularly. If your child can find something that she can tolerate (or even enjoy) she's a lot more likely to stick with it. After all, shouldn't the real goal of P.E. classes be to educate young folks about the value of life-long fitness?

As far as the ridicule from other members of the class goes, be firm that the school's allowing such behavior is simply unacceptable.

cashman

13-11-2006 15:02

Re: A little bit of advice please

used to love cross country, was one of the FEW things i was good at, but agree with you n willow on this tinks, also if the info is not passed on- the school is not doing its job and looking after the kids- simple as that. use diplomacy but definately see the head and make your point,cos YOU are right.

Tinkerbelle

13-11-2006 15:17

Re: A little bit of advice please

Thanks guys, jobs sorted. :) The teacher said she didn't know if my oldest was trying to pull a fast one like some of the others. She's just said that she has to take part in some form of cardiovascular exercise while the others do cross roads. Sounds fine to me. :)

Well that's that for another year :rolleyes:

nikkival

13-11-2006 15:31

Re: A little bit of advice please

That's great, so glad you got it sorted out. Nikki

WillowTheWhisp

13-11-2006 15:43

Re: A little bit of advice please

Glad to hear you got that sorted out Tinkerbelle.

shillelagh

13-11-2006 16:30

Re: A little bit of advice please

I got caught smoking when i was doing cross country - of my dad! We were sent off and as soon as we got out of sight of school and the teachers we walked and as soon as we got round the bend the fags came out! We were strolling a long about 6 of us and to the start of the houses again when i saw a blue van - thought it looked familiar but no it cant be dad - next i saw the bloke he had working with him but too late my dad was on the roof and had already seen me! Didnt half get a telling off that night when he got home. Not within hearing of my mum though!! I hated cross country mind you i hated all PE. The only thing i was good at was Badminton.

Glad you got it sorted tinks. I was excused after the age of 14 of going up the ropes and wall bars. Mind you nearly got a teacher sacked but thats a different story! lol

harwood red

13-11-2006 16:31

Re: A little bit of advice please

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinkerbelle

while the others do cross roads. Sounds fine to me. :)

Well that's that for another year :rolleyes:

Oooo only just seen this thread... glad you got it sorted tinks...one question though???

Re: above quote.... Does that mean the other kids are producing a soap opera??? :rolleyes: ;) :D

jimmi5bellies

13-11-2006 16:49

Re: A little bit of advice please

Moorhead Sports College need medical references to get your child excused from P.E.
When Alec had really bad ingrowing toe-nails and was waiting for his op to have them removed i nearly came to fisticuffs with his P.E. Teacher. He wasnt even satisfied with a letter from the chiropodist. When i told the chiropodist what his P.E. teacher had said he was ready for going around to the school to have it out with them. And believe me, the chiropodist does what he says ..... he once flew round to my docs and gave him a piece of his mind :( over my health. A few weeks later i was booted out of my docs. :( :( :(

cashman

13-11-2006 23:22

Re: A little bit of advice please

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinkerbelle

Tinks 1- School 0. well done tinks,proper result.;)

steeljack

14-11-2006 01:11

Re: A little bit of advice please

bloody cross country , just an excuse for the PE teachers to lake off in the common room, smoke fags and sup tea.
sodding PE teachers have more pets than Noah

Tinkerbelle

14-11-2006 14:16

Re: A little bit of advice please

Quote:

Originally Posted by harwood red

one question though??

:o Oppps ......... :rofl38:

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