Help how to deal with a difficult teacher

gingin_2

Acc72 wrote: »

When I was at school we did not shower either before or after swimming and as far as I know nobody suffered because of this.


Maybe it is just that I haven't kept up with the times ? .....

I have a feeling that they chuck far more chemicals in the pool now than they did 20, 25, or 30 years ago. I'm not sure whether that makes it better or worse for the children but I am glad my daughter can rinse off.

I am surprised about the goggles, they have always been recommended at my kids lessons.

Ada_Doom

mishkanorman wrote: »

Yup, no problems although he has patches of dry skin/eczema on his body we have never treated it - and its not made worse by swimming,

Although I have to wonder how much attention the school pay to the children as on his first swimming lesson he didnt take his pants off and kept them on under his trunks as he swam :rotfl: then afterwards not wanting to go pant-less he kept them on under his trousers ! No-one noticed and he spent the rest of the day leaving wet patches everywhere and was still damp when i picked him up at half 3 - gave us all a good giggle when he told us though :rotfl:

Hmm are you sure this was a laughing matter? Are you sure it doesn't warrant a phone call to the head, social services, The Daily Mail and possibly the Pope;)

daska

Cutting out all the extraneous argument and emotion it boils down to:

Pool Manager:

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

I also contacted the manager at the leisure centre and he assured me policy was that the children must rinse off, but for time not to have a full blown/wash hair/shampoo etc. He had spoken to the swimming teacher who had agreed she perhaps could be a bit clearer in how they put this matter across and would ensure it was sorted.

Head:

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

The head rang back and said much the same and assured me DD1 would have a shower to rinse out her eyes etc from then on. I said I was a bit concerned that DD1 might be singled out, but she said straight away no Mrs A I agree with you all the class need to rinse off.

Teacher:

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

insisted it wasn’t policy regarding school swimming lessons and that the children had never showered after swimming.

I am struggling to understand why the OP is being criticised.

Having had it pointed out to her that she wasn't following school or pool policy the teacher should have responded "There's obviously a misunderstanding somewhere along the line, I wasn't aware that the policy had changed, I had better check and get back to you".

That the teacher took this it as a personal affront and tried to justify her position as correct without going to double check her facts marks her out as less than professional. So I can quite understand why the OP is a little concerned.

JC9297

mishkanorman wrote: »

Yup, no problems although he has patches of dry skin/eczema on his body we have never treated it - and its not made worse by swimming,

Although I have to wonder how much attention the school pay to the children as on his first swimming lesson he didnt take his pants off and kept them on under his trunks as he swam :rotfl: then afterwards not wanting to go pant-less he kept them on under his trousers ! No-one noticed and he spent the rest of the day leaving wet patches everywhere and was still damp when i picked him up at half 3 - gave us all a good giggle when he told us though :rotfl:

I have had this a few times although usually spotted before they got in the water. I now remind ours before their first lesson (year 3) that pants need to come off.


I noticed a couple of posters talking about swimming as a trip or fun activity, it is in fact a part of the National Curriculum and is not optional for schools to provide.

thegirlintheattic

JC9297 wrote: »

I have had this a few times although usually spotted before they got in the water. I now remind ours before their first lesson (year 3) that pants need to come off.


I noticed a couple of posters talking about swimming as a trip or fun activity, it is in fact a part of the National Curriculum and is not optional for schools to provide.

Although with the increasing number of academies who can opt out of the national curriculum, it may soon be reduced to a nice trip if it can be afforded, as as school budgets get smaller it's an easy thing to get rid of.

claire16c

JC9297 wrote: »

I have had this a few times although usually spotted before they got in the water. I now remind ours before their first lesson (year 3) that pants need to come off.


I noticed a couple of posters talking about swimming as a trip or fun activity, it is in fact a part of the National Curriculum and is not optional for schools to provide.

can parents still opt out of it or not?


I remember at school I didnt do swimming lessons because they were literally teaching kids to swim, and I could already swim a mile along with some of my other friends. We stayed at school and did crafts lol

milliebear00001

claire16c wrote: »

can parents still opt out of it or not?


I remember at school I didnt do swimming lessons because they were literally teaching kids to swim, and I could already swim a mile along with some of my other friends. We stayed at school and did crafts lol

Swimming lessons are now (or should be at least) differentiated by ability. Good swimmers are catered for at my children's school, just as beginners are.

JodyBPM

My children did swimming at school in YR and Y1. I have absolutely no idea whatsoever whether or not they showered afterwards. Never occured to me to ask.

If one of my children had come home with red eyes, and I thought that a shower after swimming would ease that, then I would ask for *my child* to have a shower. It would never occur to me to ask that ALL children have to have a shower, in order to ease my child's sore eyes!

TBH, I think its very unlikely that having a shower will ease the eye issue, I personally don't rinse my eyes out in the shower, I do exactly the opposite tbh, and try to keep the water out of my eyes. I've never, ever, heard of someone washing or rinsing their eyes in the shower under normal circumstances.

However, if you want your daughter to have a shower and think it will help, then the teacher has confirmed that your daughter can have a shower. Problem solved. Can't see what the issue is. Unless you think that the whole class of 30(?) children should be made to shower unnecessarily for your daughters benefit, so that she doesn't feel different? Bit of a self centred way of thinking if that's your point! As a parent, I would be rather upset if my child missed out on 15 mins of a 30 min swimming lesson because 1 child in the class needed a shower, so they all had to, and the lesson got cut short as a result!

ALIBOBSY

Eton_Rifle wrote: »

Not to dispute any previous posts but just to add another perspective and knowing exactly how kids are : I would be considering the additional possibility of attention seeking here.

I completely agree about the need for a shower, no argument on that point but I do wonder if the red, itchy eyes would even have happened if the OP hadn't mentioned it to her daughter first.

I would at least reserve a tiny suspicion that the idea was seeded before the swim session and then the eyes were given an extra rub to make sure they were good and red before mum saw them.

Of course this wouldn't affect the rest of the problem at all but possibly the health issue is not quite as big a deal as it apparently appears?

I know exactly what you are saying and I am the last one to think my kids are all angels and can do no wrong lol. But in this case I never discussed eyes being sore or anything about showering prior to the lesson at all. She came home and said they weren't to have a shower after, only before swimming and all I said is perhaps they mean not to expect a full shower, but you may be offered a rinse, so see what they say on the day.

She came home with slightly red eyes and it was only when I noticed her absent mindedly rubbing them often enough to notice that I asked if her eyes were watering (TBH I wondered if she was starting with hayfever that both OH and I suffer with and was thinking along those lines), she replied they had been red and itchy at school but had gone down, but were still a bit itchy. It was only then when I specifically asked she told me about not showering.

Ali x

poet123

Do you really think though that the whole routine of the class should be changes to accommodate this? I can see you have a concern but you cannot expect anyone other than your daughter to be involved in the outcome.