Ball games banned at school. Advice please.

jamgirl

i think its very sad!

last week my son was sent home after banging his head with another child while playing basketball. the other child escaped but had banged my son on his eye brow resulting in an enormous lump, feeling sick and a lovely coloured eye, which changes colour on a daily basis! its just 'one of those things'. no ones fault and has it put him off basketball? of course not! he banged it again yesterday with the same boy!!

he also constantly comes home with cuts and bruises where he has fallen over.....and this can happen when he's walking never mind playing football or tag!

i also work in a school and to be honest if the kids were not allowed to run around and burn off some excess energy then we would all be tearing our hair out by the end of the day

if space is an issue then the school need to work around it.
can break times be split between classes so that fewer children are out at the same time? this is what we do. on a morning we have 3 breaktimes. KS1 first. then lower KS2 then upper KS2. this works brilliantly.
lunch time all out with plenty of lunchtime staff supervising.
afternoon break KS1 and KS2 split unless it is dry enough to open the field then they are all out together.

dlb

That is so silly banning running and ball games, how are the kids ment to let of steam between lessons??
My 3 boys school have had issues over footy but they now have a rota where each year know whos turn it is to play footy in the area set aside for this.
Also they have started the dj corner, where a large and very loud stereo is take outside and played at full blast with music of the kids choice ( checked by staff before hand) Each child has there day as dj when they get to pick the music of the day. This is fantastic i have walked past school at break times and seen the kids dancing and holding their own little dance offs.

What is it with some schools not allow the kids to enjoy their breaktimes??

amandada

I once had a finger broken playing basketball at school-with "proper" basketballs-did my parents want it banned? No, as sensible people, they accepted that it was an accident-they happen in life-deal with it!

I abhor the way in which the way that organisations carry out pseudo risk assessments then just ban the activity-it shows a lack of common sense, intelligence and imagination!

tomstickland

Maybe the school could screen parents. Those who select the "I will hold the school accountable for any minor injury my child receives" could then have their children sat in a cotton wool lined room at breaktimes. Others could tick the "I want my child to enjoy themselves, develop their character, and learn that life contains risks".

whereishergar

We have a similar situation at our primary school - all balls banned. reasons: because they keep going on the flat school roof and the caretaker sick of getting them down, keep going over peoples back garden fences, tag is now banned, trading cards banned and they wonder why the kids are fighting with each other in the playground - cause they are bored - PE maybe once a week if they are lucky! We even had a timber climbing frame and that was removed due to health & safety after a kid fell off and broke their arm. Our primary school in question is in a good area, and plays on that, but more and more parents are now seeing this school is ran as a business and long gone are the days of personal care, attention or interest is shown by the staff to the children or parents. How sad have things got, I am now looking into the private sector in the hope my child will pass the entrance exams.

moanin'minnie

I think this is so sad, its a sign of the times when children are not encouraged to play ball games " in case they hurt themselves"
Is it not all a part of childhood the rough and tumble of playing, I think this is political correctness gone mad. Should our children not be encouraged to play traditional playground games or would the school rather see them playing on computers or on games consols.:eek: :eek: :eek:

Spendless

It's quite common. DS school has changed the rules to soft balls/bouncy balls only. Space as said before is often a reason. I used to work as school dinner lady anyone looking round the school playground would have been impressed by the facilities offerred to occupy kids. 1 shift on a lunch-time told me

pond-fenced off out of bounds for obvious reasons

climbing apparatus-can't be used at lunchtimes, dinner ladies did not have the correct insurance to supervise, and no teachers, who do have the correct insurance did lunchtime duty.

small stretch off field, out of bounds cos local residents whose gardens backed on to the school field had complained about stuff being thrown in their garden.

playground-as another school closed and that school became more full, adding buildings on had taken up more and more space.


result-very bored children at lunch-times.

At my kids school what they have painted onto the playground is things like hopscotch and a map of UK with 4 or 5 cities on, all kids stand on city of their choice, other child turns back shouts a city and everyone on that city is out. You could suggest this as an idea to head.

ceebeeby

I can't make my mind up on this one, whether it's PC madness or support the teachers in making hard decisions.

I think it's a shame that the school feel they are not able to manage the children undertaking this activity ... however, as responsible parents I guess we need to support the school in knowing their limitations. I suspect that they have undertaken a risk assessment (I know!!) and found that they probably don't meet some LEA supervision criteria. I suppose as a compromise to your son you could find a reason to go to the park for a runaround on the way home from school so he can do a good burn-off there, or alternatively find out if there's a local football club he could join. I never played football at school (wasn't the done thing for girls way back then) or played with balls during break ... but still managed to never be bored ... how about sitting with your son and suggesting some way out imaginative non-contact activities?

I hope this works out for you

buxtonrabbitgreen

This is very sad in my opinion. My eldest child is 35 and youngest 13 so therefore I have seen the changes first hand. It is partly why I gave up running the Beaver group. It is the fear of litigation that causes schools and other organisations to prevent children from playing. My children have variously had teeth knoked out an arm broken and a cut open head, though these injuries were all doing PE at school. I don't think any of them got injured in the playground. It seems it is just the way life is now, and a great shame that kids cannot run and play ball at play time. I agree with the person who said take them to the park on the way home. But have you also noticed all the exciting (for kids) equipment has now gone, replaced by (safe) alternatives. I am glad that my youngest is 13 and has mainly missed out on the present strictures. I remember my youth, distantly, and the fun we had and feel glad I grew up in a less restrictive time. I also agree with the poster who suggested an opt in or out policy. I don't see why this shouldn't work as they already do it for photos and videos.

cariad

Thanks everyone for all your replies & suggestions. I will take some of these ideas forward to the Head.
The school has banned football apparently for the last few years & if I had known I would never have moved him from his last school but it's his last year before joining High School thankfully so he'll just have to hang on in there.
To ceebeeby- my son belongs to a rugby club so plays & practices with the team at least 3 times a week & I take him swimming every week so he is fairly active outside of school. but thanks for the suggestions.

By the way in the recent snowy weather the Head also banned throwing of snowballs!
The same night on T.V there was a school which had cancelled lessons and all the children & the teachers were out in the grounds building snowmen and playing on sledges!
Now that's my kind of school!