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Whats the status on P.E. in schools?

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  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 47,481 Forumite
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    She finds sport difficult. She can't hit a ball to save her life, can't climb a rope, can't jump over anything etc. She just isn't the sporting type. She likes exercise though. If there was aerobics taught in schools she would be OK.
    I know that in the last year of school my boys got to 'choose' from a range of completely different activities, a different one each term. These were usually off-site, and for some there was a charge, but they included golf, badminton, going to the gym, outdoor pursuits (so rock climbing and abseiling etc). Could be worth finding out if that happens at her school, and if so when.

    Also are there options for learning to umpire team games rather than playing them?

    I'm another who hated it, and for some reason my PE teacher decided to make me a 'monitor', so I was supposed to help with putting dubbin on (leather) netballs, finding ball girls for hockey games etc. I think she thought I'd start to enjoy it - didn't work.

    The boys' godfather said that he had one PE report which said "D and I have worked well together this year", which meant that D had taken good care to keep out of the teacher's way: if he wasn't seen, he couldn't be made to participate!
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  • jackieb
    jackieb Posts: 27,605 Forumite
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    Savvy_Sue wrote: »


    The boys' godfather said that he had one PE report which said "D and I have worked well together this year", which meant that D had taken good care to keep out of the teacher's way: if he wasn't seen, he couldn't be made to participate!

    When I was in primary 2 I got an 'unsatisfactory' on my report card for PE. I'd had to have tendons cut in my foot and a bone graft from my hip into my foot so I didn't actually get to participate in PE that year. They could have just left it blank as I hadn't been able to do any of it - it's not like it was my fault. But I remember even at the young age of 6 I was upset about getting that on my report card.

    I've always hated PE but that was for pretty obvious reasons - but one year at the school sports day I remember coming second last and I was so chuffed I hadn't came last for once. :rotfl:
  • j.e.j.
    j.e.j. Posts: 9,672 Forumite
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    Let's face it, when a youngster leaves school and goes for a job interview, the employer is not going to look at the applicant and say "oh dear, (s)he's no good at P.E..." :rotfl:

    There are countries (Germany for instance) where sport is taken seriously, for health reasons, and kids have to do sport even when they're doing A-Levels. We don't have that culture here, and tbh it seems that PE lessons in schools here are putting kids off exercising and sport, not encouraging them to take it up.
  • If PE was more fun, kids would be more inclined to do it.

    I'm a cheerleading and dance coach and have done workshops in schools - and some of the mums wished out loud that I could teach PE too, even if it was just conditioning I could explain how it improves you for other things (as I do with my own squad).

    OP, I definately think asking the school about non-competitive alternatives is the way forward.

    HBS x
    "I believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another."

    "It's easy to know what you're against, quite another to know what you're for."

    #Bremainer
  • jellyhead
    jellyhead Posts: 21,555 Forumite
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    Bluntly, if the school lets her off because she hates it, then 25 other pupils in her class will also ask their parents to write them a note. Same with many other subjects (oh, the hours I had to spend being humiliated by my complete inability to draw or recognise a piece of music :rotfl:). You can try but I doubt it's going to happen.

    That hasn't happened with RE in my son's school. I don't know all of the kids in his class but of the dozen that I know only 1 boy gets out of RE (his dad wrote a letter saying they are pagan) and none of the other kids followed suit.

    When my clumsy, socially inept boy was allegedly called a retard by his year 9 technology teacher I asked school to excuse him from that lesson for the rest of the year, knowing that he wouldn't be choosing the subject for years 10 and 11. School tried to sort things out instead, talking to the teacher (who denied the comment) and my son about why he hated it so much and how they could compromise. The teacher was suddenly much nicer to all the kids with special needs, and curbed his sarcasm. He helped my son to use a bit of equipment that enabled him to catch up with the rest of the class.

    You can try asking for her to be excused, but school will probably want to sort things out so that she can continue with PE.
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  • jellyhead
    jellyhead Posts: 21,555 Forumite
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    j.e.j. wrote: »
    the humiliation of doing stuff you hate and have no aptitude for, in front of everybody else..

    When I was caught faking sick notes for PE I said this to the PE teacher, and her reply was how do I think the less academic children feel in maths lessons?

    In the final year though, she used to let a bunch of us run laps while the others played team sports.
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  • jellyhead
    jellyhead Posts: 21,555 Forumite
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    Janepig wrote: »
    but at 15 your parents are just embarrassing. Or was that just me? :o:D

    Jx

    My son wants to choose my clothes if I'm going in with him to get his GCSE results :eek: He is embarassed about one of his classmates making remarks about my boobs :eek::eek::eek:
    52% tight
  • jellyhead wrote: »
    That hasn't happened with RE in my son's school. I don't know all of the kids in his class but of the dozen that I know only 1 boy gets out of RE (his dad wrote a letter saying they are pagan) and none of the other kids followed suit.

    I doubt many kids dread RE in the way so many of us dreaded PE. On a tangent, I've never understood why people don't want to learn about other religions. I didn't refuse to study French history for A-level because I'm English :)

    Actually all the classes I really loathed were the extras like PE, art and music. I wasn't good at every lesson but somehow there wasn't the same humilation factor in being bad at maths as there was at singing.
  • SmallL
    SmallL Posts: 944 Forumite
    Oh PE, when i was in year 7 i absolutely hated it, i hadn't started shaving my legs so i would get bullied if they were bare so i wore tracksuit bottoms for PE, but i often got told off as we were only allowed shorts. That led to me 'forgetting my kit' quite often.
    I just found PE an extension of the playground, where bullying and teasing happened, given at the time i was teased for my name which people thought it funny to say wrongly on purpose (didnt help most teachers also said it wrong despite numerous corrections).
    Though i never told my parents, so im glad your child has trust in you to share her concerns.
  • alleycat`
    alleycat` Posts: 1,901 Forumite
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    jellyhead wrote: »

    In the final year though, she used to let a bunch of us run laps while the others played team sports.

    Very similar to my school.

    If you didn't want to do the sports "of the day" you had the choice of doing laps or Cross Country running.

    I'd suggest seeing if you can get your daughter doing something like that.
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