Whats the status on P.E. in schools?

barbarawright

SevenCL wrote: »

She couldd just flat out refuse to participate. What are they going to do, undress her, change her and manually work her limbs with puppet strings?

So they try to punish her for non-participation - so what? They can't physically force her to do anything - not write lines, not be detained after class, at break or at lunch, not force her to do more homework.

They could, presumably, expel her though.

Charityworker, I certainly don't think you're a bad mum. Far from it. Like others I loathed PE but it never occurred to me that my parents would help me get out it (I assume they hated PE too) so it's great that your daughter is confident enough to talk to you about it. I doubt you'll be able to get her out of games but the school may be persuaded to offer an alternative she'd enjoy. After all, I doubt she's the only pupil who dislikes the options on offer.

poet123

t

verucasaltt wrote: »

PE is a different ball game to other subjects don't you think? If a student enjoys it then they will carry it on for higher, if it is causing them distress then why wouldn't you as a parent wish to try and sort the issue?

As she is in her final year and not taking the subject as 'a GCSE she will have it for a short amount of time. If it is simply that she doesn't like it ( I didn't personally) then I am afraid that I would be of the opinion that she would just have to get on with it.

I am not from the school of parenting which thinks that I should be able to solve every trivial issue for my child or encourage them to find ways around things that everyone else has to grin and bear. I ithink fortitude is a useful trait to encourage. If it was a having serious psychological impact then I would have to look at it differently. From the facts given here though I wouldn't be aiding or abetting her to get out of PE.

luxor4t

Janepig wrote: »

.......... My PE teacher was the vilest woman who has ever stalked this planet, and that's up against some stiff competition!! She was a seriously sadistic cow, bordering on evil,....

We must have had the same teacher. _pale_

To be 'fair' to Miss Sadist, the male PE teachers were strutting bullies who were not above punching and beating their male pupils, or inflicting cruel and unnatural punishments such as shuttle running until the boy vomited. Maybe that was just the way they were trained back in the day.

OP, sorry but I can't add anything except to support what has been said already. it's not forever so what can't be cured must be endured.

Janepig

luxor4t wrote: »

We must have had the same teacher. _pale_

To be 'fair' to Miss Sadist, the male PE teachers were strutting bullies who were not above punching and beating their male pupils, or inflicting cruel and unnatural punishments such as shuttle running until the boy vomited. Maybe that was just the way they were trained back in the day.

Ha ha, maybe. It's quite funny because there's a group on Facebook for my old school (which is now a college) and even though there are teachers that some disliked, others have leapt to their defence, except for this one, who is still universally hated by all the children who ever had the misfortune to come into contact with her. And it's not as though she was any cop as a PE teacher either.

I think I've mentioned before my one and only experience of cross country was in the first year of comp, running, well walking, through the woodland road out the back of the school in the pouring rain and freezing cold, with the PE teacher periodically scooting past in her car, fag smoke billowing from the open window yelling "run faster girls, move it" in her gravelly tones. That was nearly 30 years ago and it's still like yesterday!!

I'm sure however bad my two will have it when they come to do PE in comp, it'll never be as bad as what we went through. But we came out the other side relatively unscathed!

Jx

barbarawright

There's a coach at the swimming pool I go to who gives classes to adults then goes for a swim himself (he's very fast indeed and it's a genuine pleasure to watch him). Everyone I have spoken to there says exactly the same thing - none of us have ever previously encountered a games teacher who actually took part in the sport rather than standing on the sidelines shouting at kids because they were wearing the wrong kit :rotfl:

Savvy_Sue

FWIW, DS1 was pretty much a PE refusnik in year 7, and it didn't get much better as time went on. And he never 'got' the team spirit 'thing' either: why should he care who won if it wasn't going to be him? And it wasn't going to be him ...

However, he's now a very cooperative young man, who willingly shares information and encourages others to write computer games. He'll team up with someone else and write something together too, with each of them concentrating on their own strengths. He doesn't see that as a competitive situation, even when he's in a competition, if that makes sense.

I am pleased by this, because I did wonder if my willingness to keep him home on sports day would stunt his development. Clearly, he hasn't been damaged for life by our mutual decision that spending the day utterly bored while getting sunburned and puffy eyed from hayfever was not an essential part of his education.

blackandwhitebunny

Charityworker wrote: »

Wow what a can of worms this has opened.

For a start some of you seem to be presuming I'm this bad mum who wants to get my child out of doing anything she doesn't want to do. That is not the case. My child has had 100% attendance for the last 2 years.

I think some of you have misread the question. My daughter picked her options last September as they all do at this age. When she did it pe was a compulsory subject up until they pick their options. I saw something on the news the other day about the government changing pe to a non compulsory subject at the options stage. Then I went on holiday abroad for a week, came back 2 days ago and heard nothing more about it. So what I am asking is, is pe now a non compulsory subject for over 15s which can be dropped the same as she dropped other subjects at the options stage?

As for the comment saying that I will carry on doing this for her in adult life. Well if you were doing something in your adult life which made you depressed all week and you had phobic like feelings about it surely you would give it up. Adults do have choices!

I think this might be the answer to what you have asked. There are two forms of PE, GCSE PE and what is normally called core PE. GCSE PE is a subject and leads to a GCSE grade, it includes theory lessons and examinations, this is optional and is chosen or not chosen the same as other GCSE subjects. Core PE is compulsary throughout secondary school, there are no exams and no credit awarded, its purpose is to encourage physical health, this will be what your daughter is being required to do.
i would suggest you have a chat to the head of PE, most schools allow the pupils some choice in what the actually do, our pupils can choose from some options which include dance, yoga, aerobics and trampolining although they do still have to do some of the other options. They can normally avoid something they really dislike though.
I hope this helps.