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Ball games banned at school. Advice please.
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cariad
Posts: 16 Forumite
My son has moved to to a Primary School (well behaved, middle class children) where they have banned football & all ball games.
His previous school was a fabulous school in a deprived social area (many children with challenging behaviour) where ball games were encouraged and banned temporarily when things became rough.
In his new school, once a week they bring out a soft ball at lunchtimes but are only allowed to throw it, not kick it. There is a climbing frame area but only 4 children are allowed at any one time. They have a basket ball net but not allowed to use it.
"Tag" is also banned as no running in the playground is allowed.
My son is constantly saying how bored he is at breaktimes & recently, with some friends borrowed a sponge ball and was caught playing football.
The Head reprimanded them in front of the class blaming them on an incident in which a younger junior pupil had hurt themselves after copying them & playing with the sponge ball.(also mentioned to me in the Head's letter)
My son was very upset .
I have written to the Head and had a very long curt letter in response which clearly tells me that this is a non negotiable issue.
Whilst I support the school & understand in these days of litigation health & safety issues have to be adhered I also feel our children should be able to get rid of their energies during the school hours or am I just old fashioned?
Surely a good Head would try & work around this problem? I know space is also an issue although they have a huge field but due to weather often unused.
I am going to write to the Head again asking if a small separate paved area could be put aside for ball games but I am not hopeful & will possibly arrange a visit to speak face to face.
Has any one any advice how I could pursue this issue forward in a positive way. Have you personal experience of this, were there positive conclusions?
All advice appreciated.
His previous school was a fabulous school in a deprived social area (many children with challenging behaviour) where ball games were encouraged and banned temporarily when things became rough.
In his new school, once a week they bring out a soft ball at lunchtimes but are only allowed to throw it, not kick it. There is a climbing frame area but only 4 children are allowed at any one time. They have a basket ball net but not allowed to use it.
"Tag" is also banned as no running in the playground is allowed.
My son is constantly saying how bored he is at breaktimes & recently, with some friends borrowed a sponge ball and was caught playing football.
The Head reprimanded them in front of the class blaming them on an incident in which a younger junior pupil had hurt themselves after copying them & playing with the sponge ball.(also mentioned to me in the Head's letter)
My son was very upset .
I have written to the Head and had a very long curt letter in response which clearly tells me that this is a non negotiable issue.
Whilst I support the school & understand in these days of litigation health & safety issues have to be adhered I also feel our children should be able to get rid of their energies during the school hours or am I just old fashioned?
Surely a good Head would try & work around this problem? I know space is also an issue although they have a huge field but due to weather often unused.
I am going to write to the Head again asking if a small separate paved area could be put aside for ball games but I am not hopeful & will possibly arrange a visit to speak face to face.
Has any one any advice how I could pursue this issue forward in a positive way. Have you personal experience of this, were there positive conclusions?
All advice appreciated.
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Comments
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one of those hard ones, I agree with you that it's sad that they cannot play football etc, but there is always likely to be another parent whose child falls and hurts themselves and decides to sue the school (my eldest fell and broke her arm at school playing "sticky toffee" as it happens, put it down to one of those things as she could have done the same at home and it never crossed my mind that it was the schools fault !!)
heads on a hiding to nothing on this oneEx forum ambassador
Long term forum member0 -
Ask the headmaster if it would be appropriate for your son to play with Barbie Dolls and wigs?0
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this country is a joke.
political correctness gone mad :mad:
they say that were producing overweight kids and now schools ban ball games, cant bloody win.No Unapproved or Personal links in signatures please - FT30 -
A complete joke. Why doesn't he insist that the children all come to school wrapped in big balls of cotton wool. That way when they fall, they won't hurt themselves and if they did it would be the parents fault anyway for using the wrong sort of cotton wool!
Drives me mad. I hope the head sees sense soon.0 -
Drives me mad too. My son fractured his collar bone while at school and he had a piece of a hockey stick break off and hit him in his eye. Not once did I think of blaming the school. They should be allowed to play games at break time. They have had instances where football was banned and they've all been really miserable.Life is like a box of chocolates, ya never know what yer gonna get
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it's amazing isn't it when they're trying to get kids to do more sport...
If they won't back down on ball games then I'd get in touch with the PTA and try to work out other activites that can do during break, and what's to stop the kids playing tag?0 -
I m curious do they do in P.E???
Sad very sad. I work in a school and we have playleaders who run games like tag, football, skipping, tennis, basketball, group games and so on....
So is this head going to ban swimming incase someone drowns? or ban glue incase they sniff it? or lunch incase they choke? or chairs incase they fall of them...???0 -
Sometimes it's a space issue. I know at my children's primary ball games aren't allowed on the playground, but in the summer when the ground is dry they can on the playing field where there's plenty of room.0
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If games have been banned, it sounds to me as if there isn't adequate supervision in the playground. Which is something I'd raise with the governors, and then with the LEA ...Signature removed for peace of mind0
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Running around at break time is an essential way of using up energy to allow better concentration and behaviour during lessons. This sort of banning strikes me as pathetic and seems to be the way the whole of the country is going. There seems to be no understanding of the risk spectrum, just a belief that the world can be seperated into things that are "safe" and things that are "dangerous". We see the same thing with attitudes to road safety where it's thought that simply placing a speed limit on a straight and open road will suddenly make everything "safe".Happy chappy0
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