Hello everyone?
Has anyone come across ?structured activities? during lunchtime at primary school? My DS? school has just introduced this & it?s causing a lot of bad feeling.
I intend to email the school with my thoughts (they have had loads of complaints already) but am struggling to put something together. Can you help me please?
They have put the children into mixed age groups (some from each year, infants to year 6) & each group is offered a variety of planned activities and games. They are listing the benefits as older kids being positive role models, breaking down age divisions, encouraging boys & girls to play together, reducing incidental injuries, developing social skills in a practical way. In order to cater for everyone, some of the choices include library games & IT.
Each group is supervised by a dinner lady who has been trained. It all sounds great?.
I have some problems with this system:
Whilst they have tried to keep friends together, my DS is now only allowed to play with 3 of his friends (he is in year 5 & has had friends since reception that he now cannot play with)
The year 6 kids in each group seem to decide which game is being played each day, it is not democratically agreed
My DS (& lots of others, by the sounds of it) does not want to play with ?little kids?. He wants to run around & play football (football is not available)
The big problem is?. There is NO opt out option. Every child is included in a group, whether they want to be or not. They have to stay in their group. They have to do whatever the game is that day, (so it could be dodgeball when all they want to do is sit & chat).
I appreciate that the system is new & will need fine-tuning. I also love the idea of lots of activities going on at lunchtime. I realise that not everyone wants to play football.
But this very structured timetable of activities with no opt-out, during the children?s free time, their only free time, seems wrong.
What does everyone else think?
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Structured Lunchtime Play...Your thoughts please....
mumto3boysHE · 16/06/2011 14:56
is this 'positive playgrounds'?
it isn't punishment - it's just introducing kids to different options if so. at the start it's quite formal, as they rotate around the different stuff (some of it is old style playground games), but it just tail off and become a voluntary thing later (with obviously the aim that children will opt in rather than out, because it's fun...)
here there are parent volunteers who are trained, and also the older kids, who run each 'stand'.
(am loving the idea that forcing the kids to play is unfair though 
) they still get morning and afternoon play as free time, right?
madwomanintheattic (great name :)) you didn't offend :) We have had no letters about it at all - that's part of the problem...communication? What's that? 
EllenJaneisnotmyname - I agree, 1 or 2 days a week, with the other 3 free play. Or, better still, have the activities every day but let the kids join the ones they want to, with the people they want to play with... :)
emptyshell - game of the week would work well, as would the lunchtime clubs - this school does neither :( I know footie can take over the playground but this school has a good sized playground plus a huuuge field. There really is enough space for everyone
The only good thing at the moment about this is that is has got all the kids & parents discussing it, albeit negatively. There are so may letters being written in to the school - at least there is communication going one way. :o
Oh, and have just heard from another mum....one of the children set up a petition yesterday about this system (obviously negative - but don't know the details of it).....
...the teachers took it off him! 
:(
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