P E teacher. Please help.

You need to make a written complaint about all of the issues with the PE teacher AND the fact that you had requested a call back from the Head of Pastoral Care, yet the PE teacher called you - that is also unacceptable.

Fight it out, sick of grown adults lying to cover their own arses in professional settings.

Ok so this the issue. They cannot let children into changing rooms unsupervised. They’re normally locked. So it would have involved all 30 kids going back in.

She should have been sent to medical though.

Hmmm I thought I remembered your self-righteous tone.

Children are supposed to be able to wait between lesson sessions (about 2 hours, plus form time til break, and again until lunch, followed by the afternoon until the end of the day) to go to the toilet unless they have a serious and documented need. Asking when you know the rule is that you'll be told no, and mithering again upon hearing it is being a pain. (And seemingly, the beginning of this pattern of trying to get out of PE lessons)

And children who don't actually end up using an inhaler at all to alleviate breathing trouble and come home making up stories about needing it but being denied seem to be the same ones whose mums phone in to say it's their human right to dictate what happens when.

At my DC's school the changing rooms are locked once they're all out, so it may not have been easily available.

I think it would be worth talking to the Association for PE https://www.afpe.org.uk. They govern how PE and sport is taught in schools and also publish Guidance and Safe Practice for PE and Sport in schools which would cover use of medication such as inhalers during PE lessons. The school should have access to that but a conversation with AfPE would help with you knowing what the advice is.

100% agree with standing up for herself and advocating for herself when she needs. I'd tell her if it happens again, good chance it will as she's only 11 and it's new, then just go and get when she needs and you will deal with it after. I've always told my daughter the same in instances with bathroom/period issues

Ten minutes away? I know some schools are quite big but it’s a twenty minute round trip from one room to another and back? So roughly a mile?

Do they have huge breaks between lessons to walk to their next class?

No wonder she’s breathless!

Of course there is a way. A school simply can't say 'sorry your child had an avoidable, life-threatening asthma attack resulting in a hospital admission, we chose not to let them go and get their inhaler.'

Who cares about a phone? If a phone is stolen, it gets dealt with. You don't deny vital medication to prevent an imaginary theft.

I recommend a running belt designed for small items like phones or inhalers.
If she has a slight build, there is a child's version of SPI Belt that is suitable if adult belts are too large.

Not relevent to this recent diagnosis, but primary schools are often problematic for locking away emergency medication like inhalers and don't prepare children well for having to remember them for PE in secondary, not helped by the lack of pockets in kit and bags to store the inhaler in.

If she needed the inhaler then she needed it, that's clear, but that's not is what actually happened.

Noone here knows whether the child asked and the teacher refused and then lied about it, or the child didn't ask and is saying she was prevented from leaving the class for a valid reason.

I feel like I remember a previous post where the (same?) kid, newly diagnosed and having had asthma, was a massive pain in the arse about wanting to go to the toilet without any medical need, and the (same?) OP maintained that the teacher following the rules about supervision in lessons and not allowing unnecessary toilet breaks was a bully for not giving her daughter special treatment. The way this was defended seems likely to be contributing to the kid thinking she can say or do anything and be backed up against school staff.

I know, but dd does need to take responsibility. Most pe teachers I know check has everyone got their inhalers before setting off to wherever they're going. This should be a one off incident, never to be repeated.

When I was at school I used to take mine and put it at the side of the sports hall so it was in the room. There was usually a bench to put things on. If it was outside then the same - by the gates of the sports pitch. If we were doing cross country or something like that then it was tucked into my skirt as they are L shaped they fit quite neatly over the top of the waistband.

May not have been a way for her to get it whilst ensuring no children were alone in the changing rooms.

What if the OPs daughter was allowed to get it, kid says their wallet or phone has gone. Only person to go in during the lesson is the OPs daughter.

It is a bit extreme but worse things have happened in schools unfortunately. It's not a race to the bottom, but the teacher did phone you and now knows your child needs the inhaler - problem solved.

You need to drum it into your daughter that she needs to keep her inhaler on her all the time. You and she need to take responsibility for this. Stop trying to blame someone else.
The PE teacher can’t have pupils randomly leaving a lesson. Yes she could have had an asthma attack but the teacher would have been there, allow her to wander off and she could have one on her own with no inhaler and no help.
If your daughter’s asthma is bad enough that she needs an inhaler then make sure that it is with her and stop blaming the teacher.

It doesn’t matter that your dd forgot, the teacher absolutely should have let her get her inhaler. People can die from an asthma attack. I would make a formal complaint.

I think the PE teacher messed up here and is now covering her tracks. However, I'm surprised asthmatics aren't instructed to have their inhalers with them at all times, even KS1 children know this and bring it to PE lessons, including swimming. Maybe have it in a make up bag to leave on the side of the pitch /court. If it's a preventative inhaler DD should be using it 10 minutes before the lesson anyway.

Email HoY and give your DD's case, it needs investigating. Also, ask for the asthma policy.

😱

never!

Newsflash: sometimes people forget things, whatever their age.

I've even heard of teachers occasionally forgetting items.

Yes yes, but a child should be allowed to retrieve an inhaler even if forgotten.

Your dd needs to remember to take her inhaler with her to the playing fields, it's no use in the changing room. And that is on her if she's secondary aged. And the PE teacher should have sent someone trusted with her to get it.

I think a lot of people are missing the point- the teacher lied.

Advocate for your child OP- maybe ask for a meeting?

Yes your dd is ultimately responsible for her inhaler but she is 11, 11 year olds sometimes forget things ffs, if during a lesson a child says they need their inhaler the teacher has a duty of care to ensure that the child has what they need. It could of went downhill quickly.