to complain to the school

[pinkthechaffinch]

DS is in Y4 at the local primary and every Friday afternoon, they have outside PE, followed by 'Golden Time'.

Now it turns out that the children's chosen activity for 'Golden Time' is to bring in a dvd from home and watch it together as a class-I think they vote for which dvd they watch.

When the weather is bad, outside PE is cancelled and then the Whole afternoon is spent watching dvds and chatting, according to DS, who doesn't like it as he often can't hear the DVD for all the noise of the chatting, and is often uninterested in the dvd anyway.

The teacher uses this time to catch up on her marking .

AIBU to feel that this teacher is acting lazily and unprofessionally and to feel irritated that my son is not being educated -rather baby sat?

Or is regular dvd watching normal practice in most primary schools on Friday afternoons?

I have no problem with this as the occasional end of term treat, or indeed if they watch something educational. But DS has spent vast amounts of some time watching Disney pixar rubbish over the holidays, and needs to improve his literacy!

If outdoor PE is not an option and a hall is not available at that time the teacher can still do physical activities with the class. I used to be a Secondary teacher and was taught to give pupils "Brain Gym" during long lessons. They stood at their desks and did some activities just to wake them up (Secondary kids can spend a lot of time just sitting writing).
A Primary teacher could easily adapt this with a game of Simon Says that at least gets them moving a bit - not ideal but better than a dvd!
Golden Time at our school is a 20/30 min reward at the end of the week (time is lost for poor behaviour). A range of free play is offered eg house corner, painting, Lego, computer time etc. It is child led but it is still educational and also improves social skills.
Watching a dvd is only appropriate if it is relevant to the topic or an end of term treat and even then it requires the teaching of social skills eg being quiet, being still, letting everyone see etc.

How is watching tv teaching social skills like sitting quietly - wtf - if this is what is happening in schools no wonder kids leave not learning how to read & write.

I would remove my child from a school that thought watching dvds was teaching them something.

Also, PPA time when the teacher is away from the class should NOT be covered by teaching assistants - it should be qualified teachers or at the very least Higher Level TAs (HLTAs). The school I am now working in does this and it drives me mad!

dessen read the whole comment not just that phrase.

Golden time is a positive reinforcement of good work/behaviour, and it's not strictly necessary for it to be 'educational'- at this age, pretty much all play is educational anyway.

However, a whole afternoon of DVDs is not good, especially not on a weekly basis. Besides which, your DS doesn't enjoy it! What on earth is the point of golden time which a child doesn't enjoy? Children should be able to choose their activities, otherwise it renders the whole concept of 'golden time' redundant.

Golden time should be enriching. Watching DVDs all afternoon is not enriching unless being used as a discussion for Literacy where a book and film might be compared. To plan that for GOlden time every week is just plain lazy.

If a games lesson is called off due to bad weather and there is no hall available then another form of physical activity should be undertaken for at least part of the lesson.

Lots of schools have Activ8 which are exercises that can be done standing in a small space using the interactive whiteboard.

We also have speed stacks which our pupils sometimes use (very good for improving motor/ co-ordination which is part of PE)

As for PPA- this should be properly covered with the teacher able to go somewhere quiet away from the clasroom and the lesson taught by someone else. If the TA is the one who covers the lesson then the teacher should leave work for them to do under supervision.

I suppose this could be a one off- if the PPA time is usually covered by a supply teacher, perhaps they called insick at the last minute and the teacher could not be covered.

carrotsandcelery - I did read your post & that's why I'm shocked. I don't see how tv watching is teaching kids social skills. If you think it good then this is your choice.

YANBU - that is shameful.

Our school used to let the children watch tv during "wetplay", caused a furore among parents.

Outrageous in my opinion, I would definitely have a word with the head.

dessen I don't think the programme itself teaches kids social skills - I meant it was an opportunity for teachers to teach social skills like those that would be expected in a cinema say - everyone is keen to complain about teenagers in cinemas but has anyone taught them how to behave in these situations. The op said the class chat through the film - this is teaching anti social behaviour if it spills over into a theatre or a cinema. Preferably parents would teach these skills and I am sure many do but sadly not all of them do - hence the problem.
FWIW I don't approve of pupils being shown dvds, as I said, unless it is topic based eg a bit of a child orientated history dvd if they are studying the Romans.

Got your points carrots & celery - a story also teaches social skills like liistening, seeing & making a drama/puppet show does this as well. Loads of activities better than watching a dvd imho

I am a primary school teacher and am really surprised by this - schools need to teach a certain amount of PE each week by law,(as well as all of the other subjects) and that includes when it rains! At our school we would do PE in the hall, and if that wasn't possible re-schedule for another day (Monday afternoon etc) so that time was caught up. I would then 'swap' the lessons so that if Geography was on Monday afternoon, I would teach that on Friday afternoon instead. Does that make sense? I would have issues also with the way that their Golden Time is spent, I don't actually like it for Junior school children, and think there are far more productive alternatives but that is another post!

I certainly agree with that dessen but what I meant was that if you are putting on a dvd, which I would not, I would at least teach the etiquette of mass viewing, not let them chat through it.

Well, spoke to DS and PE was cancelled today and the class spent the afternoon watching 'The Wizard of Oz' the singalong version. Apparently there was a lot of talking throughout and no discussion or any activities afterwards. So, I'm not impressed.

the only mitigating factor is that the school was closed for a few days before xmas because of the snow, so this was the end of term dvd that the poor children missed. (because they were at home watching dvds, probably.
Actually, just read that back and it's not mitigating at all -it's even more outrageous!

We shall see, but last term there seemed to be a lot of dvd watching.

Oh, and in the interest of fairness to the teacher, they did do a bit of hand writing practice straight after lunch, so afternoon not completely wasted.

nope, as Jo would say "unasseptable"
i wouldnt be happy either

I think you should speak to the other mums in DS class.

Not saying Id be impressed with this every week, but some mums might feel different.

You could find yourself unpopular, approaching the school, and having these friday afternoons cancelled, your DS is one pupil, other pupils parents, in the class views maybe different to yours

My goodness, I don't really think I'd mind being unpopular with any mums that are happy for their dcs to waste their all too short years of education.

I do know of at least 2 other mums that are also concerned though, so am not alone.

Is that Jo March, Hotbot, or Jo Bettany?

YANBU
I am glad you wrote this as I was about to post similar. My son yr2 seems to watch a DVD everyday. Sometimes they watch educational TV in class- which i think is fine once a week. But he watches a DVD almost every time the weather is too bad for outdoor play. I was really annoyed as he watched Scooby Doo the other day, which i don't let him watch as I am 'picky' about the trash he watches. I restrict his viewing time at home, and feel that TV is privelage that only I should be in charge of and to use for my benefit.!! HMPFFFF

YANBU. They have golden Time at DS2's school on a Friday afternoon. I think very occasionally they may have watched a DVD if the weather's been particularly bad but usually there is something treat like such as a policeman coming in and letting them sit on the Police bikes, baking biscuits, playing some organised game or letting them play with toys etc etc.

It seems to be something different every week and sometimes the children get to choose which activity they prefer.

I think it's quite poor form, especially not enforcing silence. I teach secondary and am very strict about silence during DVDs (which I only show for educational purposes, I.e. The film adaptation of a book we have been reading). As a side note, I was poorly the last two days of term and left work for my classes, as I was fully intending to do work with them, and came back to find the cover supervisor had, instead of doing the (not difficult) work set, let my year 7 watch Family Guy! I was livid as it's totally inappropriate for that age group and I sincerely hope they didn't go home and tell their parents that's what they did in English that day.

Prettycandles -

Non contact time is called PPA time (planning, Preperation and assessment). Like someone else said it is on 10% a teachers time. About 2 lessons, so not everyday. It is not enough time to get everything done though.

I can see why it would be tempting to use golden time for marking but definately bad practise to watch dvds every week. I would complain.

Coast girl- you can bet they will have done! As an aside - what would your view of Meet the Fockers be, also for yr 7?

What certificate is Meet the Fockers? I wouldn't show it because I remember it being a tad racy in parts but I always play it very safe with year 7. Only book adaptations or family films. I've had kids scared at a Christmas Carol so I always remember they are still children.