to be annoyed at school for giving DS 'a mark' if we have walked to school and him feeling bad if he gets a dot

[majorydoors]

DS is in reception and has said he gets another mark (other than register) if he has walked to school. He told me today he got a dot and said it as if it was a bad thing (we used the car this AM)

I asked him why they are doing these marks and he said it is 'because of exercise'. I dont know how this has been put across to the children but DS seems to think it is bad if we use the car to go partway, as I do if I am going somewhere instead of doubling back to collect it.

So I said to DS if anyone asks you explain what exercise you do, and that he wasnt in any sort of trouble.

The school have not informed us that this data is being collected. They did write home about the measuring height and weight last week, is it related?

I feel a annoyed as if I want to use my car to goto shops/gym/work I bloody well will and not have DS feel its wrong. We are an active family and feel like shoving this in their faces - or on their chart!

I don't think we can know how much cultural impact these ideas have on children though, for twenty years or so. Some kids who had access to these fruits, hadn't ever seen them before tasting them in school.

They are being brought up with a massive consciousness of green issues, global warming, emissions etc., along with healthy eating, exercise etc. - far more than my generation (I'm 45).

I'm not entirely sure it's a good thing - the healthy eating stuff IMO will probably add to the problme in that it is engendering faddiness and neuroticism about food in kids, rather than healthy appreciation, but time will tell.

The intervention for teenage pregnancies worked - I don't know if you clocked it, but last week it was reported that there had been a drop in teenage pregnancies for the first time in over 20 years. That result took 10 years to achieve. That figure will not be maintained because all the work that was being done around that area, is being cut.

Social change takes time. And governments only have 5 years, so they don't have a vested interest in doing long term stuff.

pointy, you can't teach maths and english to kids who haven't had breakfast, or who watched their mum being beaten up last night.

Schools can't just opt out of all the holistic stuff you need to do to be able to educate them. If you ignore the need to get them to a mental and physical state where they are receptive to the maths and english lessons, you aren't going to be able to deliver that learning effectively.

The other people are those Custy already mentioned - the police, the highways, the parents - but also IMO in some areas, the media.

I agree with school dinners for all, but do you want to pay more council tax for that?

And the last govt. did ban vending machines from schools. To howls of "nanny state gorn mad."

I don't agree that the children should be penalised for not walking to school as it is out of their control. If some parents have to drop their children off at school when they are on their way to work etc then fair enough but something needs to be done to encourage the plain lazy feckers. I walk my DS to school every day as it only takes 10 minutes. There are Mums that live in my street that drive their children to school and then drive home again. 9 times out of 10 I get home before them. These Mums look like they could do with the exercise but probably think they get enough turning on the TV to watch 'Jeremy Kyle'!

I thought this was about walking to school.

I am a supporter of breakfast clubs.

And it is far too simplistic to say you can't teach a child who has recently witnessed domestic violence. Sometimes you can. And if it's not possible, handing out walk-to-school stickers or attendance certificates or checking for healthy snacks isn't going to help much.

I'm not sure what your argument is, herbe

Oh so what about people who go private and generally would have to drive further = more emissions and still have same parking problems.

Does anyone with Dc's in private school have such schemes in place if so how do they measure mileage what account do they have to make? Just putting this out there as another POV and not anit private school just curious?

I have had parking ticket. In sept I once parked in school carpark as 'barrier' that wasnt working was up and I didnt know this was a big NO NO! The receptionist was ready to send me to toture chamber I am sure as I got blocked in by a teacher who had to come out and move car, depsite there being other places she could have parked so as not to block in visitors.

Oh I was very very bad for doing this.

Since starting thread DH has arrived home and said its absolutley ludicrous re rewards system. I am going to remind DS that he does plenty exercise and that he shouldnt be made to feel bad about these 'dots' instead of ticks - I feel like sending him in with a chart of my own.

Just wait til I see the PTA women in AM.

oops stumbled back in on full on debate excusee

Should I write a letter to HT?

All our local schools closed - no school bus - and it's four miles to the nearest one. YANBU if you feel they are making you feel bad about driving. I would do ANYTHING for a closer school/ school bus/ all the time in the world to walk everywhere I want to, but RL is not like that. I get pissed off with this too at DS's school. 'Walk to School week' in the countryside is taking the proverbial .

Anyone have a commetn about collecting data not informed about - schools are subject to Data Protection Act too?

I would play it down for your son's sake, TBH, if you want to make your own point, feel free to write some frank and honest feedback on their travel surveys like I do

TCOB, I also live in the countryside, or at least in a town in the middle of the countryside and all travel initiatives seem to be dreamed up by people living in large cities with lots of public transport and with schools a short distance away. It's nonsense to bang on about taking public transport in these areas, I do personally use the train in school holidays precisely because I don't have to drop the children off in the other direction to the train station, but given that a delay or a missed train means waiting an hour or two, taking the train is a luxury I can only do with back-up, not a practical way of getting us all to where we need to be at 9am.

Perhaps they should send a letter home telling poarents about what they are doing in class eg next week we will be asking all children how they come to school etc.
If you can't walk then fair enough but many people can and are lazy. You will have greater problems than this in the future trust me (not meaning to sound patronising).

Yes I realise this MUM! There are other things that have really got to me re DS to do with other kids and I had my first run in with another mother this week so I kinda see this as a tounge in cheek annoyance really, just thought it unfair and cheeky somewhat of the school - its supposed to be a school thats a national example one thats been 'turned around'

HerBex

FWIW
Children do not spend the majority of their time at school. They spend 6 hours x5 daysx40 weeks in school making 1200 hours a year. If child is up at7 and in bed by 8 (we're talking infants here) they are out of school for 3545 hours a year, that's almost 3 times as many at home.

I think it is more logical to concentrate on academic subjects than social engineering experiments in school. Some parents will abdicate all responsibility when the school is apparently dealing with all aspects of daily life. We hardly had any healthy eating, walk to school messages at school, and far fewer people were obese. It doesn't ever work.

Is custardo Glaswegian? She sounds like one when I read the posts!

Just curious, nothing against Glaswegians in fact half my family are there I often wonder who has got which accent on here...
sorry if my maths is pedantic but it is a myth that dcs spend majority of time in school. Unless they are in boarding school.

BTW if you think "social" messages are dropped at secondary, then just wait and see how often your hildren study: "global warming" "healthy eating" "risk and life style".

But if you are going to take against the simple walk to school message, you are going to have a coronary later when the school does something really objectionable.

cust isn't glaswegian. She just acts like one.

Should I post on this again?

OK to answer points - pointy I suppose my argument is that it is right and proper for schools to take an holistic approach to the education of the children they are trying to educate. I don't buy the argument that doing so, interferes with the core curriculum because in the old days, schools did just concentrate on the basics and everyone was still semi-literate and unable to add up, so I think that's a teaching issue, not a time wasted doing something else issue.

And my other point is, that congestion and emissions are real problems and that these schemes however unpalatable they are, work. I don't disagree with the criticisms of the schemes, but as I said earlier, school travel is the only sector which has not seen a growth in car use in the last 5 years. I don't believe that's a co-incidence, I think it's probably due to the fact that schools are the only organisations who have been pro-actively consistently promoting sustainabable transport.

I haven't really seen much acknowledgement on this thread, that car use is a major problem both for schools and society and that schools are actually doing something about it, that is working. If anyone has any bright ideas about how else they could encourage sustainable transport without the undoubted drawbacks of these schemes, then I urge you to tell your local highways dept. about it, because the inexorable rise of car use is the single biggest problem they face and they cannot simply engineer a solution to it even if they had the money to do so - the only solution is to cut down on that car use, we can't keep concreting over green fields.