Very strange PE lesson today

[deliataughtme]

Just posted this in secondary ed but posting here too because there is more traffice.

DD, Yr 9, came home from school fuming.

They had PE today. Two groups so two teachers. They did bleep tests (whatever they are) but which I understand to be mindless running up and down and then the girls take their pulses. At this point the girls were not told they couldn't talk and though they had been put at ease after the running and the two teachers left the gym because there was talking.

They were gone for 20 minutes and then came back and screamed at the girls for their rudeness, the fact that they might as well not be there, no-one noticed they had gone, etc.. The girls were also told they would do really badly at GCSE because of their attitude. The girls were then made to spend 20 minutes running around outside in the freezing cold - some did not have full kit and had to do so in tshirts/shorts in minus temperatures.

Now, I appreciate I have one side of this but there must have been 40 odd girls, some of whom have significant behaviour problems, some of whom have SEN. They were left unattended for 20 minutes. Is that actually acceptable from a safeguarding point of view? I don't think it is. I don't think screaming at girls is acceptable either.

My dd and one of her friends, another mum has been on the phone, think the teachers were out of order and should at the very least have given instructions about whether the girls could talk when taking pulses, etc., should not have left the girls unattended and should not have come back screaming. DD and the friend are very reliable to give accurate recollections of the facts.

All sounds very strange and unsatisfactory. Also, doesn't sound like much of a team spirited PE lesson either.

Any PE teachers, SMT members or teachers generally on here for a view?

[JambalayaCodfishPie]

Goodness me. How lucky that sotiredofitall, happened to be about today!

So OP. What are you going to do about it now you have conclusive evidence of such a serious safeguarding issue?

[BurningBridges]

Love it delia - I soooooo glad you were able to come back (particularly to everyone who was going into a Pythonesque "I was up at 4am with a cup of cold gravel for breakfast and it didn't do me any harm" type rant) and say that others had supported your DD's account.

For chrissake why do people automatically believe children or young people lie/exaggerate whatever you want to call it, and that nice sensible adults who are great parents should ignore them? How the hell does that work out for you all? I suppose it means you never have to deal with anything at your child's school.

I bet we can all remember crap and spiteful PE teachers - my DD is age 11 in year 7 (for poster outside England earlier) and she said to me sadly the other day "Mum if we are not good at sport our PE teacher makes us feel bad about ourselves and our bodies".

But of course, I told DD it was her own fault and the least she deserved, as many posting here have suggested the OP do to her own DD. delia if you hadn't realised already you know now, never post on AIBU suggesting that a school might have done something wrong, that way lies madness.

[deliataughtme]

Goodness me. Can't be a tall story - another mother from the same school has been told the same or at least a very similar story .

That makes three mums receiving one story by my count sotiredofitall. I wonder if the school googles itself?

As you all were.

[weeblueberry]

Maybe suggest to your daughter that you're having a meeting with the head and you'd like her to write the situation all down, including the 20 minute time frame she was left? If she feels that strongly that this was the length of time she was put outside she'll be happy to put her name to it in writing. But if she suspects it was closer to five minutes and it was a bit of an exaggeration (which we're ALL guilty of...) she'll be very unlikely to do it.

[Mia4]

You can talk to the teacher but re running outside I was made to run in god awful small shorts and a t-shirt through the snow for cross country-that was 20 years ago. If you are running it's fine as sparklesoiree has said, other things would not be fine if you're standing still or not racing around.

It does sound like they were mucking around but the teachers should not have buggered off and then moaned about the girls 'not noticing they were gone'-however you only have your daughter and anothers story so it's 50/50. Some teachers sadly are that shit but also sometimes you just don't know how easily your child can lie and manipulate.

Get the girls to write it down-independent of each other, with no interacting/texting- then speak to the teachers and get their side.

[sickandtiredofitall]

Does your daughter go to Lady Margaret School? my daughter came home with the same story!!!

[EllaEllaElla]

Errrr......why don't you speak to the school and hear the story from the teachers? It isn't really fair to take only your DD word for it.

[SparkleSoiree]

I'm not loving this attitude of 'people run all the time in this weather, nobody gets hypothermia because of it"

Well actually you can. My DS 14 at the time, playing football during a PE lesson outside in temp of -1. You think he would be running around enough to keep warm, wouldn't you? I got a phone call from a hospital asking to go in as my son had been admitted by ambulance with his PE teacher after collapsing on pitch. Turns out he developed hypothermia. I cannot explain to you how angry I was that he was put at risk and subsequently very ill as a result. But I'm just a parent so what do I know?

Any why do people generally treat teenagers like they are lying little trouble makers? We all know the general traits of the teen stages but the general contempt that some people treat teenagers with makes me wonder why it never occurs to them that maybe if they treated them better/with more respect then they would get better results or behaviour from them.

As for screaming being an over exaggeration I recall one specific teacher who used to scream at the top of his voice at kids in our secondary school...he was notorious for it....never when other adults were around either...

Nobody is perfect, including teachers. Everyone knows they have stressful jobs but it doesn't mean they are ALL automatically good at their jobs, the same for any industry or sector.

[Vodkapleasenurse]

Get a grip! Safeguarding issue!?
They are 13 not 3, does your daughter never spend 20 mins 'alone' with other children? Break times? Playing out? Walking to school? I doubt it was 20 mins either.
The teachers were probably on the other side of the door listening to the girls waiting for them to settle down before they returned.

[Fakebook]

Oh whatever! Can people please stop mollycoddling their little bundles of joy when they're teenagers?

The teachers probably got pissed off with chattering and left the room to prove a point. At 13, they all should have known better.

We used to be made to run around outside in the cold as punishment, and nothing happened to us. We survived. I passed my GCSE's fine. Leave the disciplining to the teachers and bloody well move on.

[Flobbadobs]

DH is a sports coach and has had to deal with groups of children age about 11/12, mostly boys, getting silly and over excited, especially when doing things like bleep tests.
He doesn't leave the room but he certainly leaves the group and tells them he will come back when they have sorted themselves out, then goes to one of the other groups until things calm down. It usually only takes a few minutes before they realise that they are losing out and other groups are getting all the attention from the coaches.
My son was in the group on a day that this happened, according to him his Dad ignored them for at least half an hour. According to DH and the other coach it was 5 minutes. Children exaggerate, I would take the tale with a pinch of salt and maybe speak to the teachers involved to find out what happened.

[Jins]

I never did bleep tests at school - we spent PE lessons exercising, trampolining, climbing ropes, vaulting, doing things that appeared to have a plan and a purpose

I can actually see more of a point to bleep tests than any of these exercises. I'd have been happy to have done bleep tests at school. I found the rope climbing, vaulting and team sports pointless and irrelevant.

Regardless of the exercise they were carrying out they should be aware that talking during a lesson is not acceptable. If the teachers did leave the room at that age I don't see there being a huge safeguarding issue to be honest

[BarbarianMum]

I used to hate the bleep test lesson but I still think your dd and her lovely classmates should just suck it up.

I expect the teachers were the other side of the door or equivalent, really doubt they sloped off to the pub.

If they don't want to be cold they can remember their full PE kit (if it is anything like ours it won't make that much difference).

Is their any age at which children/young people/kids these days are required to bear any responsibility at all for their actions? Judging by the current disrupted lectures thread apparently not.

[BiscuitMillionaire]

OP: there's really no point posting anything critical of teachers on MN. You immediately get jumped on by all the teachers on here who won't contemplate the possibility that a teacher could do something wrong, as you have discovered.

It doesn't sound like a very effective or inspiring PE lesson. Being made to run in sub-zero temperatures is not likely to encourage a group of teenage girls to take up sport. And if they were left for 20 minutes, that is obviously not acceptable practice. Of course your DD might be exaggerating a bit, so I would make a polite enquiry at the school, as to whether this really happened.

[meditrina]

The reason I'd doubt the DC's word is that at the start of the OP, she says that they class was told not to talk. By end of OP, it seems to have become "should at the very least have given instructions about whether the girls could talk when taking pulses".

This was clearly a badly-behaved class, and the DC is attempting to evade responsibility for her part in the disruption.

If they continue to behave badly, then failing exams becomes ever likelier. If DC did no grasp the utility and importance of the bleep test, then she is already failing to learn. If mummy goes in to whine about beastly teachers, then the DC will continue to have whiny tantrums and will fall into the pattern of blaming others rather than gaining self-knowledge and responsibility.

If you feel the need to check on the account of the 20 minute absence, then I'd suggest an straightforward email enquiry.

[LtEveDallas]

The bleep test is an excellent test of cardio-vascular fitness, agility, stamina and perseverence. It's a useful tool for grading fitness levels and improvement as it is very easy to monitor.

If you add in the sit-up and push-up bleeps tests too you have all round testing that could be repeated (say, monthly) to get an accurate reading of how much effort is being put in. It's also very easy to pick up on those who can't be bothered .

[LovesBeingWokenEveryNight]

I did the bleep test at school over 25 years ago, it's not some new method for freeing up the teachers time its used by the police, army etc.

Not sure what the point of posting was op you are not listening to anyone.

[JambalayaCodfishPie]

Passive aggressive little hitlers? .

[MadameCastafiore]

I love it that people think running around outside in cold weather is a bad thing, did anyone keel over? Get hypothermia in those few minutes?

My neighbour runs everyday rain shine or snow and he's still alive!

Bet they remember their PE kits in full in future!

[MsElisaDay]

YABU on the grounds that you don't know what the bleep test is and didn't bother to look it up before posting- you've just assumed it involves "mindless running."
How much more have you just taken your daughter's word for? And, incidentally, what would constitute mindful running?

Bleep tests were a PE staple when I was at school 15-odd years ago. (Hated them, was terrible at it, but I run marathons now. Hmmmn).

As for running outside in the freezing cold-isn't that expected for a games lesson in January? Or did you never play hockey or rugby at your school? YABU and more than a bit precious. I think you should let it drop, or run the risk of looking very daft indeed.

[StraightTalkinSheila]

Meh. No doubt something occurred to get that reaction from the teachers. It's highly unlikely that they were left unsupervised for 20 mins. If they were, then it's an issue.
In this case, If you really wanted to, I'd phone the school to speak to one of the teachers or a member of SMT.
I'm not saying your DD is a liar, but students can exaggerate.
I was accused of "screaming" at a student and making them cry. The parent wanted me sacked etc etc. The accusation fell apart a bit when it was confirmed that a) I wasn't at school that day and b) as I'd just had an op on my throat, the chances of my raising my voice at ANYONE was non- existent.

[HollyBerryBush]

So me and another untalented child were packed off to the bar to get a diet coke and hone our skills with a cue totally unattended

You had a school with a bar? I wish I went to your school!

Cross country - now there's a memory; airtex top, and those awful knicker things and green dunlops - trainers had yet to be invented as an everyday item, they were the remit of professional sports people. Back to cross country, round and round the local park, bitterly cold misty mornings. In the summer it was double tennis, right after lunch in the heat of the day - I hate tennis to this day.

[ComposHat]

Class arsed around, class got bollocked and sanctioned.

Good.

[Yfronts]

I run in one layer only in this weather - it's fine and warm once you get going.