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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

About DS' class watching DVD at school

60 replies

cornflakegirl · 04/07/2013 09:52

DS's class teacher was helping to organise a whole-school event, so the class were left watching a DVD with a TA. For what length of time would you judge this to be acceptable? I'm not sure if I'm overreacting.

OP posts:
mrsjay · 04/07/2013 10:06

We even have a treat afternoon in our school where the children get to choose from a list of dvds being shown in different classrooms.

our primary used to have Golden time on a friday they didnt do any work and got a treat,

DD2 hadn't been in school since end of april she had exam leave then work experience then was in france on a school trip the last week of term

TantrumsAndBalloons · 04/07/2013 10:12

It's one day

one film

They were not left alone to watch an 18 rated FIL from 9am to 3pm

You are over reacting. A lot.

Jinsei · 04/07/2013 10:13

Three more weeks to go? Shock When do you all finish then? Next week is our last week!

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 04/07/2013 10:17

We've still got 3 weeks to go too!

I think it's fine as long as it's not too often. It would be better if the film was somehow related to a topic studied this term but that might be unrealistic...

ShabbyButNotChic · 04/07/2013 10:17

I wouldnt worry about it, we finish in two weeks and are winding down in our school, sats and residentials are all over, and the next two weeks are all about y6 pantomime performance, sports day, creative arts week, concert etc. school doesnt have to be constant maths/science etc. they are still little and its nice for them to get extra play/dvd/sport time at the end of the year.
The kids do tend to watch and then discuss though. For example our y3 classes had a lesson on nature, minibeasts, pollen, etc then watched bee movie in the afternoon

ageofgrandillusion · 04/07/2013 10:24

YANBU. It seems odd that schools lay it on so thick about kids having time off, as if every day is precious and then let them sit watching telly. We are taking ours out of school for the last afternoon of term as we go on hol that day and they won't authorise it - despite the fact that the kids will be doing absolutely nothing of educational value that day. Load of bollocks basically.

Original poster
cornflakegirl · 04/07/2013 10:37

mrsjay - what would I have liked them to have done? Worksheets, creative writing, PE, reading, a dvd on something they've been studying. Watching a not-very-good film just feels like a waste of time! (Although I'm sure it felt like a treat to them.)

ageofgrandillusion - I do feel that irony quite keenly!

However, since the concensus is firmly against me, I will STFU Wink

OP posts:
halcyondays · 04/07/2013 10:49

you're overreacting

DramaInPyjamas · 04/07/2013 10:50

What was the dvd? If it was a crap film then maybe yanbu after all!

mrsjay · 04/07/2013 10:51

OCh it is one film school isn't all about education all the time it is a community imo and maybe you could get him to write you a report on the film Wink

ll31 · 04/07/2013 11:01

Yabvu, school is about more than worksheets etc... I actually don't understand why you would start a thread about this. Very unreasonably and no doubt completely inaccurately, in my mind I picture you in a plaground turning everything into a learning experience for your v precious children .... Sorry! But really, children watchinga DVD in school is not the end of the world

TheMoonOnAStick · 04/07/2013 11:03

I can see what you mean cornflake. I don't mind hugely sometimes I suppose and yet...'winding down' seems to have been the order of the day in our yr6 ever since sats ended weeks ago. The next time any real work will be done is in Sept in yr 7 and after such a lot of time drifting it's going to feel hard.

It's either too much (ie crazy amounts of homework etc during sats or too little.)

A dvd is nice but really couldn't they find something of more use with some interaction with a teacher at least? That is after all why the children come in to school. I'm sure teachers do have other things to organise but during the school day the children should be the priority.

MidniteScribbler · 04/07/2013 11:05

If it were every week, or for several days in a row, then YWNBU, but as a once off, there's nothing wrong with it. For all you know, it may have links to the curriculum (although it is not always immediately obvious what that may be!). And it doesn't hurt kids to have a bit of down time in school, particularly for the littlies. Getting to the end of term/end of year means everyone is pretty stressed and getting tired (kids just as much as teachers) there's assessment to be finished, lots of events for teachers to organise, reports to be sorted. Ninety minutes of kids chilling out to give the staff a chance to organise a whole school event is pretty much a non issue.

Don't panic. It's just a dvd.

LindyHemming · 04/07/2013 11:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

livinginwonderland · 04/07/2013 11:07

We did that at GCSE/A-level and I only finished school in 2007. We watched Amelie in the last few lessons of term in French every year from year 9 (despite our teacher desperately trying to get us to watch sometihng else), and our history teacher let us watch Blackadder on the last lesson of every term.

I know there's three weeks left, but not much does get done in the last few weeks of term. It's mostly activities/group projects, watching films, lessons outside and sports days or events/trips. You need to chill. There'll be a LOT more of this!

Mamafratelli · 04/07/2013 11:09

Wow I am actually amazed that this is an issue for you.

TheMoonOnAStick · 04/07/2013 11:11

I wonder why people do get problems requesting holiday leave before term ends then when this is the norm? Either it's crucial they're in at all times (and schools do bang on about that, lets be honest) or it's not.

livinginwonderland · 04/07/2013 11:13

They won't authorise holidays because schools get in trouble if they authorise too many/if they have too high an absence rate.

VinegarDrinker · 04/07/2013 11:13

If you only go on holiday for an hour and a half then it's a reasonable comparison.

DramaInPyjamas · 04/07/2013 11:20

We've been off a week as well Euphemia.

  • and guess what? My two are sitting here... WATCHING DVDS!!

It has poured with rain non stop since last Thursday though.

LindyHemming · 04/07/2013 11:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Nanny0gg · 04/07/2013 11:30

Give them a break.
They're all knackered (including the children).

Salmotrutta · 04/07/2013 11:31

Grin@ "If you only go on holiday for an hour and a half it's a reasonable comparison"

Precisely!

SummerRainIsADistantMemory · 04/07/2013 11:33

Ours watch a dvd every friday, they're allowed to bring in their own and whichever one they vote on gets put on. It's a lovely treat and they enjoy it after a hard weeks work, it's only an hour out of their week.

Ragwort · 04/07/2013 11:33

As I said earlier in the thread, I've given up worrying about this sort of thing but yes, it does bug me that schools are happy for all this 'down time' but then won't authorise a day or two absence in the last week of term when you know the kids are doing very little anyway. I am not advocating full weeks holiday during term time but just the odd day or two as we are doing this year. Grin

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