To not want the teacher to hold my dd's ankle so she can't win the swimming races?

[fardyharp]

dd3 is an excellent swimmer. She swims out of school three times a week and is very keen and dedicated. She has just started swimming lessons with the school and is by all accounts very far ahead of others in the class. This is fine and I still think good fun for her to go and learn to get on a coach and get changed with her mates etc etc. But she is getting really fed up because the teacher has started 'playing tricks on her' so that she can't win all the little races that they do at the end, either telling the others to go first (ok fair enough) but now grabbing her ankle as she turns. I think this is dangerous! She's only 8. She obviously hasn't said anything but she hates it :-(

She can't move up to an older group as they only take one year group at a time.

[Mumoftwoyoungkids]

This happened to me many years ago. I panicked, flailed and accidentally kicked the teacher hard in the face. She never did it again.

I was also incredibly good at maths. We used to do timed number squares. After a couple of times of me finishing several hours before everyone else my teacher got me to think up ways I could make it harder for myself. To this day I can still do my 13, 14, 16 and 17 times table. Worked really well.

[PourquoiTuGachesTaVie]

Do they not have the children grouped by ability in swimming lessons? When I was at school we had beginner, intermediate and expert groups for swimming because some children were amazing swimmers but others (like me) didn't even know how to swim.

Seems much fairer that way. As for the Op's dd being an inspiration to the other children, some children won't ever get the chance to have private lessons (it's not like you can practise swimming in the bath at home ) so they will never have a chance to act on any inspiration gained from watching the same person win every single time. It's more likely to make them totally give up rather than inspire them IMO.

However that is not the op's dd's fault and should be managed appropriately by the teacher.

[MrsMaturin]

Personally I would give a teacher a very lavish piece of my mind for this. It's really awful. Call them on it.

[Martorana]

Why would your dd actually want to win races against such weak opposition? She is a club swimmer- they are kids who are just learning to swim. I don't think she is really "shining" in this context, is she?

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Surely it's not all about speed though? The other kids who don't win can be congratulated on their start, or their stroke if they are that worried about other kids feeling put out as your dd wins every time.

She's good at it and it should be celebrated.

Dumbing kids down is not on

[Mumoftwoyoungkids]

Cross post with struggling. Winning easily gets dull very very quickly. But it's best if you let people think up their own handicaps.

(Remembers fondly swimming races against my friends while I held a float between my legs. The damn thing kept popping out!)

[struggling100]

It's not a 'race' race, it's just a little game at the end of a session. It's not like they're preventing her from winning on sports day.

Training is about pushing yourself. My guess is that the teacher is trying to develop a way of ensuring that a gifted pupil can also get some benefit from what would otherwise be a low-impact session.

[frangiponi]

I suspect that even if they timed her she wouldn't do great times without proper competition. My dd's pbs differ by a few seconds depending on if she's swimming against others of a similar level or not. I assume that's why they often have someone doing time trials at swim galas - so they can have some competition while not actually participating in that race. I don't know much about this though - dd is the first person ever in my family to show any swimming talent so it's all new!

[Greyhound]

Bloody hell, YANBU!

I wouldn't be happy with the others getting a head start, but to grab a little girl's ankle is just awful :(

[fardyharp]

She actually really enjoys the sessions as she loves going on the coach and being with her friends. She'd hate not to go. I know that the ankle grabbing is true because the TA told me, she thought it was funny "even with Mr T grabbing her ankle she managed to catch up and win!" is what she said. Dd3 confirmed he had grabbed her as she turned and she wasn't expecting it.

He wasn't there this afternoon but I do intend to go in before next week's session.

Streaming - only year 3 goes and there's a huge disparity between ability. They have 4 groups. There are 4 in dd3s group but the other 3 are not as fast as dd3 and I wouldn't expect them to be as they have one lesson once a week.

[fardyharp]

I don't expect her to get a benefit from the lessons, other than being with her mates. I think it would be unreasonable to demand that they to have provide special provision for dd3

Tbh if she went with the year 6s that would give her more benefit but it's lonely that way.

[Tabby1963]

I took a class of school children to have lessons and instructor assessed them an divided them into three groups to teach. One of the boys was an ace swimmer and trained three times a week. He got to swim lengths separately and do training while everyone else took part in the lesson. At the end of the lesson everyone had ten minutes to play with floats etc (very much looked forward to). No races.

[Georgethesecond]

He definitely shouldn't be grabbing her ankle, I'd gave a quick word with him (he might already regret it?). You've had loads of good suggestions on here - pass a few on to him. Or the swimming teacher, if you have chance. Actually, who grabbed her, her class teacher or the swimming teacher?

[MammaTJ]

Does this same teacher give the kids who are good at maths harder questions in maths tests? The ones good at English harder spellings? Maybe their dominant hand gets tied behind their backs and they are made to write with their weaker hand.

Do point out that that is what they are doing to your DD.

[holidaysarenice]

The words assault, formal complaint and discrimination would be coming out of my mouth very fast.

If a child was bright at maths they would challenge them with more work, that is what teachers do. Not hold one child back to allow everyone else to catch up.

If they can't provide appropriate and safe swimming lessons for your child then they are not fit to be teachers.

What they have done is highly dangerous, she could have inhaled water and struggled to breathe.where is the risk assessment for this?

I would point all this out politely and firmly, ask for their suggestions to ensure a safe and challenging lesion inclusive of all.
And then follow it up in writing.

Lessons must be fair, safe and inclusive.

[sassysally]

Mt DD is 8 and a competitive gymnast.They won't let her take part in any school competitions, because it wouldn't be fair.Giving a handicap in races is fine.

[MexicanSpringtime]

Uuuf, I used to teach 7-year-olds and had to take them to their swimming lesson once a week. Well over half the class always found excuses not to take the class as it turned out that the teacher played tricks like that. I would report the swimming teacher to the school before she/he traumatises the entire class.

[elliejjtiny]

That's horrible, your poor DD. My DS1 isn't much good at sports but he does really well in class as he is always enthusiastic and asking questions. DS2 is physically disabled but he's clever when he puts his mind to it. DS3 is really clumsy but bright and DS's 4 and 5 are too young to tell yet. Nobody is brilliant at everything. I remember there was a boy at school who was the kind of child who would be sent somewhere else when Ofsted came round (in the days when that was legal) and he spent more time in the corridor than in class but at sports day he would run round the track twice as fast as everyone else.

[AdeptusMechanicus]

Surely having your dd as a winner would encourage the other swimmers to become better ?

[elliejjtiny]

I'm on the fence re handicaps for the other children. DS2 gets to start 1/2 way down the track but that just means he comes last but not my much rather than 20 minutes after the rest have finished. I think that's fair but it wouldn't be fair to give him enough of a head start to win or to give DS1 a head start as DS1 isn't disabled, he's just got 2 left feet.

[Andro]

Dangerous and stupid to grab anyone like that, how irresponsible of the teacher.

Complain, loud, long and backed up in writing...escalate the matter if you're not satisfied with the answers.

[Trollsworth]

Mamatj, I'm not sure if yu are being sarcastic, but certainly children who are better at maths do get given harder work and take harder tests, similarly if your child has a gift for literacy, they can expect to be given harder spellings and longer books. This is the way it should be, we cannot teach to the lowest common denominator.

However, none of the above detracts for the fact that grabbing someone whilst they are swimming is stupid and dangerous.

[Ludways]

Sassysal