School and PE

[Gorja]

DD1 is year 8. She has a badly infected toe that she is on antibiotics for and looks like she may have to have the nail removed.
She was due to do PE today.
I wrote a note this morning explaining she could do PE and set off happily to work. When I got Hime she told me she had given her teacher the nite and been told she had to do PE as it would be ok as it was just handball.
She had been made to wear spare PE kit as I hadn't sent hers with her - as I had written a note so didn't expect her to be doing PE.
She had to wear trainers that were too small for her as that is all they had.
This evening she is in a huge amount of pain and very tearful.
Would I be unreasonable to contact the school and tell them they are not to make her do PE if she has a note?
I do understand that some kids avoid PE and I do know she's not a huge fan of it and probably doesn't try very hard in it.
But surely if as a parent I write a note as she is in pain the school should respect my judgement and not make her participate?
She's my eldest so not sure if I'm over reacting but she really is in a lot of pain tonight which she wouldn't be had she not had to do PE.

Wolfiefan: Since you started pronouncing on people on the internet being closet PE teachers - why would I lie? Bizarre accusation to throw at someone for having an opinion different to yours.

Andro: Without a medical note you just have to use your best judgement. It's not ideal but as I've been saying, the subject is compulsory so the teacher has to decide whether or not the excuse is valid. If you have a policy whereby the teacher has to accept any old excuse, you'll have half of Y9/10/11 sitting out on any given day in November.

melj1213: I am only responding to your first sentence because that isn't what I have said. Read the comments again. I said that unless there is a medical note it's discretionary. I also said most teachers have the common sense to see when someone has a reasonable excuse and will be reasonable about it. I said they don't have to accept every excuse, because some excuses are shit. That is very different to what you are saying I said.

Sadly too many comments for me to continue with this. I feel sorry for PE teachers, I really do It must be awful dealing with all this.

Goodness me trifle. How can you possibly have time as a teacher to reply to so many comments? I thought you were all hard at it by 7.30

I've not rtwholeft yet but trifle you have lost the plot and are the reason so many parents are critical of teachers and feel you are working against them. Parents do not hand over their PR as soon as their child crosses the threshold - a parent will always be the ultimate expert as to wheyher their child is physically fit enoufh to either attend school or do PE. You do not get to decide otherwise. Your job is to educate, not parent.
I used to be a teacher, so am usually hugely supportive because I know how hard it can be, but honestly, you have lost sight of where your role begins and ends.

OldRosesDoomed: That's really not your business is it

Sorry for typos. Have fat fingers

Oh, I think it is trifle just as ours relating to PE is yours. Can't be quite as overworked as you claim .

Aderyn2016: We will have to agree to disagree. Schools have policies which parents agree to when they send their children to be educated there. If that policy is 'All students need to bring their kit or they will have to change into school kit for PE', then that's that as far as I am concerned. It has nothing to do with PR.

As a healthcare professional if a teacher chose to override my opinion that my DC was unable to participate in PE I'd be furious.
Haven't rtft so it's possibly been noted that an infected toe isn't trivial and ramming the foot into too small shoes could cause cellulitis requiring hospitalisation and iv antibiotics.

Trifle I do see your point about weekly notes excusing kids due to headaches, tummy aches etc but you can't seriously be saying that the teacher got this one right?

Teachers can't be expected to take the word of every parent who says their kid can't possibly do PE

I would be very offended if a teacher accused me of lying. Anyway in this case all they needed to do was look at the toe, surely?

And I'd also be annoyed if I couldn't get a GP's appt because it was full of kids getting sick notes for PE lessons!

Common sense anyone?

Oh and the OP's DD has antibiotics - copy of prescription with letter if you really need so much proof!

ThanksSpanx: No, I'm not saying she got this one quite right. Obviously there are many situations where a student shouldn't do PE but has no medical note. That's not so much the issue as parents insisting that any excuse they provide needs to be accepted and their child allowed to remain in uniform.

I don't know what the activity involved but clearly it wasn't good for her foot to wear the too-small shoes. But the girl should have brought her kit with her own trainers and then that wouldn't have been an issue.

Why does making a child change into PE kit benefit them in any way? Last I checked you don't need to be in a tracksuit to keep score

myfavouritecolourispurple: I wouldn't even expect 'proof' from a student who didn't usually mess about about PE lessons. My issue isn't with this particular sore foot. It is with the view expressed by most people on this thread that a note from a parent about any issue, however unconvincing, should always be enough to get a child out of PE because 'it's not a proper subject' (it is) and because the school has 'no authority' over their child (they do). It's also with the view that teachers just trying to do their jobs and avoid massive disruption to their lessons are somehow crazed dictators rather than (generally) reasonable people following their school's policies. Clearly from this thread, lots of people feel perfectly comfortable treating PE as basically optional, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of the excuses being sent in week to week were a bit crappy.

I appreciate that schools need rules but I'd worry about any teacher who decided in the absence of a child's own kit, a child with an infected toe should wear too small shoes. I think teachers need to apply common sense rather than blindly follow the rules on some occasions. Surely a reminder of the rules to child/parent would have sufficed here?

HermioneJeanGranger: It doesn't. It avoids people messing around in the changing rooms while other people are getting changed. It avoids them getting covered in mud and traipsing it back indoors for someone else to clean up. It allows them to do things like handle equipment without getting dirty. It means there is a clear rule - bring your kit and we will deal with notes afterwards - so the teacher gets mired in fewer debates about kit. It's just how school works.

So if someone has a broken leg or whatever, you think it's more sensible to make them change and stand in a muddy field than to go to the library and read or do homework?

Smells like a power trip to me.

Trifle, people are clearly NOT saying that a note should be sufficient to get a child out of PE "because it's not a proper subject". They're saying that it should normally be regarded as sufficient because, unlike most other subjects, forcing a child to do PE when injured or unwell has the capacity to exacerbate an injury or illness significantly. You seem determined to ignore that.

HermioneJeanGranger: But this is where you are just assuming I am a completely unreasonable bitch because I don't think the teacher should always have to accept a note. A child with a broken leg would usually be supervised indoors, not expected to go out on the field in the rain or stand around on the netball court while the other students did the lesson. Similarly for a child who was genuinely sick - they would be in medical.

This part of the argument seems increasingly futile, since so many people appear to have no respect for teachers and their professional judgement that they don't think other adults are able to make a distinction between a broken leg and a sore thumb. It is ridiculous, quite frankly.

WouldHave: I think you'll find there are plenty of comments saying just that. And I haven't said for a moment that PE doesn't have the potential to exacerbate an injury or that a reasonable approach shouldn't be taken by the teacher.

Yes, but you're arguing that OP's DD should have brought her kit and been prepared to change, even when she has antibiotics for an infected toe! Are you really saying the sensible answer was to force her to change and make her participate anyway? Is the medication and clearly red and swollen toe not enough evidence that she shouldn't be participating?

What benefit was there in making her get changed and participate anyway? She isn't someone who is off PE every month, she's on medication and is going to need surgery, yet you still think she should get changd and participate in PE?

I would also argue that it's not your job to force children to participate in sport without speaking to their parents first. Yes, lots of kids skive PE, which is why you ring the parents and have a discussion with them first! I know my parents would have kicked up a royal stink if I'd been made to "participate to the best of my ability" with inflamed discs in my back. Luckily, my school were far more empathetic and let me study in the library!

trifle How can a teacher 'professionally judge' an illness or injury? And if so, why would you also require a Drs note to excuse someone from PE?

I don't agree that teachers shouldn't be able to challenge students/parents who continually present excuse notes at PE but I can't see how a PE teacher who sees a child infrequently and doesn't have medical training (except first aid) is best placed to decide whether a student is able to take part.

I don't agree that posters on this thread have demonstrated a lack of respect for parents but it could be argued that a teacher forcing a child to wear too small shoes, exacerbating an infection and causing pain to that child has done worse than disrespected the child and parent involved.

lack of respect for teachers that should read