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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Standing outside when not doing P.E.

77 replies

strongswans · 09/12/2016 09:27

Fist time in AIBU! Thought I'd see your opinion before approaching the school, fully prepared to be told IABU. DS 11 is Yr 7, he has a condition which causes severe leg pains so is on crutches and has been for months. This has meant he doesn't take part in P.E. of course. I know school can't prepare an extra lesson or anything but every lesson DS has to just stand outside and watch, there is also another boy permanently not taking part. At the beginning of term I didn't see too much of an issue, but for example last week it didn't get above 1c in the day and he was stood still outside for an hour in his blazer and his legs got worse. This has also happened in the rain. I don't have an issue with P.E. being outside in this weather as they're running around warming up. I just feel DS would be better off in the library for example reading, doing homework, or catching up as his attendance is low due to his condition. There is always a staff member in the library so he wouldn't need supervision. So AIBU to ask he sits in the library instead? Thanks!

OP posts:
TasteLikeCherryChapstick · 09/12/2016 13:57

My DD doesn't take part in PE and used to have to sit and watch until I asked if she could go to the library or similar. She now goes to what they call 'learning coaches' during pe sessions. I hadn't heard of them before but it is somewhere that pupils go when they are withdrawn from class, sometimes because they have dyed their hair a lurid colour or have removed themselves from a class or for medical reasons. My DD now knows who to approach if she requires cigarettes or drugs and has definitely seen another side to school life that she never knew existed! She's thrilled, I'm less so... Wink

Original poster
strongswans · 09/12/2016 14:02

As it stands DS hasn't been officially signed off of P.E. as the school just made the decision that due to crutches he wouldn't take part, there has been no effort made to include him in a way he could manage. I don't think its fair he just has to stand there watching for the next 5 years because of a condition he has been unlucky enough to have. I am taking note of whats being said and speak to pastoral or SENCO and see what we can do if anything going forwards.

OP posts:
Trifleorbust · 09/12/2016 14:05

strongswans: Then I really don't get why you started a thread asking about why he can't be sent to the library Confused

He could probably take part on a more limited level - score keeping, equipment, etc., which would allow him to learn the theory and some of the practise. Perhaps have a conversation with the teacher about that?

MrsHathaway · 09/12/2016 14:09

On the face of it, going to the library seems to solve two problems at once: his pointless non-participation in the PE, and the backlog of work he has to do.

I can see that it appears to be a far neater solution than someone's having to create a separate sporting programme for him.

Flingmoo · 09/12/2016 14:10

I don't think OP is being unreasonable. Teacher not personally to blame but there are SO many suggestions on here surely at least one of these suggestions must be feasible, and better than making a kid who is medically unable to participate stand outdoors in freezing temperatures and not gaining anything from it.

The best thing to do is talk to the school and see what they suggest based on the resources they have available.

Trifleorbust · 09/12/2016 14:12

Mamushka: But the OP just said her son isn't medically unable to participate, is he? He may well be able to participate in the lessons some shape or form. I hope that can be arranged.

Flingmoo · 09/12/2016 14:12

When I was at secondary school in the early 2000s I had a friend who didn't do PE due to a foot problem. She sat in the gym reading a book for the whole lesson even if the class was having their lesson outside. I don't know if this would be 'allowed' now. To me it doesn't seem like that long ago but I suppose it was 10-15 years ago.

CancellyMcChequeface · 09/12/2016 14:41

OP - please be careful you ds does not end up being put somewhere like the inclusion unit, he would be mortified.

Mortified, really? What a horrid attitude to inclusive education.

OP, as others have said, the ideal solution would be for a way to be found for your DS to participate in PE through having activities adapted so that he can do something, even if it isn't what the others are doing. Failing that, being inside with a book or in another class is much better than standing on a field in the cold wasting his time every week. Yes, it might be an inconvenience to the school, but they have a duty to meet his needs.

Sirzy · 09/12/2016 14:44

I couldn't do PE at all in years 10 and 11 and there was a real battle between the PE department who wanted me to watch every lesson and he head of year and my parents who could see the sensible option was for me to work in the library!

DixieWishbone · 09/12/2016 14:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SnatchedPencil · 09/12/2016 14:48

You would not be being unreasonable to ask if he can sit in the library instead. But perhaps the school has a good reason - for example, standing outside watching PE means he is getting some form of exercise and some fresh air, more than he would get by sitting indoors.

Also, do the school have the staff to watch him in the library? At his age he can't just be left alone in there, especially if he is a disabled child.

You can certainly ask for this, but the school may not be able to accommodate you.

HighwayDragon1 · 09/12/2016 14:54

At our school those who can't take part in lessons get taken to the removal room for the lesson where they are supervised and registered by the teacher overseeing the removal room. It's not a punishment, it's a safe study spafe too, is there somewhere like that your ds can go?

Namechangebitch · 09/12/2016 15:07

Cancelly

Quick to judge much?

It's not my attitude but pupils detest being outside their comfort zone, I am not talking about a warm, friendly SENCO lead unit.
The point of inclusion is to make students 'uncomfortable'. It is often more like a person cell! Being in inclusion can be a mark of shame. As adults we might see removal/inclusion as a sensible option but most students would hate it. Being moved into a class away from friends for only a few sessions a week is something most pupils hate.

As I said before the solution may be worse than the problem.

itsmine · 09/12/2016 15:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WhatHaveIFound · 09/12/2016 15:20

YANBU. It's not an ideal situation for your DS to be in for the new few years. I would ask if there's another form he can sit in with rather than being unsupervised in the library.

I'll be facing a similar situation with my normally very sporty DS in the New Year. He's already crawling the walls after a week off school Sad

CancellyMcChequeface · 09/12/2016 15:20

Namechangebitch I apologise, I assumed that was your attitude which you thought the OPs DS would share. The inclusion spaces I've worked in have been warm, friendly places but have been set up primarily for children with disabilities, sometimes quite profound ones. Other children do use them for other reasons on occasion, though, and if one of them told me they didn't want to work there because of the connection to the more disabled students, I'd be very disappointed in them (maybe not surprised, at a certain age, but it's definitely an attitude I'd work to discourage)

The point of inclusion is to make students 'uncomfortable'. It is often more like a person cell! Being in inclusion can be a mark of shame

I know you're just explaining how it is in your setting, so I'm not blaming you, but this is quite saddening. Inclusion making students uncomfortable is pretty much the exact opposite of what it should be. I'm wondering if the same space is used for students in 'isolation' for behaviour issues and that's why it's set up that way?

Personally, I was often unable to participate in PE as a child due to health/disability issues, and I'd have found any sort of inclusion room preferable to having to change into a gym skirt and T-shirt and stand in the cold watching, but I recognise that other children might think (and have thought) differently.

Namechangebitch · 09/12/2016 15:24

I'm talking about several schools inclusion/removal/isolation = a single lightbulb swinging from the ceiling, bare walls, a tap dripping......

CancellyMcChequeface · 09/12/2016 15:32

Ah. To me, inclusion spaces and isolation spaces are completely different and any school conflating them is doing something quite wrong. If you'd said 'isolation' in the earlier post I wouldn't have responded so strongly!

Getting a bit off-topic for this thread, though - sorry!

Amelie10 · 09/12/2016 15:36

Yanbu, he could be making productive use of his time in the library. He can't participate, not he doesn't want to do they need to make an allowance.

Trifleorbust · 09/12/2016 15:49

Lots of schools call internal exclusion (which is what it really is) "inclusion" because the idea is that it is replacing fixed term exclusion and allowing the child to remain in education for the duration of a punishment. Hence the confusion. Our unit is called "isolation" and "Inclusion" is a lovely space, but in a previous school isolation was Inclusion and the SEN department was the lovely space.

lola111 · 09/12/2016 16:35

My 11 yo is on crutches atm.She is allowed to choose between sitting on a bench watching or going to the library for indoor PE/swimming,.For outdoor PE she has to go to the library because they think it is too cold and there is nowhere to sit.

lola111 · 09/12/2016 16:37

He should be minimising time spent standing if he is on crutches surely? I think you need to raise it calmly with the school's senco

DailyNameChange · 09/12/2016 17:07

Op what do your son's medical professionals suggest? Physio/ot/pead? Assuming it's not a massively rare condition they must have delt with situations where a child with this or similar disability is in education, they either may be able to recommend reasonable adjustments that they have seen work in other schools or simply state that your son is not to be left standing in the cold for several sessions each week (although your son's gp should be able to do this also).

My children are primart age, and very different disabilities, but when they can not access certain parts of the curriculum because of their disability the school finds a way of adjusting. My children do have ehcp's and ta's/ higher ratio so I am aware that is somewhat different but the first part of funding has to be found by the school if reasonable adjustments are required. Speak to the senCo and try your son's hcp for how to address this long term. And hope he feels 'better' about it all soon iykwim. Will he be able to access any form of activity in future? Riding for the disabled or hydo therapy? I have ehlor danlos syndrom and it is constant work to manage my physical pain but I don't feel I miss out, I don't worry about what I can't do compared to peers, if that helps at all.

Kr1stina · 09/12/2016 17:56

When my 10 yo DD was on crutches due to a broken leg, she spent PE lessons in the ICT room and was allowed to take a friend ( a different one each time ) to carry her bag, open doors and keep her company.

When her class went off site to do swimming lesssons, she was offered the choice of going with her class to watch, sitting in with an older class and catching up on her own work or helping out in the infants . She chose the last one.

The school couldn't been more helpful . And that was just for a problem that lasted for one term. With a long term issue, the school need a proper plan in place to meet then child's needs. Children with disabilities have just as much right as any other child to participate in physical education in school.

nanny3 · 09/12/2016 18:08

if the school cant sort something out keep him off on pe days until they do your sons health is important

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