Would it bother you if school showed a movie with a rating above your child's age?

[Keremy]

DC1 ended up in school in a mixed year group due to an event just before Christmas.

The children involved were year 8 to 10 so 12 to 15. The teacher was aware of the kids ages.

Dc1 had been asking to watch a film and as it was three years above their age range I refused. They have seen 12s at 11 and stuff so I'm not a total fuddy duddy but I think it is entirely dependent on the film.

Anyway dc came home saying they had watched this film and I have just checked with another parent and it is true.

I think they should have the courtesy to check with the parents. childminder let 5 year old DS watch ET and worse still gremlins I've had to deal with nightmares since made me so cross. I also think though that it's nice to check for other reasons too, for example DS has also watched Harry Potter at said childminder, and I was a bit gutted as I wanted to read it with him first and then watch the film

This would really bother me- not necessarily because of the specific film but because they hadn't checked first. But then ds1 gets v upset by scary etc films and it's v hard to predict which ones (he is 6 so I'm sure will be different when he's 12, but still would like school to check.)

My kids 8 and 10 watched a 12 film before Xmas at school. I had to sign a permission slip allowing them to watch it, there were a few kids who either didn't want to watch it or weren't allowed they did art in another room.

It would bother me, based on an experience I had at school myself. The ratings are extremely broad and one film rated 15 (say) is NOT like another. It may not be legally required but I do think it is courteous of the school to run it by parents so that they can withdraw their child from the screening if they so choose.

For example, The Lovely Bones is rated 12, but as a teacher of 12-year-olds, I can't think of any that I would want to show that film to.

bad santa! Fuck me, I'm pretty lax (and love watching it myself) but no way would I let a 12 year old watch it. Complain, OP.

Oops, this is what you get for not reading the whole thread first :p
Still seems like spurious reasoning to me.

Also (now that I have read the whole thread) wanted to respond to a couple of points that apply more generally to this debate.

1. Please don't patronise teachers who don't have kids at home. There's no way I'd show inappropriate films to children. Just because I don't have kids at home this doesn't mean my filters are completely off and does not mean I am a complete idiot who is unable to judge what is appropriate and what isn't.

2. As an English teacher I don't dismiss the notion that violence etc in books is 'different' as you can visualise as much as you want. I can't handle violence in films at all and yet have read some quite violent books, e.g. A Clockwork Orange. In a book you can gloss over the violent bits and have an idea of what has happened without dwelling on it. In a film it's very much in your face and unfortunately special effects are getting better and better at making it look real these days.

Yes it would bother me. I'd kick off! Go for it!

Serin, I can't believe the school thought Jurassic Park was suitable viewing for 4YOs! I would be out for the teacher's head!
Much too scary

I hate Bad Santa and those kids definitely shouldn't be watching it. Sex and drugs

It wouldn't bother me at all. The teacher would not show a completely inappropriate film. Why oh why do so many people on here question the judgement of teachers?! Some of the books that children have to read at that age at school are more inappropriate than much older film ratings. And I would also question yourself about what your dc see on the internet when your back is turned.

Frozen has a pg
Rating due to mild threat and violence. I wouldn't mind my lo watching that in school. Bad santa is wholly inappropriate for 11 year olds! I wouldn't be happy

Apparently it has the 2nd highest use of the F word in a 15!

I'm usually fine with my 12 yo watching 15s but my DH & DS watched this before Xmas we were all gobsmacked at the language!

I'd be really cross, and I would question a teachers judgement just as most people now question Drs and Nurses and other professional.

My oldest is 12 and he's never read a trashy bad taste book about santa getting high and robbing things for school. I appreciate that some other schools may differ.

If it's a 15 then they can only show it to children 15 or older. Parents have the same legal responsibility. My school got around it by cutting the movie to make it suitable but this still had to be passed by the governors as acceptable before they could. Schools usually need permission to show PG or 12 movies to children of the appropriate age. I'm really shocked this has happened!

Why do people say teachers wouldn't show inappropriate films. Last term my 13 year old was shown Saving Private Ryan - not in an educational context but as an end of term treat. I recognise many parents may be ok with this film but I'm not, when I watched it it had such an impact that I had disturbed sleep for ages. No consent was sought or given. Fortunately for me my DS knows my views re this film so sat and played on his phone. The same DS had to sit through a viewing of The in Woman in Black when he was 11 - I know only a year young but that film isn't one I'd expect a teacher to take a decision over.

It would depend on the film.
For example my 12 year old has watched Sweeney Todd which is an 18.
Bad Santa - no way.
I would not be happy.

Pollymere teachers are allowed to use their discretion because it's not a showing in a cinema. So the teacher wasn't breaking the law. Neither would a parent be.

Whether it's a good idea to show Bad Santa to children is another matter though!

FFS read the thread it wasn't Bad Santa that was shown.

I would be furious, my dc's do not watch films older than their age, only exception is a 12a which I watch first and then decide. My 11 year old is very immature for his age and if he hears swearing in a film,thinks it's funny, and repeats it constantly. I would be making a complaint to the school, ours seek permission for a PG!

Sorry, just saw the miscommunication.

Another case of a special snowflake melting. Teachers can make the judgement call, that is their job. Maybe an opportunity for parent to get face in the DM with frounny face!

I'd be happy for a 12-year-old to watch a 15 film at school (without the school asking my permission) if there was an educational purpose to it - eg if it was a film adaptation of a book they were studying or was set around an event they were studying in history or something like that.

I was shown the John Hurt version of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the Polanski version of Macbeth and the TV adaptation of Z For Zachariah at school when I was younger than the BBFC rating for those productions, and I'm very glad I was. My parents' permission was certainly never asked and I'm sure my parents wouldn't have expected to be asked, either. Maybe people were more relaxed about such things in 1989.

However, I see zero reason why you'd show Bad Santa to any school group, let alone a bunch of 12-year-olds. Apart from the age rating, it's a pile of shit. There are a million and one other great films they could have picked to show kids as an end-of-term treat which would have worked much better for an audience in the 12-15 age range. It's a pretty weird choice. So yes, I think it would annoy me if my 12-year-old kid had been shown something like that, simply because it's just totally unnecessary to pick that sort of film for that sort of occasion. There's a million other options, FFS.

It probably wouldn't bother me. I'd trust both my children's teachers to know what was appropriate.

Suppermummy 'Special snowflake' to describe a child with sn? Really?