To withdraw dd from or am I being a 'snowflake' ?

[Thebighit]

NC
Prepared to be flamed.

Last year dd did boxing in PE. Her teacher teaches PE and a science subject if relevant.

During this lesson from what I can gather the PE teacher taught them boxing rather than a person brought in to teach it.

This teacher might be qualified to teach boxing I have no idea but in the class there was a lot of messing about and silliness with a room full of beginners and dd was hit hard in the face leaving her with a black eye and also a lump over her eye that stayed for weeks. I think I posted about it at the time.

Another teacher did come in at some point to teach but then it went back to the teacher. I am aware according to dd that the teacher has done a 'bit of' kick boxing but I have no idea as I said above if they are a boxing coach or qualified and don't think they have to be as it's school PE anyway.

Fast forward a year and they have split the class into two. Dd has spent a certain amount of weeks doing another sport and now we have been told it's boxing again. Dd is really unhappy about doing boxing again and asked if she could join the other group and repeat the other sport unbeknown to me. Teacher has of course said no.

I'm not that happy to be honest. I wouldn't be thrilled about her doing boxing anyway if I'm completely honest but if she wanted to do it I would find a club with a qualified and trained specific boxing coach who had experience of teaching and controlling classes of beginners.

I'm a martial arts black belt so not against self defence for girls at all but every martial arts!

Dd has additional needs including Dyspraxia so is not very keen on sports or school as it is so the idea of boxing until Christmas is going to put her off altogether and probably cause school morning battles again sigh...

[Aeroflotgirl]

Oh gosh hulababy we don't live in a cotton wool environment, if an adult wants to do contact sports, than they should. .

[gluteustothemaximus]

Fuck that shit. Easiest YANBU I have ever given.

No one needs to do boxing. I would refuse participation, without caring if anyone thought I was being a special snowflake.

[Hulababy]

Aeroflotgirl Tue 07-Nov-17 17:17:01
Oh gosh hulababy we don't live in a cotton wool environment, if an adult wants to do contact sports, than they should. .


The key phrase being WANTS to. So, imo, nobody should be MADE to.

[Thebighit]

That's what is bothering me Hulababy. For the first time dd had been really enjoying last terms sport to the point she has asked if I could find her somewhere to do it.

Now she's going to go back to hating pe and not wanting to go to school on those days.

[FireCracker2]

To those saying they would withdraw their child/refuse participation, I wonder HOW they would do that? RE is the only lesson you can withdraw your child from, or you can refuse permission for them to go offsite , but other than that you cannot cherry pick!

Had there been appropriate and adequate supervision by a qualified boxing coach I suspect it wouldn't have happened.
How would a coach have prevented it? How would ne know that fuckwit was planning to punch OP's DD in the mush?

[Hulababy]

In my experience, a proper qualified coach will have more of a handle on the group, and be setting out greater expectations, spend more time on the H&S aspects, laying down rules and guidelines beforehand, etc. Obviously things may still happen, I just think it is less likely.

[Honeycombcrunch]

YANBU

[Laiste]

I would think it's odds on that with a class full of teens doing pad work with one unqualified teacher someone's going to get bashed in the face.

I'm no risk assessor but i know what a class full of teens behaves like. It's really not rocket science. Teacher is a fool.

[Thebighit]

And as I said above when she did karate still she did 15 months plus of karate from beginner to blue belt including training with the squad team and she's never had an injury to her face ever as it was very heavily controlled and supervised for beginners. I. E an instructor or assistant stood with a small group of four of less constantly on them.

Any messing about from anyone and they were instantly called on it and made to sit down at the side or press ups or such.

[AskBasil]

"That isn't a failing of the school, the lesson, the teacher or the supervision.It is putely down to her idiot of a friend"

Would you say that about a kid blowing up the chemistry lab? It's a question of a properly trained teacher carrying out proper supervision and ensuring this doesn't happen.

Regarding "how can you withdraw your kid from anything other than RE" - well, what you say is, Where is the qualification, where is the training, oh, is there none, what do the governors and OFSTED say about that?" And they cave.

[FireCracker2]

I think the difference is that in a club setting the kids have paid for their class and don't want to be banned
I have to say that DD's Y11 class did it and their PE teacher put some a picture of it on her FB page ( I am a friend0 . It looked like they were having loads of fun and DD really enjoyed it .I am so sorry this idiot spoiled it for your daughter, but I stand by my view that thee is no more risk than exists in hockey or rugby.

[FireCracker2]

It's a question of a properly trained teacher carrying out proper supervision and ensuring this doesn't happen
How does supervision help? A punch happens in the blink of an eye ! If, the DD didn't have time to protect her face, how on earth could a coach however well qualified have had time to intervene and prevent it?
This kid would be an equal liability in another sport

[Aeroflotgirl]

I agree Hula, nobody should be made to do something they don't want, especially this haphazard boxing session. I agree, op should tell the school she does not want her dd taking part. It sounds like an accident waiting to happen. I do kickboxing, but would never teach it as I am not qualified. In a proper controlled environment, taught by a qualified boxing or kickboxing instructor, injuries should be minimal, they would have total control over the class.

[carefreeeee]

Boxing is not really a good choice for school PE. Reason being that there's inadequate supervision for a class of 30 and it's by nature violent and people should not have to fight or touch others if they don't want to. I don't agree with contact rugby either for people who don't choose it. There are so many other sports - why not pick a non contact sport for school children? Or give a choice?

[Aeroflotgirl]

The first thing we were taught in kickboxing was proper guard, and head and face blocking. Yes sometimes you do get hit in the face, when ever we spar or drill our techniques, we are always taught to not use force and gently throw a jab or left hook. When we spar, its light sparring, not fully on power shots. We are taught to respect one another, respect or partner, and if they don't want you to use force, you don't!

[Mummyoflittledragon]

If all else fails, you could also see if you could get a doctor/consultant to sign her out of boxing or perhaps all contact sport due to the issues surrounding dyspraxia and former injury. Or mental health/anxiety due to injury. It does cost £25 plus for such a letter.

[StaplesCorner]

The only "snowflake" part is that you haven't already told the school to give its own collective head a wobble. Boxing for year 10s. My days, what are you like.

[littlebird7]

There is no way on gods earth my child would be doing boxing full stop. The black eye can happen in any sport but the fact there is no protection is negligent.
This is easy pull her out immediately. No question.

[calamityjam]

It will definitely be pad work only. I doubt they would consider full contact due to obvious risks, no school makes kids punch each other in the face! My dds school does pad work. Dd got concussion last week playing hockey. If you withdraw her from this, you cannot prevent other injuries from playing football, netball etc, etc.

[Anatidae]

Another ex martial arts type here...

Absolutely pull her out. Boxing needs to be done under serious supervision and it an entirely inappropriate sport for mass PE.

I’ve not read all the replies but you MUST follow up to make sure an accident report is filed for the first incident. That’s really, really important.

[kittytom]

I think Ofsted would be very interested to know that no accident report was filled out for the previous incident in which your child was injured. Do you have photos? If not, report it anyway. I think there is a safeguarding issue here.

[IrritatedUser1960]

I think it's a dreadful idea and is clearly not being supervised properly.

[MissConductUS]

They definitely were not wearing head guards but I was told on here that some places weren't using head guards anymore for some reason I think.

Olympic Boxers Aren't Wearing Headgear Anymore

They've dropped it for the Olympics, because at that level of competition they hit so hard that the padding can't absorb all of the force and in a desire to win gold medals, they punch for the chin, which isn't protected.

It's bloody insane to not use the protective gear for kids.

[lljkk]

I am ok about contact sport (DD loved rugby).
Can't believe any school does Boxing, though.

[Aeroflotgirl]

I would be happy with Ds 5 doing kickboxing at my local martial arts centre, they are very safety conscious, and have qualified instructors and know what they are doing.