AIBU? School says sports day on Saturday is compulsory

[weekendsareforfamily]

My son is in year one, so second sports day now. Last year it was scheduled on a Saturday but the weather was bad so was cancelled and rearranged for a Tuesday afternoon. This year it is planned for this coming Saturday. My boy has a swimming lesson from 09:30, the children have to be in school for 09:00.
On the FB group chat someone has asked whether they have to go as they are working and cannot get the child to school. The receptionist has replied saying yes as its a compulsory day and we have all known about this since September last year.
Now I was planning on popping into the reception to say my boy wouldn't make it because he's swimming but now I am worried I will be told tough and that I knew about this so should be bringing him in. I am worried I will be fined if he doesn't attend but it's a Saturday?! Do I tell the truth and risk a fine? Do I lie and make up another reason? Do I lose out on the money I have already paid for his swimming lessons (we have already lost out on two from going away at last half term)? Arrrgh
WWYD? Thanks

[dancehowyouwannadance]

mrsm43s

Hahahahaha.

[colditz]

SunnyShades, stop making things up, please. You're making teachers look bad and anyone who has ever worked in a school knows you're lying.

[NotAgainYoda]

ChocolateWombat

And other schools have a strong culture of parents and staff working together to support children, and yet don't require Saturday attendance.

Correlation does not equal causation

[agentdaisy]

sunnyshades firstly that's a figure of speech used on a forum. Secondly you have no idea about my attitude or parenting. As a school governor of 6 years and counting and an active member of the PTA I'd love to know how you're school manages to get children "out the door" for merely having parents with busy lives given that it's damn near impossible to expel children who are a danger to both staff and other students.

[Leeds2]

When my DC had swimming lessons, if you missed one eg through illness or a clash with something else, they would happily let you rearrange for a different class (same level) on a different day, as long as the lesson was made up in the same term. Would it be possible to at least ask, if you actually want DS to go to Sports Day?
Fwiw, I used to love primary school Sports Days!

[Dancergirl]

I think it's really sad that there are so many parents who are so unsupportive of their child's school. Doing the bare minimum, not doing anything which they aren't legally obliged to do

That's extrapolating a bit too far. Just because someone doesn't attend a Saturday sports day, possibly due to other commitments, does not mean they are not unsupportive. That non-attending parent might have attendee every other event in the school year or been on the PTA or whatever. Most families can't do everything.

[SunnyShades]

This thread really brings him why some schools struggle so much and makes me grateful to be part of the management team at the school I'm at.

There are a number of parents on this thread whom we would class as 'toxic'- ie not conducive to the good of the school, and who would be managed out as a result.

[FlyingElbows]

I'd tell you to poke your Sports Day too but I've also just done a year's worth of voluntary support for literacy and maths in my children's primary school. I can tell you which one it's considered more supportive and valued more. Don't assume that just because people value their weekends (the only time we have as a family) that they're not supportive of their, or other people's, children's education.

[BishopBrennansArse]

What sunny says about academy schools behaving atrociously is exactly why they need to be accountable to local authorities.

[SunnyShades]

@FlyingElbows

Luckily what's considered 'valuable' is up to the school and not you.

You'd be considered an unsupportive parent at my place if you refused to attend sports day irrespective of your other involvement.

[NotAgainYoda]

SunnyShades

Oh give over



"Toxic', 'Managed out'. It's a school; not a cult

[my2bundles]

Sunny shades, you cannot manage out a child or a parent out if a school for not attending school events 😝 You seem to think you are the only person on thus thread with knowledge of how a school works. Just for the record you are not.

[SunnyShades]

@my2bundles

I'm actually a senior deputy headteacher in a large primary school, so I do know exactly what I'm talking about.

[colditz]

The thing is about lying, SunnyShades, is that you have to be quite clever to convince people that something is true against the evidence of their own experience. I'm afraid you are unsuccessful at this, and as such, are now considered toxic and will be managed out of this thread.

[colditz]

yes, yes, and I'm The Queen.

Kneel, peasants.

[Borisdaspide]

Imagine having the deputy head of the most awful primary school here, in this thread!

[TransplantsArePlants]

colditz

I'm a TA. I wouldn't worry.

Sunnyshades is not making teachers look bad; s/he's making him/herself look a little 'overzealous'

[PolkerrisBeach]

Just because someone doesn't attend a Saturday sports day, possibly due to other commitments, does not mean they are not unsupportive. That non-attending parent might have attendee every other event in the school year or been on the PTA or whatever. Most families can't do everything.

Indeed. But in my experience a lot of families do bugger all. The attitude shines through "they can't make me", "you're not legally obliged to", "I know what I'd tell them if they asked me to", "i'm not giving up my precious free time" etc etc etc.

That's very different from "Look, we'd love to do X, Y or Z but we have plans which really can't be moved and I'm very sorry".

It's the same with PTA events - an endless supply of parents who are happy to bitch and moan about how they're organised and when they happen, a tiny supply of parents who are actually prepared to step up and get involved.

[my2bundles]

Sunny shades, You don't fool me for a second.

[GameOfMinges]

Arguably it's more supportive of the staff at a school not to participate in events that are held at weekend that could easily be done in school hours instead. They do enough unpaid overtime already, speaking as the family member and friend of a number of exhausted teachers. Assisting in the normalisation of this sort of thing creates expectations. I want my children's teachers to get at least some time off at weekends. Unrealistic as that expectation may be!

Sporting fixtures for older children are one thing, that's a pretty well established weekend custom and something most teachers would've been aware of when they chose to enter the profession. Saturday sports days for 5 and 6 year olds is quite another.

[agentdaisy]

colditz I wish mn had a like button for your comment.

[CaptainBrickbeard]

I don’t believe a word of what SunnyShades has posted. Good schools care about children. They face far more unsupportive parents than those who don’t want to attend weekend events. They have children whose parents don’t send them in regularly on normal days, who don’t engage with school at all, who don’t feed their children properly or read with them or teach them basic life skills. You would have to be quite staggeringly cruel to turn your back on a neglected, abused child because their parents are ‘toxic’ - all the more reason that genuine school staff do everything in their power to hang on to those kids and give them the best chance possible. A parent who is less than enthusiastic about Sports Day wouldn’t blip on school management radar as they simply have a lot more to deal with!

[ShatnersWig]

Yes, Sunny needs managing out of MN

[Squidgee]

i'm one of those parents who does the bare minimum.

Do I care?

Do I fuck.

I might have cared, but the fact I had to fight the school for failing to provide what my disabled child was entitled to by law? They can go fuck themselves.

Sports day on a Saturday? Not fucking likely.

[Soubriquet]

If you tried to force me out of your oh so special school sunny, I would be contacting the governors, my local council, the newspapers AND posting all over social media.