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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to insist DS doesn't do PE?

66 replies

cakedup · 07/05/2019 21:58

DS(14) has achilles tendonitis. The GP recommended he did not do sport/PE for 2 weeks, and even printed her notes to confirm this, to which I added a letter asking the school to excuse DS from PE.

DS came home to say that he (and another boy, recovering from a broken leg and in a boot) were made to play 'catch' with a tennis ball because "there is nothing wrong with your hands."

Surely you do use your feet a bit when playing catch though? One sudden move could rupture his tendon. I'm quite annoyed they've read my letter and gone against my wishes. I asked that he did not do PE, not that the lesson be adapted. Or am I a being over protective?

OP posts:

Stompythedinosaur · 07/05/2019 23:48

I'd be ringing the school too and expressing that I wasn't happy.

fargo123 · 08/05/2019 03:50

What the hell is it with PE teachers? They're dicks the world over.

When I was a teenager I had an operation on my leg, followed by four months in a cast. Two days after having the cast removed, the PE teacher, who was an complete moron anyway completely independent of this situation, wanted me to join in the class cross country training, against medial advice. Idiot!

OP, I echo PP who say to contact the school and read them the riot act.

Graphista · 08/05/2019 04:33

Another saying read the riot act it seems to be the only way to get them to listen!

I've just posted on another pe teacher thread about how my dd was treated with regard to her having a permanent physical disability. Pe teachers actions were regularly causing her to overdo things against consultant advice and incur injury.

It basically took me threatening to sue befits they packed it in!

Why are pe teachers so Fucking arrogant?!

pantsville · 08/05/2019 06:53

It's really irrelevant whether anyone on here or otherwise thinks your son should be doing PE. The doctor treating him said he shouldn't participate until he has recovered sufficiently, so that's that, it's not up for debate.

MarthasGinYard · 08/05/2019 07:10

'It's really irrelevant whether anyone on here or otherwise thinks your son should be doing PE. The doctor treating him said he shouldn't participate until he has recovered sufficiently, so that's that, it's not up for debate.'

Quite

I've had a total rupture of my Achilles and I was out of action for over 6 months

outvoid · 08/05/2019 07:18

‘There’s nothing wrong with your hands’ .

They have a point...

Frouby · 08/05/2019 07:20

PE teachers are worse now than when I was at school in the 90s.

Dd pulled her arm a couple of years ago, can't remember how but had a sling on (as per A and E) to rest it. Wrote a note in her planner saying No PE due to injury. They made her get changed (she struggled going to the loo never mind a full change) and referee netball.

She also has Raynards so her hands get really painful and stiff in the cold. Wrote a note asking that she be allowed to wear gloves for outside PE if she thought it necessary. Was fine until they did some work at a local primary school and was told she couldn't put them on as they weren't uniform. Her friend took a photo of them, they were bright red apart from her fingers which were white. They were that bad she was late for her next lesson as she couldn't do the buttons up on her school shirt as they were so painful.

I raised it with the PE teacher at the next parents evening (which was a week after) and she just shrugged and said dd needed to toughen up. I said I would pass her comments onto dds circulatory system and maybe that would cure her then. Then emailed H of Y to say if medical advice was ignored again and dd was made to suffer physically for the sake of uniform policy I would be writing to the governors.

Catchingbentcoppers · 08/05/2019 07:26

This really fucking pisses me off. I'm a teacher and some PE teachers really seem to think that they can do their own thing. A GP note to say that they mustn't do PE means just that. A PE teacher at my previous school did something similar - following day the parents appeared at school and very politely requested to see the risk assessment that the PE teacher had carried out to overturn the GPs decision. The Head was absolutely livid with the teacher.

UrsulaPandress · 08/05/2019 07:28

Everyone in the sports hall heard my dds ankle snap. But the PE teacher made her walk back to school. She took herself to the nurse who let her phone me. When I arrived they had let her hop down the stairs and wait for me alone outside the door.

When she returned a few days later with her leg in plaster they again tried to minimise it by saying it wasn't a 'proper' break.

DH went in for a chat.

CylindraceousNicholas · 08/05/2019 07:38

What is it about PE teachers!?!?

LL83 · 08/05/2019 07:55

I think it would be better for ds to play catch than have to do written work or sit and watch.

Catch with a tennis ball with two injured boys (if they are sensible) will involve throwing directly to each other and knowing their limits if the all goes out if reach dont run or jump for it.

If you feel your ds is likely to get carried away speak to teacher. I could trust my child to take it easy, but I know they are all different.

ADropofReality · 08/05/2019 08:05

PE teachers tend to treat kids not wanting to do PE (for whatever reason) as laziness and skiving. Even a doctor's note is treated the same way - mummy must have conned the doctor so little Johnny can slack off. Unfortunately there are enough lazy and skiving kids that those with genuine injuries get dismissed.

NannyRed · 08/05/2019 08:07

Yanbu.

I’d visit the school and have words.

Someone at my school (waaaay back in the 70s) had a note to excuse her as she was recovering from pleurisy or some lung problem but the pe teacher made her do a run. The girl died as a direct result and the teacher kept her job! Teachers are not doctors. Your sons health is more important.

Catchingbentcoppers · 08/05/2019 08:08

I think it would be better for ds to play catch than have to do written work or sit and watch.

But, with respect, it doesn't really matter what anyone here thinks - the child's GP said that they shouldn't do PE, not that it should be adapted to suit.

Yellowpolkadot · 08/05/2019 08:21

Pe teacher Here for the bashing, there should be alternatives for injured students in the lesson. We have a range of options dependent on the level of injury. It can be a written performance development activity, umpiring, coaching, data analysis, or if the lesson doesn’t lend itself to any of that then we also have some physiology bits for students to try. The problem a PE teacher has is you shouldn’t let a student do nothing for an hour, and many parents think that they write a note and their kid can twiddle their thumbs, that teacher still has accountability for the students progress.

I’m not condoning the situation described, it sounds like the teacher has either run out of non doer activity sheets, Is lazy and someone has come on a learning walk and they needed to make it seem like your ds was doing something, or is just a bit of a moron. If your ds is likely to be out for a long period I’d call school to discuss with said teacher how your son will be included (included being the key word) in their future lesson plans!

Isitweekendyet · 08/05/2019 08:27

PE teachers are a breed of their own. We had a girl in a wheelchair in our year and the teacher simply could not get their head around her being 'unable' to exercise in a 'normal' fashion.

We used to do cross country and she would force the girl to wheel laps.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 08/05/2019 10:49

PE teachers can be so bossy and bullying. Had several separate issues with them during quite sporty dds's school days.

One particularly obnoxious one told a dd very brusquely that she was 'too old' at about 12 to be still doing ballet, because lessons sometimes clashed with team netball practice.
Same cow refused to believe that dd had a very painful foot. Turned out she had a march fracture.

I had to put my foot down with another, when she refused to let other dd out bang on time after an activity - 'She has to stay and help tidy up' - when I had a younger child needing to be taken to another activity on the other side of town, during the Friday night rush hour.
'Your mother will have to get someone else to take her.'
Hence some Very Plain Words.
I don't know why so many of them are so bullyingly obnoxious.

Hearthside · 08/05/2019 11:38

My DD had an operation on her toe and i sent letter in to the PE stating absolutely no PE on dr's say so and added on the letter any problems feel free to contact me .They did listen if they hadn't then i would have been straight in.

Hearthside · 08/05/2019 11:38

PE teacher

Acis · 08/05/2019 11:48

PE teacher ignored my note when DD hurt her foot and made her do activities including jumping. She was in severe pain when she came home, turned out she had a foot fracture. The note I sent in made it very clear that the fracture had been severely exacerbated by the teacher's action and asked the head to confirm that DD would not be doing PE until I said so. She duly did, and I gave DD a copy just in case the idiot teacher tried anything again.

howabout · 08/05/2019 12:04

Always wonder on these threads about the compliant DC who take the authority of the PE teacher over that of parent plus doctor. Mine don't and youngest is 7 and to the best of my knowledge neither do their classmates.

In similar case there might have been one half hearted throw of the ball before they decided not to bother catching or picking it up.

Never had anyone in detention etc as a result.

usernameusername01 · 08/05/2019 12:20

Acis - how is the teacher the idiot when you didn't even realise your DC had a broken foot?!

If a child had a note to get out of something in Maths and the teacher just let them sit there not doing anything, everyone would be in uproar about wasted learning time. It's the same for PE.

OP - you said you DC was really good at throwing and catching, so they'd be able to aim the ball without any movement at all. I've done this before with a student sat on a chair. But agree with PP that's a PE teacher, we often use non doer sheets, umpiring and analysis to keep the student engaged. Sounds like the teacher had an idea, your DC was more than capable of saying no if it hurt surely?

Maldives2006 · 08/05/2019 12:49

The teacher is not a qualified dr therefore they should be abiding strictly by the contents of the medical letter.

The dr said no P.E. therefore there should be no physical activity at all. Surely the ops son would have a library book or homework to do.

Catchingbentcoppers · 08/05/2019 13:15

@usernameusername01 but the teacher should not have overridden the GP's note, that's unacceptable. The child should absolutely have been given another task to do, no question about that, but not this one.

Often, children either don't have the confidence to speak up to a particular teacher (surely we all know one like that?), or, as I'm sure you know, some injuries can be exacerbated after the activity rather than during.

CripsSandwiches · 08/05/2019 14:05

Exactly. No one cares if you/your aunt/your best friend has had tendonitis and what they did about it. If you have a physical problem you see your doctor and follow their advice not go and find someone online who has had a similar issue and see what they did about it. The PE teacher doesn't get to decide who is or isn't medically fit to do PE Dr said no PE so no PE it is. I'd ring up school and make that clear.

No one is saying they sit and do nothing - the PE teacher can think up a task that doesn't involve moving around or the kids can go to the library and read a book.

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