To expect my 9 year old to be allowed to wear a coat...

[amy85]

Aibu to expect my 9 year old to be allowed to wear his coat for pe when the school insist on outdoor pe even tho it's cold and raining???

Rained all afternoon here and ds came out of school soaking and shivering

Plus ours school has changes everything to double periods to minimise moving around the school so it would be double PE in the rain if they took them outside. Ours go out weather permitting

I can’t say I could get bothered about this tbh. Being a bit cold won’t kill him. My kids regularly spent their weekends wet and filthy playing sports at that age

I went running in today's rain in a vest and leggings, the key difference being that I know I'm moving enough to stay warm, get in, warm my skin up in a lovely shower and put on a dry set of clothes.

Sitting for the rest of the day in cold, damp clothing with the windows open would be misery and not condusive to effective learning.

Sport is so much better as an adult where I have control of my clothing and can choose between the skort or thermal leggings and layer up as needed instead of perishing on frozen hockey pitches with bare legs and a thin jumper over a rugby shirt.

The activity from PE is important and ventilation is important in classrooms, but children need access to appropriate layers of clothing for these circumstances to stay healthy, warm and dry.

And I'm also in Scotland. They don't get outdoor PE if its raining heavily but also don't get PE indoors. They either get theory or sit about doing not very much

I'm in Yorkshire- doesn't get much colder- it's a bit chilly, not freezing- nowhere in the Uk has been very cold today- just wet.

When you get wet you feel colder especially if you then sit still for the rest if the day

Can he wear a sweater underneath his t shirt ? That's what my son does

My ds had football training in the rain this evening. First thing he did on getting home was have a hot shower and change into dry clothes. Totally unreasonable to expect 9 year olds to spend the entire day in wet clothes

*FreekStar

Stop exaggerating OP!

If DS had been siting in wet clothes all afternoon, then he wouldn't still be 'soaking wet' at hometime. And if he had a hoody on, then his t-shirt underneath would have been pretty dry.

It's only September, not January! it's been around 15 degrees in the UK.*

10 degrees where I am in the UK today and pouring buckets down with rain to the point where I could barely hear my conference call over the noise of the rain bouncing off the windows. The kind of rain where even waterproofs get overwhelmed. So he could easily still be soaking wet at pick up time.

We used to do PE outside in all weathers with no coats, but the difference was we could then change into our normal uniform afterwards. With this system of going in PE kit for the full day, they need to make allowances and either wear waterproofs, or cancel PE on very wet days if it can't be done indoors.

So about the we did it in the 70’s and it never did us any harm/was character building

We used to do PE in knickers and a vest. They changed that.

My DD’s primary used to have white PE shorts until the Headteacher realised that wasn’t always a good idea for year 6 girls.

Things change, children can’t get changed after PE at the moment. They need to be suitably dressed. The end.

@solidaritea in that case, I'm with the OP. The previous headteacher used to deliberately do fire drills in dreadful weather, and there was mutiny amongst the parents. Luckily my child sat by the cloakroom so always swiped her coat on the way out

Its been cold and very wet here...I normally have no issues with pe in the rain as normally they would be getting changed into dry clothes after...however this is not the case currently...the rain and cold doesn't usually bother him but he was frozen and shivering at home time and not a happy boy

I will email the school tomorrow and nicely ask what can be done for pe if it rains or hails... hopefully I won't be the only other parent to contact them

It has not been 'very cold' anywhere in the UK!

It is if you are wet!

@FreekStar

It has not been 'very cold' anywhere in the UK!

Maybe not cold cold. But 10 degrees in some places and no heating on in schools plus wet clothing will have left the children shivering. It was 12 here and tipping it down. My medium sized dog was cold today and needed his jumper on.

For extra freezing, shivering fun, I'll bet your DS's school is also keeping the windows and doors open too right? Our have the heating on but it's next up useless because they have to keep the exterior doors and all the windows open. They've also given permission (suggested) to send in a nice warm hoodie or jacket for using indoors if our kids ask. They are also switching kids round so no one is stuck by the open doors or windows all day.

Thankfully they're wearing outside appropriate coats for PE outside.

My DD has to have a navy cagoule especially for PE to wear if it's drizzling. I wouldn't be at all happy in your shoes.

It has not been 'very cold' anywhere in the UK!

In Yorkshire it has been raining quite heavily for most of the day coupled with a decent wind it has been cold and everyone I saw out had their "big coat" on. Especially if you are outside for an hour in the rain then you are expected to sit in a class room for the rest of the day in cold wet clothes.

YANBU OP and I despise people that want to make children miserable just because their childhood was.

Being wet and cold is a miserable feeling. I can't imagine having to then sit at a desk, with windows open, doing school work

It's only September, not January! it's been around 15 degrees in the UK.
this afternoon.

Oh the weatherman has spoken. 15 degrees in the whole of the uk you say?

It was at the warmest 12 here (and this morning colder) and very heavy rain. Sitting in wet clothes makes you feel colder.

Some people are seriously hard of thinking.

Maybe you could suggest that the children are allowed to wear a tracksuit over the top of their PE kit when actually doing PE. They can put it on and take it off anywhere, it won't require a changing room. Means they have some protection from the elements and if they get wet hopefully the PE kit underneath is saved from the worst of it if they are then in it all day. It shouldn't matter what the tracksuit is as long as it's suitable for exercise- now is not the time to be precious about school uniform.

If I had gone outside for an hour in a hoody and T-shirt today then there's no way my T-shirt would have remained dry.
And if I'd been sitting still in a building afterwards with the window open I'd have been freezing in my T-shirt even if it had been dry.

@TheTeenageYears

Maybe you could suggest that the children are allowed to wear a tracksuit over the top of their PE kit when actually doing PE. They can put it on and take it off anywhere, it won't require a changing room. Means they have some protection from the elements and if they get wet hopefully the PE kit underneath is saved from the worst of it if they are then in it all day. It shouldn't matter what the tracksuit is as long as it's suitable for exercise- now is not the time to be precious about school uniform.

His school are stupidly precious over school uniform...when they realised all pe was going to be outdoor they added logo joggers to the school uniform shop...up until this year plain joggers had been fine for the colder months but not now

It's astonishing the things we expect children to put up with that we wouldn't dream of doing to adults! Of course he shouldn't be expected to stay in wet, cold clothes all day.