To ask if you can think of an excuse which will get 11yo off PE for the rest of term?

[HelloKittyGirl]

Just that, basically. What would get her off games for a few weeks?

@Eleganz I only mentioned this because Dita73 suggested that those who skive off PE end up on benefits with no jobs. Which is clearly arrant nonsense.

I hated PE as a child under 11 because I had bad hand eye coordination due to being long sighted and couldn’t catch balls well. The teacher was a sadistic cow though!

In both secondary schools I did much better as I was good at running and swimming, I’d never have dreamed of asking my mum (also a teacher) to write a note excusing me.

I did stay off school a couple of times with very bad period pains but was also leaking through towels and felt faint and unwell.

Make her go to PE.

@ThoseFestiveLights why mine hated french and food studies
They still had to do it
If we let the kids who don't like pe bunk it why not the other kids their subjects
Pe at dc school is divided now into sets so the more able to together
The ones less able do sometimes limited versions of sports - so no contact rugby etc
And also they do all sorts now so no one sport runs for very long and its on to the next

[quote HonoreDeBallsack]**@Eleganz* I only mentioned this because Dita73* suggested that those who skive off PE end up on benefits with no jobs. Which is clearly arrant nonsense.[/quote]
I only replied because regardless of what provoked it, it is a terrible argument.

Don’t be silly @SheilaWilcox. No university ever turned anyone down ‘cos they didn’t do enough sport (and definitely not ‘cos they had a few weeks off games when they were in Year 7).

I don't blame you or your daughter. School shouldn't make PE so shit! I hated it and dreaded it. I have just managed to get my son out of PE at age 16, after years of anxiety which has recently worsened. He has ASD and it is just too uncomfortable socially for him. It is torturous. This is why so many adults get put off sport, because PE can be dreadful if your face doesn't fit.

I got out of CDT (craft design technology) as the teacher hated me and wasn’t nice! I was sent to make an alarm clock with one of the science technicians and my best mate fancied him so would hang round his room! I burned my thumb with solder whilst there and still have the scar but it’s hardly a compulsory lesson.

Why is your child the 'special' one that gets to skip a lesson she doesn't particularly want to do? That's a really terrible lesson to be teaching her. Shame on you.

If you think universities ONLY look at results then you are very naive. Lots of kids from selective schools will get A's. What will set them apart will be their character, integrity, extra curricular activities, testimonials from teachers.

Not sure what your point is here, because whilst I don't agree with trying to get out of PE, no university will reject you for not being enthusiastic/crap at PE. They're not even that interested in extra curriculars, unless they are relevant to the degree you're applying for.

Please don't invent an illness. I've never seen an 11year old with tennis elbow and I work in this field.
You are at risk of having her referred to a hospital consultant and potentially having steroid injections or even surgery.
That is a child protection issue.

One of my DC hated PE but played sport at County level outside of school. We contacted the school, explained the situation and they allowed her to sit out PE in her GCSE year. At 11 I think she just needs to get on with it.

Would it not be better for her to have a talk to the PE teacher and explain her anxiety - they may be able to help.

My DD hates PE but I always encourage her to do it as once you leave school you’ll never get the chance to do it again and looking back although I was unfit, overweight and rubbish at it, I had some of my best memories whilst doing PE.

Is this a joke?

Well done for not being cowed by the competitive horror and sanctimony on this thread OP. I knew how it would go as soon as I read your OP .

No ideas really though. I remember when I was at school we had to take six weeks off PE if we got ours ears pierced...so yes I persuaded my mum to let me get mine done without telling her about the PE rule. I even timed it for half term so I would get a whole half term off too - total bliss sat in the library every PE lesson for half a term avoiding the communal showers 😩 and bullying for my flat chest and not needing a bra from The Mean Girls.

I agree that deciding not to do things which are not good for you is an important skill to develop. However, secondary school pupils have not enough experience of life to decide this reliably.

Lying isn't something I'd want to teach my dc to be honest

@HelloKittyGirl

I don’t have a problem with it to be honest. I never liked PE either and she already gets plenty of exercise walking to and from school everyday. I’m not worried about her fitness levels. If she’d rather spend the time in the library doing homework, I’m happy with that.

Walking to and from school isn’t exercise - most of the kids I see doing this are stuffing their faces with family sized bags of Doritos at the same time 🤣 Do you not think exercise is important? Your poor daughter.

@SenselessUbiquity Most Secondary Schools are pretty big places with lots of students which require a certain ratio of staff to students in each area of the school. If every child could choose their own curriculum and timetable, it just wouldn’t work. Good news is we all get some choice (up to a point) in which schools our DCs attend. Places like Steiner cater for more of a pick-your-own curriculum, I believe.

I hated PE and it put me off doing any exercise for over a decade afterwards because I was terrible at all the sports, so there isn't even the excuse that it was good for my health. In the long term, it really wasn't.

Yes, sometimes there are things I'd rather not do at work, but there's no chance in hell that I'd be applying for a job that included activities requiring physical coordination and communal changing with my colleagues. I just wouldn't. There are plenty of jobs that don't ever involve these things.

Letting her skip PE for a few weeks isn't going to mean she has no work ethic as an adult or any of the other hyperbolic claims in this thread.

So you are teaching your child it is fine to lie? When she doesn't want to do something. Just don't complain when it is you she lies to.

PE at school now is nothing like when we were at school. It's not all hockey and netball, they do dance, yoga and all sorts of other activities. I wouldn't write it off in Y7.

I wouldn't collude in making up a lie to get her out of P.E. but I think the posters calling OP a useless excuse for a mother are going too far.

I had no benefit at all from P.E. at school. I wasn't very sporty but I was not overweight, more uncoordinated. It was all hockey, netball tennis and gymnastics. It was the teacher who was the bully and enjoyed humiliating and shouting at the less able pupils. The lists of the benefits of P.E. raised an ironic laugh.
I think P.E. would be much better if the competitive sports were optional and open to those who enjoy them. Aerobics, swimming etc. could also be available .
I don't like Sports Days in there present form. There wouldn't be a public maths competition where everyone was forced to participate publicly on stage in front of an audience.

Maybe have a conversation with school about why she wants to avoid PE. You can’t do this every year!

I didn’t particularly like PE at school but I did like sports. I just wasn’t very good and that’s why PE was hard. I’d not dreamed of skipping it though.

@TheBareTree

Gwendoline Mary Lacey, is that you?

😂

@LondonWolf

Well done for not being cowed by the competitive horror and sanctimony on this thread OP. I knew how it would go as soon as I read your OP .

No ideas really though. I remember when I was at school we had to take six weeks off PE if we got ours ears pierced...so yes I persuaded my mum to let me get mine done without telling her about the PE rule. I even timed it for half term so I would get a whole half term off too - total bliss sat in the library every PE lesson for half a term avoiding the communal showers 😩 and bullying for my flat chest and not needing a bra from The Mean Girls.

i know i cant believe the horror and sheer crap being spouted on this thread either , i had no idea allowing your child to skip pe and only pe made you an unfit parent , i must tell my 84 yr mum tomorrow that , she was always writing excuse notes for me when i just couldnt face it lol

My PE teacher was a total vicious sadist. If my mother had helped me get out of PE I'd have been grateful for ever. As things were I had to use my imagination and find ways of skiving without help.