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?

@Ericaequites the boys don’t physically play against the girls. They play separate sports. They might do some sport together like cross country or fitness. Boys “more violent” what a lot of tosh. You should educate yourself before you comment. I work in a school. What a lot of rubbish you’re talking.

HelloKittyGirl

The only reference that I can find to age in your posts is a comment about yr 7 and universities.

If your DD is in year 7 you will be doing this for the next five years

As for the comment about not being forced to do a subject that she doesn't like, I can already see what will happen for her GCSEs.

I have seen this over many years of teaching an options subject.

@Ericaequites

I went to a private girls’ school, so have never been to a coed secondary gym class. One need not experience something to know it’s wrong. It’s not right for boys and girls in puberty to exercise together. It’s too suggestive for them to interact in revealing clothing. Coed classes rule out most sports because boys are so much stronger and more violent.

Rubbish.

Op, just tell the school that your daughter will not be partaking in PE from now on. Leave it there. Apparently she cannot be forced to do the classes.

[quote LightBulbous]@HelloKittyGirl honestly. Have a think about what you’re teaching your child long term. I work in a secondary school and the biggest fear I have for the children is the lack of resilience taught by parents. Any time a child doesn’t want to do something it’s pandered to. Teach her strength. Teach her sometimes there are tougher times in life where you have to graft and hate it. Teach her lying isn’t great. Teach her not everything worth doing will be fun at the time.

Resilience to overcome and tackle challenges is what children need and you getting her out of PE for a term due to weather is not teaching her that.[/quote]
It's teaching her to overcome

[quote doorornottodoor]@Ericaequites the boys don’t physically play against the girls. They play separate sports. They might do some sport together like cross country or fitness. Boys “more violent” what a lot of tosh. You should educate yourself before you comment. I work in a school. What a lot of rubbish you’re talking.[/quote]
In secondary school we sometimes had games lessons with the boys, we must have been about 14. The boys were vile to us, physically aggressive and I ended up needing an x-ray on my hand after volleyball practice.

@Jedsnewstar

Think about the bigger lesson you are giving your child. Your dislike of PE has probably rubbed off.

Pe isn't compulsory as an adult. Thank god

This thread is hilarious. As of bunking pe is a terrible life lesson. Get a grip. As if an 11 year old can't tell the difference between a fib to get out of pe and telling a lie in court.

The most self righteous thread I've ever read in my 12 years on mn!

The whining from school librarians is risible. Students using the library are major problems. How often do you have reason to call parents or place orders? Some one has to be there to check out books and other materials. Secondary students don’t need constant supervision. It’s certainly not how public libraries work.

I work in a secondary school and the biggest fear I have for the children is the lack of resilience taught by parents

Maybe if schools didn't put so much pressure on kids to do well they would be more resilient. We need a total rethink of the secondary school education system in this country as Finland had a number of years ago as there are so, so many children that it is utterly, utterly failing. I think generation Z is incredibly resilient in spite of all the shit society throws at them.

I can't believe you'd lie like that.

Not a good message to send to your DD.

I think good on you @HelloKittyGirl I did this as a teen for similar reasons. As an adult I've got really into exercise but the PE on offer at my school was grim. If you're at a fee paying school I'd be asking for better PE variety. Or try to get your daughter doing some active hobbies. I do think sport/activity is really good toget into early

@Ericaequites

The whining from school librarians is risible. Students using the library are major problems. How often do you have reason to call parents or place orders? Some one has to be there to check out books and other materials. Secondary students don’t need constant supervision. It’s certainly not how public libraries work.

While they're in school they do require supervision. It's a safeguarding

I absolutely hated PE and used the excuse of guitar lessons to get off it for quite a while. It’s given me a lifelong horror of team games and competitiveness. However I love walking and swimming now.
If my mother had encouraged me to skive and lied to teachers, I think that would have had a very negative impact on me . Given me the message that lying and skiving were fine.

@Ericaequites

The whining from school librarians is risible. Students using the library are major problems. How often do you have reason to call parents or place orders? Some one has to be there to check out books and other materials. Secondary students don’t need constant supervision. It’s certainly not how public libraries work.

Says the person who doesn't appear to have ever worked in a secondary school

As a person who went to a co-ed secondary school and did co-ed PE, I think I know a little more about it than someone who went to a same sex school and did not.

We did not play contact sports together - hockey, or rugby. Everything else we did together. No one got raped or sexually assaulted during a PE lesson, no one had involuntary masturbation sessions or orgasms during PE. PE kit is possibly less revealing than the way many girls wear their school uniform and sure as hell isn't designed for its sex appeal. We females gave at least as good as we got, and there was never more than the usual collection of ouchy boo boos that didn't often require so much as a kiss better, let alone surgery and criminal charges.

We. Played. Sports.

Oh, and discussed it with my two girls in a current co-ed, and they (once they'd finished laughing at ericaquite's outraged posts) said much the same thing. . .

@Ericaequites

I went to a private girls’ school, so have never been to a coed secondary gym class. One need not experience something to know it’s wrong. It’s not right for boys and girls in puberty to exercise together. It’s too suggestive for them to interact in revealing clothing. Coed classes rule out most sports because boys are so much stronger and more violent.

What gave I just read? Is this really how some people think? We're doomed.

Why on earth would you, as your child's role model, tell a blatant lie to the school? What is that teaching her? Have some morals!

And PE is actually good for them...

@Becky11 I am usually an enthusiastic "BeKind" supporter, so i thought long and hard about your post saying that people are judging here. I don't want the OP to feel got at, and I do think most of the posts here reflect the fact there are some polarised views about sport at school. However, I really don't think "bekind" is relevant to the issue of lying to the school, lying about her breaking school rules, because so many people (not everyone, granted, but most people I know) would judge this in reality, it is more BeingKind to tell the OP this? Or pearl clutching?

@mbosnz "
As a person who went to a co-ed secondary school and did co-ed PE, I think I know a little more about it than someone who went to a same sex school and did not.

We did not play contact sports together - hockey, or rugby. Everything else we did together. No one got raped or sexually assaulted during a PE lesson, no one had involuntary masturbation sessions or orgasms during PE. PE kit is possibly less revealing than the way many girls wear their school uniform and sure as hell isn't designed for its sex appeal. We females gave at least as good as we got, and there was never more than the usual collection of ouchy boo boos that didn't often require so much as a kiss better, let alone surgery and criminal charges.

We. Played. Sports."

ALL OF THIS!! I have gone to (several) co-ed schools as a kid and my daughter is currently going through a co-ed secondary school (after a co-ed primary). My daughter just rolled her eyes and laughed at the crazy Mumsnetters' fantasies about some awful horrors that happen during PE.

In reality, all they do is play sports! And PE uniforms are the OPPOSITE of attractive. They are absolutely hideous for the most part and in no way revealing. My daughter's uniform is a baggy tracksuit with a baggy polo and a frumpy netball skirt, which they have to wear shorts under. It's really not some sexy Physical-video-style leotard

@Ericaequites I’m so glad you know my job better than I do - what time can I expect you in the morning? School libraries are vastly different places to public libraries my dear. I’ve worked in both.

It's called

R E S I L I E N C E

Without resilience, your mental health is shot.

Why does she want to avoid PE? If it's just that she finds it boring, I don't think this is a good reason to avoid it, and certainly not to lie about it. If she is being bullied or body-shamed, then I think that it's a good reason to avoid it for a while, but best to be honest if possible.

If she does avoid school PE, then you should IMO make sure that she does some sort of alternative physical activity.

@CrankyFrankie

It's called

R E S I L I E N C E

Without resilience, your mental health is shot.

It's the other way round mostly. Resilience is a consequence, not a cause, of good mental health.

I don't think people should be encouraged or permitted to lie to get out of things, but that's to develop the value of truthfulness, not resilience. I hate the idea that forcing people to do things they dislike develops resilience. It's not a million miles from the Victorian idea that beating children would build character.

Oh, and I don't deny that sometimes people have to do things they don't like! Quite often, in fact. But I think they're more likely to accept the necessity if they haven't been forced to do such things just because they dislike them.