AIBU to think their should be a wieght limit on school bags?

[VelvetChairGirl]

just the title really.

my son has to carry everything in a backpack he isnt allowed any other type of bag, they have no personal storage spaces in classes or a locker, so all the books and equipment, water bottle etc have to go in the backpack and be carried all day around the school.

I ended up carrying his bag for him yesterday and my shoulder hurts today, he's only 11 its too much.

@Guacamoleontoast

I can't remember carrying anything much to school (1960s). All our books, equipment was kept in our desks. But all lessons except for science and art were taught in the form room, with teachers for the various subjects coming to us. We did have to carry ingredients for cookery though, in a wicker basket covered with a divided cloth. PE kit was kept in lockers and taken home very rarely when it needed washing.

This makes SO much more sense. I really wonder why more schools don't do this.

Surely it's quicker and easier to keep the kids in one place?

Not RTFT but I can sympathise as I remember from school! One day we were timetabled to have PE and Food Tech on the same day. Plus multiple exercise books and text books and other usual stuff, it was a joke. Then lugging it all home when you had the same class the next day because no lockers, ridiculous.

I actually have back/shoulder issues from carrying my heavy school bag on the same shoulder when in high school. Im only 5ft 1 so was tiny in school and really struggled with the weight of it!

@LongBlobson

My y8 some days has packed lunch, water bottle, pencil case, reading book, exercise books, woodwind instrument, music book, PE kit... They can barely lift it and have to walk over half an hour to school. Not sure what the answer is though.

At least they don't seem to have text books - at that age we had to bring text books to and from school too!

The one thing that would help is wearing PE kit on PE days like they do at primary. But I think the secondary kids often get too muddy and sweaty to wear it all day.

Lockers aren't a thing apparently since covid.

My kids school they were the P.E kit on P.E day all day.

Ours have to take an iPad, which comes with a keyboard and a heavy protective case. I thought this would be instead of all the books, but no, it's just one more thing in addition to all the other stuff dc has to cart around!

It's ridiculous isn't it OP? I was made to carry everything as well around school. It was an all-girls school and I think I was one of about 3 in my year that even had a backpack! The rest all had these giant Primark handbags that would break. I tried a messenger bag for a year or two until my mum told me I was being insane. She was right. It got worse in GCSE when I was also made to carry 2 textbooks for all 5 lessons each. I used to come home with such a sore back, not something a 15-year-old needs!

All our books, equipment was kept in our desks. But all lessons except for science and art were taught in the form room, with teachers for the various subjects coming to us.

When DD1 started at the secondary they did this.

I suspect it helped with the previous loss of students during day that under that head had declined and possibly loss of pens and equimpent between classes.

Then head left and it changed - apparently the teachers often prefer staying still and kids moving as means they can have their books and things round them and they can group in subject areas.

My 11 year old’s backpack weighs 6.6kg today. There is no WAY I would carry so much for work. There are no lockers and wheely bags aren’t allowed. I think it is appalling, makes me seriously angry. There is no way that young kids should be carrying that kind of weight all day every day.

@VelvetChairGirl

just the title really.

my son has to carry everything in a backpack he isnt allowed any other type of bag, they have no personal storage spaces in classes or a locker, so all the books and equipment, water bottle etc have to go in the backpack and be carried all day around the school.

I ended up carrying his bag for him yesterday and my shoulder hurts today, he's only 11 its too much.

What about those backpacks that double with a handle and wheels ? Although I understand your perspectives op. For me it was , laptop, tablet, textbooks for different lessons, then on the side, research project s for psychology and genetic engineering

My sons schoolbag weighs a ton...2 Art sketchbooks (thick and heavy) several other books, lunchbox, waterbottle plus PE kit. I feel sorry for him having to lug all that around. We had lockers in my day

Do they have a firm rule about sack barrows?! Could you get him a folding one that he can strap the stupid rucksack to at least for the journey to and from school?

This whole set-up sounds so pointlessly stupid - I remember struggling with the same kind of thing when I was in secondary, but at least we had lockers, so we weren't carrying them around all day. It's a shame that schools aren't set up to actually accommodate students and their learning, and disappointing to learn that things have actually gone backwards over the last 25 years...

My son carries

At least 8 books, pencil case, water bottle, packed lunch.
3 days a week full outdoor gym it (no indoor gym cause of "Covid")
One day a week a musical instrument, stand and music book.

Its bloody awful and he has to lug it all from class to class.

There are lockers in school but they are still taped off for "Covid Reasons".

I can't remember carrying anything much to school (1960s). All our books, equipment was kept in our desks. But all lessons except for science and art were taught in the form room, with teachers for the various subjects coming to us.

I'm probably of a similar age an we had to carry everything and traipse between rooms. Eight lessons a day too, not five.

The only people that used backpacks then were mountain climbers.

Our DDs school always used to have lockers for every pupil. Until they had a brand new school building built that opened last September (parts of the old buildings were in such a bad state of repair demolition was the only option). It’s all brand spanking new. Except no one considered how wide the corridors would need to be for lockers. Not one single corridor is wide enough for both two way walking traffic and lockers, so now there aren’t any. There’s only enough for one year group, in the last remaining old building, and they have been given to Year 7. Every other year group has to bring everything in and home again every day.

I ended up with a herniated disk in my lumbar region from a heavy backpack at 16. I had to do physical therapy to sort it and quit dance classes for a year. It was that, some type of injections into my spine and worse case scenario back surgery if physical therapy and injections didn’t work. The exercises I realised later were mainly yoga positions. I will say it made me more aware of how my body moves and how not to put stress on any part of my spine.

5 exercise books and his lunch really doesn't weigh that much

Funny joke. Not. What secondary school kid goes to school with only 5 exercise books and lunch?

We had lockers when I was at school (90s) but I always had a bag stuffed with stuff. The lockers werent always accessible either.