Forest school only for 'select' children

[Eyelashesrgreat]

Ds in Y3 and his school have recently 'selected' children from his class to go to forest school. The children do this weekly whilst the other children have to stay at school and do work. The children (selected) get to wear their own clothes that day and have treats.

The school did the same thing last year and ds wasn't chosen then. Ds has had a really difficult time recently at school and would have loved to have been selected for this activity. I asked his teacher if all the children will eventually get their turn at the forest school but she has said only certain children can go. AIBU to think this is a bit unfair?

Schools are fucking nightmares for this shit. My son remains flabbergasted that the violent, naughty, completely uncontrollable children are given chocolate, treats, days out and various expensive experiences while the kids who can actually function are ignored. He's never had a piece of homework marked or graded, and is barely set any. Classroom work is minimal due to the disruption of the bad kids. And he watches as they're rewarded again and again.

Because then nobody would get the consistency and scaffolding of skill building.

@Summerwhereareyou

The school does loads of universal clubs, Lego, Art, Gardening, Choir, Coding etc so I just assumed reading club was one of those and I'd maybe missed a letter about it.

If funding isn’t an issue then it’s massively more likely to be because those kids need time in smaller groups outside of the classroom for any of a range of reasons that are none of your business.

True
Pretty!!

I would be very, very cross if I found out the SENCO at my child’s mainstream school told other parents anything about at all her caseload. So I suspect you’re probably making that up to fit in with your narrative. The chances are the children being picked to go are, as others have said, children with an EHCP (or waiting for one), those on pupil premium, those who struggle to make friends or similar for whatever reason.

The school staff aren’t going to tell you their reasons as you have no right to know any details.

PP has nothing to do with special needs, but armed forces could be one of reasons a fairly affluent child would receive OP. I’m surprised that no-one would know that - especially living in a village as OP does.

I work with kids with SEN there are many in the group but only 2 have EHCP this is probably what your SENCO means when she says that only there are only 2 SEN kids in the school. (I question whether she should even be telling you this.)

Additional needs can take many forms my daughter is highly intelligent, perfectly behaved, outgoing etc but has qualified for additional support throughout her time in education (currently at University). Why? because she has a hidden physical disability which is only known to whom it concerns or she chooses to tell. Hence I am not stating what it is on a public forum. Don't assume you know all about the children in you DC's. Ask if you think the selection is unfair, but accept you will only be told in the broadest terms.

Actually being an affluent area doesn’t always help. I teach in an infant school in a very affluent area. We have access to less funding as we don’t qualify for grants and support, which some schools can get. Whether this is fair or not is a different discussion.

I'm aware PP and SEN are different, I might have included both terms in the same sentence though.

No armed forces either.

Whatever the reason, one things for sure..ds needs a new school. Not because of FS but just that he's struggling with anxiety and so many other issues. The FS is one issue amongst many, time to find a new school I think.

I think you would be surprised at what people do not share at the school gates. I talked to fellow parents but I never told them that my DD was dyslexic.

Again, it's a very affluent school so I'm not sure funding is an issue

Do you mean ‘the school serves an affluent catchment’ or ‘the local per pupil funding is unusually generous so the school’s overall budget is unusually high’?

Historically, ‘nice counties’ have extremely low per pupil funding. Low pp / low sen numbers will make this number even smaller. If this is an activity paid for out of school budget, it is that not the average income of the parents that matters .

@chipsnmayo I appreciate your discretion but everything is out in the open at our school. We meet outside of school sometimes too and then parents sometimes help out in the school office when it's busy so they hear information there.

If parents hear information in the school office they shouldn’t be repeating it to everyone! School information is not meant to be open

They hear information and then tell other people about it? Are you serious?

That should be the reason you move your kid, that’s appalling.

Parents help out in the school office so that they can get the inside track on other families and gossip to their friends about it.

This is why I absolutely hate parents helping in schools. Most of them are doing it to find out things about other families.

In my local infant school, all kids do forest school once a week in reception. Perhaps you could suggest that

Do you gossip about the badly behaved children?

At one of our local schools some parents set up a Whats App group to talk about one ‘badly’ behaved child and wanted the effing r**d child out of the school. This is a nice leafy affluent school too. Would never send my child there

Hate this shit! How unfair for all children. All should get a chance even if it’s once every month. That’s what our school did so all had an equal turn. Those children with pupil premium or send did other discrete things with a TA to support them but it was fairly done.
please complain to the head, then governors asking for their criteria for choosing. Also look at school policies for any quotes about fairness etc. please do this for your son and future pupils x

Both my children were in the SEN groups.

There were different groups of tables based on ability.

FWIW it was a lovely school. The problems started when that school finished (didn’t go through from 4-11) and they had to move to another school which didn’t distinguish in the classroom which children had SEN

Any progress my Ds especially had made was lost and no distinction was made for different abilities when work and homework were given out and punishments were given for not completing work. Work that for Ds was impossible.

Hmm, I voted YANBU because I believe all children, regardless of SEN issues or social deprivation etc, benefit from time in nature. I would be surprised if your school just selects pupils the teacher likes as it is usually based on pupil equity funding or behavioural needs. It is not unreasonable for school to choose such pupils if there is limited funding.

But as I said, it is a rich experience for all children. Our country should be able to offer this to all children as a priority - the problem is the government values the wrong things and a policy to allow all children to attend forest school on a regular basis should be created.

Part of the reason I withdrew my children from school and now home educate them is so they can go to forest school and spend more time outdoors.

You should be raising merry hell about this. Head, Safeguarding lead, information commissioners, Ofsted, you name it - all should be made aware of the appalling failure to maintain appropriate information security in this school. I am beyond appalled.

My DD is in Yr 3 and has been doing forest school for a term now. She did it in reception and Yr 2 as well. TBH, I would rather my DD was in school doing extra maths and English. We take her to the woods, build dens and all that jazz but that is in our free time. I want her learning things which I think matter more.

I think your school is being very unfair. In your position as you do want your dc to go to forest school I’d be taking them out for one afternoon a week until the end of term to do my own version of forest school. Tell his school your educating him off site if they need a register code.

The school is behaving unfairly and I would be writing to the governors to express concerns that there isn’t equal opportunity for the children. It may be the children going are PP kids but that shouldn’t mean other children should miss out all of the time. Obviously PP money is earmarked only for the use of those children so schools may find it difficult but this does appear glaringly unfair.

You’re educating him off site, not your! Doh!

Why can’t they take all kids?? What’s the point in only taking a few.. everyone would benefit from that time outside. x