To be absolutely gutted the school have received a complaint about this race?

[WinTakenAway]

Sports day last week.

It was the first one since Covid, and was so well run.

Every child had to do everything but they were all awarded a house point for taking part, 2 points for a 1st place only.

My DD came last in all but one race. The race she won was her against 1 other child in her class whose in a wheelchair.

This is the race they’ve received a complaint about.

According to the parent complaining it was unfair!

It wasn’t the parent of the child in the wheelchair who complained as the parent was heard praising the HT for including him in everything.

My DDs had the win taken off her, as the complaint was upheld by the governors. Even though the boy himself wasn’t bothered (he’d won 2 races himself).

DD needed that win, she hates school, is dyslexic and dyspraxic so struggles with even the basics. She needed that win to go into school with confidence and have something to boast about (trust me she’s the type of child that needs to be able to talk about her achievements as she’s always complaining and comparing herself).

It’s a mixed class of Y1 and 2s, so the other child was at most 7. And neither of the DC involved cared, as I said the boy had already won 2 races, my DD just needed a little boost.

Why can’t people just leave alone and let the teachers make a decision that’s best for the class?

Probably not a good idea in this case. However the idea isn’t crazy. Depending on the type of wheelchair and ability a wheelchair user may be faster over a runner. That’s the reason the wheelchair races in things like marathon are shorter than the run races.

I think the school handled it badly after the complaint. Even if they agreed it was not a good idea they should have talked to the parents of the child in the wheelchair. If they aren’t bothered the children didn’t need to hear about it all. Write a letter to the complainant stating that the school agree that the races could be structured differently and lessons learned for next year.

a bit more difficult if the wheelchair user/parents wasn’t happy - not sure what to have done then.

To be fair if he had already won a race against OPs DD it doesn't sound that unfair.

Absolutely ridiculous that this was referred to the School Governors, and even more ridiculous that they actually spent time dealing with it! Surely they could put their time to better use than taking a win from a 7 year old child. Even if they did think it wasn’t fair, they could have just left things the way they were this time, but made a note that this wasn’t to happen again.

I can’t believe they actually told your dd that the race shouldn’t have gone ahead and that they were taking her only win away from her. Talk about even further denting the confidence, of a little girl who badly needed a boost! The parent who complained should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves!

Given that dd came last in every other race, and they want all participants to have a chance of winning...how are they going to fulfil their own criteria and ensure that your disabled child is going to have a chance of winning in races in future.

How exactly have they ‘taken her win’ if they haven’t removed her team point?
You also say ‘neither child cared’ but your DD wanted to ‘boast’ about it so which is it?

I've never heard anything so ridiculous (OK I have, but this is high in the list). I would certainly complain. Taking a win off a year 2 child, with dyspraxia, defies belief. Please put your own complaint together and force them to see how ridiculous this is.

Just read one of your updates. The boy won a race when he was being propelled by his mum! How come that isn’t unfair?

Why are folk assuming the child in the wheelchair is less able to cover a set distance in a straight line than a non-wheelchair user?

Assuming hard ground/track and not grass, when I used a manual chair I could absolutely beat my partner in a 100yard sprint and I have heart failure!

I know manual chair users who would almost certainly beat most folk in this thread, because their disability is spinal or specific to their legs and their upper body strength is phenomenal.

Dd came last in every race in 6 years of sports day at primary. The other year was too wet to run it. Occasionally she got a third sticker when they only put three kids in the race. A couple of teachers managed to engineer that.

I can't believe anyone cares about the result of an infant sports day. Enough to complain? Enough for the governors to take action on a complaint received from someone who's child wasn't even involved? Enough to change the result after the event?

How did they communicate the change?

Plusba race between only two children, one of whom is in a wheelchair? I agree with PP why does that give DD a "boost"? I think someone needs to fund her another way to get that.

The whole thing is bizarre. I can't really see the complaint even being investigated if it came from someone not involved and definitely not by governors in that timescale.

Taking a race win away from a small child is awful, whatever the circumstances 😡

My DS went to a Special Primary school and had some children racing in wheelchairs with ta's pushing them running and they started part way down lane about a third of way so only had to go shorter way. A boy running won, second was a child in wheelchair and third as child running. Maybe something your child's school could consider in future.

A very odd race to have held, but how utterly ridiculous to take the award away. Why should a child be punishment for adult stupidity? They should have taken a lesson learned from it, but not removed your daughter's award. I would definitely complain back!

Why were there only 2 children running in the race? Seems very odd to have only two children in a race and even stranger when one is a wheelchair user and the other running on foot. Was there a logical reason as to why it was only the two of them racing?

To those saying the dc in a wheelchair shouldn't have had to compete against someone not in a wheel chair..... so should he just be left out of sports day all together then? He won races against other dc, are you ok with him being allowed into those races because he won, but its not ok in this other race because he didn't win? I don't know what the solution is here, but I really don't think its to leave this DC out of races. However taking the win off this dd is one of the weirdest things I have heard of a school do.

Either the school have mishandled this, or you were lied to. Formal complaints must go to the head first, they usually meet the complainant but also respond in writing. The governor stage is after HT process is complete and involves a panel meeting, not a regular meeting. It’s physically impossible to set that up, meet and notify of outcome within a week.

What did they achieve by taking their point away? The school is at fault for making it a two way race! Surely they could have found more runners? As a mum with a child with extra needs I would be mad they put my kid in that position. Two kids with extra needs against each other alone. Shocking.

I'm doubtful of governors involvement in this. All schools have a complaints process and getting the chair of govs involved is the last straw for after all other avenues have been explored. It's essentially an operational matter which the head would deal with.

I think someone is spinning you a yarn.

That's ridiculous , we have a couple of children in my youngest dcs year who use wheelchairs and another dc who needed the support of 2 teachers to participate in the running race

None of them won a race but their parents (and the dc) all seemed happy with the taking part.

I have a dc with dispraxia and asd, he was a bit sad that he came last in all the races. I can imagine how upset he would have been if they decided to take a win off him . People will complain about anything 🙄

Crikey, I was at my sons sports day on Monday and have been to my daughters previously, I honestly couldn't tell you who won what. It was mainly all done in small teams and they certainly didn't announce any winners. Aren't sports day only suppose to be a bit of fun.

Dyspraxia effects coordination and movement so your daughter is at a massive disadvantage but where were the complaints about every race she came last in being unfair, it’s exactly the same thing but just because it’s a hidden disability people don’t see, I’d put a complaint in or at least formally bring to schools attention in writing

I cannot believe that a child in year 1/2 has had their win taken off them! That would never happen in any school I’ve ever worked in. Nor would the governors get involved in who won races at sports day

This.

I hate sports days anyway. They’re just torture for non-athletic kids and it wouldn’t fly AT ALL in any other subject. Imagine making every child stand up and perform poetry from memory or do quick mental maths. It just wouldn’t fly and would be so unfair but for some reason sports day is okay.

In this case it’s a tricky one. Would I have set up a child in a wheelchair versus a running child? Probably not. But I also wouldn’t have removed a medal from a child after the fact, I would just try to smooth it over and regroup for the following year. It’s a whole messy situation overall.

The whole thing is crazy.

The two person race.

Someone complaining about a six year olds sports day.

The school listening to the complaint ever mind upholding it.

Madness.

Hard to believe that parents actually complain about which child wins a race at a school sports day. It's not the Olympics, ffs.