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?

i have so many questions about this!

On what basis was this particular race judged to be unfair, when the other races in which the wheelchair user took part weren’t?

why on earth are the board of governors getting involved in adjudicating on the outcome of sports day races?

if they’ve judged the race was unfair and shouldn’t have gone ahead, it what meaningful way have the stripped the win from your DD, given she’s still being given the house points. What are they doing, striking it from the record books?

If all sounds like it’s been treated as if it’s elite sport or something, it’s bizarre!

They haven't done anything meaningful, but I strongly suspect they have made OPs dd feel like shit by telling her she didn't win after all and the race wasn't fair. Children tend to take things personally and feel responsible for things - particularly female children. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the dd now feels like she somehow cheated.
If they told the boy the same, he may well be feeling othered and embarrassed as well.

The school are wrong, regardless of your view on the race. It is the schools handling of the situation which is completely inappropriate and which needs to be complained about so that they avoid putting children into awkward situations again.

If the race shouldn't have gone ahead the school are wrong to have run it and treated both children badly - both in running the race and then how they handled the complaint.

If the race was fine the school are wrong in their handling of the complaint.

Either way - the school are wrong and the children have suffered as a result.

if they’ve judged the race was unfair and shouldn’t have gone ahead, it what meaningful way have the stripped the win from your DD, given she’s still being given the house points. What are they doing, striking it from the record books?

I'm guessing that this is strongly linked to the DD boasting about it and that that's why she's been told it wasn't a real win. But that's a situation the school created with its bizarrely poor judgement - I'm not surprised people were shocked to see it and complained. I couldn't give a toss about sports day in general and would have struggled previously to think of a scenario where I'd complain about it but this might have done it - what the actual fuck were they thinking?

Not exactly something to be very proud of... beating a kid in a wheelchair.

For the governors to get involved, there must have been something valid in the complaint.

Frankly, I'd just let it go, sports day is a rubbish ableist event at the best of times. Someone always loses, even when they don't deserve to.

^^This

Also, I would think it unfair to exclude a child from a race based on them being in a wheelchair.

YANBU, OP. The school should not have retracted the win.