England world cup at school

[AddingUp]

DC is in primary school and they do not care much for football anyway. As a family, we are boycotting the World Cup as a boycott due to their human right abuses.

We received this email late on Friday from the head:

"I am aware that a number of children will want to watch the England world cup game on Monday. Therefore we will be screening the game in one classroom per year group for those who wish to watch the game and those who do not wish to watch it will undertake alternative activities in the other year group classroom."

So basically they are stopping all teaching for the football.

AIBU to email the head and inform him that I will be picking up DC early if school is not going to teach him anyway?

😂

Of course YABU. The school are offering alternatives to watching the football, so why would you pick him up instead? I suppose you could make it clear that he's not to watch the football, but other than that, what are you achieving by picking him up early? Are you going to teach him the lesson that they've cancelled?

I want to make a stand against the whole thing I suppose.

I wonder if they’d do the same for a women’s sporting event. I’d bet not.

So your kid can have memories of watching the World Cup with his class mates or being picked up by mum and excluded from the fun?

Seems a bit of a waste to cancel a whole day and just put on ‘activities’ (which I presume will be drawing or reading). Fine for Year 1 or something but a bit of a waste of time for Year 6.

The message literally says that they will make alternative provision for those who don't want to watch it. Despite your personal disapproval it is a major sporting event involving the home nations.

The women’s euro matches were all televised outside of school hrs if I remember correctly.

Honestly sounds like the school is taking a sensible and pragmatic approach tbh.

Not sure how removing your child from school makes any meaningful kind of stand.

Working with them at home to write an informed letter to your MP or the Qatar embassy might be a better way? Probably not effective but a way to explore the official route of expressing political disagreement.

You wouldn’t be “making a stand”. You’d be making yourself look like a muppet.

I don’t know a single school not showing the match at some point. YABU. They’ve offered alternative activities for the children not interested.

I think it's likely they would actually.

There are alternatives if they don't want to watch the football. You don't need to pick them up.

You will be that parent if you pick them up.

What lesson do you think your child will learn by you boycotting it ? Whilst the majority can understand why you would want to the fact is that big sporting events like the World Cup open up so many different learning opportunities.

Well quite. Unless you plan on informing FIFA, the Qatari government or the BBC what would that achieve?

Sounds like a sensible approach from the school to me. There's no pleasing some people

Well done OP, I bet the school will think twice before arranging another World Cup in Qatar.

Yabu. They aren't forcing your kid to watch, it's 2 hours of the day.

Our school isn't.

That would be great!

Anyway OP I’d let him watch it at school and discuss with him afterwards, could be a bigger learning opportunity than simply boycotting it

Does your child want to watch the match?

😂😂😂

What stand do you think you’re making OP? Did you also boycott the Beijing Olympics? Schools can’t do right for doing wrong in these situations - your schools compromise sounds very sensible. Leave it to your DC to decide if they want to boycott the match as you are and do the alternative activities, or watch it.

AIBU to email the head and inform him that I will be picking up DC early if school is not going to teach him anyway?

Identify some other sporting event that's happening at a different time during school hours, and email the head asking what arrangements will be made for your DC to watch it, seeing as it's now the policy to interrupt teaching so that people can watch the sporting event of their choice.

If they didn’t show it they’d have parents taking their kids out of school to watch it.

Why are you assuming that there will be no value to the alternative activities on offer (like, maybe, fun?)