Teacher showed 15 film to Y7

[Littlepopsicle]

DS has just started Y7. All going well, loves his new school and is very settled.
Drama class last week, teacher told them the theme for this half term is something about haunted houses. She then showed them the trailer for The Woman in Black. DH and I eye rolled each other as soon as we heard this as we knew what was going to happen....no surprise, DS has been unable to sleep alone since seeing this. We are very careful about anything he watches as he has an overactive imagination, is easily scared and sleep is easily disrupted. DH is annoyed at having another disturbed night with DS and thinks we should complain to the school. Do you think we should complain and say this is inappropriate to show to 11 and 12 years olds, or at least parents should have been warned that this was going to be shown? Or would you say it's a non-issue, get over it, he's just an over sensitive child?

It always seems to be this film - I studied TWIB at GCSE drama as well, must be because of the stage play. I don't think YABU to complain, personally I think 11/12 is too young for this kind of ghost story, it would be too scary for most kids that age and teachers should really see that coming. In a few years things would be different, it's definitely a GCSE age story in my opinion.

Thanks for all your responses, I wasn't expecting so many replies for something I thought wasn't too dramatic. But this is AIBU so I shouldn't be surprised by some of the responses!
Ok, maybe complain was the wrong word to use but more just to bring it to the teacher's attention to it. I'm certainly not up in arms about it ready to send off an explosive email. Being new to secondary school I'm not yet sure of the protocol for contacting teachers directly but I'm not intending to go to HOY about this.
Regardless of the rating my son was scared of the imagery/theme....not very helpful of pp's who say it's not that scary - not to you maybe but it was for my 11yr old! As for his resilience or other anxieties, definitely not an issue. Being scared of a scary film is a normal response, as many pp have said themselves, not the same as being anxious about day to day functioning. Although his sleep has been disrupted it certainly isn't affecting him in any other way. He is a well balanced, happy, healthy 11 year old.....who just doesn't like scary films! But well done those of you who have no problem showing horror films to your younger kids.

Not withstanding film ratings the effect of a film can depend on the context in which it is shown, explanations etc.

I taught y7 1 lesson of English/week. I did the class reader. We read The boy in striped Pyjamas.

About 1 chapter/week. We talked about the context of the book, what it was based on etc. We did this slowly and had time to reflect.

At the end of the book we watched the film, over about 2-3 weeks. Again with gaps for discussion. The film is a bit more in your face than the book. Pupils were told they could leave the room if they wanted.

Looking back we probably pushed the ratings. But then we weren’t covering this book for frivolous reasons.

Whilst I wouldn’t have wished nightmares on my former pupils I hope they were shocked and went home thinking.

Other work I was responsible for with Y11’s caused tears, shock and silence.
(Google ‘Wasted Lives’ It’s down a couple)

Life isn’t all cuddly kittens and puppies, children can’t be kept from this. Life and its events can hit you hard.

These are the group who are likely to be or with drunken drivers. We as teachers can bang on about it - but what do we know.

But to see the father of a dead son speak about his death brings it home. To see the car, on a trailer, that he was killed in.

So if I caused upset. Sorry, not sorry.

(One or two including staff didn’t attend due to past events in their lives.)

op do you know if there is any actual intention to show the whole film in class, instead of just the trailer?

I think we are reasonable in saying his reaction to just a trailer may be a bit concerning. It’s all very well raising this with school, but your son will also be exposed to similar trailers at the cinema, on tv and as ads ahead of youtube videos for example.

Don't you think this is all quite different to a ghost story, though? That has no bearing on real life, there's nothing for them to think about and learn from it. It's just frightening, that's it. It's designed throughout to be as unsettling as possible, just for fun.

The dvd is a 12

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I think your Aibu are a little off. For example I don't think it is unsuitable but nor is your son overly sensitive. There is a multi billion industry making things to scare us, because some like it .

Here 11 year olds would be in their second last year of primary and Harry Potter is the go to.

Sky shows it as a 15 💁‍♀️

Sky is not the official classification.

Needing to sleep with parents is not a typical reaction at that age. Honestly. He’s in for a rough ride.

Needing to sleep with parents is not a typical reaction at that age. Honestly. He’s in for a rough ride.

I was very scared of it at 14, and it affected my sleep. Similarly a different horror film when I was 11, I used to be terrified every night that the ghost was under my desk - I didn't ask to sleep with my parents because this was never something that was the norm but I can see why it would be for a child who was more used to sleeping with their parents. Bear in mind MN is usually full of people advocating cosleeping children only a couple of years younger than this, saying they will grow out of it at their own pace and be perfectly normal developmentally.

I was in no way an unusually young or anxious child, I was mature for my age, and this didn't mean I was in for a rough ride. I just found horror films scary, I'm struggling to understand why people think that is an abnormal response.

Random hint - watch stuff without the sound - just subtitles. Nowhere near as scary!

Frankly, you - and your child - are going to look a right pair of numptys complaining about sleepless nights because of a "scwary fwilm" at HIGH SCHOOL.
The receptionist will put the phone down and laugh their head off.

I think at secondary school it shouldn't warrant mentioning to the teacher, that would be embarrassing.

I guess it would depend whether the receptionist had one ounce of empathy.

OP I work in a school - none of our office staff would laugh at a parent for any reason, especially not this.

@aSofaNearYou yes but I imagine you were scared of the actual film / book / play not a 1 minute trailer of it.

Doesn’t really matter what sky says that’s their own rating as had been explained so it’s not the “💁‍♀️” slay you think it is to show it. No one disagreed that sky rated it a 15, they were explaining the official classification is a 12 so I wouldn’t be trying to use that in any contact with the school.

Hmmm in this case yes, but there were certain horror film trailers that really freaked me out growing up. Often when I saw the actual film it was less scary than the trailer, because the trailer is all the scariest bits plus you don't get to see the silly prosthetics at the end that take away the sense of dread.

I just watched the trailer - it’s fairly creepy.

And he won’t necessarily see that sort of trailer at the cinema. They don’t tend to advertise a film that’s very different from the main feature.

Obviously if you don’t like horror don’t, but if you watch the trailer for the woman in black it’s really not that scary. Mainly the use of creepy music lol! Doesn’t allude to much of the more horror bits that happens in the film

I just watched the trailer and think it’s a good example of drama/ suspense building/ atmosphere etc for a drama class. It will likely have inspired a lot of the class in ways perhaps Toy Story 2 might not have.

In my opinion, it’s silly to complain about and a message about ‘sensitivity to children who get scared easily’, is also quite ridiculous.

Perhaps remind your son that the acting is pretend and then ignore it any further so he doesn’t see your reaction as validating his fear.

She then showed them the trailer for The Woman in Black

What did she show them, the film or the trailer? Sometimes the trailer isn't rated the same as the film.

https://www.bbfc.co.uk/education/case-studies/the-woman-in-black

This is interesting. There are two different versions - one that had about 6 seconds cut to make it a 12A and one uncut is a 15. The one on Sky must be the uncut version.

I'm a teacher and parent of a 11yo and 13yo. I've just watched the trailer and age rating aside it is fucking creepy and I wouldn't have shown it to a class full of brand new year 7's. My 11yo is scared by lots of things but the older one isn't so had watched lots of quite scary things. Not all y7's are 12 so I wouldn't have shown a 12 without checking with parents first either. I don't think it would hurt to point that out to th teacher. Maybe they could move that particular unit to the end of y7's for example.

Obviously if you don’t like horror don’t, but if you watch the trailer for the woman in black it’s really not that scary. Mainly the use of creepy music lol! Doesn’t allude to much of the more horror bits that happens in the film

I'll watch it later but I vaguely remember it from the time - the worst thing for me in horror films has always been shots where something slowly comes out of the shadows, and TWIB was full of that, I'm pretty sure it featured in the trailer too. Must have had the classic rocking chair and music box too, which would have creeped me out.