AIBU that kids should be allowed to come in in PE kit on PE days rather than get changed

[PEpandemonium]

Interested to know how other schools are doing this. Our school has now decided to bring back the practice of kids having to get changed for PE as opposed to wearing PE kit on PE days. The rationale is that it is better for safeguarding, as staff can clock any bruises or marks.

The school is mixed sex and has no changing facilities so this means below year 5 girls and boys all getting changed together in a classroom which to my mind introduces a safeguarding risk. Like me, my daughter is an early developer, and in yr 4 has boobs and pubes. I don't think it is fair or safe for her to be changing with boys. I have horrible memories of being gawped at and having my towel grabbed off me when I was the only girl in class with boobs.

This has gone down like a sack of shit on all the WhatsApp threads.

How are other schools handling this? Have any schools relented?

On this basis alone, your daughter needs to get changed. It isn't pleasant having smelly kids wandering round school all day.

However, primary schools do need to rethink getting changed.
Secondary schools definitely need the kids to get changed after PE - although maybe letting those with PE first lesson come in wearing sports kit, and those with PE last lesson go home in PE kit?

At ours they wear their kit all day on PE days. For things like clubs, they get changed separately certainly from year 3. So from age 7.

This is actually a really good point. If you happen to observe bruises then fine but actively making a policy of undressing for PE so teachers can watch and look for bruises is quite odd/worrying

Our secondary school still lets the kids come in games kit! Their logic was that it saves time and means they can spend more of the lesson time on games, rather than changing.

Although it does mean that if you have a sporty child who does all the after school sports as well, the expensive blazer barely gets worn before it's grown out of. DS wears sports kit at least 4 days a week, sometimes 5. Not that he's complaining!

Edited to add - games is always last period so no worrying about sitting in smelly kit all day.

My DS is now Y8 and throughout primary he wore PE kit to school and never changed there. It was like that well before covid and obviously has carried on. I don’t think there are any changing rooms at all at the school. It seems madness to go back. It suits kids, parents and teachers surely!

All my 3 go to school in PE kit on PE a day.

it's very convenient.

I actually would prefer they wore a PE style uniform all week

One thing I would say is when did these developments start and has she started with small breast buds? Year 4 is okay, but if it started significantly earlier, this is a sign of early puberty which they might want to look into. It may well be that you're past that stage now, but just thought I'd flag it.

My DC school did the same as yours, said they had to get changed for PE in school (for safeguarding reasons/checking for bruises) & PE kits were to stay in school. But a few months ago they changed it back to go to school in your kit on PE days & wear it all day. It’s so much easier again now!

Ours never did the coming in in PE kit thing, even during covid. They be always got changed at school. One of the girls started developing early and her and a few of her friends are allowed to change elsewhere.

PE is twice a week and I'd find having it at home and remembering which child is in uniform and which one's in PE kit on each day pretty tedious. Plus it looks scruffy.

I'd be annoyed if they switched to wearing PE kit all day. But not annoyed enough to complain.

Our primary school have kept it as coming in for the day in PE kit.

I remember when I was at school the boys changed in the classroom and the girls changed in the coat room (tiny space on way into the temp static classroom!).

Isn’t it to ensure that children learn to get themselves undressed and dressed?

I think that getting changed in a group can be a horrible experience for a young child.

If your daughter is showing her boobs and pubes when getting changed for PE, surely you can talk to a teacher about reminding her to keep her knickers and bra on? Given she has sen, that seems a normal adjustment to make to ensure she isn’t ending up underdressing.

At our school they go in PE kit on PE days. My Y4 DD would absolutely not get changed in front of boys in her class!
Definitely the most sensible option and as a PP says cuts down on laundry too.

I think the idea the teachers are looking at them when they get changed to check for bruises is more of a safeguarding risk tbh! I'd ask to see their policy on that! (I expect if they actually started to write it down they'd realise it wasn't the best idea after all!)

Our school has never allowed kids to come wearing PE kit.

From P5 onwards

Girls change in the classroom.
Boys change in the library.

My Dd's secondary they go in P.E kit. So much better - they spend more time doing P.E. Her Primary did the same. Ridiculous to go back to getting changed!

They also only have 3 lessons a day so less faffing around

My DD does P.E as the last lesson.

I agree. My DD wore leggings and a polo shirt with a coloured jumper or cardigan and trainers all through Primary.

My y5 and y7 girls both wear PE kit to school - it never went back after Covid. I think it’s a good thing. They would definitely be uncomfortable changing in a group.

At my school, we had a mobile changing room. One year, I had PE on last lesson on Friday. We were expected to get changed back into our uniform to go home! Why?

I lived ten minutes walk away and wasn’t going to get changed for 20 minutes to get changed into my own clothes when I got back.

There was a row of hedges behind the changing rooms with a gap between two of them. A few who lived a similar distance to me (though in different directions) snuck through the gap in our PE kits

That's awful. At my Dd's Primary from Y3 boys and girls changed separately.

At my primary school, we got changed in the classroom bar year 6. We had a large area inside the toilets which could accommodate 16-20 girls. Had two classes per school year so the classes didn’t do PE together.

The safe guarding thing is mental. So they want kids in their underwear..... so adults can have a look at them. And this is not the safeguarding issue.

The most scruffy schools round here are the cheap blazer and tie and super short skirt ones. My DD looks perfectly presentable in navy sports leggings and a navy hoodie.

It really is. That isn't how safeguarding works.

Blimey . PE changing as a way to check for abuse . That’s proper sad / creepy / grim .
I thought PE changing was useful for kids to practice getting changed etc, but frankly I think it’s PITA and am so glad that my kids go to a school where you can do PE in the clothes you wear on PE days.
less stuff to loose. Less time wasted.

An archaic practice. Many less bits of clothes lost if they come changed.