to expect a four year old to be allowed to wear their PE kit under their clothes?

[tispity]

this is our first experience of the state school system as dh is at prep school but it has emerged that some dcs have been doing this in ds' reception class. the school sent us a letter to say that they will suspend any child who does not bring their kit in a PE bag. ds really does not get sweaty - as is prob the case with most four year olds doing indoor PE

Not sure I get the private school bit Fab. It is the DD at prep school.

The DS, who the OP is about, is in a state school. It is this state school that is threatening to suspend.

Oh, my mistake.

Suspension is odd but 4 year olds should be encouraged to get dressed independently.

My DS and (all his class) do not appear to have any difficulties getting into and out of their PE kits. It can take a while and some of the children would clearly prefer that they were dressed but they can all do it when required.

i just feel that they should be allowed to enjoy PE for what it is at first, without the added pressure of having to change their clothes (if this causes problems). i would expect them to want to change by the time they got to juniors. at dd's school, PE was just after lunch hour so they would spend ages helping each other get changed , often enlisting the help of Monitors and Prefects. dd mainly does hockey and swimming now, so it is different once again

I'd be tempted to send him in his PE, just to see if they really would suspend a 4 year old.

When I helped out at DD school, PE used to take up the whole morning session. 10 minutes of actual PE the rest for changing. With practice they do get better and quicker.

At my daughters school when they first started they had a few session where they just practiced getting their pe kits on. The teachers will help although my daughter has come out with someone elses shoes on before now!

havoc - it doesn't help that his teacher is a hands-off NQT nervous wreck

i could put him in dh's xxl tshirt - he would love pretending to be a ghost!!

Does the letter actually say they will "suspend" the child? The term is now "fixed-term exclusion", so it seems odd that any school would put "suspend" in a letter.

Also, I don't think the letter is aimed at parents who send their 4 yearolds in with their PE kit on - it sounds like it's aimed at older children who aren't bringing their kit in at all.

no - it says "exclusion" and is personally signed off by the class teachers, not the headmistress

Oh, could it just mean exclusion from PE?

Dd and ds are at prep school and I can't see the school allowing them to wear PE kit under clothes.

I strongly suspect the suspend thing really means we will send them home as it will be too uncomfortable for them to wear two sets of clothes all day.

I bet they have a problem with children not bringing PE kit in for lessons and so have gone in hard to make the point.

I would do what other posters have suggested and make sure he has a T-shirt with a big neck opening. After all, you don't want him to be still struggling with changing in Year 1 or 2 - he needs to practise now, like all the other 4 year olds.

Does he dress himself at home?

well, does refer back to the policy handbook etc. - i would be fine with exclusion from PE

Children need to learn to dress themselves at some point so I don?t see any reason why they shouldn?t be expected to (and helped if necessary) to get into their PE kits at the age of 4. It?s good for them to understand that we wear different clothes for different purposes and years later, when they are in my Y6 class they won?t have the come-back, ?but we wore our PE kits all day when we were in Reception? because they will have been taught that at school we put on a different set of clothes for PE.

If you need a reason for wondering why children shouldn?t just be allowed to turn up in PE kit/wear it under their clothes etc. ask if you can go into a Y6 classroom after they?ve done PE...

Learning to change independently is a useful skill as is organising oneself to put removed clothes in PE bag/back of the chair/wherever so that the correct clothes are put back on. Well-labelled uniform and helpful Reception teachers giving time over to this will help the children become more independent in other areas of life e.g. getting changed after swimming. Schools that insist on children receiving no assistance are being mean ? I?ve helped Y6 children dress themselves after PE when they?ve got their trousers into such a tangle their legs have ended up around their necks and every year have to show half the class how to turn their jumpers the right way round/make sure labels are at the back etc.

yeah - can't do bottom of zips and really fiddly button though - good with the rest

bit incoherent there sorry

Well, why not practise the bits he finds difficult at home? I'm sure someone at school will help him if he gets really stuck as long as they can see that he is trying.

Sorry tispity but what is the exact wording of the letter? I find it very hard to believe that a school would threaten to suspend a dc for wearing PE kit (or indeed anything else for that matter) under their uniform.

Have you talked to the head about this? Either the letter was poorly worded and you've misunderstood it, or the letter is talking bollocks, or the school have gone a bit mad.

I sent DD in slightly larger clothes, with minimum buttons on PE days. She looked like she was wearing my clothes! Her PE kit was large too, which helps. The same one still fits her over a year later and she'd grown a lot!

i am going in to talk about this today so hopefully all will be made clear

The teachers can?t suspend/exclude etc. a child for wearing PE kit under their uniform! It?s hard enough to exclude children for threatening to rape teachers/kill their unborn babies/physically attack them etc.

They could however request that the child go and take off the PE kit and put it in his/her PE bag until it was time to change for PE (which would rather defeat the object of parents sending their LOs to school ready-dressed). I think that would act as more of a deterent to me than threats of actions they are legally not allowed to take.

We send our reception kids in dressed in tracksuit bottoms, sweatshirt and polo shirt on PE days. They have to wear their normal school shoes though so to be honest they look ridiculous!

And the trackie bottoms are designed really badly so it looks like there are 19 mc hammers going to school on a thursday...

My twins started Reception in September (they couldn't dress themselves at all). They were only just 4. Now they can dress themselves and the teacher and TA always help the ones struggling.