swimming lessons with the school would you sign this?

[happycat]

ds starts swimming lessons with the school next week it is part of the national curriculum so he has to attend. I have been asked to sign something I don't know whether I agree with it.I don't know the schools reasons for it and it is worded:
I am willing to accept responsiblity for my childs behaviour at the pool, both in the water and the changing rooms.
We are asked to deliver them to reception and we have to pay £1.20 a week and are not asked to go in there.My child is 8 but he gets very excited in that sort of atmoshpere as lots of children do.How can a mother be expected to promise that their child will behave? what do you all think

What does it actually mean? What are the implications?

Hi Meanbean it hasn't stated on the form.I wonder what will happen if i refuse to sign it

ring them and ask

Hello coddychops I will speak to them in the morning but just wanted to know what you all think.I wondered if I am going to be the only one to question it.

its right to question it and the consequences. i bet lots of other people are thinking the same thing muttering " bloody stupid" under their breath and signing it. if no one brings it up it will never change to reflect concern.

ps. i wouldn't sign it - i cannot guarentee the behaviour of my children when i am not there.

are they not schools responsability between school hours - is there not a conflict?

It is not in school hours custardo it is from 8.30 in the morning. Still it part of the national curriculum and they are required to attend it says on the letter

I neve had to sign anything like that.
Nobody has to sign something like that when their child is at school so I should imagine it is on the part of the swimming baths. However it is the swimming attendants and instructors who should ensure all the children behave themselves - very odd - I should question it - speak to other mums first and get a group together.

Sounds similar to home school agreements which parents and child have to sign.

gosh! they *have to attend - but no in school hours? help from teachers on mumsnet who might have advice i think is needed - i dont understand how the two can marry?

my ds has a broken arm at the moment anyway so will not be able to attend for the first 4 weeks until the plaster is off so I have to take ds2 to the school for 9 am drop dd at nursery at 9.05 and sit in the car until 9.40 am with him because he is not alowed to go into the school because there is not a member of staff to suppervise.I am not best pleased by this at all t.b.h.

happycat, this sounds very strange. I think the school has to put on some kind of alternative supervision don't they? I mean, what if you worked? Doesn't sound right to me.
Also ... School is 'In Loco Parentis' (not sure how that is spelt) ... that is when the children are in their charge then they are in place of parents ...
If you are not there then the school is responsible for them and their behaviour ... especially if they have to attend the classes.
They are clearly covering their backs here ... They might be merely wanting to give themselves back up so if a child is out of order they can exclude them from the lessons.
I wouldn't sign it and I don't think a school can make you sign it.
(I taught for 10 years BTW ... but rules may have changed since I gave up teaching 2.5 years ago)
HTH

Could it be NOT about whether you child is well behaved, but rather something that is supposed to absolve the school/instructor/swimming baths of responsibility if you child "decides" to drown himself (ie jumps into the deep end before he knows how to swim)?

From my teaching experience home school agreements are fairly standard practice now and are an attempt to get parents to agree to basic levels of behaviour so that if they are not complied with action can be taken whether that be a detention, exclusion or whatever the schools behaviour management poiicy is.

As I have never worked in a school that has swimming lessons I don't have dircet expereince but I know that schools are increasingly concerned about accidents during activities such as swimmunbg and being held liable, I would suspect that is what is at the root of this letter. I would also suspect that for this reason if you do not sign your ds will not be able to go swimming but by all means phone the school if you are not clear. They need to know if the letters they send home are not clear.

Here's my two cents worth. Why can't your ds sit at the side of the pool with his plaster cast? He won't learn anything sat in your car will he? Presumably he's unable to take part in some other stuff fully, but is still expected to attend.

I once did an incredibly stupid thing in a swimming pool changing room when I was at school (well there were two of us, but I took the blame). In practice my parents still had to take responsibility for me, and this was in the days before these agreements.

I would ask for a definition of what "responsibility" entails, what is unacceptable behaviour and what are the consequences of unacceptable behaviour?

I think it sounds like a home/school agreement. I think they want to make sure that everyone knows that a basic standard of safe behaviour is expected, and that this sort of agreement will mean that parents will back up the school (and the other way round) if a child behaves in a way that causes a risk to themselves and others.

Yes, they are the schools responsibility during school hours, custy, you are quite right. However the school also has a right to expect that certain standards of behaviour are met. This involves, inevitably the parents allowing the school to dicipline a child based on their behaviour.

A recent example in the first week of the school term. Boys from our school left the school property (against school rules), dressed in another school's uniform, got into a fight and beat a boy badly, broke into a garden and ran away. The boys were found and the scool has excluded them. The parents of one boy were on board and fully supported the school decision. One mother is making very sure that the exclusion is not going to be a holiday for her boy. Another doesn't realy support the school and will let her boy laze about. Which boy do you think will learn something?

Home school agreements are a drag, but not everyone feels that schools should dicipline their kids. These are often the kids who need it most.

I think if this is a home school agreement thing, then that is what it should say. The school should actually spell out what they want, not just present you with some vague formulation which is too widely open to interpretation to be useful.

This formulation doesn't establish any real boundaries, it just washes the school's hands of responsibility. If a child is stupid enough to jump into the deep end before they can swim, that's unacceptable, but it is also unacceptable if the consequence is that the child drowns because the level of supervision is too low. I can't stand all this vagueness - if a school - or any organisation for that matter - wants me to sign something, then I want to know exactly what I'm signing. "Accept responsibility" just doesn't mean anything.