Height discrimination

[Poppet77]

So my daughter is 9 and pretty small for her age. She is also an August birthday so young for her Y5 year group. We moved school this year due to our work and overall she has settled well. However, she revealed tonight that one child in her form has told her she deserved to die because she was so small and should be in year 2 where most children were taller than her. She is a highly confident child but tonight I saw that she was starting to show a poor self image with regard to her height. She has apparently had numerous comments about this but had never experience unkindess about her height in her last school. One thing she particularly does not like is the height chart on the wall in her classroom with everyone's height...she is right at the bottom and quite a lot lower than the next person. Is it me or is this really not a good thing to have on the wall of a classroom of Y5 kids?! Some kids have been using this to tease her. But basically it is a form of discrimination on difference and no different to an IQ chart, skin colour, weight chart, etc. Every time she looks at it she feels different and others are helping to make her feel that this is something to be ashamed of. Breaks my heart to see my bubbly confident daughter be affected by this.

Of course it's wrong that your child is picked on because she is small. But she's going to have to toughen up. Life is full of bullies, and you won't always be around to protect her.

OP you said the teacher said the comment will be dealt with. They should tell you how. If they refuse to put away the chart then you have a right to know how specifically they are going to address the poor behaviour the chart is triggering. Tell the teacher you want specific details and if not forthcoming you will be escalating

I agree with @Gro it's a gdpr issue.

I was tall and while I don't remember any bullying, at least not because of that, I was very self conscious.
Does your DD enjoy gymnastics at all? Just asking because the most successful gymnast ever, Simone Biles, is about 4'9, and has just won gold in the World Championship, again. The BBC coverage is on iPlayer. Such immense power as well as grace, and a sport where short girls have an advantage.

Totally disagree with having a classroom height chart, by the way.

@Noseyoldcow there is nothing i have provided to indicate my daughter is not already tough...she us in fact very tough...one of the cheeriest, most insanely positive people I know. But the point is that you don't bully and pick on people and then not do anything but say the victim has to toughen up. Would you say the same about racist comments: teachers and parents should let these things go and not take action because, after all, kids needs to toughen up and accept that they should expect this as people can be bullied? So they better get used to dealing with it by themselves now? Of course, as a parent, I will speak out if my 9 year old child is experiencing discrimination.

@Papergirl1968 Yes I agree, there are a lot of potential advantages to being small. She would probably love gymnastics!

That sounds horrific

You're right OP, focus on it as an issue of bullying the school must respond and take the chart thing to the head teacher and ask how your DDs height is being celebrated?

It's so unnecessary..the school nurse/the GP can track height if really needed.

I have a (tall) son the same age, they don't have a height chart in his class but it is a regular topic of conversation about who's tallest and I can't begin to think why this is but he is chuffed that he is something like 4th tallest - I remind him some of his best friends are shorter and some taller, it doesn't matter. But I do know this is a thing for this age group.

@Poppet77 I would go above the teacher's head to whoever is above them so phase leader (usually above upper KS2, years 5 and 6) and then above that if you don't get anywhere with it. I cannot any reason that this is a positive thing. Surely height comes under medical information. It is something they have no control over and can be weaponsised.

I think this thread is best moved onto the primary school board to see how other parents feel about this chart in a school classroom plus there are teachers posting on there too who may wade in too. Might be a better setting than parenting. In case you don't know how to do that you just report your own post and ask for it to be moved.