Changing for PE in Reception class

[Dysgu]

So school began in September last year which is nearly 6 months ago. Therefore, am I right in thinking that it is pretty unusual that my DD (aged 5.5yo) has not yet had to change for PE since starting school in September?

The school has dedicated PE teachers (qualified teachers) and the class teacher has PPA time when the class has PE. But still, shouldn't they have started doing more than changing into their plimsolls by now?

I have mentioned this to the class teacher at our recent parents' meeting - I do not do the school run as we rely on a child minder so this was the first opportunity I had had to check that what DD was saying is what is happening!

But yes, up until 2 weeks ago they had never even taken their PE kits out of the bags - and then the cold weather prevented them from changing into them (the hall where they do PE is in another building and it was felt it was too cold to make them change and then walk over to the other building - maybe a 45 - 60 second stroll).

Today is PE day - I sent DD1 to school wearing a large pinafore that is too long on her but is easy for her to take off and put on by herself. She has come home this afternoon and told me that they just put on their plimsolls to go to the hall - she didn't tell me what they actually did.

Am I making a fuss to write a note to the class teacher asking about this? I thought DD1 would get to practise dressing and undressing in school - we have worked on it so much at home because of this!

FWIW - I am a teacher (Y6) in another school where our Reception children start changing for PE from the VERY beginning - so much so that the first few lessons are little more than just changing! Which school is 'right'?

Ours just wear black shorts and white tshirts. They also requested that the kids don't wear ties on pre days. Ours go three times a week, but tbh I don't see why they need to change at all at 4/5. DS gets a new uniform daily after playing outside anyway!!

I also just tell DS to undo one shirt button and pull it over his head so he doesn't have to fiddle undoing them all. Which he can. It's just time consuming.

Lemon -teachers get 4 hours on PE in teacher training!

It sounds like its prioritised very highly - that's the same amount of time teachers get on teaching reading and the same amount of time they get on SEN.

DD's school have a P.E uniform but they do P.E twice a week & often go outside so its worth them having a separate thing to wear. Not all schools think it is important or necessary to have a P.E uniform if they're not going to be doing a lot of exercising. (DD also started school 6 months ago) I wouldnt worry about it, they may wait until they're in the next year to ask for PE uniforms & even then that might not mean their own branded.

I would be extremely pissed off to be told to provide a PE kit that's then never used. Total waste.

I'm not so bothered what they actually wear at that age to do their PE lessons in. But this school ought to be clear and, from the sounds o it, should ditch PE kit from its reception uniform list.

Tip: when joining a school, try to find a pupil at that school to tell you which uniform/kit is really used. Get only that in your initial kitting up. You can add to it later - but may well find there's no need.

as you say, Dysgu, that's another thread (both school's attitude and the inevitable consequences of 2-3pm PTA meetings), but I do think managing some sort of secondhand uniform mechanism should be fairly near the top of the list for any PTA, if the school don't do it themselves. 90%+ of my DC's uniform has been secondhand, and I shudder to think how much I would have spent otherwise.

Our Reception does PE in vests and knickers until after Easter, and this is made very clear at the new parents evening in June. They do ask for a PE bag to be provided straight away so that the children have a place to put their clothes, and if your child doesn't usually wear a vest they can keep one in their for PE days.

Obviously they only do indoor PE during this time.

Ours seem to change sometimes and not others. It seems to depend a bit on the behaviour of the class that day! I can imagine getting a class of 4-5 year olds from A to B and getting them changed and doing PE is perhaps not the most fun bit of the Reception teachers' day.

Personally I wouldn't really have concerns at this age, perhaps in Year 1 or 2 it would be more odd/lazy of the teacher. DS came home wearing his (much smaller) friend's uniform the other day after PE. Looked very funny. Was quite surprised he'd got it on, and hadn't noticed at all that it was all rather small and tight!

Ours usually seem to get changed, but for the whole of the reception year (according to dd1) they only wear plimsoles to walk from the classroom to the hall, then they take them off. Checked with the school who confirmed it. Quite why they need to walk in plimsoles when they do the same walk everyday for assembly and lunch in normal shoes.

The only time they wear shoes is to practise for and take part in sports day. Armed with this knoweldge, in september I got velcro shoes a size bigger, so they might last until she actually needs to wear them.

Depends what normal uniform is. If its shirt, tie and pinafore/skirt, thats not very practical for physical stuff. Not really a modesty issue at that age but all the loose fabric of ties and skirts. If poloshirt and shorts or trousers then fine, maybe they are asked to consider this on pe days? The walk through the cold makes it a bit different though - could they change once in the other building?

It is really interesting that this seems to be one of those things that splits opinion 50:50.

Personally I still think that it is important to be teaching the children to get changed into appropriate clothing for physical activity. In the information meetings prior to starting school we were specifically asked to focus on things including trying to make sure the children were able to change independently for PE. That, along with the PE kit list including t-shirt, shorts, socks and track suit, and the recent (brief) discussion with the class teacher makes me think that the school originally planned for the children to be changing...but have not got round to it yet!

I can appreciate that getting 29 4-and-5 year olds changed is not much fun - but surely sorting toilet accidents or other 'occupational hazards' of teaching early years is not much fun!

Still, I will hold off on writing to the teacher but will wait and see what happens next week...

Thanks for all the opinions.

I'm only adding to this as I'm amazed that many of you agree that your kids don't get dirty doing PE. Perhaps our school is particularly muddy but we've had mud coated track suits and wet/grass stained t-shirts and shorts from September of yr r onwards. It all needs washing every week, more than once on several weeks. Tell your teachers to get their children out and exercising and doing fun things! The yr r teacher and the TA drop kids who arn't ready in time off with the yr 1 teacher and then take the ones who are ready (they are not cruel, they help and allow a reasonable time to change, it's just the ones who mess about who are left) off on a "cross country run" as it's called, that is, a run around the field. By Autumn half term very few kids were staying in with yr 1.

AstroTurf and school hall. No grass or mud on either.

In Reception, hardly any PE at our old school, but we did have to have a full kit. On the few occassions my dd told us she got changed for PE, she also said that they had to get changed back again, because some people took too long.

Our PE Kit only came home for washing at the end of each term!

Year 1, PE once a week, usually in the hall, unless summer then maybe on the grass, I was told they were practicing being 'beans' i.e. Jumping bean, baked bean, etc.!!!????

Moved to a new school, Year 2, PE three times a week, Monday, learning to play hockey - outside, Wednesday, Hockey and just started to learn netball. Friday, in hall, gymnastics and apparatus. PE kit all used and sent home at the end of each week. DD absolutely loves PE, can't wait to start swimming once a week in the summer.

I think kids are cooped up in small, noisy, crowded classrooms too much, they need to get out, learn some skills, expend some energy and get fresh air as well as working together as a team. But maybe I am old fashioned!

And I would be really pissed off fed up if I had bought a logo'd tracksuit and it wasn't used!!!

my dd has been changing for PE since week one of reception.

she has a full PE kit, including (long) sports socks, shin pads and appropriate footwear (trainers for netball, boots for football/rugby, plimsolls for indoor PE work - ie gym etc)

the whole year (2 form entry) have PE/games at the same time, but it is split as to classes - eg one do netball while the other does football for a 4 week block, then they swap.

all children change together, meaning 5 members of staff for the 2 forms together (teachers and TAs) plus PE/games staff too - handy for laces on boots etc!

I would be pissed off if she had not ever worn any of this kit (not that growing out of any of it is a possibility for her yet - she is a tiny little thing!). why ask you to provide it if they aren't going to use it?

and yes, she gets filthy muddy - no way could she do game sin her school uniform. PE possibly (indoor stuff) but not the outdoor stuff.

at all that kit in YR. DD does plenty of outdoor stuff - in uniform + overtrousers and wellies (forest school, outside play, walks etc as part of lessons) and does PE (for the winter, at least) in sports hall - gym, dodgeball, etc - plus tennis and ballet at school (extras) - with the exception of ballet, none of that needs more than tracksuit (plain from supermarket), shorts and T-shirt (ditto) and plimsolls.

Y3 is when they start needing more kit, IIRC.