Playground Supervision, what's normal?

[VelvetGecko]

Ds is in p1, so 5 yrs old, they share a playground with p2's, all in all around 200 children. There are 2 playground assistants. Is this level, or rather lack of, supervision normal/acceptable?
I should add it's a very large, spread out playground.
My concern isn't really about ds, though there is a lot of rough play and another boy tried to strangle him today! From what ds tells me there's another little boy in his class who is being subjected to verbal bullying on a daily basis, teachers deal by putting perpetrator on time out but action only seems to be taken after the events and the playground assistants never seem to see all the incidents.
Not sure if I should voice my concerns or not?

Sadly this is normal for playtime. Lunchtimes have more supervision, but playtimes are normally covered by teachers and ta's. In my school we have 2 teachers and 1 TA for 360 kids. I hate it so much. Playtime discipline relies on reaction to problems, not proactive intervention, this is exactly why I hate it. It is the total opposite to every discipline technique which is considered appropriate when training as a teacher.

However you do need to mention what your child has said to teachers, precisely because there is low supervision far too much slips through the cracks. They will probably be embarrassed or defensive, but will be secretly pleased for the help. (At least I would if I were your DS teacher.)

I wish there was a financially viable solution to the playtime supervision, for everyone's sake.

Thanks for that, I just had no idea what was normal. The little boy in question is very sensitive/emotional and ds says he ends up in tears or screams at the boy doing the name calling .
I don't really know his mum or if she's aware, I just feel really sorry for him. I do know the mum of the boy responsible and he's been quite mean to ds in and out of school but ds just shrugs it off and she seems oblivious. I was helping on a school trip today and he came out with the c word .
I told him off and got the 'you're not the boss of me' backchat!
I do find it incredible that so many very young children have practically no supervision so perhaps I should voice my concerns.

Teachers in Scotland do not do playground or dinner duties. The supervisors will be pupil support assistants, classroom assistants and school auxiliaries.

We discovered during the Unison strike that there is no statutory duty on schools to provide playground supervision. They must have a fully trained first aider on the premises. The children with ASN who had pupil support assistants allocated to them weren't able to attend school during the strike.

We have 1 teacher and 1 teaching asistant on duty for 90 children at break and 4 lunchtime supervisors for lunchtime ( obviously!!) Two for 200 children sounds rather thin on the ground!

I am a midday and there are three of us for 92 children. It sounds like the supervision is inadequate. If children require first aid there needs to be another supervisor on the playground.

That's a good point bear. Ds himself has had to receive first aid after being hit in the face with a ball.
What's the best way to voice my concerns then? Don't really get a chance to speak to the teacher without making an appointment. I have an admin email address?

At my school we have a total of 4 teachers at break time: 2 each in 2 playgrounds. We have a total of 280 children. If anyone needs first aid we send them inside with a responsible older child to take them to our sickbay, where a 1st aid trained TA will be. If we ever needed emergency 1st aid for a non-walking casualty, we have system of whistle signals to alert the other teachers to get help and get all the pupils inside out of the way (only been used once for real).

It sounds like the issue is more the relationship between your DC and the other child. You should raise this with the class teacher in the first instance using the home-school book, diary, e-mail address, phone number, etc that your schooo prefers.

Different schools have different approaches to dealing with playground problems and challenging children. Their behaviour policy should be available to you: it's probably on their website, or should be provided if you ask. Then you ask how they are following it with regard to the incidents involving your DC.