When should children be separated to change for PE?

[BlingLoving]

I appreciate that views on this will probably vary massively but I'm interested in getting a sense. DS in Y4 tells me they change for PE in the same classroom. The school is small and doesn't have actual changing rooms, so I do understand the challenge, but I'm not actually very comfortable with this. DS himself doesn't mind as such but he IS beginning to be body conscious and will also notice other children so quite frankly, I don't want him looking or commenting on the girls. Some of the children are close to 9 so it's not inconceivable that early signs of puberty might be starting.

Should I say something to the school or am I being a bit silly? I do know that in year 5 I'd be very hesitant and in year 6 I'd consider this completely unacceptable.

If your son is uncomfortable, please ask. At my school it was usually y5, but half way through y4 one parent came to me and asked when it changed as her daughter was beginning to develop and felt uncomfortable. We split them from then on, it was easy and made the child more comfortable. It is harder if you don’t have 2 classes per year it might be harder though I guess.

I feel for male teachers. I’m female and have supervised boys in y6 changing and no one batted an eyelid, but y3 girls couldn’t change in front of a man?

NSPC guidance is after y2

www.icmec.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/NSPCC-factsheet-best-practice-for-pe-changing-rooms.pdf

Not UK so apologies if not relevant but in most schools where I live, primary aged children wear PE kit to school on PE days. Not sure why this if the more widely adopted.

y3 girls couldn’t change in front of a man?

as a parent I’d be fine with this. Dd plays rugby and the ( mostly male) coaches sometimes help them turn their shirts round for matches ( required if other team kit too similar) .They’re 7/8. None of them are showing ant signs of puberty.

Year 5/6 is normal.
It was year 6 when I was at school.

I’m a Y5 teacher and they change separately. Girls usually in the toilets and boys in the classroom.

This has been spoken about this week in our meeting with the new teacher which happens during the first week in September.

Parents are invited to the hall to meet with the new class teacher who goes through expectations, rules, end of year targets etc.

This year for the first time my dd has a male
class teacher. He is early-mid twenties and has been at the school for several years but normally teaches Y5/6.

Dd is 8.7 and in year 4. She has started puberty and wears a crop top mainly for school but last year there was a lot of laughing/joking from the boys that some girls were wearing a bra...

They had PE this week and had to get changed in the classroom.
Dd had a crop top on and didn’t want to take her top off. Female TA said this was ok.

I questioned the new teacher who said that he would look into the girls having a separate space if they wanted it but said that the boys may feel equally uncomfortable with the female TA..

I don’t agree because the changes that younger girls display are more visible ie breasts. Dd said she is wearing a vest now on PE days as she doesn’t want to get laughed at.

At our local leisure centre children should be in their own sex changing rooms (if using them and not the family village) from 8
Which seems about right.

Year 5.

It was year 5 for my kids. The girls went to the loos and the boys changed in the classroom.

Our school is from P4 onwards so around 8yo. The boys change in the classroom and the girls in the toilets.

Wonderbag, is that for swimming?

As I say, swimming is from the earliest point (school entry), with other PE (where children change only outerwear) being from Y5 for all and Y4 on request.

Zoflorabore

My class don’t even bat an eyelid at whichever teacher is in the room. I take them swimming and my TA and I split one in the boys and one in the girls. We’ve both done boys and girls changing but both groups are equally likely to strut about/hide themselves away.

I find they usually go either way. Some are happy to stand naked talking to me (met with ‘I’m not talking to you until you put your clothes on’ whilst I stare at the ceiling) or they take an age to change because they’re using their towel as a shield. This has been the case with both the boys and the girls.

Where possible, male teachers take the boys and female teachers take the boys. Not always possible though and the children have never shown any sign of caring about it either way.

It's a while since my DS was at Primary, but separate changing started at the beginning of Yr5 at his school.

When I was at school, we had to change with the boys all the way through Primary. The only exception was that a few girls who started wearing bras during Yr6 were allowed to change in the toilets.

I think parents would be amazed at how comfortable kids are at school with changing in front of each other. They pay no more attention to it than they do to lining up for assembly or any of the other things they do.

I started having periods in year 4 I would have been crippled with mortification at mixed changing. I think it was as enough changing with girls

My primary school (which my cousin's son now attends) used to make us change just in the classroom throughout, as there was nowhere else to go, and apparently this is still the case. Of course, it absolutely goes without saying that you would expect separate and dedicated changing rooms in secondary school.

@doadeer but surely you put your shorts on under your dress or pinafore before undressing.

still happening in Year 6 here and I am not impressed but school won't listen

I think some children are fine with it and others aren't and I think that should be respected and therefore you have to go with the fact that some are uncomfortable with it. I would be unhappy about male teachers supervising girls in year 5/6 getting changed especially given many are already developing and some have started their periods. it isn't fair to the staff or the children, imagine what a position it puts a male teacher in IF a child says something false or misunderstands a look or something.

there are girls in year 6 who have adult bodies and some in year 5 too. girls in year 6 can be 11 very early in the year. it is completely inappropriate. Girls do tend to get very good at managing to get changed without uncovering themselves but it would be a lot quicker if they could use a different classroom (get 2 classes changed at the same time for example so one room boys, one girls)

@nonicknames - that's awful. I have accepted year 4 still seems to be considered okay, but I think I'll take it badly if it's still happening in year 5 or 6. DS school doesn't have dedicatd space but it is a two form entry so there's no reason why all the girls can't go to one classroom and the boys in another as they do PE as a year group not a class group.

Y3 in our school. My dd would not have been happy in years 3 and 4 and the boys would definitely have made comments.