OK, not as serious as the blue-tongue nun or the birthday table but I am livid!!!

[dingdongmerrALYonhigh]

My DD (8 yrs) has had a nasty cold for a few days with a low grade fever (37.5+). She has a kidney problem so regularly misses large chunks of school so I try to keep her at school if she is not seriously unwell.

Today was triple outdoor games (independent prep school) so I wrote a note asking her to be excused from all PE and games today, presuming she would be kept indoors to work.

When I collected her she told me she'd been made to play netball, so I questioned her some more.

It turns out that she was made to change into her PE kit (very thin tracksuit and short sleeved t shirt) and stand outside and watch as the other girls did cross country (this is for 45 mins) and then join in netball for 45 mins. It was 8 degrees here today, no coat, no hat, scarf or gloves.

Worst of all it was a parent who is working as a sports teacher that told her she had to take part, she is not even a qualified teacher!

I think I might possibly explode. DD now has a temp of 39 and feels really poorly. There was no teachers available to speak to and I think need to take a chill pill, but AAHHHH.

were, obviously the stress affecting my grammar!

I think that is disgraceful and you have every right to be angry. It might be different if your DD was perfectly healthy as it might deter malingerers (even then I would be a bit unless there was a regular problem).

It's pretty disgusting that a random parent would make such a decision. Did you say you are paying for your DD eduction? They are taking the piss money.

You don't have to be qualified to teach at private school...

which seems rather unfortunate given that there was no-one else around to complain to either. Awful for your dd - and very unsatisfactory, not just re.your dd but that this person is supervising numbers of children for something they may not have any experience in as far as instructing/coaching goes. Agree with Nine's last line

yep, id be pretty pissed off too. a meeting with the head is in order, methinks.

Thanks, I thought I was feeling a little over sensitive.

I informed the poor receptionist of my intense displeasure, I apologised to her as it is not her responsibility. She apologised back for it happening at all.

It would not be so bad but I paid someone else to look after my sick DS today so I could spend ALL day making Christmas stuff for the PA fair on Sat. I'm supposed to be setting my stall up tomorrow, possibly with two sick off school children! All to raise funds (last year my stall made over £500 as I am quite good at craft/design etc) for the school which thinks it is OK to make unwell 8 yr olds stand in the cold!

I feel like telling them to stuff theie stall - not that I am at all childish.

The more one pays, the less control/say so one has imhe.

aly, you are in a v strong position to walk in to the head and explain your intense displeasure. you are owed an explanation and a promise that it wont happen again.

you, as a paying parent, and an actively fund raising one to boot, are likely to be listened to i would think.

Did the parent know of the note you sent?
Personally I'd not send my child to school if she was not fully fit - like yours mine is very vulnerable to illness.

You don't have to be qualified to teach in state school either. I wasn't fully qualified when I first started teaching (I didn't have my PGCE) Over the course of my first year I finished the PGCE.

there are quite a few people teaching in state schools on the 'Unqualified regester'

fio with cystic fibrosis?? bloody hell, your mother deserves a medal for not beating him to a pulp !

Fio yes, they send work home for her - I ask them to as she got really behind a while back.

Piffle, her form teacher had signed the note to say it had been seen. I send her in with a cold because her recurrent kidney infections (due to a malformed kidney/urine reflux) mean she can be off for up to 50% of the term. She would be years behind her peers if I kept her at home for every sniffle.

so, will you see the head?

Yes, I will. I am probably going to keep her off tomorrow and telephone the Head and ask why she was made to stand outside in the cold when she was ill?

The Head also knew she was ill as her games lesson is last 3 period so I had actually asked if I could collect her 30 mins early as the whole school finishes at 4.30 and it is absolute bedlam trying to get in/out of the narrow one way system. (She said no, by the way, as they have now swapped English and Games round so she had English last period to make the most of the light.)

well good luck with it.

Have called Head, am going in shortly.

Also didn't wake my DD at the unearthly hour I normally do and just let her wake naturally in case she was poorly.

Luckily she seems to have not suffered any lasting ill effects, which spikes my guns a little bit!

HTB, thank you

dd's school have a 'policy' of making children who are unfit for PE, change into kit and watch or take part by refereeing or keeping score. On the whole (for secondary) it's a good idea as it means that those who think they can skive off with a minor complaint, can't.

It is a PITA for my dd. She has a chronic medical condition, her attendance is poor and I have had to put my foot down about it. She had surgery on her leg recently and combined with her other problems has trouble getting around - she doesn't need the added weight of PE kit 3 times a week for no good reason, on top of which an hour of inactivity in the cold pretty much means she struggles for the rest of the day. She now goes to the LRC to study during PE - unless it's swimming we she can do, but it's taken so much hassle to get to this point.

Rant over lol.

Good luck with it dingdong.

Head apologised, but suggested I keep her home next time she has a cold. Unnecessary imho. She said it was a bad judgement made by the Games staff.

Also suggested my DD would be giving her cold to other children!! No one else in the house has a cold/cough (well actually my DS has now, but he got it from his sister) so I'm presuming she got it at school.

Also she said that they do not have the staff to supervise children indoors when they are not well enough to take part in PE. Also said the children would not be happy to be kept in to work or read - I'm starting to think she may never have met my DD!

So as I cannot trust them to keep her in the warm if she has a cold, I will be keeping her home from school more often - that'll look good on their absence figures

Yes - that is a silly suggestion. Keeping them out for just a cold.

What kind of lesson does that teach them for their working lives ahead of them?

"I'm not feeling great - i'll just phone in."

A nation of big jessies will be running the country.