No pe kit made to do chores

[xyzzyx]

Recently moved house and dc have started new school, communication has been poor to the point I had to contact school during holidays about what time they start (different boroughs times differ ever so slightly didn't want dc to be overly early or late on first day in new school)
Anyway first week fine, second week one day this week dc had pe but we didn't know what day it was in, dc had full pe kit in pe bag with them, however the school said because they didn't arrive in pe kit they must miss pe. Dc had to do chores - clean tables, sharpen pencils, tidy book shelves.

Do I say something to the school? Dc wasn't only one not wearing pe kit but we had lack of info and communication considering the school is completely new to our family. No newsletter online to say what day pe was either...
Aibu to raise my concerns?

I think you need to contact the school and say that your child is getting into trouble because you haven't been given important information about how the school works. They need to be making sure you have that information - if it isn't in the prospectus/planner/website/whatever, perhaps you need whatever information was given to parents of new starters. I would perhaps not kick up too much of a fuss about the punishment, but emphasise that you need to be provided with information before anything else similar happens.

The big question is whether your son was given access to a timetable and whether he was told he had to turn up in PE kit. If he wasn't, you definitely say something to the school. Point out to them that your son has been punished for failing to turn up in PE kit when the school had failed to tell either you or him what day PE was on or that he was required to turn up in PE kit, so he was given no chance to follow the rules and avoid punishment. Express concern that he may be punished further for other incidents that may be caused by the school's failure to communicate.

Actually, since this is primary school, I would also point out that, even if they did communicate it to your son, that simply isn't enough. Children of that age cannot be expected to reliably remember things like this. They should have told you which day PE was and that he should turn up wearing his PE kit rather than carrying it in a bag.

Obviously the school acted ridiculously and unkindly (so many schools discussed on MN seem to lack kindness - at my school we try to be nice to the children!) but in upper key stage 2 the vast majority of children should be able to remember on which day to wear PE kit and should be encouraged to take responsibility for this.

If they hadn’t got a kit in school then what happened would be completely fine. Doing helpful jobs when they can’t join pe is ok. Most small children fight over the honour of being allowed to use the pencil sharpener!
However, if they had kit to change into then I don’t understand what their didn’t just do that?? Seems a bit weird.
If this was the case then I’d definitely be questioning why he wasn’t allowed to change and join in. What he was asked to do instead of PE is not really the problem in my opinion.

Of course, yes. I had thought OP had said her child was younger than that, but she actually hasn't given any indication as to age.

I would complain about the lack of information, but also about being excluded when he had his PE kit. I don't think it is acceptable.

Did he actually tell the teacher his PE kit was in his bag? How old is he?

I agree he should’ve been allowed to change on this occasion. However, the chores he did may not have been a punishment as such. PE time may well be PPA time for the teacher. PPA is very valuable time and they may just have given your child some things to keep them busy whilst they got on with their work.

Whilst the school should have communicated this to you, why didn't you pop into the school office or send an email after the first day to clarify? you know schools do PE so you should have asked what the arrangements were if you didn't already know. Also double check their bags for little slips of paper that get squashed at the bottom that say something like "Oak class have PE on Monday and Friday, please arrive in full PE kit".

As for the punishment most children love using the pencil sharpener especially if it's an electric one or with a handle.