is this fair?

[madusa]

my ds is neary 9 and has just gone up to year 4.

He plays a lot of tennis and is subsequently very good at it.

When he was in year 2, the club he plays for asked if my ds could miss one afternoon of school to join their training programme for talented players.

We asked the head and she said that he could miss the Friday afternoon session as it was golden time.

Fast forward nealr 2 years ans we have a new head teacher who is now saying that not only can my son not play on a friday afternoon, he also can't be picked for tennis activities for the school as he is "too good"

I am livid.

What would you do?

not playing during school hours is fair enoug - but not being picked for tennis is totally unfair

I would be livid too.

I would ask to see the head and enquire how your son can best be encouraged in tennis when he is not allowed to play at school or at tennis club.

does he mind?

I can see why the decision has been made, if it's not competitive tennis. He would blast the other children all over the court unless he uses a lot of self control, and if he's playing pit pat and being shown how to hold a racket then what's the point for him.

If it was a case of not being chosen for a team that would be ridiculous.

However if it's the above it makes sense to me. Also it is good for children to try out different things.

And we wonder why we don't win at tennis? It isn't incouraging

Even if your son never got any better it may be something that he takes all through life with him.

Can you get him in at an eve class?

I would however use this as a reason why he should continue to miss Friday afternoons and go to his club.

Don't be livid as it will be counter productive and you won't get the best result for your child. What do you want most? The club thing, I assume? Work for that. He will not get any benefit out of school tennis by the sounds of it. Most seven and eight year olds can't do a thing with a racket.

So focus on that, and use the school tennis as a tool to get what you want. For example, suggesting he goes to the tennis club for his PE lesson if he is not allowed to do school tennis.

my ds plays at least 4 times a week

Wednesday 4 - 6
Friday 2 - 6

And both weekend days are normally matches.

During the holidays, he plays most days.

He is getting level 3a and 4c in his SATs so his school work is clearly not suffering.

The children that were picked are a good standard but all are below my son. It was for a competition against another local primary.

ok that's bad -- really rotten

i thought it might just be PE tennis

he deserves a school pat on the back for all his hard work and to be able to show the results