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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

DD is starting a petition at the school with her friends

126 replies

EmmaMackenzie42 · 07/09/2023 21:17

Hi, this is my first time posting but I've been on Mumsnet for a while, and I've found lots of things useful on this website :)

So this all started when my eldest daughter (14 years old) didn't get into the netball team (there are only 15 places in each year, including subs, out of the hundreds of girls in the school). I've realised that the boys in her school have plenty of sports teams (football, rugby, basketball, cricket, tennis, even table tennis etc.). The only other technical girls sport is X-country (that is unisex, but it only happens once a year).

She wanted to start a petition along some of her other friends to make more girls sports teams and it has got quite a few signatures so far from several girls and even a few boys. They are also holding an additional petition to have an end-of-year school prom following exam season; thst has garnered a similar number of signatures.

The school has claimed it will consider the prom (but no actions have been done so far), and they also said they wouldn't create more girls sports teams because "not enough girls would sign up/ want to play for the sports teams".

I am in full support of my DD and her friends, and I love her very much. I came on here hoping for online support to put pressure on the school to create more girls' sports teams (and the EOY prom of course! :) ).

OP posts:
Hellocatshome · 07/09/2023 21:21

How is that going to work exactly? I doubt the school will care that some random people think there should be more girls sports teams at the school they have no involvement in.

Floralnomad · 07/09/2023 21:24

Who is supposed to run these teams and organise the matches and practices , perhaps the teachers just don’t want to do more than they do . Why does your daughter not join clubs outside of school there are plenty about - netball , football , rugby , hockey to name a few .

GLORIAGloriarse · 07/09/2023 21:26

I think what she's doing is fantastic but agree this needs to come from interested parties who want to participate in women's sports but aren't getting equal opportunities to the boys at that school, not randoms online.

Unless you mean you're looking for ideas to support her arguments?

In which case maybe she could hold a focus group and fond out what the other girls want, who is interested in sport, what would stop them participating or encourage them, what types of sport etc.

GLORIAGloriarse · 07/09/2023 21:28

Floralnomad · 07/09/2023 21:24

Who is supposed to run these teams and organise the matches and practices , perhaps the teachers just don’t want to do more than they do . Why does your daughter not join clubs outside of school there are plenty about - netball , football , rugby , hockey to name a few .

I think they could balance it a bit better with their commitments to the boys teams or follow whatever model they use to recruit leaders for those.

Stripeypyjamas · 07/09/2023 21:29

You're better off tweeting some female sports stars and ask them to come to the school

Original poster
EmmaMackenzie42 · 07/09/2023 21:29

@Floralnomad I understand your concerns about staffing. But I think the school should perhaops have a similar amount of girls and boys teams.

OP posts:
Floralnomad · 07/09/2023 21:31

Perhaps they have tried in the past and there hasn’t been the interest from the girls .

Original poster
EmmaMackenzie42 · 07/09/2023 21:32

@GLORIAGloriarse Thanks for your support, other parents in the form, year and even the whole school are in agreement with me. I have come to this website because several other mums of children at the school i know use this website.

OP posts:
hopeongirl · 07/09/2023 21:33

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Original poster
EmmaMackenzie42 · 07/09/2023 21:34

@Floralnomad Over 60% of students in the year (mostly female) have signed the petition and the number is only increasing.

OP posts:
ReeseWitherfork · 07/09/2023 21:35

they wouldn't create more girls sports teams because "not enough girls would sign up/ want to play for the sports teams".
If this is true, why would they not just try? Put the option out, when the girls say no, cancel it. They can easily put a clause in to say they need X amount to proceed. But it’s bollocks isn’t it. I assumed a school would want to encourage the girls even if it was true.

Are there girls leagues for other sports across other local school?

edit: typo

DanceMumTaxi · 07/09/2023 21:35

I’m a teacher and I agree, staffing is not a reason to disadvantage girls. If they can’t staff extra clubs then some of the boys ones should go to create more balance. It’s very old fashioned to only have netball as a girls sport. Most schools have moved beyond this now thankfully. Also most schools have a prom, but I can see some might now if they thought it would put too much financial pressure on parents.

Refrosty · 07/09/2023 21:36

EmmaMackenzie42 · 07/09/2023 21:29

@Floralnomad I understand your concerns about staffing. But I think the school should perhaops have a similar amount of girls and boys teams.

Are they talking from experience or just perceive it to be that way?

Petitions are all good, but running clubs for the sake of it isn't. I guess the chance to have more clubs is important, but I think that if the sign ups (from female students themselves) aren't up to much, maybe the school has a point?

StillRunningWithScissors · 07/09/2023 21:36

Not sure if this will help, but I immediately thought of This Girl Can

https://www.google.com/url?q=www.thisgirlcan.co.uk/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwi-ndTlq5mBAxWWSEEAHT7QCQQQFnoECAMQAg&usg=AOvVaw2b7POcG66BFdV6KgF5KVqJ

Good on your daughter and her friends for starting the petition. It enrages me that there is a need for it.

Redirect Notice

https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thisgirlcan.co.uk%2F&sa=U&usg=AOvVaw2b7POcG66BFdV6KgF5KVqJ&ved=2ahUKEwi-ndTlq5mBAxWWSEEAHT7QCQQQFnoECAMQAg

LittleOwl153 · 07/09/2023 21:37

Maybe the girls need to turn up to football practice, basketball etc and if they have enough for a team they should ask to be coached along side the boys...

olivehaters · 07/09/2023 21:37

I think what she is doing is great. It’s disgraceful that there are not an equal number of opportunities for girls. Is netball really the only team? It’s not even an Olympic sport for goodness sake.

This post makes me more confident that sending my kids to single sex schools is the best decision I will make. They will be treated as individuals and not defined by their sex.

Wishitsnows · 07/09/2023 21:38

Well done on doing the petition. They need to cut down on the boys sports teams if they don’t have enough teachers to provide sport for the girls. Girls so often drop out of sports in their teenage years and should be supported especially when they want to continue. Good luck. They deserve to at least get the same opportunities as the boys.

ItsNotRocketSalad · 07/09/2023 21:38

Have you looked into the large body of research around encouraging girls into sport? It shows that girls generally don't like competitive team sports like cricket and football and being forced to play them in school PE puts many girls off sport for life.

Instead of forcing schools to offer more boy-led sports to girls, why not look into how they can offer girl-led sports?

Wishitsnows · 07/09/2023 21:41

They could suggest hockey, lacrosse, football, cricket, softball. Is there a rowing club nearby that would link up with the school to offer girls the opportunity. I have seen this at a number of state schools.

senua · 07/09/2023 21:43

Surely football for girls is an open goal (pun intended!) at the moment.

LouisaPeanut · 07/09/2023 21:44

ItsNotRocketSalad · 07/09/2023 21:38

Have you looked into the large body of research around encouraging girls into sport? It shows that girls generally don't like competitive team sports like cricket and football and being forced to play them in school PE puts many girls off sport for life.

Instead of forcing schools to offer more boy-led sports to girls, why not look into how they can offer girl-led sports?

Is this true? I thought it was that competition wasn’t the main motivator for girls, keeping fit and having fun was. Not that they don’t want to play competitive sports. So it’s not that football or cricket aren’t likely to be popular, it’s just that you don’t sell them on the competitive aspect like you might with boys. Happy to be told otherwise.

MuggleMe · 07/09/2023 21:48

School should give it a go, stipulate minimum numbers that persist for x weeks, it's not reasonable to predict a lack of interest.

billycat321 · 07/09/2023 21:49

Hopeongirl. I don't understand what you have written

XelaM · 07/09/2023 22:13

ItsNotRocketSalad · 07/09/2023 21:38

Have you looked into the large body of research around encouraging girls into sport? It shows that girls generally don't like competitive team sports like cricket and football and being forced to play them in school PE puts many girls off sport for life.

Instead of forcing schools to offer more boy-led sports to girls, why not look into how they can offer girl-led sports?

Not all girls dislike PE 🤷‍♀️It's my teen daughter's favourite subject and all her friends are sporty. She does an individual sport to a high level outside of school, but also likes cricket and other teams sports. Girls are not all the same - just like not all boys are sporty.

SisterMichaelsHabit · 07/09/2023 22:49

Yes they should have more girls teams! Their arguments against it are silly; they don't need to give them every sport going, one or two would be a lot more than they currently get! Women's rugby and women's football would be a good start since they clearly already have teachers that know the rules of those games so they can't say (e.g. with hockey) that they don't have the qualified staff to run the teams. Maybe they could give the girls either rugby or football and give the boys the other one. Oh, they don't like that? How do they think the girls feel having literally two sports to play, one of which isn't even a team sport??

We just made it to the Women's Football World Cup Final. How the hell are we supposed to get good women's football players if girls are still being excluded from football like we were when I was at school FFS?

My suggestions are: Complain via ParentView to Ofsted (if this is currently available to you). Complain to the governors. Get the girls in the local news (any and all local news outlets) and on local radio if possible talking about this. Tweet about it and add tags for famous female sports persons at the end of the tweet (never at the start or no one else can see the tweet properly). If you have to, pay to put an ad in the local small ads. Get this everywhere. It's abysmal. Embarrass the shit out of the school. Google reviews, Facebook local group, anywhere you can bring attention to it that makes them look like the gigantic prats they are.

Girls deserve to play sports!

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