GCSE P.E. Fitness

[mummyflood]

DS2, Yr10, made a passing comment last night that after Christmas, they are starting the fitness section of their P.E. for which some of them will be visiting a local gym, at a cost to US of around £25.

Several questions arose here, and before I approach the school, as this year is rapidly turning into a very expensive exercise, with all information coming by word of mouth only, would appreciate other peoples experience/advice??

He has not chosen PE as an option - this is just the basic course. By 'some' will be going, apparently anyone who messes about in lessons or who does not hand in their booklets (assume this means homework) will not be able to go. DS assures me he does not fall into these categories!! How usual is it to visit a private gym for a GCSE course, at a cost to the parents?

At least one of these sessions (I think there are 10) will coincide with a week away which is already planned for another of his subjects. For this we have to find £50 for a special uniform/equipment. AIBU to say to the teacher concerned that I am reluctant to pay for the gym session that week as he will not be taking part? One has to cut costs where one can in times of credit crunch/recession, especially in the bleak month of January

He already goes to a Junior Gym twice a week at the local council-run gym. I suppose I could cut costs by not letting him go for the 10 weeks he is going with school, but one of the main reasons he goes is to support his younger brother, who is trying to get fit/lose weight, and would be reluctant to go alone. Talked myself out of that one!!

The one good thing is, if it does turn out to be £25, we are not being asked to pay for transport, as that works out at the same price we pay for the council gym, I assume that the school have negotiated a rate for a school/group session.

Sorry, that turned out longer than I intended. Thanks to anyone who has read it all!!

DS1 is now in first year of A levels, so he did PE at school but not as a GCSE and we never had any requests like this. (He went to a state school)

I would take it up with the school and ask what the purpose of these sessions is.

I'd just ring the school and ask. I'd expect a secondary school to be well enough equipped to be able to offer PE lessons without going to a private gym.

DD did take PE as an option and is in year 11. We have not had to pay for anything so far.....

Well ds has PE in yr 10 and he didn't take it as an option and we've not had to pay anything for that so far, thank god. But his Art GCSE looks like it's going to cost a small fortune!

As a PE teacher (on mat leave) your school should be able to run any fitness sessions using their own facilities, and not have to use private facilities. I would as others have suggested phone the school and speak to the head of PE.

Sounds a bit cheeky to me, I'd ask a few more questions. But, this info might be useful, (if it's correct): from a half remembered conversation with a child who did GCSE PE a few years ago, I think she said that for the fitness part you had to show improvement (and the more the better) and they all fudged their results downwards at the start. If this is the case (you should check); you might be better off cancelling his Junior Gym for a few weeks before the school course and then doing both for the duration of it.

OK, thanks everyone. So the concensus is that this is unusual. As I suspected. The school has a 'sports mark', whatever that means - committed to sport or something?

DS is keen to do well in his GCSE PE - he wants to go into the forces and believes it will stand in his favour if he gets a good grade. He is therefore asking me 'not to rock the boat', but I have told him that I am definitely going to speak to the Head of PE (who also happens to be his teacher this year, conveniently!) I have said that doesnt mean I wont be paying for/he wont be doing these sessions, but it depends on whether I get a suitable explanation or not. What ticks me off also is the fact that DS2 was very keen to join the after-school tennis and badminton clubs last year, but they never took off, because the person running them - guess what, Head of PE, was frequently otherwise engaged and they were cancelled with little or no notice. This is something else I was debating whether to have a chat with this teacher or not about - perhaps there are several things we need to talk about!