Reception children not allowed to run at break or lunch - normal?

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Hi I'm a secondary teacher and parent of a DD in reception. I'm looking for the opinions of primary teachers please. Running is not allowed at break and lunchtime in DDs school. Any child who runs has to sit to the side and do nothing. This seems outrageous to me. Is this normal?

Their reasoning is that they have a small reception playground with lots of equipment in so running wouldn't be safe, but I think they should give them a chance to run on the field or big playground at some point. At parents evening DD's teacher said 'we don't let them run around aimlessly' which I thought was a pretty telling choice of words. I am planning on complaining to the school but I'd love to hear your thoughts.

How odd. DD1 is in reception and from what I can make out her and her friends spend a lot of their playtimes running around!

Hi I am not a teacher but I do work in a school and this sounds crazy. Reception children need to run round and burn off some energy. We can always tell when its been wet play.

Maybe it's one of those schools that sold off the playing field and just doesn't have room?

I imagine that as the OP’s child goes to the school and she specifically mentioned the field and the big playground, she knows they haven’t been sold off.

Very odd, I work in a primary but KS2 never heard of such a rule. We have a large field however it isn’t used at this time of year for playtime because it’s too wet and therefore slippery.

Very strange. Speak to the head.

That sounds batshit. Have they rammed the school full of pupils to the point where it's a health and safety issue.

Makes me laugh how we moan about children being sedentary and then do everything to encourage it.

Lots of running at our school, in fact they have a line marked out for running a mile. Reception area also has trikes etc and so they can choose what to do.

My reception child came home on Friday with a scraped knee as she was doing 'running ballet' whilst being chased by her friends so they are definitely allowed to run there.

That is very very odd.

That’s crazy. Reception kids run automatically it’s the way they are. Maybe the school should clear some of the stuff from the yard and let the kids play. My old school had a separate reception yard but they often played on the big yard when no one else was using it. I’d be raising that

This makes me very cross to hear. Has their playground shrunk ir has this always been the case?
I won't make the case for the need to let chikdren run around as I am sure we are all sensible enough to know the importance of it, but why are the school not lettting chikdren run????? Esp as reception children are very young - seems on the verge of cruel..

I'm a reception teacher. We have an outdoor area attached to the classroom where running isn't allowed as there's lots of equipment out and it wouldn't be safe. However, when the children go into the main yard at morning and afternoon break time as well as lunchtime, they run as much as they want!

It sounds like your dc doesn't have access to the main yard where they'd have enough space to run. That needs to be addressed. Little ones need to run in order to develop their strength, stamina and balance. I'd speak to the Reception staff first and then email the head if they can't help.

That sounds very strange, I would think lunchtimes are perfect for 'running aimlessly' to burn off all that pent up energy. Reception here has a small playground with equipment in, but still plenty of room to run about. Our Reception teachers like them to have an energetic lunchtime, and we keep them out in all weathers too, unless it's absolutely pouring.

I was a lunchtime supervisor and the only time we didn't allow reception children to run was when it was wet. As there playground had that 'soft rubber' flooring you get in parks under swings, but when they are wet they are very slippy.

And although we had loads of play equipment we still encouraged the children to run.

Thanks everyone. You've all confirmed my thoughts. At first I thought it was dd had misunderstood something but the class teacher confirmed it. I'm going to write to the Head.

I’ve got a ds in reception - my 7th child to go into reception - in various parts of the country and several different schools. They have all been encouraged to run a round at break time and lunch. Frankly find it outrageous that they wouldn’t be!!

Think last year DD2's reception class weren't allowed to run in their little enclosed reception play area where outdoor provision was set up and you'd often have kids doing things like driving robots around the area or similar - but they were on the big playground at lunchtime and various points during the day with different staff and actively encouraged to hurtle around and get it out of their system then anyway.

Even with DD2's coordination difficulties and ability to trip over her own feet - I'd still not be stopping her running around because how the fuck else is she ever going to learn?!

I'd consider pulling my child out of a school that had this rule, honestly.