So eldest OAB went on first day visit to new secondary yesterday.
.
He met up with a bunch of other kids, some from schools with forest/trees as school grounds. He is encouraged to climb trees at home. His mates climb trees. The other local village schools allow climbing trees. I spend my time at work persuading teachers that kids should take more risks (like climb trees). I spent 15 years outdoors allowing kids to climb trees.
.
It cuts deep that he was told off at the secondary, then hauled back after school as he had ‘let the school down’ with ‘reckless and dangerous actions’ and he ‘nearly killed himself’.
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He was 4′ up a tree with a couple of other lads at break.
🙄

Bit over the top really!

Rules is rules, innit?

I get told off for lots of stuff that I don’t think is wrong 😉

Welcome to the new world of health and safety. Crap really, especially for us 70’s kids who grew up playing in alleyways in the dirt…..

FTFY

first letter to head and chair of govenors to set out the background as to why junior climbed the tree

second letter to ask the head to demonstrate the competence to assess the risk of climbing the trees

third letter to look for another school 😉

‘let the school down’ with ‘reckless and dangerous actions

Was he throwing flap jack

The only good news is, my job is to try and challenge some of those attitudes and approaches in school.
Just is frustrating so ‘close to home’ as it is.

Was he throwing flap jack

😆

big n daft – I like the cut of your jib!

Bet you would be suing them if he’d fallen off and hurt himself. 😛

I never got tetanus or any other nasty from playing out in the dirt…..

Give him for his birthday a chainsaw so he can make the grounds safer.

rossi46 – Member

Welcome to the new world of health and safety.

It’s not health and safety, it’s the school protecting itself from mouth breathing parents demanding com-pen-say-shun.

Did he know the rules before he broke them and was given into trouble?

It is the claim culture at fault here.
Other parents would happily sue a school if their child fell and broke an arm, as they were in charge of the child at the time.
Bad times to be young I’m afraid.
stuff we did at school would give a modern head teacher a fit.

Bet you would be suing them if he’d fallen off and hurt himself.

I would be giving him a row for falling from too high. 😉

IMGP3054 by matt_outandabout, on Flickr
Or tripping in the flat grassy field and somehow managing to do this:

IMGP3011 by matt_outandabout, on Flickr

big_n_daft – Member

4th letter from your solicitor asking why school didn’t prevent jnr from climbing trees. A pupil falling out of one on the way out of my school,and breaking his leg, cost us £3000. Just saying there are people who don’t want to persuade kids to climb trees out there, well actually they might be,but not for the same reasons as you. As a teacher he hasn’t let the school down; please don’t do it again would have been better

It’s not health and safety, it’s the school protecting itself from mouth breathing parents demanding com-pen-say-shun.

Sad really, we are fast becoming a sue yo ass American state.
Those compensation lawyers for you companies have alot to answer for.

There’s something wrong, that’s for sure. Spent my days up trees/cliffs in disused quarries, jumping over deep streams when I couldn’t swim, just for a ‘dare’, got stuck in bottomless bogs, got shot with my own air rifle when I was 15, shot my mate in the bum not long after (ricochet), fell through some ice on a pond.
Went on outward bound trips to Howtown & Thurston while at school in winter which were awesome. One time we climbed from Red Tarn straight up to the top of Helvellyn, all roped up with an instructor leading. All of us about 14 yrs old (except the leader, a bloke called Steve Mitchell)
Don’t think they do it now. ‘Too dangerous’ apparently.

This wouldn’t bother me at all. The school have a duty of care and apply a different level of risk to you. Live with it.

I don’t think I would have a problem explaining to my kid there was one rule at home and one at school.

How many kids actually got injured or killed in these ‘good old days’?

My mum’s best mate died after a slip whilst running around a swimming pool, incidentally.

stuff we did at school would give a modern head teacher a fit.

This. We used to climb trees to a height I’d think twice about now. School even gave us the old climbing ropes to set up absails or rope swings. I even soloed Brown Slabs at Shepards on a school trip, although that wasn’t officially sanctioned.

You can always open your own free school, in the trees . . . just sayin’

4th letter from your solicitor asking why school didn’t prevent jnr from climbing trees. A pupil falling out of one on the way out of my school,and breaking his leg, cost us £3000. Just saying there are people who don’t want to persuade kids to climb trees out there, well actually they might be,but not for the same reasons as you. As a teacher he hasn’t let the school down; please don’t do it again would have been better

And here is the challenge eh?

There are bound to be some differences in the rules you set at home an those of the school..

It seems like a massive over reaction on the school’s part though, unless there is perhaps slightly more to this story..?
Was he rude or did he continue to blatantly disobey after being asked reasonably or something..?

According to son he was told at the secondary to come down, nothing made of it and no telling off, and that they all complied immediately.
First he knew there was an issue was teacher from primary hauling him back into classroom on arrival back and having a good go.

We stop the children climbing for exactly the above compensation reasons.

We don’t want to but we have to.

Ah yes, I got tutted at by a couple of adults when letting my then 3 year old nephew climb a tree in a local park. He is now 10 and we still encourage him.
Fresh air and a bit of old fashioned play never did us any harm.

Rules are rules but some teachers really get off on enforcing them.

It is crazy isn’t it? We have research at work, and evidence from continent that having riskier playgrounds and kids taking risks = fewer accidents.
This is more dangerous:

Than this:

my school has a full time outdoor ed teacher and every kid
does it at least for a week in their school life, more if the choose to do it as part of gcse pe.

On the other hand climbing trees at break is a no no due to the unsupervised nature and potential for damage / compensation, I’ve stopped kids piggyback racing for the same reason.

If he wasn’t told beforehand it was wrong I’d make a complaint that he got hauled over the coals for it.
Some people have a very low appetite for risk but don’t realise they’re the odd one out and then try and impose it on everyone else.
IMO kids need to learn to assess risk for themselves so they can keep out of danger in later life.
So for someone with a low risk appetite to try and force their values on your kid is, in the long run, putting him in more danger and therefore worthy of a complaint…

OP, what do you want? That kids be allowed to climb trees? As high as they want?
What do you want the schol to do for you now?

What would you expect to gain from writing to the head or chair of governors? What do you want from them?

OP, what do you want? That kids be allowed to climb trees? As high as they want?
What do you want the schol to do for you now?

What would you expect to gain from writing to the head or chair of governors? What do you want from them?

Here we go… 🙁

my kids climb trees, with me, their parent, they also ride bikes, climb mountains, etc etc

Schools don’t have the manpower to effectively supervise tree climbing etc etc

Here we go

Well, i sit on the other side of this, we have policies whichnwe need to follow, we are answerable to any number of stakeholders. Every time we get a letter from a parent who doesn’t like some minor implementation, we have to spend time drafting a letter which attempts to placate them and defend our position. It’s not just a cae of knocking out a quick letter. Time which we would rather spend on some more important aspect of you child’s education. If only so,that you don’t write a letter about that.

my kids climb trees, with me, their parent, they also ride bikes, climb mountains, etc etc

Schools don’t have the manpower to effectively supervise tree climbing etc etc

This.

I’m 47 and we weren’t allowed to climb trees at school, although we still had the cane…

What do I want?
Some common sense, and less people being settled with out of court on these things.
I want our society to be better at dealing with risk, like so many in Europe are.