"Rough" play in school playground

[Lochie]

Not sure if anyone can normalise what seems to me to be overly rough play in the school playground, maybe I am being a bit sensitive...

My son is 5 and started Reception in September. He regularly comes home having had some sort of scrape from play/chasing with the other children. Yesterday he said that a year 1 child hit him in the stomach. Today i.e. right now he is sitting on our sofa with a massive blue bump on his head (the school called from sick bay asking me to come in and get him). He said a year 2 child tripped him up 'on purpose,' (but then he has a colourful imagination).

He doesn't seem unhappy at school and doesn't resist going. He has friends and his teacher said he is doing fine at our recent parents evening. But then I don't want to ignore any of this if it isn't 'in the norm'. His year bulged so there are 120 Reception children, along with 90 year 1s and 2s in the playground (which is a relatively small playground) during break time. Is this just part and parcel of being in a very crowded school?!!

[Mariamadeit]

I don't think that is normal at all! Yes children get into scrapes but this does seem an awful lot. Are the school doing anything about what he has said, and if not why not? I would not be happy and would be talking to teachers about what is being done to sort this out. Speak to the head if necessary.

[Fuschia]

With an injury like that, I would have expected a discussion with the school about exactly how he got the injury.

[Saffron]

Agreed, an injury to the head that leads to the school requesting that you collect your child from sickbay, should automatically lead to the classroom teacher and the head making themselves available to discuss the incident. TBH, wouldn't it be a liability for them not to discuss it with you?

How many adult supervisors are there in the playgroud? What's the adult/child ratio? What's the school policy towards the child that caused the injury?

[Lochie]

Thanks for those thoughts. Given me the impetus to at least speak to the teacher about it. A few of the other Mums have mentioned that they think there are not enough playground helpers since the bulge class, and that is my main concern, that with 30 more kids at playground they haven't increased the number of adults appropriately.

I walk past the playground and have a little spy on an occasional basis and it does seem chaotic, kids charging about all over the place (when do they not?), so my concern is less that my son is being picked on specifically and more that its all become a bit unruly, that 'play fighting' steps over the line and some children become a bit too rough.

I asked my son again after he had had a rest on the sofa and he said that he wasn't tripped up on purpose that it was an accident, and that backs up the sick bay manager's explanation which was 'he tripped over someone's foot' - I guess my main concern is how parents ever know, when there are so many kids, what really is going on.

Defo a good point on asking what adult/child ratio is and whether it has been appropriately increased to accommodate the extra children...

[oimissus]

I'm surprised that the Reception children are in the main playground with the bigger children. At DD's school they have a separate playground and apparently in the summer term will start having odd days in the main playground to get used to it. A lot of schools we saw had a similar set up.

Unfortunately, I think a lot of school are a bit stuck when they are forced to bulge - I know one school we saw had the classroom space, but not the hall (for lunches and assemblies and indoor PE) or playground space - but they still had to bulge. But they should still have the correct staff/child ratio.

[BabymassagewithLouie]

My son went through a stage of being 'injured' about three times a week in reception and Year 1. His is a smallish school where Key Stage 1 have one playground and Key Stage 2 another. At one point, I had a 'head bump' phonecall every other day!

I asked about the frequency of injuries a few times and the answer was always that boys play Power Rangers and things like that and that at least one boy gets a bump/knock/kick almost every day but that it's rarely intentional and malicious.

Now he's in Year 2, it really seems to have calmed down and I get far fewer phonecalls.

I think if your son's not worried, you shouldn't be either. There's a difference bewteen over-exuberance/rumbunctious play and malicious play.

[Honoroaky]

We get at least a couple of bumps to the head texts a week! This week we had a variation on the theme with a knock on the chin text! His legs are black and Blue too! My son is in a reception year of 90 but they do go into the KS1 playground if they want to and I think overcrowding can be an issue. I asked the teachers if it was normal to get so many injuries and she said the boys do play rough so I've been trying to encourage sensible play away from the bigger children. ..

[minder]

I'm also surprised that the Reception children are mixed with Year 1 and 2 at playtime.

When my children were at Reception they shared their playground and classroom facilities with nursery aged children and I was happy with that.

Considering that some Reception aged children have just turned 4 when they start in Reception it's a fine line but now with schools 'bulging' and Reception being over 90 kids it can be very chaotic!

[uncleglen]

There should be lunchtime supervisors keeping control in playgrounds. My mum did this after she retired and was always telling us how often she had to intervene in disputes and 'boisterous' behaviour between children. This will be a never ending situation because there are parents that encourage this behaviour in their boys for some peculiar reason. I remember a mother of a boy saying to me 'he doesn't mean anything by it' when I pointed out to her that her little darling was kicking the heck out of another boy who was on the ground!

[Mrs TP]

My youngest is in year 1. In term time her legs and elbows are a mass of bruises. We had a trip to A&E this week to double check a sprained ankle was just that and not a break. We've had endless notes home re minor injuries and phone calls re head bumps, like others on here.

Im my experience much of it is accidental, too many bodies and often a wet slippery playground. However, like anywhere there is the odd child that takes rough and tumble play too far or is deliberately malicious and adults need to be vigilant.

In the playground at pick up time, which is extra chaotic, I saw an older boy back into my daughter completely accidentally and knock her over. He immediately spun round, picked her up and apologised to her, not aware that I saw this happen. When I got over to her, he apologised to me too. I have also been in the park after school and caught a different older boy deliberately kick my daughter in the head when they were all on the boat swing. Needless to say I dealt with this situation.

[Saffron]

Yes, it isn't just boys. We get frequent headbump phone calls for our daughter - BUT I've never had to collect her from school because of it.

Shouldn't games that encourage excess rough play be discouraged by schools, even if some parents are encouraging it at home? Surely one of the responsibilities of a school is to instill sociable behaviour common to all students?

Agreed it's a never ending problem for playground monitoring, but that job would certainly be better if staff ratios were higher and schools had clear rules for staff and students regarding rough play, even related to accidents. Accidents are certainly more likely with less supervision, otherwise why bother with supervision at all.

[scareyt]

That sounds like a completely unmanageable number of children in the playground at once. Could they not stagger it so reception kids use it at a different time to the big kids? In my son's old nursery they only had a teeny tiny playground so they took each class out at a different time which worked fine.

[david_carnell]

I might break the consensus here but is this not just kids being kids?

They fall down. They get up. And start again. Complete with bruises, grazes, bumps, holes in trousers etc.

This is what children are meant to do - explore the world, find out that sometimes they'll get hurt and grow up with a sense of risk and danger that allows them to judge situations.

Wrapping them in cotton wool does no one any favours. I'm not advocating some 1950s childhood of tough love but just not to get too concerned about "rough play".

There are always some children who are more aggressive and some who are more passive - as with adults. And whilst no one should expect wanton aggression to go unquestioned, far better to let children deal with it themselves to begin with rather than for parents to rush in.

[????]

Wot d_c said

[uncleglen]

There are some children that get routinely physically punished by their parents. They then grow up believing that big people hitting little people is normal and then they go ahead and punch your smaller child....it is wrong and all of it should be challenged. It is time consuming for schools to deal with this stuff but a sea change is necessary because bullying and inappropriate physical contact across both sexes and at all levels is on the increase.

[david_carnell]

And in no way shape or form did I condone corporal punishment or domestic abuse.

I also said that wanton violence by children on other children should be stopped.

But some of the previous comments seemed to be issues concerning bumps and bruises that, to me, would seem par of the course for young children at school. And I would include the schools themselves in that criticism for bothering parents every time a child bumps their head.

Single incidents of a serious nature often lead to mass over-reaction where every minor injury is reported as if life-threatening and to absolve the school of responsibility.

[david_carnell]

???? Wrote:

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> Wot d_c said

So rarely spotted. So coveted. ;-)

[Otta]

Haha,

I'm with D_C on this one too.

If I had to come and collect my child, I would expect to hear what had happened, but for the most part I wouldn't be too woried.

[Otta]

david_carnell Wrote:

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> And I would include the schools themselves

> in that criticism for bothering parents every time

> a child bumps their head.

I agree, but this specific issue really is a case of damned if they do, damned if they don't.

[david_carnell]

Oh, no doubt. Nursery is the same. It only takes one parent to threaten legal action and the school goes H&S crazy.

Forms, in triplicate, for bruises and bumps that often have disappeared by the time I arrive for collection. Bonkers.

And don't get me started on nurseries refusing to give a spoon of calpol to a child without a prescription!

[Saffron]

The OP hasn't threatened legal action, or asked for her child to receive meds. The issues appear to be whether there is enough staff supervision and/or if the playground is overcrowded, and whether a parent can expect to meet with senior staff to discuss serious injuries at school.

Most people have indicated that bumps are normal, but equally that younger children may need additional supervision. And I don't think anyone disagreed that a parent might expect a meeting with staff to be reasonable if a child received an injury to the head.

I don't know why you think the consensus wasn't kids being kids? No one seemed to disagree that children get minor bumps in the playground. The issues seems to be with how large mixed-age groups are supervised, and how serious injuries are handled.

Not sure how your comments fit in here, d_c? I think you have the wrong end of the stick. xx

[esme]

Definitely see the teacher so they can keep an eye - I'd expect scraped knees and filthy uniform but no serious injuries!

[david_carnell]

Saffron - the OP said her son regularly came home with some sort of scrape. I presumed that this, allied to the further "blue bump", was the cause of her concern.

There was then further anxiety expressed by the OP and other parents about "playfighting" getting too rough.

I just thought I'd present the view that this isn't that serious and is just run-of-the-mill stuff that parents and schools seem to get overly concerned about to the detriement of all, including the children concerned. I don't think a single punch to the stomach or bump on the head is "serious". Goodness, if my mother had been called everytime that happened to me or my friends attendance at school would have been non-existent.

My slightly off-topic posts about legal forms and meds were meant to highlight a wider risk-averse culture that is seemingly pervasive in the modern education system. It's why, for instance, school trips to places like riverbanks or farms now require vast reams of paperwork and risk assessments comparable to army manoeuvres; all of which lead to a reduction in these sorts of valuable activities.

It's all part of a bigger picture/culture - it's not just about scraped knees in playgrounds.

[Saffron]

You're welcome to think whatever you like, but the school itself thought it was serious enough that the child needed to be collected from sick bay following the injury.

Schools have a duty of care to provide necessary and adequate levels of supervision. If students numbers in the playground have increased, and supervision has not increased, there is a reasonable argument to suggest that the school investigate whether they are still providing their duty of care -- as part of a bigger picture/culture of responsibility and of caring for and educating children. Nothing parabolic in that.

As far as a single punch not being serious, I'm afraid that's not the case. A single blow can have quite serious consequences, even if completely accidental.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24839481

We should not over-protect our children. But we can and should protect our children.

xx