Chicken picking at feet

[Valkyrie]

Arghhh Cinnamon - I was about to congratulate you on losing weight only to see your poor daughter gaining it in an unpleasant way. How rediculous and I so agree with you. Fingers crossed. When I was at school we had our books in desks - you put what you needed in your bag first thing and then swapped it round for the afternoon lessons. Classrooms were locked unless a teacher was present so no need for lockers and our stuff was safe. I didn't get my bad back until I worked in a bank and carried armfuls of coinbags - incorrectly. No need for youngsters getting a head start with back problems. Funny how the schools can stop snowball fights, sliding on ice etc in case of injury and health and safety, but carrying heavy bags around is another matter.

[Chickvic]

That is unbelievable! I can see that they need to have their books for the day but that's all. We were never given text books home either - they stayed at school. As everyone has pointed out, the damage to her back can be awful. Let's hope they sort it out and her schoolbag gets lighter.

[Janty]

That is a ridiculous amount for your daughter to carry. My son has a locker but we prefer for him to take in just the books he needs, leaving the others at home for us to spy through (he hasn't worked this out yet - we call it 'extra support to see how he's getting on'). He gets confused though as his school's problem is that they keep changing the timetable and he is taking more and more books in each day in order to avoid not having what he needs.

 

I am going to get in touch with his class teacher about it tomorrow and ask for a copy of the timetables to be sent or e-mailed to me if there are further changes. They are really lucky that he's coping as well as he is. A lot of autistic children would find the changes unbearable.

 

Good luck with the school. All our children where I teach have lockers but only the final year had lockable ones. I fought to get my year 7s (middle school) lockable lockers and succeeded in the end.

[The Dogmother]

Good for him Janty, like you said, he has adjusted very well.

[Patricia W]

get in touch with the governors ( start with the parent governor ) if you get no change from the head. You could also talk to the Local Authority as this is a health and safety issue. Good luck!

[Geoid]

My mum (who is a teacher) says that: Unnecessary weight which is bad for you back and how does it improve organisational skills? She is totally against it.

[Chicken Licken]

I must be a very bad tutor - I have 30 year 11 students - all of whom follow individual timetables. I have no idea what lessons they have each day and would be hard put to check on them. I nag to make sure they have a pen and their planner most days!! The conscientious ones are great and organised and reliable, many of the others are chaotic. As with most teenagers they know they are right all of the time and rail against pointless rules (taking off your coat, answering your name to the register, being quiet to listen to instructions etc. etc).

Schools and their rule making.... Grrrr.

I hate having to nag my tutor group, but at the end of the day it is part of my job and sadly in this day and age staff are all too often threatened with being officially reprimanded for failing to implement codes and policies! Grrr

[laurmurf]

get in touch with the governors ( start with the parent governor ) if you get no change from the head. You could also talk to the Local Authority as this is a health and safety issue. Good luck!

 

That's what I was going to suggest - I'm a parent governor and I'd want to know about this, I'd also be responsible for following up with you the results. You could write to the chair of governors and the headteacher, and write to the chair of the health and safety committee for support (could always copy it to Devon's GP.... gives the letter added 'umph')

 

My YD only has to carry what she needs each day and we only live 5 minutes walk away from school, but she's had back and shoulder problems with that!

 

Good luck with this.... I love a good campaign!

[Cinnamon]

I went through the govenors last time to no avail, but there is a new lot now so i will certainly try again if I get no joy.

No phone call from the school today..................................

[Yorkshire Pudding]

My mum (who is a teacher) says that: Unnecessary weight which is bad for you back and how does it improve organisational skills? She is totally against it.

 

 

So am I and I couldn't agree more.

 

Our school has no space for lockers, nor the funds to provide 1800 of them. Add to that a shortened, very intense school day and there would be no time to use them anyhow. only a small number of students have lockers and they are provided as a reasonable adjustment to help them cope with disabilities.

 

Unfortunately coat pegs are not an option because of the risk of theft . Coats are carried, so many students don't bring them, even in sub-zero temperatures, although I remember doing something very similar as a teenager myself .

[PapaJuliet]

The other thing that "Ooops, word censored!"ody seems to address is whether overly heavy bags can "cause" scoliosis... curvature of the spine.

 

From my reading, it seems that (if I recall correctly) 70% is cause unknown. Has any research been done on carrying of heavy bags.

 

I also get the impression there are 2 "varieties"... where the spine is twisted and where it is "just" bent. I don't see that heavy bags can cause the first type but the second???

 

 

That would be my concern about a young girl forced to carry a heavy bag around all day every day. Does she use a back pack or an over the shoulder bag? I would refuse to allow her to carry that weight around until somebody could reassure me that it didn't affect the growth of the spine... which I would bet that your school could not do.

 

 

Good luck in your campaign.

 

PJ

[Valkyrie]

We found that phone calls were a waste of time, but faxes and e-mails seem to get a very quick response - particularly e-mails as they are a pretty good record, whereas phone calls can be forgotten. Or the phone message "didn't get passed on, sorry".

[Cinnamon]

OK, I have heard from the school now

 

Pretty good news actually. If I can get a Doctors cert saying that the heavy bag is causing Devon back pain, then she need only bring in that days books

 

I have told them that I will only be sending her with the days books anyhow, as I can't see the doctor for a good few days (she is part time)

 

They weren't happy but I told them that until they could guarantee that the bag would not cause long term damage, that was what I was doing. I have also emailed them all the info everyone has kindly posted on here too

[Valkyrie]

Way to go Cinnamon!

[Egluntyne]

Good for you.

[chickencam]

Good news

[Paola]

Finally

[Seagazer]

Are you going to spread the news around the rest of the school? Perhaps they could all get notes from their doctors and then the school would have to change its policy

[Geoid]

Are you going to spread the news around the rest of the school? Perhaps they could all get notes from their doctors and then the school would have to change its policy

Just what I was thinking!

[Cinnamon]

I think I may just do that

[Cooks]

well done!, blinking school rules drive me mad, especially when they are nonsense like this one!

[Chickvic]

Well done

[The Dogmother]

Good for you Sarah

[Cinnamon]

Not out of the woods yet - I still have to get the doctors note, although I am hoping that won't be a problem

 

I still haven't had a reply to my email from the head either, but I am standing firm.

 

Am off now to help her to organise her books in a couple of magazine racks so she can easily grab what she needs for the day

[Cooks]

thats a good idea, my son has his own drawer in the sideboard, well they both have one actually.. the theory is they should be tidy... and contain all their books, which they actually do, luckily!