Jules. Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 My youngest son is in year 3 & is a lovely boy, but quite sensitive of late. He's been up till 10.30 tonight telling me about some things that have been upsetting him at school recently, & been quite tearful. At school, with all the bad weather of late they have had lots of indoor playtimes, & so have been watching some of the Horrible Histories DVDs that a child in his class has brought in, & that the class teacher has played to Year 3. YS & some girls are not enjoying them at all, with them either covering their faces or leaving the room. YS tells me he has been teased by the class (36 children) for not wanting to watch these programmes. I've just had a look at the rating for these shows, & some of them are U & some are PG- I don't know yet which DVDs have been shown. My question is, are primary school teachers "allowed" to show a PG cert DVD without informing the parents first & obtaining their permission for the child to watch it? The only reason I ask is that when my eldest son was in Year 6 he brought home from his ( different primary school) a permission slip for him to watch " The Golden Compass" as it is rated PG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplemaniacs Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Our school policy is they are allowed to watch DVDs that are U rated but for PG need parental permission. We only watch DVDs that fit with the topic, we do not use them for wet playtimes. End of Christmas term we sometimes have a DVD as a last afternoon activity but that is in the hall or one of the classrooms and children can watch it or do other activities in other classrooms, it is up to them but again it is a U rated. Chrissie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckmum6 Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 In the schools I've taught in U's are fine, PG's parents give permission when they join the school. However, Horrible Histories is a children's programme screen at tea time, I wouldn't expect to ask permission for this as it is a good quality BBC programme that is educational and sold to schools through educational stockst. DVD's are needed from time to time for short breaks when it is raining, at least it is educational and not some mindless cartoon. I would ask if your son could go to the school library or sit out and read/draw if it is upsetting him. I personally think HH is age appropriate for 8yr olds, who are part of the target market for it. We had a schools video (from the 1980s) for the Viking topic in our Y3 that touched on the violence of the times and actually history was pretty bloody. Poor teacher with a class of 36 Y3's, that's a very big class! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Pudding Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 DS2 who is in year 5 recently brought home a similar slip asking permission to watch PGs and certain (listed) 12 films with any sexual content, swearing and violence removed. They are part of a topic apparently. Your son's school should have a policy about which videos can be shown and when, ask to see it and it should clarify things. I too think HH is appropriate for 8-year-olds but I would be aware that not all children would enjoy it and ensure there was an alternative. I would speak to his class teacher - they need to know the effect that the DVD is having, both in terms of upsetting your son and causing teasing/bullying. Personally I wouldnt use DVDs during a wet playtime, the children spend enough of each day looking at a whiteboard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alis girls Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 YS of 11 has watched these and we have read some of the books and they are somewhat gory and a bit near the knuckle at times. My son too was and still is sensitive - but i would definately speak to teacher about this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluekarin Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 When my kids were at primary and junior, any films they watched had to be U rated. I think HH is a fantastic show, but some of it is very horrible, and if you have a sensitive child who does take in all the information, then I think they will be likely to be disturbed by it. I will say the only time mine got to watch films at school was at the end of term, usually before the Xmas or summer hols. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jules. Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 Thank you for your replies over the weekend. I spoke to the head teacher today, school does have a DVD policy, for PG rated films parental permission needs to be sought. She is finding out exactly which DVDs were watched, & their ratings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
