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Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 1:36pm
by landsurfer
The response from the school;


Dear Mr Whiteside

Yes, students will need to be wearing helmets after half term, letters detailing these changes are coming out to parents this week. Students must also have road worthy bikes with front and rear brakes and lights in the winter months. Following three RTC’s and a number of complaints from parents about students cycling dangerously on our roads we are implementing the changes to ensure our students are safeguarded. Bicycles can be collected at any time after school by parents if students do not have a helmet but students will not be allowed to cycle off site unless they are safe.

Our new guidance on cycle safety brings us in line with our neighbouring secondary schools.
If you have any concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards

Miss C Buckenham
Assistant Headteacher

Finham Park School
Green Lane,
Coventry, CV3 6EA
(024) 7641 8135

Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 1:45pm
by [XAP]Bob
3 RTCs?

So are the cars being banned - or do they have to have a mattress on the roof?

Do reply and ask for details about those RTCs and complaints.

Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 2:02pm
by Psamathe
landsurfer wrote:The response from the school;


Dear Mr Whiteside

Yes, students will need to be wearing helmets after half term, letters detailing these changes are coming out to parents this week. Students must also have road worthy bikes with front and rear brakes and lights in the winter months. Following three RTC’s and a number of complaints from parents about students cycling dangerously on our roads we are implementing the changes to ensure our students are safeguarded. Bicycles can be collected at any time after school by parents if students do not have a helmet but students will not be allowed to cycle off site unless they are safe.

Our new guidance on cycle safety brings us in line with our neighbouring secondary schools.
If you have any concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards

Miss C Buckenham
Assistant Headteacher

Finham Park School
Green Lane,
Coventry, CV3 6EA
(024) 7641 8135

That worries me a lot. My impression is they are implementing rules without appreciating the reasons, without knowledge of the facts, etc. and blindly trying to look competent by pandering to a few.

"Following three RTC’s and a number of complaints from parents about students cycling dangerously on our roads" do they think that wearing a helmet will make a child cycle better. In fact risk compensation may make their cycling worse. School obviously doe snot appreciate the fact - not impressive way for a school to make decisions.

They clearly need educating (in facts and to appreciate that as responsible adults they need to establish the facts before forcing their opinions of others).

Ian

Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 2:11pm
by horizon
landsurfer wrote:The response from the school;


Dear Mr Whiteside

Yes, students will need to be wearing helmets after half term, letters detailing these changes are coming out to parents this week. Students must also have road worthy bikes with front and rear brakes and lights in the winter months. Following three RTC’s and a number of complaints from parents about students cycling dangerously on our roads we are implementing the changes to ensure our students are safeguarded. Bicycles can be collected at any time after school by parents if students do not have a helmet but students will not be allowed to cycle off site unless they are safe.



I don't think you need much in the way of brains to read between the lines and realise what is really going on here: the school is trying to reign in its badly-behaved (or should that be naturally exuberant after a long day cooped up indoors) pupils. It is quite astounding, if not shocking, that the school is using a safety smokescreen to do this. Why not strait-jacket the pupils in classrooms? The idea of pupils being forced to wear restrictive helmets must be music to the ears of certain teachers. I would say the school has some serious psychological problems going on here amongst the staff.

Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 2:27pm
by thelawnet
landsurfer wrote:The response from the school;


Dear Mr Whiteside

Yes, students will need to be wearing helmets after half term, letters detailing these changes are coming out to parents this week. Students must also have road worthy bikes with front and rear brakes and lights in the winter months.


The latest sunrise for Coventry is 08:16 and the earliest sunset is 15:52.

The school day appears to run from 08:50 till 15:00.

There therefore does not appear to be an absolute necessity for lights.

Following three RTC’s and a number of complaints from parents about students cycling dangerously on our roads we are implementing the changes to ensure our students are safeguarded.


How will wearing a helmet make the children cycle safely? Are they magic mind control helmets?

Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 2:38pm
by Wanlock Dod
Assistant Headteacher wrote:...a number of complaints from parents about students cycling dangerously on our roads...
...students will not be allowed to cycle off site unless they are safe.

I would have expected a teacher to be able to identify that poor cycling might be more reasonably addressed by cycling training rather than hat wearing. I doubt that there is much evidence to suggest that helmet wearing will result in better cycling skills and behaviour, although they seem to be exactly the issues that cycle training would address.

Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 2:47pm
by landsurfer
Theres more ;

Dear Mr Whiteside

Many thanks for your email, we value all feedback from parents /carers alongside members do the community and promote healthy discussion and debate. l understand that there is a grey area surrounding the Law on this especially in areas of employment, however as a school and we are under a duty to safeguard our students during school hours and thus we are permitted to make any rules we see fit regarding our site and the safety of the children in our care. Students who do not wish to wear helmets can of course use a different method of transport to school. Our aim is simply to do everything we can to keep our young people safe.

Our new Cycle Safety drive is fully backed by our MAT governors and puts us in line with other local secondary schools.

Kind regards

Chloe Buckenham

Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 2:58pm
by Psamathe
landsurfer wrote:The response from the school;


Dear Mr Whiteside

..... and a number of complaints from parents about students cycling dangerously on our roads ....

Probably those wretched cyclists cycling into opening car doors (when parent does not look) or falling into the roads when parent does not look before pulling out driving child home, or driving totally inattentively looking for a parking spot close to school gates ignoring everything else on the road ...

I am rather disappointed by school's attitude. Many times I've mis-timed my rode and had to pass through the mayhem of "school run time" and ignored it. Maybe time I started raising complaints with my local school about the standards of the parents' driving.

Ian

Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 2:59pm
by bovlomov
At Finham Park School we take our safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously


That's what was said after a female PE teacher admitted to sexual relations with two of the girls.

I expect this helmet nonsense is part of a PR exercise to reassure parents that the school is now taking everything very seriously indeed. They will not tolerate any kind of deviant behaviour, whether it's paedophilia among staff or pupils cycling without helmets.

Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 3:01pm
by Psamathe
landsurfer wrote:Theres more ;

Dear Mr Whiteside

Many thanks for your email, we value all feedback from parents /carers alongside members do the community and promote healthy discussion and debate. l understand that there is a grey area surrounding the Law on this especially in areas of employment, however as a school and we are under a duty to safeguard our students during school hours and thus we are permitted to make any rules we see fit regarding our site and the safety of the children in our care. Students who do not wish to wear helmets can of course use a different method of transport to school. Our aim is simply to do everything we can to keep our young people safe.

Our new Cycle Safety drive is fully backed by our MAT governors and puts us in line with other local secondary schools.

Kind regards

Chloe Buckenham

A ot of assumptions they have made. Like wearing a helmet makes children safer - I'd just ask them for their proof.

I do note that the only feel obliged to safeguard their students "during school hours". So confiscating a bike outside those hours must be unrelated to safeguarding children and thus I assume theft.

Ian

Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 3:17pm
by Wanlock Dod
Assistant Headteacher wrote:...l understand that there is a grey area surrounding the Law on this...

There is certainly a grey area surrounding the efficacy of helmets, the law is clear in that helmets are not required.

Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 3:21pm
by irc
Is this school in an area where locking a bike outside the school is safe?

If so walk last few yards into school?

Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 3:29pm
by Psamathe
irc wrote:Is this school in an area where locking a bike outside the school is safe?

If so walk last few yards into school?

Or just stop riding outside the gates and push the bike in an on school premises. Interesting if they required you to wear a helmet when pushing a bike (i.e. not riding it). Same leaving, push the bike off school premises, out of the gates and only start riding once outside their domain.

Ian

Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 3:53pm
by thelawnet
landsurfer wrote:Theres more ;

Dear Mr Whiteside

Many thanks for your email, we value all feedback from parents /carers alongside members do the community and promote healthy discussion and debate. l understand that there is a grey area surrounding the Law on this especially in areas of employment, however as a school and we are under a duty to safeguard our students during school hours and thus we are permitted to make any rules we see fit regarding our site and the safety of the children in our care. Students who do not wish to wear helmets can of course use a different method of transport to school.


How does their duty to safeguard children at school extend to children not at school?

Travel to and from school would be outside of school hours in any case.

Re: School trying to make helmets compulsory

Posted: 11 Oct 2017, 4:40pm
by pwa
thelawnet wrote:
landsurfer wrote:Theres more ;

Dear Mr Whiteside

Many thanks for your email, we value all feedback from parents /carers alongside members do the community and promote healthy discussion and debate. l understand that there is a grey area surrounding the Law on this especially in areas of employment, however as a school and we are under a duty to safeguard our students during school hours and thus we are permitted to make any rules we see fit regarding our site and the safety of the children in our care. Students who do not wish to wear helmets can of course use a different method of transport to school.


How does their duty to safeguard children at school extend to children not at school?

Travel to and from school would be outside of school hours in any case.


And the child could agree to get off and walk on school premises. Probably the safer option anyway with kids all over the place.