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A PRIMARY school has banned parents from attending sports days after staff and pupils were exposed to ‘threatening and intimidating’ behaviour.

Head teacher Sheena Duggan at Pentrebane school in Cardiff sent a letter to parents last week saying the angry behaviour had “worsened” over the past few years.

Mrs Duggan wrote: “As you know the safety, happiness and wellbeing of our pupils, your children, is paramount and so with that in mind I have made the difficult decision that future sports days will not be open to parents, according to The Sun.

“Unfortunately, over the last number of years, the behaviour of adults attending sports days has worsened.

“Staff have found themselves in the firing line of angry parents who can be threatening and intimidating. They have also been sworn at.

“This is bad enough but what is worse is that it takes place in front of children.

“It is very sad but I feel strongly that my staff and pupils do not come to school to be exposed to the bad behaviour of a small minority of adults.”

The letter was sent the day after the school’s annual sports day last week and came as a surprise to many parents.

sports day

A discussion on the TODAY Facebook page saw parents share their disappointment at the decision saying the kids are the ones that are punished the most by this move.

What do you think?

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  • Fair enough.
    Reminds me of the movie Drop dead gorgeous where Denise Richards’ mum sabotages the other contestants.
    Parents can be quite rude when it comes to their children but also I guess it’s instinct?!

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  • It’s a sad world where parents can’t go and watch their kids at sports carnivals. But even sadder that parents can’t go and watch their kids without being aggressive, violent or threatening

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  • I wouldn’t force my child to go to school that day if he / she didn’t want to.
    I don’t send my children to school to go to sports all day and for several part days leading up to it apart from normal sports and exercise classes.

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  • I’d be so upset at being excluded. Why they just haven’t banned the problem parents is beyond me

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  • Wow thats crazy

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  • Can fully understand the Head Teachers comments – parents are often their own worst enemy when it comes to ‘cheering’ on their child.

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  • The problem is that parents behaving this way teaches the children that it is perfectly okay to act this way. Kudos to the school for promoting a zero tolerance to bullying. Maybe it will teach the parents a lesson. We can only hope

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  • Clearly there has been a history of threatening behaviour towards teachers or students. Good on them for having zero tolerance of it.

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  • It’s terrible that this sort of thing happens making the school feels they need to ban parents.

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  • I think it might be better to target he badly behaved parents – might improve their behaviour, too!

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  • I have no issue with this. Why do parents need to go to their kids’ Sports Days? It interferes with what the kids are doing. I’ve seen some unpleasant behaviour at such events that has apalled me. I have no problem with this even though I was a parent who did go sometimes to help. I think the school can manage this well enough. And imagine the excitement when your child comes home from school to share the news of their Sports Day.

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  • That’s very unfair to those doing the right thing. How awful to take the opportunity away from loving and fair parents. Ban those responsible.


    • I agree – it seems so unfair to ban parents doing the right thing.

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  • I think they should just ban the culprits. A bit unfair to punish everyone for the actions of a certain few.

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  • Unfortunately this ban punishes parents that know how to behave too.
    Surely only parents that misbehave should be held accountable.

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  • It’s understandable

    Reply

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