Parents have been left outraged after their children’s primary school banned soccer balls and limited students access to the oval.
Summer Hill Public School, in Sydney’s inner-west, sent a letter to the parents of more than 800 students this week to announce the new rules.
Natalie Bamback said her active seven-year-old son Nash Cazilieris was devastated he could no longer play his favourite sport at lunchtime.
Natalie Bamback said her active seven-year-old son Nash Cazilieris (pictured) was devastated he could no longer play his favourite sport at lunch time
‘He loves playing with the ball… I suppose he will get used to the new rules, but he doesn’t like it,’ she told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Under the new rules, Summer Hill Public School students will not be allowed to bring anything bigger than a tennis ball in to school.
Parent Michelle Vasconcelos said the new rules were overzealous.
‘I understand why they’re doing it, because there’s a lot of kids that are getting hit – and teachers – with the balls. But at the same time they are kids, they should be coming to school, playing, enjoying the playground,’ she said.
The school, which has has two main play areas – a basketball court and an oval – also stipulated changes to children’s play time on the oval.
Summer Hill Public School, in Sydney’s inner-west, sent a letter to the parents of more than 800 students this week to announce a trial of the new rules
Under the new rules, each grade will be banned from the oval one day a week, to ‘alleviate overcrowding’
The school said the rule would make the oval safer for all students.
Summer Hill said oval time would be staggered to prevent younger children being injured by older students as they played side-by-side.
Opposition education spokesman Jihad Dib said overcrowding was a huge issue in schools, but he said the problem should not be passed on to the children.
‘What you don’t want to have is a situation where it’s becoming so overcrowded that kids have to sit down at playtime and not do anything,’ he said.
‘They are kids, they should be coming to school, playing, enjoying the playground,’ parent Michelle Vasconcelos said
Summer Hill Public School, while popular for its successful NAPLAN results, is about 96 per cent full, the publication reported.
Anywhere between 80 and 100 per cent is efficient.
A spokesman for the Department of Education said the new rules were not prompted by a lack of space, instead introduced to prevent conflict between the children.