So I teach at a public primary school with around 400 students.
We have two play areas they can choose from at recess and lunch. A cement area under a COLA and the oval.
We don’t have any fixed playground equipment and kids are not allowed to bring any toys or sports equipment from home, except a handball.
There is one soccer game allowed on the oval at a time, with a school provided ball, monitored by an executive.
One day it’s stage 3, then stage 2, then stage 3 again and so on.
K-2 are not allowed to play soccer at all.
Girls were sitting in groups and making fairy houses in the dirt with sticks etc, but we’ve been told to stop them.
Kids are continually told not to bring toys to school, aren’t allowed to play in the dirt, so they end up playing in the bathrooms, especially boys. They make a huge mess and be silly in there. We are constantly working on ways to stop toilet issues. I genuinely think they do this because they have nothing better to do, but the executives would not like me to say such a thing.
The only other thing they do is play tag or race each other on the oval, which always ends up with shoving incidents and fights breaking out.
Am I crazy for thinking this is a really bad? Like if we can’t have a playground, why aren’t we providing toys for the students?
It’s also clear to me that this is why there are so many fights and bathroom issues?