Mum criticises school in Tring over decision not to allow parents to attend sports day

A parent has criticised Dundale Primary School and Nursery in Tring over the decision not to allow parents to attend sports day this year.

Dundale Primary School and Nursery says the school shares the parents' disappointment but it's priority has to be the safety of our pupils, staff and our wider community.

The parent, who has a four-year-old and seven-year-old at the school, says the decision has been made by the school and believes more could have been done to allow parents to attend.

She said: "Parents of children at Dundale Primary school have been told they're not allowed to watch sports day.

"This has obviously been a huge disappointment to us and our children especially after a torrid year and will have a further detrimental effect on mental health.

"The decision is the schools and has nothing to do with guidance from any council or government.

"It's heartbreaking for parents like myself with children whose sports day will be their first.

"Even more frustrating is that the school around the corner is permitting one parent.

"The school said it wouldn't be safe with one parent per child, especially those with siblings who would cross over into other groups. And apparently there's been a slight increase in covid cases locally.

"We feel that as it's outside, the restrictions should be more relaxed.

"The field is big enough to have separate year groups plus 30 parents standing more than 2 metres away from each other.

"If they organised it properly they could stagger the times and spectators so that there's only two groups on the field at one time.

"Even more annoying is that the school's field is used by Tring Tornadoes football club each weekend with no limits on spectators.

"We just feel more effort could be made. It's so sad for the children too.

"They're doing separate sports days for the early years (nursery and reception).

"There's not even 30 children in nursery so they could easily accommodate parents to this event then at least I'd get to see my four-year-old's first sports day!"

A spokesperson for Dundale Primary School and Nursery said: "We share the parents’ disappointment, but our priority has to be the safety of our pupils, staff and our wider community.

"We also don’t want to risk any disruption to the children’s education caused by isolation of bubbles or school closure.

"Based on our risk assessment and guidance from county, we believe this is the right decision for our school at this time.

"The whole team at Dundale remains committed to supporting our children and their families through these challenging times."