Girl ‘came home crying and sick’ after doing PE in heatwave

‘She literally just went to her bedroom and passed out,’ Collette Elliott says

Codey, a pupil from Birmingham, came from ill from school after doing PE in the heat, according to her mother (Supplied)

A nine-year-old girl was left in tears and vomited after doing a PE lesson in this week’s heatwave, according to her mother.

Collette Elliott told The Independent her daughter, Codey, passed out within half an hour of returning home poorly from school on Monday.

She said she was “fuming” after being told primary school pupils had been left to decide for themselves whether to sit out PE in the heat.

The UK has been experiencing scorching weather this week, with many areas seeing temperatures in the high 20s and some even topping 30C.

The start of the week was the hottest, with temperatures dipping in the middle before they are expected to rise again before the weekend.

Ms Elliott, from Birmingham, said her daughter was “fine” when she went to school on Monday.

“She came home and she was crying. She was in absolute tears because she was so hot. She had a headache,” she told The Independent.

The 44-year-old said her daughter had a cool shower but ended up being sick. “She literally just went to her bedroom and passed out,” she added.

Collette Elliott says she is worried about sending her nine-year-old daughter Codey into school during next week’s extreme heat (Supplied)

Ms Elliott said she contacted Featherstone Primary School to ask why PE was held outside during the extreme heat.

She received an email back, which she shared on social media, which said pupils who did not want to do PE were given the option to “sit in the shade under the trees” and those participating were given “plenty of ‘shade breaks”.

“We would not make children do PE without these options; not in this hot weather,” the school official replied.

Collettee Elliott says she is ‘fuming’ children like her daughter Codey were left to decide themselves whether to do PE in the heat (Supplied)

But Ms Elliott said: “I am fuming. You’ve made these nine-year-olds make that decision. They can’t make decisions like that.”

She said young children would not want to feel the “odd one out” and would be influenced by what others were doing.

The mother-of-two said she was now considering keeping her child off school at the start of next week while a rare extreme heat warning is in place.

The Met Office has issued a “danger to life” warning for nearly all of England and part of Wales from Sunday through to Tuesday, warning temperatures could hit 40C.

The UK has experienced days of scorching weather, with temperatures expected to soar over weekend and into next week (PA)

“They closed schools for Covid,” Ms Elliott said. “Yet we have got weather warnings that are threat to life. And schools don’t seem to be doing anything for these children.”

Some schools are ditching uniforms and letting children go to school in their own clothes or PE kit during the heatwave. Others are cancelling sports days.

On Thursday, a union boss said schools would be “doing all they can to mitigate the effects of such high temperatures” on pupils, which could include limiting time spent in sun during breaks and changing uniform policies.

A spokesperson for Featherstone Primary School said: “We are very sorry to hear that this pupil has been unwell following Monday’s PE lesson.

“A member of the Leadership Team has already been in contact with the parent to offer our apologies and ask after her welfare. During Monday’s lesson all the children were instructed to take their hats and water bottles. Children who did not want to participate were allowed to sit under the tree in the shade.

“Regular shade breaks were taken by all the children who did want to participate. We always give children the option to participate or not during hot weather.”

They added: “The school complies with the advice given by the Department of Health and Social Care on protecting children outdoors during periods of high temperature and it reviews each lesson according to the criteria.”