Burnley Grammar School

It could be a lottery within the same school though. Many teachers had their own way of doing things in PE lessons I seem to recall that could vary from one to the other. Infact in my school I seem to remember the way you were treated changed between actual school years as you went further up and as we got older we seemed to gain what looked like little privileges that the younger years didn't get.

I'd actually describe one of my PE teachers as someone with a hardline attitude to PE, he made us sweat and ache like were had just signed up to join the marines while another took a more casual approach and allowed us more freedom within his classes, including deciding what we did. The hardline teacher liked seeing us laying on our backs on the gym floor out of whack breathing heavily I think, while the more casual one just seemed so much more chilled out and willing to let many of his lessons just go with the flow so to speak.

One of my PE teachers was very much team games not just on the sports field but inside our gym, while another made provision for more individual style PE or whole class involvement gymnastics.

What a nasty piece of work.
I don't normally read his hate-filled, bitter posts, and wish I hadn't mistakenly read the diatribe I just did.

I don't know if anyone has ever left this example of a mixed PE lesson with shirtless boys on here, with girls at school, and I make no apologies for using it despite a comment that references posters who leave short clips on here.

The first thing that got me about it was that they look like they all have to pass a very set standard of some kind, elements of which are shown by a boy who looks quite competent to me. This seems to be 80s/90s so about the time I was in school. No memories for me of having to meet such standards, we turned up in gym and just did whatever the teacher fancied for that day and got on with it and it seems a lot more lively too.

The boys are all bare chests in a mixed gender gym class too, and this gets a few mentions, one of which I think is worth a repeat here from what looks like a female writer who counters a sexism accusation and makes out the boys should not feel put upon being like that or disadvantaged, she says,

@laurasmith6250
'Someone here said that this video was sexist, supposedly because the boys wear shorts. I think one needs to clarify what sexism really is. Sexism needs to be seen in relation to the reality we live in. In a world in which women were not discriminated against it would not be sexist to show a woman’s bare legs. Sexism is a tool of oppression against those already disadvantaged. The reality in this video is that of a PE lesson. A great amount of research shows that it is girls that are almost always disadvantaged and get victimised by boys for not being sporty. It is the girls that are discriminated against and that could be a victim of sexism. The boys in this video display a very assured typically masculine composure by being completely at ease with being stripped to the waist. In fact, being clad in shorts only and bearing their chests allows them impose a physical superiority along the lines of: “Here I am, look at my muscles, I am the boss here!” The boys in this video are nowhere near to being the victims of sexism!'

Comment by: Ollie on 22nd March 2024 at 23:53

"When I was 14 years old way back in 1991 I moved to a new school and for the first time ever I found myself doing completely shirtless PE at school."

There was a similar situation in my area, Ollie. A school virtually down the road from our dump always had the lads in shirts indoors and out. It was a much better school in every respect - less problem pupils, and less problem teachers. We were like a rest home for old men with their various "problems". They all just liked to pretend it was still 1948.

I honestly think this lack of standardisation is one of the most frustrating aspects of state education (and that is the only sort I am competent at speaking of). Teachers are allowed far too much "power" in their little fiefdoms to implement their own particular whims and fancies, and this should not be the case. It is very much a lottery as to how you are treated,

When I was 14 years old way back in 1991 I moved to a new school and for the first time ever I found myself doing completely shirtless PE at school. I remember the teacher at the time noticing how I reacted to this and I remember explaining how I'd never ever done PE at my other schools by having to remain shirtless and he simply told me not to worry because nobody expected anyone at 14 to be going around looking developed with big muscles anyway. It was kind of meant to sound somewhat reassuring but rather had the opposite effect, as he said it to me while I stood in front of him, stripped down to the waist, nothing on top as he looked me up and down in a way that felt like he was making a personal judgement about the way I looked. Then I was simply sent out to get on with it and not make mention of it again.

It's certainly interesting that you could go to one school and never find yourself doing PE shirtless and always be expected to wear a top of some kind and move just 10 miles away to a new area, go to a comparable school and find that one so insistent that you and the entire class had to take PE completely shirtless the lot of you whether you wished to do so or not. I think being shirtless is a very particular thing that some take to easily and others find far harder to do with ease but school never took this into account.

Showers at my first secondary school were actually voluntary from 1988 to 1991 but we would get our PE grades marked down if we didn't take them, so they always told us, and so most of us did so on that basis. At the second school I was at the choice was no longer there and we always got forced into doing so, herded about like sheep into a pen at times, quite unedifying and our hair had to be drenched wet through when we came back out or we had to get back in again. Full nude of course, no shorts in the showers allowed.

Comment by: Andy on 21st March 2024.
"Is sometimes being asked by a teacher to do boys PE in a bare chest acceptable to you?"
You used the word "asked" here. In reality should that not have been "told"?


This reminds me of back home when I was young being told by the old folks - 'I'm not asking you, I'm telling you' when they wanted me to do something.

Face it, asking just means telling doesn't it, and a teacher never expects a knockback to what they 'ask'.

I don't think anyone needs to justify a shirtless PE requirement.

But out of interest, Nathan's question was,

"Is sometimes being asked by a teacher to do boys PE in a bare chest acceptable to you?"


You used the word "asked" here. In reality should that not have been "told"?

The word "asked" suggests a choice to me rather than an instruction. This is why questions in votes such as referendums are so carefully decided even when the question at face value looks to be easy and direct.

I personally think you opened up a pointless can of worms on that one that you never needed to bother with. If you were a genuinely confident PE teacher who had faith in your decisions you would never have chosen to go down this avenue. What this whole question thing says to me is that you are somewhat unsure of yourself and felt the need for some kind of personal reassurance. Luckily you got it, but as can be seen here, there was then a focus on what to do about 64 lads across the 10 classes who didn't think it was alright to be asked not to wear the PE top. I don't think firm leadership means resorting to asking for votes to aid your decisions. You are paid to make those decisions yourself in my view, and now you do have a result those 64 must accept that, unless of course you just let the class decide for themselves.

My question is, why does the class all have to look the same anyway? It was always the way with my school gym, the same footwear, socks and shorts colour, and vests, and when not vests all had to be shirtless together unless going skins and shirts teams. I may have just argued against myself there, thinking about it.

Looking at the comments and the results of the school referendum that has been posted up on here takes me back to something I saw on a forum I used to dip into a few years ago on an American website known as Topix which is now defunct. That site used to have a lot of education threads on it and there was one where an American school held a referendum back in the 1990s on something like 10 different questions to do with how the school operated and asked the whole school for opinions.

One of the questions on that school referendum at the time which I remember drawing a lot of discussion at the time was about a question being asked on the continuation of compulsory showers as part of PE there. It was just one question among ten, including uniform issues. The presumption at the time was that the pupils at that school would easily vote to end PE showering quite easily in that referendum but when they counted all the answers back there was a major shock that two thirds of them ticked for a continuation of having showers after PE. The school was named on the Topix forum at the time, this was a discussion I recall from the 2008-10 period there, sorry but I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the place all these years later.

I think school referendums (is the plural referenda?) are quite an interesting thing to undertake and they clearly don't always bring about the views that might be expected. In the case of the one that has been discussed on here I would have expected an even larger pro-shirts response on that, possibly a majority. You can never quite tell can you what people are thinking unless you actually ask them sometimes.

Comment by Alan, March 20th

"Graham, a bit like Sean, you seem to think that just because you enjoyed running around with next to nothing on, (and in your case sleeping naked) everybody else should feel the same."

Alan - if you read some of my earlier posts from back in the day when this board was a bit more light-hearted and less introspective, you might get a better insight into the reasons for my enjoyment of being bare-chested, which were basically parental inspiration and encouragement. In summer, we all enjoyed being out in the sun as much as possible. PE was optionally topless, right from the beginning of primary school, with very few dissenters. By and large, the environment back then, late 1960s, was one in which the average healthy boy was only too keen to let his shirt {and vest} off whenever possible.

"Fair enough, if that is your thing - that's fine, I have no problem with that - BUT - you should remember we are all individuals and you should give some consideration to people who are not like you, and that should equally be fine with you.*

Nowhere did I say that everyone else should now do likewise. I was just describing the bygone epoch of my formative years. Times change, and people's attitudes, even mine, change. While I am still to be found working in the garden on a sunny day wearing just a pair of shorts, I generally wear rather more when I go out shopping

"Just like the case of Nathan's 64 , their feelings should be respected just as much as the other 186."

That's the problem with binary "first past the post" voting The losers generally have to grin and bear {not bare} it

Comment by: Neil on 20th March 2024 at 22:47
"Comment by: TimH on 20th March 2024 at 19:32

That was a good video from 1938 and I think there would be a lot to commend that way of doing things in PE here and now in the UK."

Neil, are you seriously suggesting there is an equivalence in life in 1938, when everyone knew war was coming, - not if but when - that was the year of Munich of course, and 2024?. If there were to be another war now, when Prince William, Starmer and the other VIPs crawl out of their atomic shelters, they are going to have to build their own bloody houses. World War 3 - if it happens - will be a very different proposition - surely you can see that?. This country cannot afford to fight another unwinnable war, and you can scotch ideas about conscription, because the defence budget has been cut, not increased, and I doubt many lads or men would fight for nothing, as the MOD could not afford to pay them. Altruism only goes so far. Also, if Labour keep their promise of introducing voting at 16 - well, lets be frank about it - turkeys do not vote for Xmas.

Why this trawling through the internet to find these old films, eh?. . Those lads - the older ones that is - might well have lost their lives in the next 7 years, when they became army fodder. It is sad rather than inspiring.

I almost lost the will to live trawling through last nights messages. To the person who suggested that the vote in Nathan's school be binding, I would refer you to yet another video somebody posted the other day from an American school (but that one was only 44 years ago, rather than 86 years ago), and you had a class containing lads STTW, lads in polo shirts and a few in those strange "half vests" - crop tops, do they call them?. - they all looked comfortable in their own chosen way of dress and it certainly didn't affect their proficiency. They looked as if they were enjoying themselves rather than being drilled. I just remind you again we are now in 2024, not some dark corner of the 20th century. Times have changed.

Tim H: I know "Jennings" was male. I was assuming that his chosen name was a surname and not a forename. It might help if everyone just gave - or chose - a forename, rather than some of the strange handles they give themselves. I understand, from my knowledge of radio history, "Jennings" was a 1950s schoolboy (I listen to Radio 4 Extra as well! - comedy was much funnier in the sixties, seventies and eighties compared to today's woke efforts, wherever you find it), in the same way that "Mr Chips" who entertained us from France before Xmas, and left us just as the IP system came into use on this site, (a coincidence I am sure) is a literary figure. I suppose these people have their own reasons for wishing to hide behind made-up names.

Neil mentioned my "approval" of Nathan - clearly he is heterosexual, and if I were employing teachers where they have access to locker rooms, and showers, based on my own personal experience years ago - yes I would employ such men. Now that people are encouraged to "come out" (why don;t they go back in again?) and regarded as terribly brave for so doing, I would employ homosexual men (or women) in any school teaching role except PE. When I think of Roberts, Quinlan et al, it is far better to be safe than sorry.

I am sorry if that offends some of you, but I am being honest.

Comment by: TimH on 20th March 2024 at 19:32

That was a good video from 1938 and I think there would be a lot to commend that way of doing things in PE here and now in the UK. Too many boys and young men that age nowadays in their teens and twenties do obsess about their appearance but not in the right way, they are vain and self obsessed instead, often posing in front of mirrors taking phone pictures of themselves and posting them on instagram or other social media.

Going back to Nathan's vote, I couldn't help but wonder just how many of those unkeen 64 boys there had actually been on a family holiday somewhere nice in the last 5 years and been on a beach or somewhere while shirtless quite happily.

It's good to know that you think Nathan is a fit and proper person who can be allowed to take PE classes Alan. I'm sure he's pleased to know that. I think he dismantled your very odd argument quite effectively on who should be allowed to teach. Would you really want to live in such a dark society that made those kind of judgements about people and what they can do for a living based on their personal life arrangements?

Alan says - "Just like the case of Nathan's 64 , their feelings should be respected just as much as the other 186."


I disagree. They are a losing minority and that was a vote I presume they all accepted the outcome of. The worst thing for the PE teacher to now do would be to complicate matters and start making exceptions to the ways things are done at the school. Bare chests won out by a big margin in that vote, so that means ALL should accept it, not just the winners but the losers too. Those 64 should be expected to participate as required. Why have ever bothered with the vote in the first place otherwise? If the result had been reversed and 186 were against being told to go shirtless in PE then I'd expect that to be respected too in their favour.

I would find it very strange indeed if boys in those Year 10 and 11's who voted against were suddenly to clam up and want to cover up having done PE without a shirt for quite some time already. It wouldn't make sense to me.

I do think that the PE teacher should make an effort when he requires his class to do PE bare chested and do so himself at least once in a while. It's important for class to think that a teacher isn't asking them to do anything he wouldn't do.

I never got a say in doing PE bare chested and entire gym classes at my comprehensive school had to do so for gym. I agree it can be nerve wracking at first to do so if you are highly self critical about yourself.

@Michael F - 11/3/2024 - 3.04

'Men of tomorrow' https://youtu.be/65rww9nZtEA?feature=shared

My first thought on seeing this was - 'Adidas Mk 1' shorts ... not much different from what I wore when I went to Grammar School in 1960.

1938 - a period of 'unease' - with many people accepting that war was coming - and a need for fitness and not just in schoolboys - my father was 29 when he was 'called up'.

@Alan 04.17 20/3/2024

Alan - sorry but I feel I ought to point out that 'Jennings' does actually suggest that he is an 'he' in his posting.
Also - unless we have slipped into a time warp, Nathan is getting married in 2027 - not 2025. Will we get invited to the wedding, I wonder?

@ 'Jennings' 20.30 19/3/2024.

I completely agree with you on the use of 'Sir' & 'Madam' - certainly not being deferential. Unfortunately there are some people who would have things changed ... to the detriment of all.

Comment by: Graham on 20th March 2024 at 10:16



Graham, a bit like Sean, you seem to think that just because you enjoyed running around with next to nothing on, (and in your case sleeping naked) everybody else should feel the same. Fair enough, if that is your thing - that's fine, I have no problem with that - BUT - you should remember we are all individuals and you should give some consideration to people who are not like you, and that should equally be fine with you.

It reminds me of those proselytising naturists who seem to think there is something wrong with those of us who would never want to spend our time stark b*llock naked.

Just like the case of Nathan's 64 , their feelings should be respected just as much as the other 186.

Even the PE teacher in this picture from 1959 has a former pupil questioning his ways and that was 20 years later on from the photo.



Comment by: pogue on 25th November 2009 at 00:51
I attended the school (Burnley Grammar)1975 -1980 Ron Parry was still the head of sports- he died I believe earlier this year.Nice bloke who cared for the school and the boys.you were only known by your surname as a pupil then.His school nickname was gay paris - never proven - but I never hung around in the showers. he once made me run twice round the grass track in the snow in bare feet and shirtless because my strip wasn't school regulation- he'd not get away with it nowadays.

It's a shame to see you back up and persisting down this line of conversation Alan to the exclusion of something else. Time to move on don't you think, and talk of other things.

I'll agree with you that anybody convicted of offences relating to minors should never be allowed any kind of employment anywhere in any school again for eternity, full stop.

Sean - what a breath of fresh air in what has become a rather introspective and tedious discussion. Like you, I generally seized any opportunity to get my top off. At Primary school, PE was generally topless, by individual choice rather than teacher's diktat, and in summer, outside of school, I spent most of my waking hours, and all of my sleeping ones, bare chested, largely with parental encouragement. When I went to a boarding school aged 11, expecting to have to wear PE and pyjama tops, as these were both on the boarders' equipment list, I was overjoyed to find that both items were superfluous. PE was again optionally topless, and 100% so, and my first night in a dormitory with 7 or 8 other lads was as a revelation, as one by one, my dorm-mates stripped to their birthday suits on getting into bed

Comment by: Jennings on 19th March 2024 at 20:30


"Alan lunchtime comment today response;

"Addressing someone as 'Sir' or 'Madam' is all about a level of respect and being polite, not just in school but just going around the shops. Today I was called 'Sir' by an employee of John Lewis when I went in, and it makes a huge difference and is very pleasant that some places decide to uphold respectful standards of practice in this day and age.

Sir, you seem to have hijacked this forum somewhat in my opinion."


With respect, (Mr?) Jennings, the use of "sir" and "madam" reeks of another age - the age of deference. I do not subscribe to it, and never have, and on the very few occasions I have ever been called "sir", I say the name is Alan. I believe John Lewis have been faring very badly lately, to the point where they are shedding jobs, closing stores and denying their "partners" (staff) their annual bonus. Most of the blame seems to attach to their CEO, Ms. White who has never previously run a retail outfit. Perhaps they should embrace moderninity?



Comment by: Nathan Hind on 19th March 2024 at 22:11


Clearly if you are marrying next year (congratulations by the way) my remarks don't apply to you, but I have made it very clear the sort of person I am talking about.

Comment by: Sean on 19th March 2024 at 23:23


"I think you've been ingesting some magic mushrooms or smoking weed Alan, to come out with that viewpoint and expect it to be taken seriously. You've basically cast all single men under automatic suspicion of who knows what and that's a horrible place to be, to do that to any group in society. It's like feminists who cry 'all men are rapists'. Like hell they are."

Leaving aside the opening jibe, Sean - the question remains - how are we to deal with men and women who have these proclivities, which, in the context of children are illegal?. There are no mitigating circumstances.

Let's take one of the cases I have highlighted: the teacher served a prison sentence of 22 months on his first series of offences, and when he was charged with exactly the same offences years later, he received a suspended sentence. This opens up a series of questions: why was he allowed to teach PE after his first custodial sentence?. By the late 1990s computers were in widespread use and the databases that accompany them. He even got a job in the same area - not even hundreds of miles away. Somebody, I suspect, turned a blind eye. Secondly the derisory sentence was far too short. Perhaps a 5 year stretch would have convinced him to see the error of his ways?. Clearly he either received no practical help for his peccadilloes or he was just rotten to the core. He shouldn't have re-offended, but given that he did, he should never have been readmitted to his profession.

You had no problems at school, Sean, and you seem to imply they would not have affected you even if you had, but what of men who were affected by disgusting perverts like the one we are discussing?

What is the answer in dealing with men of this sort?. They cannot just be allowed to get away scot free, and able to re offend.

Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. You would not leave an open bottle of Scotch to tempt an alcoholic and men who have these proclivities should be kept away from school locker rooms. In fact, they should have the strength themselves to preclude themselves from temptation.

As I have said before, these days there are so many openings for people in the private sector, with private gyms springing up more quickly than budget supermarkets. Why not seek employment there, where the clientele are adults - why inflict themselves on children and very young adults?.


I make no apology for my viewpoint - I am merely explaining it.

I've often wondered if in the far future there will come a time when the fairer sex will also be allowed to walk around in general public or perform in sports while stripped from the waist up like men and boys do.

The male of the species was always designed to bare his chest. It's a sign of masculinity, strength and confidence. PE teachers that can take a class like that and make them feel good about themselves are doing a good job. I think there are definite plus points for at least engaging with bare chested PE at least once in a while for everyone irrespective of feelings. Your body is nothing to be shy or ashamed about when in a natural setting to expose it, and a gym lesson is the idea opportunity other than going in the pool.

Comment by: Sean on 19th March 2024 at 23:23
I really like people such as you Craig with that wonderful group you've got going and would be in it like a shot myself, it sounds so positive, friendly and non judgemental, all things I like a lot about people.




Positive people are always infectious to be around and lift those around them, whereas overly negative people are often a drain on people and drag them down with them.

I have a good PE report for Iain, it goes, 'Jeffrey has an enthusiasm to join the school football team in the near future but I have suggested the athletics team might be more suited at this time.'.

I loved football but was not really good enough for the school team but excelled at field sports. Polite way of saying I was no good!

Comment by: TimH on 19th March 2024 at 19:33
@PaulG 18/3/2024 04.46
Your video link - I haven't looked at it all - but my reaction was/is - 'Aah - Happy Days!'


I agree Tim. I also have very fond memories looking back at the old videos of myself back at school in the late 1970s such as the one I left on here of my sports days in South Africa where I went to school before returning home to the UK with my parents.

I think you've been ingesting some magic mushrooms or smoking weed Alan, to come out with that viewpoint and expect it to be taken seriously. You've basically cast all single men under automatic suspicion of who knows what and that's a horrible place to be, to do that to any group in society. It's like feminists who cry 'all men are rapists'. Like hell they are.

Am I that ususual, surely there were lots of others like me. I'm outgoing, keen to try new stuff all the while and give anything a go, even if I fail. At school I didn't care one bit about having showers, or who saw me in them, I didn't care one bit when I wasn't wearing a top, I didn't care if girls saw me like it either. None of that mattered to me at all. It was all quite absolutely alright. I didn't mind failing or being no good as long as I tried things. Surely there are other men out there just like I was at school. I can hand on heart say I never felt anxious by going barechested in school at any point in time and being naked with showers far from being something to avoid was something I jumped at the chance to take enthusiastically without any fear about it or thoughts to what people thought of me or what I looked like.

Good on those boys at your school Nathan for that result you got. They sound a grounded bunch there and you sound like a fabulous PE teacher too.

I really like people such as you Craig with that wonderful group you've got going and would be in it like a shot myself, it sounds so positive, friendly and non judgemental, all things I like a lot about people.

Thankyou for a couple of the comments reacting to my school vote so far. I'd welcome some more feedback.

I would not be eligible to do my job in school under the suggestion that was made on this thread early today by you Alan. I am neither married yet (that's set for summer 2027 hopefully) nor actually cohabiting with my long term girlfriend who I have been with for 7 years, we live in our own separate homes for the time being, so on that basis I should be denied the right to work in school PE. What about if I was married and got divorced and became single, would I then have to leave my job because of my new single person status, or if a casual relationship broke up and the partner moved out? If my own non cohabiting partner/future wife did live with me at the moment I'd be alright but if we parted ways I'd automatically be ineligible to continue my job and therefore be dismissed simply because I was a single man?

I am called Mr at school and almost never Sir. That suits me nicely, it's how I used to refer to my own teachers at school too, very rarely by Sir, although I see nothing at all wrong with it. I think this is now becoming a case of looking for issues to pick at where there are none.

Alan lunchtime comment today response;

Addressing someone as 'Sir' or 'Madam' is all about a level of respect and being polite, not just in school but just going around the shops. Today I was called 'Sir' by an employee of John Lewis when I went in, and it makes a huge difference and is very pleasant that some places decide to uphold respectful standards of practice in this day and age.

Sir, you seem to have hijacked this forum somewhat in my opinion.

@PaulG 18/3/2024 04.46

Your video link - I haven't looked at it all - but my reaction was/is - 'Aah - Happy Days!'

This comment today <I think only married or cohabiting teachers should be in charge of locker rooms and showers, preferably parents themselves. I of course, mean marriage/cohabiting in the conventional use of that term, male/female. Single sex schools must be a magnet for teachers with this appalling aberration.

I make no secret of the fact that I have reservations with teachers. There must be something very inadequate in a man, say of my age, who insists on little boys of 11, or older lads of 16 calling him "sir" all the time.>




IS THIS ^ FOR REAL? GOOD GRIEF!

SUCH INTOLERANCE.

I just want to pass comment briefly on the statistics that have been left on here by you Nathan from across your classes regards the issue of whether or not going bare chests for PE is okay. Of course it is! To get three quarters approval rating in anything, 75 percent, is complete vindication about it, any vote in a two horse race that gains that level is more than conclusive enough. I think what caught my eye there was the lack of any real difference in numbers from the ones in their first year at school and the ones in their top year, from those who might well be new to such a style of PE and those who had been doing so for three or more years already.

So quite a lot of schoolboys actually like the chance to remove tops and go bare chests for PE. It's not exactly a surprising revelation is it. The thing that is a small revelation that I've previously mentioned here is that we have men who admit to low self confidence about themselves who have chosen to come bareskin running with our whatsapp group to improve their sense of self a bit and say it worked and one comment I got was how it gave an immediate boost and adrenaline rush to do so that lasted days afterwards. Our bareskin running group is a stepping out of the comfort zone task for quite a few and this has been openly admitted by many in our group.

On Easter Monday, April Fool's Day, we have so far managed to secure the agreement of 21 of our group of 30 to go bareskin running at 2pm that afternoon, weather permitting, only heavy rain will prevent us or a very unseasonable cold snap. This will be our biggest group bareskin run yet and we might yet get some further additions or another new member or two. We are aiming at going about 8 to 10 miles, starting off at an agreed location that some will drive to first, and then set off. Fitness, fresh air and socialising, how healthy is that, and an age range of more than 40 years from youngest, aged 23 to oldest 66.

You have an aversion to the shirtless way of doing things in physical education in school Alan, and I believe you yourself went to a single sex all boys school according to a previous comment.

Imagine how much more traumatic it would have been for you if you'd been made to get your fine physique out among the girls as well as the boys in physical education. It was bad enough for you among other young boys but now you are suggesting that would have been your preference, a mixed school.

I'm not going to be rude or deeply personal suffice to say that I do think your views are on the extreme end of the argument and your call today for those who administer school physical education to be married or cohabiting heterosexuals cements this view in my own mind.

The world isn't perfect I'm afraid, it's never going to be. All the checks in the world, such as CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) checks are not going to be 100% foolproof. No checks are. You can pay a small fortune for a computer antivirus programme and it is still not total 100% guaranteed and they say so. But it's all better than nothing, and the fact that these stories come out and get prosecuted tells me things are working, and a lot better than they used to.

I wholeheartedly condemn any abuse you may have experienced in your own schooldays, whether physical, mental or sexual and any online abuse you have received also.