Calling teachers a cover your own arse question

[Tortington]

my son hates french, the kids say the teacher is a notorius drunk has fell down stairs etc. however i think maybe its a medical condition and the kids make shit up.

anyway - my son is doing appaullingly bad. i mean so pants the pants would be offended at my use of the term.


i have contated school before as i was not happy with sons behaviour or teachers control of class. i have gone in and spoken to head of year - begged for my son to go into another class. ( obv. just giving a shit about my own childs education)


so yesterday ( i had just a pants day) recieved a letter stating " dear mrs custardo,
you sons achievement in french is a cause for concern he is only a xx instead of a xx ( quite remarkable difference)"


GET THIS BIT

"we want you do do everything you can insupporting the school, this includes homework"


cheeky mother fuckers

i'm pestering school becuase of shit teacher - and i get the letter.

is this becuase school are having me down as muchio bad parent -

do they have bad parent records - heres the response to underachieving kid - during an ofsted inspection?


this is one week after the school were notified of a sensitive family issue.#


this is known as a greatschool.

i am at a loss of what to do.

do i go in and say "look the kids dont respect her - she is rubbish teacher and is she a drunk or has she got a medical condition - either way should she really be teaching my kid?"

i cant do that.

[Tortington]

your not all teaching are you?

surely someone is mumsnetting bottle of vodka tucked under one arm in a storecupboard with a laptop from IT dept.

[mateychops]

Not a teacher, but quite shocked at schools attitude. You should definately address this, meet with whoever wrote the letter and ONCE again, voice your concerns over the standard of teaching. Kick ass!

[MariNativityPlay]

Not a teacher of course custy but one additional factor you might want to bear in mind is that French teachers are often fair game in schools if they are anything less than superb classroom controllers, tbh (based on my experiences as a motivated student at a grammar school where we still all took the mickey either gently or savagely depending on how mild/feroce each Mamzelle was).
I do just think it is possible that the teacher is not drunk, or anything worse than average, but because of what she teaches they are maybe getting stuck in with greater zest
I seem to recall your son was really sparkling at French a while back and you were very proud of him. Is this the same teacher? Could they have written to you because of his unachieved potential? Is it possible the letter went to everyone?
But having been taught by an alcoholic teacher for a time, I think you have to raise the possibility with the school. Simply not fair on the children. Sorry you had such a crappy day

[Glassofwine]

I think you should arrange a meeting with the school and discuss it with them. When I was 14 I told my mum that I couldn't understand a word my science teacher said - my mum thought I was being racist (she wasn't english) and ignored me and told me off for bad marks in science. At the end of the year she went to parents eve, met the teacher and came home and appologied to me as she couldn't understand her either.

Ps. not a racist bone in my body

[Tortington]

your right, he was sparkly last year with different teacher - i forgot that.

printer has run out of ink. will see if i can e-mail. thanks

[Tortington]

i wrote this e-mail comments please: please: please:

I recieved a letter yesterday regarding the alarming non performance of my son xxx in French. His teacher is Ms Mxxxx.

I am particularly concerned that the onus has been refered to me as the parent to "support him at home". I find this particularly disturbing as i have already approached the school and had a meeting this year regarding xxxx behaviour in the french class, requesting he be transferred to another class.

Last year xxxx loved French. He even competed with his sister over how many 'good work' slips they could bring home.

May i refer the onus back to the school when i say i am very concerned over how my son is being taught in this subject particularly. I have concerns over the Teachers control of the class. As i am not with xxx during the day at school, my only response is to speak with him when he gets home regarding his behaviour. However i am sure we all understand that to teach effectively the children must listen to be able to learn.

xxx will not be taking this subject for GCSE level, however this is not the point. As discussed at the meeting earlier in the year, my son can still learn even if not taking a GCSE. So this is particularly concerning, that xxx is at school and not learning. I get the increasing impression that unless a child is going to pass a GCSE then there is a 'why bother' attitude.

quite frankly i would rather xxxx take extra english during this time. or sit in a quiet space with a book of his choice - increasing his English skills.


I want a solution. i have been proactive in approaching the school. I will not allow the school to write xxxxx off because of some falacy that there is not support at home. I want action from the school regarding my sons non performance and i will support you 100%

[Tortington]

i have spell checked it

[Zog]

Not a teacher but just wanted to say that's a fantastic email.

[Miaou]

Custy I think that sounds good but I would leave out the sentence "I want a solution" as it sounds aggressive and the fact that you want a solution comes across very strongly in your email.

I would also add in a concrete goal - eg request a meeting with the Head of Year (or whoever is appropriate), or a response to your email by the end of the week with a strategy for handling the situation in the school, etc. Otherwise you are in danger of being fobbed off again. If you ask for something very specific then they have to respond to that.

HTH

[DizzyBinterWonderland]

have you met this french teacher? would you be bale to request a meeting with head of year and french teacher together?

[DizzyBinterWonderland]

able*

[Tortington]

yes. thank you - i will let you know the result.

[Hallgerda]

I think you're quite right to complain. It was quite unreasonable of the school to turn round and blame you. And even if your son had no support at home, would that be a reason to write him off? There's an important equality of opportunity point there.

However, I'd leave out the second to last paragraph - it is unnecessarily inflammatory and won't help you. And I would request a meeting, soon, to discuss the action the school is going to take over the matter, so they can't procrastinate indefinitely.

[Miaou]

Have you not heard anything yet Custy?

[kiskidee]

I'll bet a tenner with you custy that he is yr9 set3.