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Secondary education

Problems in dc's year 6 class-your advice/opinions very welcome

5 replies

Katie172 · 21/04/2013 00:55

Hi...I would really appreciate any views/opinions on our worries about dc's year 6 class. The teacher had to take sick leave two days after term started in September and hasn't been back since. Until January they have had 17 supply teachers and since January they have had 1 supply teacher. The class rep called a meeting in January with the ht prepared to answer questions. Every parent attended and heard the ht admit when asked that at least 60% of the curriculum had not been covered and the promise was that they would make this up by April . I was not quite sure how this would be achieved but was really pleased to hear that they had secured a teacher available until July. There have been lots of concerns about the teacher and I have been in to see the ht to register my concerns about maths in particular. Other parents have apparently done the same but I am not in the playground much at pick up and so I don't tend to hear whats going on. This week I have been told that they have not been able to catch up with the topics missed before Christmas and worse still more work was missed up until Easter. Term started on Monday and dc has been complaining about headaches all week and on Friday I found out why...all week the have been working their way every day through sats revision books on a random basis. This is the only work they have been doing. The teacher tells them to do any pages they want and there is no class discussion or marking. The teacher doesn't check that they have understood the subject that they have been working on and homework is not marked properly. I am not a teacher but from my point of view I think that this teacher, a young nqt is either out of their depth or disorganised/lazy. For anyone still reading (sorry this is so long) I would like to know if a ht has a duty to check what the supply teacher is doing in class ie lesson plans etc? I now know that parents have been going in to see the teacher and ht this week but although the problems have been acknowledged again no one seems too convinced that anything can be done to rectify the situation to some degree. I want to go in and see the ht with a view to asking a school governor to sit in and see if something can be done to improve things but dh thinks that nothing will be done and it is a waste of time. Any opinions would be appreciated. Many thanks Katie

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Katie172 · 21/04/2013 07:11

I am so sorry for posting this on the secondary thread...of course I meant the primary thread. I was far more tired than I realised...I will repost on the primary thread. Sorry x

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happygardening · 22/04/2013 07:16

I'd formal letter of complaint to the chairman of the school governors carefully detailing your concerns copying it into the head.
I'd ask other parents if they want to sign it.

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NewFerry · 22/04/2013 08:28

At DDs school they had a similar issue with a poor Y6 teacher, the school resolved the issue short term by moving a previous Y6 teacher from her class. It was upsetting for the younger children, but I think it was the right decision for the older ones, and for the shool given the short time that the Y6s had left.
Mind you, they did the swop out at Christmas when the test results showed that this group was so far behind.
Good luck with moving this forward.
For your own child, it might be worth looking at a private tutor for a couple of months so that he will not be playing catch up in September at a new school ( moving to secondary will be stressful enough without feeling you don't understand the work)

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Smartiepants79 · 22/04/2013 08:40

Sounds like this has been handled very badly. It is unusual for a yr 6 class to be allowed to fall apart like this as they are usually a priority, their results are important for the school.
It seems they have asked far too much of this poor nqt.
You need to ask some serious questions of this head. They are ultimately responsible. It is NOT a waste of time to go and see them.
I second some tutoring if you can afford it. Maybe the costs could be shared with another parent.

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Katie172 · 23/04/2013 15:00

Thanks for all your replies. I have a meeting booked for Wednesday with the ht and have looked at the schools policies and got a copy of the formal complaint form from the school secretary. I have made a few notes so I don't forget anything. All your wise words are appreciated, I will let you know how it goes xx