to quietly point out to a teacher that the way she spells my daughters name is incorrect

[freemanbatch]

I got a note today about an accident at school, the note was written by her class teacher and the spelling of her name was incorrect, I spoke to the teacher very quietly away from other parents to try and check that she did know that it was incorrect and it had simply been a mistake. There are different spellings of the name but we have always used the same one and DD is the only child with that name in the school. She almost shouted at me, to the point other parents turned to listen and said 'you are being very unreasonable expecting that we will know the exact spelling of every child's name why are you making a fuss?'

I really was quite surprised because all I had said was is this how her name appears on the register because the spelling is incorrect. I have heard other people complain about this teacher but I have never had a problem until today and it came as quite a surprise.

Was I wrong to point out the error? DD is a very young year 1 if that makes any difference to the answer.

[auntpetunia]

YANBU I am 44 and only the other day had to pull some one who had documentation in front of them with my name spelt correctly and yet she still spelt it the "conventional" way....The teacher was well out of order and I would mention it to the head of her phase, so the Key stage 1 leader.

[IneedAgoldenNickname]

SAid teacher sent home 2 notes with his name misspelled a couple of weeks ago. I told him, and he apologised but logged at me like I was mad at the same time. My friend said she didn't understand the issue and I shouldn't have said anything

[WorraLiberty]

'you are being very unreasonable expecting that we will know the exact spelling of every child's name why are you making a fuss?'

Seriously, she actually said that?

[IneedAgoldenNickname]

Stupid auto correct, should say DS1's teacher

[BeauNeidel]

I would mention it. What an ignorant thing to say. My DH is a bit obtuse in that way as well - gets all up in arms if his name is spelled incorrectly (think Mark/Marc but not!) but doesn't get why others get upset!

[picnicbasketcase]

YANBU and I'm going to bring up the very same issue with DD's teacher when I get a moment. Different spellings on coat peg, table, books and drawer. very unreasonable of the teacher to shout at you.

[santaisNOTathreat]

teacher are only human, they make mistakes.

As a mother of 2 children if a note came home saying there was an accident i would be more concerned about that than correct spelling

[freemanbatch]

that is exactly what she said worralliberty!

I don't normally worry about these things but this one was still bothering me this long later so I wanted to check I wasn't just nuts.

I just thought she'd say 'oh sorry I'll check everything has the correct spelling when I get chance' and that would be that so I was very surprised

[Pourquoimoi]

YANBU to expect that a class teacher should know how to spell your child's name. It may be different in secondary when they see hundreds if kids but in primary they should know.

Perhaps a little forgiveness at the beginning of the year, but the teacher's attitude is shocking so doesn't deserve forgiveness I think.

[Poledra]

Last year, I pointed out to DD2's teacher that they had misspelled her name. The teacher apologised, and she would change everything and that the misspelling had come to her on the register. All OK, everything changed as promised.

I was in school a week or so later when the head of KS1 came up to me to apologise because she was the one who had miscopied DD2's name from the school list.

You were so not in the wrong to point out the mistake, especially as it was done quietly and without fuss

[Hassled]

Did the teacher write the note? Because it could well have been harrassed office staff who have dozens of Isabelles/Isobels/Isabels to deal with. But yes, there's no way the teacher should have shouted at you.

[freemanbatch]

I fully accept they make mistakes SANTA it wasn't that that was the issue I was simply surprised by her over reaction.

[Goldidi]

I always make sure I spell kids names right. I teach secondary and I think most kids at secondary would be able to tell me I'd made a mistake, but with the very young children I think it's incredibly important that teachers spell their names correctly where the children can see it. If teachers can't spell their name correctly how will the children learn the correct spelling of their own name? (yes the parents can correct the child directly but young children sometimes have problems when they try to correct a teacher)

My dd1 was quite precocious and used to correct the spelling of her name by the playgroup leaders when she was 2 (nearly 3). She told them if they couldn't spell it right she'd do it herself , but she did it too and got the spelling right.

[birthdaypanic]

Can't believe her response if she can't spell your dd name how can she check your dd spells her name correctly, I have children in my yr1 class who still struggle to write their name.

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

I can see both sides of this one. As a secondary teacher I teach quite a lot of children, sometimes I do make mistakes in class with names. However I would make sure that anything going home was checked against the register.

I think a year 1 teacher should be able to manage it, it's not as if they teach hundreds of children. And she certainly shouldn't have got stroppy.

As a parent I just correct it. Have done so on several exercise books and when returning letters. It's not just school though, my surname is impossible to spell it seems.

[shithappensx1000]

Tell the teacher. I pointed it out to my DD's reception teacher her error 5 years ago - the school have not made the mistake since. One of my class told me last week I'd been pronouncing his name wrong since the start of term Haven't done it since...

[Shallishanti]

and, how will your dd learn to spell her name correctly if her teacher spells it wrong? YANBU

[YouSmegHead]

Yes it does make a difference. Dd has just stated school and if it happened here she could end up telling me I spell her name wrong!

[AlwaysHoldingOnToStarbug]

YANBU!! DS4's name gets spelled wrong a lot. Sometimes I don't correct it, say if it's on a slip of paper like an accident form. But when it was completely wrong on his Star of The Week certificate then I had a word with the teacher, who apologised and wrote out another one for him. It was spelled completely wrong, not even a known spelling of the name!

And I must get his Chief Bronze Award from Beavers redone as it was spelled wrong on there too! The leader apologised too for getting it wrong.

[Devora]

YANBU. My dd's surname was spelt incorrectly on her school peg. I'd be a little more tolerant if this was a standard name spelt 'uniquely', but it just happens to be a forrin surname.

So, easy mistake, I just mentioned it to the teacher who apologised and said they'd change it. Six months later, I went back in and noticed it was STILL spelt incorrectly.

I'm not normally precious about our name getting misspelt - just as well, in the circumstances - but it does seem to me that my child needs to learn how to spell her name, and if her Reception teachers don't know how to do so, that is not helpful.

[LadySybilPussPolham]

How can the spelling of your name not be important? It's a matter of respect. She's telling you volumes about her view of her pupils as individuals

[freemanbatch]

Thank you for confirming I wasn't mad to try and correct the error, I am more than happy to accept mistakes happen that wasn't really what had me worrying about this it was her reaction that completely threw me and had me concerned I was being unreasonable.

[ErrorError]

YANBU. If anything she should have been embarrassed by her mistake, corrected it, and not become defensive. If your DD's name is spelled in a unique way then she should not be likely to forget it. (As my name suggests, I have no issue with pointing out errors! )

[PopOozeTheFastest]

I was thinking that exact same thing as birthday and Shalli, not all children in Y1 will be able to spell their name correctly - how does the teacher stand a chance of knowing if your DD has it right or not if she doesn't know herself?

We had a similar issue with DS2's surname (it's the same as DS1 but, interestingly, they always got it right with DS1 ), the school register had him down as having no letter E in his surname & the class teacher was even crossing the E out when DS2 wrote his full name down! As soon as I pointed it out to the teacher though she apologised & made sure the school records were amended, she certainly wasn't offended by it.

[ErrorError]

My surname gets misspelled all the time, it's usually funny, but not when I was 11 and my PE teacher called it out to the class but mispronounced it. The mispronunciation sounded like something rude, and unfortunately it became my nickname for the next 5 years! I am very careful with names!