Year 6 and SATS

[Onedaughteronecat]

Are there any Year 6 parents and teachers out there? Can I ask a question? As a year 6 mum and a year 6 teacher, would you be really peed off if you found out your child's teacher was off with 'stress, depression, anxiety etc' or would you be sympathetic seeing as you work in the same environment? My DD is a mess, caused by her teacher going off sick followed by an endless stream of supply teachers. Am I being unreasonable? (not that I know the reason for the teachers absence as I don't). Year 6 is the most important year in primary school and I feel let down that her teacher, who promised us that he would get my DD to ARE by the time SATS came around, has now bowed out.

[YouMeanYouForgotCranberriesToo]

I think you are being massively unreasonable to the teacher, who I'm sure would rather be teaching than suffering stress, depression and/or anxiety so badly he can't work.
I dont think it would be unreasonable to be angry with the school for not supporting the children better.

[MirandaWest]

I'm not sure from your post whether you know that her teacher is off with depression and anxiety or not.

If they were off with a physical illness would that be different? Or if they had been in an accident?

I doubt your DDs teacher has decided to be off to deliberately make things more difficult for your DD.

[Onedaughteronecat]

Point taken.

[zeeboo]

You are being massively unreasonable!! Teachers are people, just like you, me and everyone else. How do you know whether she's had a traumatic miscarriage, was raped, her husband or partner injured or even died? I know all of the above have happened to teachers in my local area at one time or another. No one cares about SATs except the government. They are meaningless to your child and no secondary school I've ever heard of uses them to stream kids in year 7 (especially as most choose not to stream in year 7 but to keep them in tutor groups)

Even if your situation occurred when your child was doing A levels as one of mine currently is, I'd still find your attitude abhorrently self centred.

[ZombieApocalips]

Yabu.
Year 6 is not the most important year. (My child is in y6) People can't help getting depression and anxiety.

The only bit that you are right about is the negative effect of having a succession of substitutes. I would be a asking to management and requesting stability (the same teacher for the rest of the term/school year...)

[teaandbiscuitsforme]

YABVU. Being a year 6 teacher, particularly in a one form entry school, is the most stressful teaching job in primary. All the pressure and expectation is on you, especially if it's a badly managed school. It's not good for your DD or the rest of the class but if that is the reason the teacher is off, you can be sure that they already feel guilty for letting their class down.

[PigletWasPoohsFriend]

Wow YABVVU

not that I know the reason for the teachers absence as I don't

So you actually have no idea as to the reason the teacher is off.

There could be numerous reasons as to the teachers absence. None of which are any of your business.

[ZombieApocalips]

Are you sure about the stress, depression diagnosis or just guessing? If you're guessing that's very unreasonable. Sometimes stressful shit happens in life and there's nothing that the teacher could do to stop it from happening.

[teaandbiscuitsforme]

But YY to question the school about a better solution than supply. Often the yr5 teacher is made asked to move up if the yr6 teacher is off.

[Nomoreworkathome]

I can understand your worries for your child but yes, YAB very U.
Perhaps you need to voice your concerns to the school. They may be able to tell you more about any plans to ensure continuity for your child.

[ZombieApocalips]

It's better that she takes the time off than continue teaching while unwell. That would damage both her and the kids.

[SaltyMyDear]

Teacher promised to get your child to age related expectations and you believed her.

Sorry. But teachers can't promise that. If your child is behind they probably won't magically catch up in one year.

[FrayedHem]

You can't equate being too unwell to work as "bowing out." A run of supply teachers is never ideal (DS1 is on his 4th Yr6 teacher since Sept), but if it hadn't been known how long the Yr6 teacher was going to be absent for, it would presumably make it difficult for the management to arrange cover.

I am sorry that your DD is struggling, is there still a lot of SATs pressure within school? Has management given any indication of the plan to cover the class to the end of the year? Presumably they are keen to avoid poor results.

[Broccolirevolution]

I'm being dramatic, but the teacher could be dying for fucksake and youre worrying about a test.

Any employee is entitled to be sick. The employer has to ensure their work is covered. If it's not covered, or not covered well enough, it's not the sick employees fault.

You don't blame the checkout workers if there's a queue in asda. You wonder why the employer hasn't put more people on. Schools are the same.

[chickenowner]

So teachers aren't even allowed to be ill now?

Jeez

[WilburIsSomePig]

Goodness, you have NO idea what the teacher's circumstances are. She could have had a bereavement, divorce, general anxiety for many, many reasons. My DD is in Y6 and has had similar experiences but my sympathies lie completely with her teacher as she is unwell. You know, being a human being and all, sometimes that happens.

[AllotmentyPlenty]

I have to say, if I had to choose a "most important year of primary" it would be reception.

That said, teachers do get sick and schools have to work their best around it. A string of supply teachers is never ideal, but sometimes these things are hard to manage.

My daughter's History teacher is having lots of absences at the moment. To have chemo. Yes, it is disruptive to her GCSE studies. But cancer is disruptive to the teacher's life - we need to all have a heart and work round these things with compassion the best we can.

[Onedaughteronecat]

I completely take on board all that is being said and I know I am being very unfair. I don't mean to be. But seeing my DD sobbing at the experience she is having at school is truly heartbreaking and I defy anyone to not have similar thoughts in the same situation.

My question now is - do SATS really not matter then? If no, why the hell is our school piling on the pressure and causing such trauma for their year 6 pupils?

[countingdown]

Wow! Do you have no empathy at all?
If your daughter "is a mess" perhaps you need to ask yourself how you are supporting her rather than pile blame on an absent teacher. Are you spouting off about the teacher in front of her, or piling on pressure over sats?

[Onedaughteronecat]

I am clearly not doing the right thing by my DD. Being a mum is too hard. Apologies to all I've offended. It was not my intention.

[clarrylove]

If you feel this strongly that your Dd is being let down, why don't you ask for a meeting with the Head. If other parents share your concern, perhaps you could have a meeting to try and agree a way forward? Surely that's a better solution than just criticising the poorly teacher.

[icy121]

Get on Amazon, order the relevant SATS workbooks and work through it with your DD yourself after school and at weekends if you want to support your kid, rather than putting it all in the teachers. Parents can help kids learn to....!
CGP do good ones fwiw.

[TiredMumToTwo]

"I defy anyone to not have similar thoughts" - your thoughts would literally never cross my mind. YAB incredibly U, why do you think these tests are so important?

[BertPuttocks]

I have a DD in Yr 6.

If your DD is upset about school, I think you need to speak to someone there to see what can be done to help her. I think it would be unusual for a child to be so upset by their teacher being off sick.

I have another child who also had a teacher go off sick for several months. The teacher was very ill and I think we were all just very relieved that she eventually recovered.

[Stickerrocks]

The teacher has not bowed out, they are ill. Do you really think that anyone chooses to be signed off for long term sickness absence? If the school has said that the teacher has stress, anxiety or depression, they have over-stepped the mark, as the teacher's reason for being absent is strictly confidential and is none of your business. As others have said, their absence may be completely unrelated to work and linked to matters that you are unaware of in their private life. You have no reason to speculate.

SATS are not the be all and end all of year 6, whatever you are told. She will be learning all kinds of things in addition to spelling, grammar etc. Step back and take a positive stance on the supply teacher issue. Yes, it is unsettling, but she will be seeing things from lots of different perspectives. Talk to the school about how they intend to get some stability into DD's class, but please cut out the negative attitude towards her teacher.