in thinking that school children shouldn't be answering the school telephone?

[Nbg]

I called the school yesterday to speak with dd's teacher.

A young girl answered the phone and said that the teacher wasn't there atm but she could take a message.
So I asked if she could tell her I had called, gave her my name and phone number.

Teacher never called and said today that she never got the message

I should say that the girl was very polite but really, a school child answering the telephone at a primary school.

[FAQ]

hmm sounds like the receptionist was out of the office and an errant child on her way to the toilet decided to "help" by answering the phone.

[Nbg]

Well she explained that the teacher wasnt available (her words) and could she take a message?

Bonkers if you ask me.

[FAQ]

my DS's would do that when answering the phone (as they have at home on occasions if I've been on the loo or something) - so maybe this girl does it at home for her mum and thought she'd help the teacher out.

[Candlewax]

In my ds's primary school, year 6 children had a rota and they covered the admin office telephones every lunchtime. They were very good at taking and passing on messages.

[Bramshott]

DD1's school have one of last year's Yr 6s helping in the office this week because her secondary school doesn't start till next week. The issue is not so much that she is helping, but that you didn't get the message Nbg - which clearly is concerning and irritating.

[PrimulaVeris]

At my dc's primary the Year 6's have a rota of office duty at lunch and break times whilst the school sec has her toilet/sandwich break. Not entirely on their own - always head or other member of staff in back office.

Good for developing responsibility and highly commended in a recent ofsted inspection too

My dd's secondary has a similar reception desk system too

[tamarto]

I can't see it being policy to let a school child answer the phone. Probably a child thinking that they were helping.

[morningpaper]

how do you know it wasn't a temp?

[bellavita]

In our Primary school - Yr6 children are in charge of bell ringing, phone answering etc on a rota basis, so after the child's lunch they go and sit on reception whilst the teachers are in the staff room (they are not allowed to be disturbed by phonecalls).

[DumbledoresGirl]

Oh I had this last year. I am a supply teacher and rang a school with an important message only to be told by the child that answered that it was Friday afternoon and Year 6 always manned the phones on Friday afternoons and there was no adult he could pass me over to.

I wasn't impressed, both from the POV of not being able to pass on my message which really needed to be said, and also from the POV of a parent, thinking that this was what passed for education on a Friday afternoon.

I know that learning to answer the phone is an important life skill, but I teach it to my children at home as a parent. I would not be happy knowing it was a regular event at school.

[DaphneMoon]

Can't see what the problem is, however it might have been one if the message had been extremely urgent.

[DumbledoresGirl]

Just to make clear: I am talking about children answering the phone in lesson time (which he made clear to me was a regular Friday afternoon thing) not during lunchtimes which I might not object to so much.

[Nbg]

It was definately a child MP.

I remember doing reception duty, at Secondary school in year 10. Not primary.

Fair do's if schools want to let the kids do this but make sure they pass the farking messages on!

[FAQ]

ahhhh now you see I'm coming from the point of view of a parent that's only just got her oldest child up to junior school YR3, whereas before he was at infants (Reception to YR2).

The YR6 answering the phones thing I could imagine possibly happening at the junior school he's just startd as they're got an excellent Student Council which does play a big role in how the school is run.

[DumbledoresGirl]

And for times when an urgent message needs to be given straightaway, I really think there should be an adult available to take the call.

[PrimulaVeris]

The Y6's should all have been briefed who to grab (usually head or deputy) if urgent

They should write everything down. May be worth gently bringing it up informally at school - sounds as though it's new Y6's on very first reception duty and not being briefed properly/too scared as first time?

[francagoestohollywood]

I love the idea of yr 6 children having a rota of office duty, I'd have loved it as a child!

[Eddas]

i have to say that i thought it odd when I phoned dd's new school(she starts in Jan) that a child answered. I can see why but I wanted to speak to the secretary so just called back later. If you're an existing parent and know that children answer then that's probably ok, but I was certainly and suprised!

[Cammelia]

I would hate that. It certainly wouldn't happen at dd's school - way too unprofessional.

[mumto2andnomore]

Fine at lunchtimes, not in lesson times and she should have passed the message on.

[Yorkiegirl]

Message withdrawn

[poppyandsam]

An infant school near here (not my DS's) has the Y2 children answering the phone on a weekly rota. I guess there must be an adult in the room with them.

[clam]

I think quite a lot of schools do this, actually. The fact that, in this instance, the message didn't get passed on does not mean that the practice is necessarily a bad idea. I've left plenty of messages with adults in the past that don't get passed on either. Sometimes people can say that they didn't get it, when in fact they've just forgotten to deal with it. Which would have been unfair on the child/person who had the idea of kids manning the phones in this instance.
But who knows? Ask the Head the reasons behind it.

[clam]

I think quite a lot of schools do this, actually. The fact that, in this instance, the message didn't get passed on does not mean that the practice is necessarily a bad idea. I've left plenty of messages with adults in the past that don't get passed on either. Sometimes people can say that they didn't get it, when in fact they've just forgotten to deal with it. Which would have been unfair on the child/person who had the idea of kids manning the phones in this instance.
But who knows? Ask the Head the reasons behind it.

[clam]

Oops! Sorry about that.