what the most hilarious and groundless parental complaint you've ever fielded?

Sports Day was abandoned half way through when it started snowing (end of May - we're in Scotland) so was rescheduled but we couldn't get the playing fields (shared with the secondary). So, we decided to use the playground.

Letter from father. His DD was not to take part in case she fell. If she did, he would sue us for her future earnings as she is a rising tennis star. She's 6.

What does he think she does at every playtime?!?

That the school didn't inform her which day Hallowe'en was so she didn't know when to put the costume on. Hmmmm... The 31st of October, maybe.

The bus taking children on a school trip was 2mph over the speed limit - parent was following in their car.

The parent who asked that A didn't sit anywhere near his cousin B in the same year because centuaries ago the famillies fell out about some farm land

Flogship - she wanted me to smell the jumpers not the children! She complained about me not being able to find it when I should be able to smell it! Sadly, by the end of the year I could tell it by the smell!

I used to work with a bloke who had to go for a 20-30 mile early morning run before coming into the office, otherwise he was unbearable - perhaps a suggestion for twitchy pupils (he used to get up at 5am & run even on business trips).

the kid who needs a run around, surely he could go for a run before school? or even, shock horror, walk to school himself instead of being driven?

Anyway, sorry for the hijack, it's been an interesting discussion!

Glad to hear he turned out ok

I live opposite a technical school, for children aged 11-18. They have a huge grounds. They do some academic learning. They spend much of their time outside - running, basket ball. They work in the gardens, digging up the earth, chopping down the trees, sawing the timber. I know, because I can see them out of my window. In fact I can see them now, digging in the rain. They learn technical skills such as elctronics and plumbing. Our electrician went to the school.

I think that this sort of education should be an option for all those children who are unlikley to want to spend their lives working in an office.

Lady, I taught him later on in his school career- he got there in the end. I waste no time on children like that- ignore their bad behaviour, reward their good behaviour, focus on the the learning.

He may have missed out on optimising his learning experience by not giving it his full attention, indeed, he may have found that he would have enjoyed it more if he fully engaged, but his mother's attitude (and it was a shame, as I really liked her!) facilitated his inattention and belief he didn't have to pay attention.

PE teachers loved him though ;)

But for how long do you think we should make provision for these lively characters - surely at some stage we need to equip them with the skills they need to sit and concentrate for a reasonable length of time?

Or perhaps a run around the block should be written into their job contracts later in life?

Perhaps cinema screenings or theatre productions should have obligatory breaks every 40 minutes or so for restless types who have never learned this skill?

A landing on every flight every 45 minutes to break up the journey?

I agree, it does sound impractical. But I wonder how much time teachers waste trying to get children like this to sit and listen.

Our school system isn't set up to deal with lively children.

Lady- consider the practicality of it at a secondary school. His classroom is on the third floor, he has five seperate lessons a day, if he started each one running around the playground, could you imagine the time it would take to facilitate that?!

Once children are at secondary school, they need to be able to sit and focus and work. He had no SEN. He was just fidgety. He had a twenty minute break and an hour lunch to expel any excess energy. I think the request was absurd.

Plus- the lesson he was in was very active and engaging- lots of movement in class, active learning, range of stimuli- not as if he was being asked to sit in a chair and not move!

'That or the one who complained about their child's coursework mark (an 'E'). On further investigation the parent had done the coursework for the child and did not like their grade'

The parent that wrote comments in their child's exercise book about my marking. We had a long discussion about complementary vs complimentary at parents' evening. They could not got their head around the fact that two goods that go together are known as complementary not complimentary goods.

That or the one who complained about their child's coursework mark (an 'E'). On further investigation the parent had done the coursework for the child and did not like their grade .

ohfunnyhoneyface regarding the boy who needed to run around - is that so unusual? It sounds like a good idea to me. And I know that for some children (not in the UK), it is written into their educational 'care plan' - that they run around the playground a few times if they cannot settle in class.

Not my student, but a parent complained that their child needed to be allowed to run around outside to let off steam if he has struggling to settle down in class. He was 12.

Another one (in a state school) sent in a note to say that their child could not complete the HW (asking what charity/ies their family supported) as they believed it was encouraging a lack of personal responsibility to rely on charity, and that they only supported the local Private School which their older son attended. Interestingly, their younger son (the one who was set this HW) did not attend the school as he did not pass their entrance exam and they had no SEN provision for his complex needs.

Third one should be she didn't finish her snack. I think the mother had body image issues, the poor child was as thin as a rake and starving by 9.30

Not a teacher - DH is poor sod. I have helped out in DDs classes a lot.
There was the mother who decided that her DD couldn't go out for playtime because she was 'virtually albino' and the sun screen made her legs sticky. We were in Bangkok. Try avoiding the sun there.
Another who wanted to know who was responsible for helping the Y4 children change into their swimming stuff.
One more who wanted the staff to ensure their DC didn't finish his milk and fruit at snack time because it put her off her dinner.
One parent made an appt to see DH when he was asst Principal of the school to discuss which options their DC should take to ensure they were accepted to Oxford. We were still in Thailand and the DC was around 4.

It's not just parents.

I'm in FE.

I taught a group ITC 1 hour a week 9am, lots of students coming in late.

One student asked why I marked him absent the previous week, I said because he wasn't there.

He said he was. I said maybe I'd made a mistake (I didn't remember him being in class) so could he show me some of last weeks work. Well no, he hadn't done any work, but he claimed he had been in class.

I said he had no proof, I didn't remember him so no mark.

He spent the lesson complaining and the next 20 mins following me round to my next class and then reappeared at break.

I'm 5ft0 and he was 6ft, I was getting nervous.

I discussed it with my line manager before I went that day.

The next day there was an email to my line manager saying I was punishing students by not marking them present if they didn't work, that this was terrible behavior etc. etc. The student needed their EMA and I was being unfair.

The line manager forwarded the e-mail for me to respond.

I started by thanking the tutor for being so professional as to get the entire story before criticising a fellow professional.

Mum phoned the school to complain that I wouldn't reschedule an exam for her PFB because they were on holiday. It was a GCSE Maths exam - I am not responsible for setting the dates of those! The dates of all exams had been given to them in plenty of time but they chose to ignore those letter/email/reminders as it would be perfectly fine for us to just let her dd do the exam when she came back.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed in here because I'm a lowly careers advisor but I shall venture in anyway!

I was accused of needlessly ruining one student's dreams - I told him that he probably wouldn't get any offers to study medicine with his A-Levels of Sports Science, Geography and Business Studies and apparently his parents thought I was being unreasonable and didn't know what I was talking about...

Family having taken son out of school on holiday for 2 weeks, phone on the Mon morning to say they're stuck in a traffic jam 2o miles from school - 3 days later he's finally back! That was week before parents night when they complained o me that their little darling has not been getting enough work to do at school

I was accused of picking on a GCSE student after picking up that lots of her coursework (I've been teaching a few years!) was copied and pasted from a website. She didn't even understand what she had written but I was in the wrong.
[Wish I'd let the exam board deal with it emoticon!]