Dd is in Year 9 at a girls' grammar. Last night was Parents' Night. Pretty much all her teachers gave her glowing reports, she is doing well, participates well in lessons, has a good attitude to learning and is a pleasure to have in class.
With the exception of Maths. The teacher hardly had a good word for her, dd's test score was below the average but the focus of the 5 min appointment was on dd's poor attitude.
For background - dd has had this same Maths teacher since the start of Year 7. In Year 7 dd's confidence took a bit of a knock, some of the girls are real Maths whizzes. Dd can keep up in lessons ok but she is more English/Humanities. Nothing wrong with that. However dd said this teacher has her favourites, she quickly identified dd as being weak at Maths, constantly picked on her and dd's confidence plummeted further.
Year 8 there was some improvement and dd made good progress in Maths. She was gutted to get this teacher again in Year 9. Apart from the obvious personality clash, dd says her teaching is poor and she doesn't explain the work well. This teacher also talks about students behind their backs, she regularly says 'I shouldn't say this but.....' She also seems to spend an awful lot of time talking about her own family, dd knows so much about her oldest daughter and her 11+ exams for different schools.
We did have a quick word about the issue last night and she said she would talk to the teacher and see what her take on it is.
Dd (and me and dh) are upset because she obviously doesn't know dd at all.
I know sometimes at school you don't always get on with every teacher and I did point out to dd that sometimes you have work with people you might not like or get on with. But I am worried about dd's Maths and her confidence and things are not going to improve after such an appalling parents' night.