Concerned about DD being a school office 'runner'

I’ve never heard of it although I don’t think one day is such a bad thing to miss.

Here everyone has an online login on the computers in the room and messages go between pretty much like instant messaging within the software. Everything is electronic. On the odd occasions the computers are down then it goes back to paper.

Good office experience

Good to take some responsibility.
Schools are communities; people should support their community.

Anyone objecting is voting for parties that promise to raise taxes, right?

I think we should remember that a school is a community, and actually, students learning how to represent their school and make contact with the public is no bad thing.

sounds ok. she'll still learn stuff. kind of like work experience? good for her to do something different, talk to different people id have thought. i wouldn't mind.

depressing we fund our schools so poorly ofc but is unlikely to be harmful to your child.

My DDs school do this.

I can remember doing that at school. I loved it! Its good for kids to feel grown-up and responsible.

@hiredandsqueak hahahaha that's brilliant. I wish I'd have thought of that. I did this in Y8 too and I loved it! My sister will do it next year when she's in y7 and she's already excited for it. My school did it alphabetically and I remember being really scared there won't be enough school days for me to have a go because my surname starts with T. Some kids didn't do it and were really sad.

We did this at my school and it's 50 years since I left! We loved it because we felt we were being treated like responsible almost-adults. We got to do a variety of tasks between our class work. Like others have said, we reported to class at the start of the lesson and were given work to take to a table we were stationed at.

Oh for crying out loud.

My dc's school did this, all the children took turns over the course of the year.

I actually think it is a good thing. It gives them responsibility. I think at dc's school they did things like collect all the registers as well as taking messages and delivering stuff. My dd even made the Head a cup of tea on the day it was her turn, and she was really proud of that.

Also that the headteacher didn't just tell me it's because they don't have enough office staff.

He probably wanted to see how long it took for that explanation to get round to the other parents ...

My school had something called responsibility desk that all the year 7s and 8s had to take shifts at. It was basically the same as the runner, 2 pupils would miss lessons to sit at a desk beside the main office and we had to run errands and carry messages around. We only did it for half a day though rather than missing the whole day of lessons. 2 people would do the morning shift and 2 would do the afternoon.

Yep we did it in year 9. You had to go and ask for work from your class teachers so you had stuff to do if it was quiet.

Everyone loved that day! We were called runners too.

I did this over 20yrs ago!

1 week tea and coffee duty at breaks making drinks and selling homemade cakes to the teachers. Any profit we made was ours.

1 week school reception duty at lunchtimes, inc answering phones and meeting visitors.

Aged 11/12 I think it was. Maybe 12/13. Anyway we used to bloody love doing it.

I just asked my year 8. He has no idea about it . Doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

My son would love it .

At secondary school it's normal for children to be told about things rather than a letter being sent to parents about absolutely everything they do.

It's nothing to be concerned about. Most middle and comp schools have a daily runner.

It might be my children's school. I think it's good for them as an introduction to work experience and as a contribution to the school community. It does no harm in Year 8.

I manned the school phone in year 6 when something happened to both the receptionists on very short notice. I did two afternoons and my best friend did the morning shifts. The postman was a bit surprised to find a child running the office. I think the head did the morning rush and end of day. It was a tiny rural primary. It was fricking ace! My mum phoned just to say hello and see how I was getting on and she was extremely proud of my professionalism apparently. And now my current school has year 8 runners. They love it.

This sounds excellent. My daughter (year 7) is suffering badly at the moment with anxiety and school refusal. The current thing we are focusing on is just getting her to BE at school. Doesn't have to be in lessons - could be in the SEN room all day. We are trying to give the message that school is more than just the lessons. It's her community and she needs to be a part of it. It that involved laminating in the office then I would be over the moon.

My dd had to do it for half a day and sat around all morning and the only message she took was to get the next runner

If it didn't bother my child, it wouldn't bother me. I imagine some children would like to do that.

Our school does it, exactly the same, 1 day in Year 8. I can't believe how common it is! I didn't really have a problem with it but it does grate a bit when children get criticised for missing days through appointments etc.

Yes I remember doing this! I think it was called ‘Reception Duty’. Pretty sure we were expected to go and ask for some work and crack on if we weren’t doing jobs but it was good fun. Plus, year 8 is really a bit of a nothing year.