School letting me know that ds, 13, doesn’t have a pen.

[Veuvestar]

Oh and he was slow to get in line
Is this the best use of time?
The school has a system of behaviour points
Isn’t this stuff they should just be getting on with, or dealing with.
He lost his pencil case, he borrowed a pen, move along, nothing to see.
Does anyone rises school do this type of thing?

Maybe they are sick of dealing with unorganised kids.

I know when our school went back they were told in no uncertain terms that pens can not be handed out due to covid regs.

DD’s school is very strict re equipment (especially as it can’t be shared at the moment but even ore covid). If dd didn’t have a pen she’d get a lunch detention and I’d have an email telling me. School felt staff were wasting 10 minutes of each lesson sorting missing equipment and they put their foot down. I’m okay with that.

Yep school drove me mad with emails and phone calls when mine were there (left a couple of years ago). Some of it was necessary but a lot was a complete waste of everybody's time.

Freezing cold snowy day …. DD had the tiniest black secret socks on to keep her feet warm over her black tights, you couldn't see them unless you really studied her feet …. form tutor on the phone to me.

Craziest was early May of year 11 ….. phone call to say DDs skirt was too shirt and could I buy another. These skirts were £50+, not just a quick supermarket buy.

Wonder what possible reason school could have to be more concerned about pupils sharing things that normal and hope for some support from parents

It depends on their behaviour policy. If they're fed up with regularly losing lesson time because students are disorganised then they might take a different approach than a school who doesn't regularly have lesson starts negatively affected by regular equipment issues.

It used to drive me mad when students did not come properly equipped to lessons. It won't only have been your son, a number of others will have had to borrow pens. Most teachers lend pens but often the pens are not returned. It slows up the prompt start to a lesson

Admittedly, it is less annoying than the students who do not bring exercise books and folders and so . And the ones that do not bring text books, reading books etc. and then fail to have an accurate record of work in books. It wastes so much time at the start of the lesson.

Maybe they wouldn't have to phone if his parent made sure he had the required equipment.

Red- you want me follow him round all day to make sure his pen doesn’t fall out if his pocket
Don’t be ridiculous

I can see why it seems trivial OP, but as a teacher at a school where the pens were literally rationed because there was no money to spend on stationary, then yes, it is reasonable for them to phone you and ask that he has a pen. If he lost his pencil case then replace it as soon as possible; it's essential equipment for your child's education.

Why can't your son line up in the same amount of time as the other kids?

We made a record in student diaries each time someone did not have a pen. One parents asked indignantly about the note in the diary which simply said, 'no pen today.' Of course, the student in question had added and 'is' after the word pen, which changed the whole meaning!

Maybe encourage him to keep spares in his bag rather than just going with one pen in his pocket?

Schools don’t want pupils borrowing things at the moment.

He needs to take some responsibility for being organised and you need to help him if he hasn’t mastered it yet

They’re probably dealing with it day in day out, and are now reaching out to parents hoping for some support.

If his pen falls out of his pocket, he needs to keep it somewhere more secure. Simple as that. It is not safe for pupils to be sharing equipment at the moment and schools can’t afford to hand out new pens, pencils, rubbers, rulers to literally scores of disorganised children on a daily basis. As for him being slow to line up, they aren’t telling you this because he did it once. They are telling you because he’s probably persistently a pain in the arse who either doesn’t listen/pay attention, or deliberately doesn’t follow the rules, and they are again hoping for some support from home.

It’s very hard for school staff to keep children safe at school at the moment. Where pupils either cannot or will not follow simple rules which are there to keep everyone safe, they need parents to step up and do their bit to ensure that their child is cooperating. That’s what they are asking of you.

Oh god, don’t even get me started.

Last september DS started new school. Woman from school rang me because she thought DS might be entitled to FSM. I said I wasn’t sure but would look into it, but not that day because I was in meetings all day. Woman said she’d email me details, I thanked her and got on with it.

20 minutes later I got called out saying a family member, my emergency contact for school, had just called to say that school were trying to get in touch with me and could I call back ASAP. Obviously I panicked and called school expecting to hear that DS had hurt himself or something, got through and spoke tot he woman I’d spoken to earlier. She’d emailed me, called me to see if I’d received the email, my mobile was off because I was in a meeting, like I’d told her I would be, so she’d called my emergency contact... Because she wanted to check I’d received an email about a non-urgent thing I’d said I’d look into when I wasn’t busy.

Needless to say I was rather annoyed and told her never to call my emergency contact, unless, you know, it’s a fucking emergency.

I just don't think school or teachers have time for it if it was just one off incident. And also wit covid restrictions, sharing items are kind of no no at the moment?
Just make sure he put extras in his bag, and problem sorted.

@Veuvestar maybe they are fed up with talking to him (and others) and are asking parents to step up. Why would a pupil only take one pen to school, especially at the moment when they know they shouldn't be sharing equipment.

At the moment they can't hand out pens cos of covid.

You've just reminded me though. In yr 11 my skirt was deemed too short so rather than phone my mum, I was forced to take it off, sit in my lab coat at lunchtime and rehem the wretched thing with seam binding to lengthen it by an inch.

Be careful what you wish for.

He had a pencil case
He lost it
He doesn’t actually lose things that often, but we couldn’t find it when he was going back after 3 months.
No other pencil case that we had in the house would do, either because it wouldn’t fit in his blazer pocket or it was too babyish.
So he went in with pens and pencils in a clear ziplock bag.
While I ordered a new pencil case
They have a system where they leave their bag in their locker and take just what they need for the lesson. He somehow left his ziplock bag in his locker.
He has a lot of processing issues, dyslexia and probably adhd, all of which the school know about.
I get that the kids need to be organised and I understand the knock on disruption, but the school doesn’t seem to know how to pick their battles.
A bit of a kerfuffle in a lineup or a lost pen isn’t a big deal to me.

I think the teacher is probably fed up to the back teeth with pupils who turn up with nothing to write with, having not made any effort to simply borrow one from a friend. Most pupils have a few spares. Pupils then tell the teacher they are unable to write and expect the teacher to magic one up, as if it is the teacher’s responsibility. Said pen is then often walked off with at the end of the lesson, if a decent one, or left abandoned on the floor in bits or with ink dripping out of it.
Surely, in these difficult times your son can be relied upon to ensure he has something to write with. I bet he remembered his phone.

Schools are meant to be teaching your kid which would happen more easily if he was properly equipped and followed instructions promptly.

If you knew just how much lesson time was wasted by kids not having basic equipment or arsing around instead of doing what they were told, you might be a bit more understanding of the desire to clamp down on it.

Surely if he looses one, he should have a spare.

@Veuvestar

Red- you want me follow him round all day to make sure his pen doesn’t fall out if his pocket Don’t be ridiculous

Novel idea - he takes a spare pen? This is a good idea anyway in case of pen leaking/breaking/being stolen by classmate as well as in cases of "falling out of his pocket".

It is petty to ring home about but maybe this has been a problem for a while. He must be repeatedly turning up without things he needs for them to waste their time ringing you.
I teach at college and it is very frustrating when people don't have a pen. I now lend really rubbish pens. Alot of the time they don't work either and then they complain - to which I point out that they are supposed to bring their own and I paid for those pen!

They have a system where they leave their bag in their locker and take just what they need for the lesson.

My DC's school have the same system. Every single child keeps basic stationary items and their school diaries in their blazer pockets rather than their locker, as these are needed for every lesson. If your son is not doing this already, maybe suggest it to him?

Usertwice, that was in response to the poster who suggested I should make sure he has what he needed.
I do
I can’t be responsible if he then doesn’t take a pen to his class
He goes in with multiple pens
Multiple pencils

Personally I think they should be allowed to take their bags to class