What does your child’s teacher do that is “over and above?”

[Balletdancemum]

As the title says. Rather than a teaching bashing thread, I thought it would be nice to have to have a thread with positives. 🥰

This is really refreshing. I'm a teacher (whose currently on mat leave) and it can sometimes feel like a losing battle; it's really great to see a more positive thread about teachers/schools.

My son just started reception and I was pleasantly surprised with how much communication from the teacher we've received so far. There were lots of pictures from the children's first week in school and (usually) at least once per week since starting, plus additional messages.

What app does DS’s school use? Ours use Tapestry!

One day last year my DD was having a really big meltdown as it was a school event and she didn't want me to go home. Her senco calmed her down by giving me a pen to draw a heart on her hand to look at at school when she feels anxious or worried. It's such a simple thing but it has helped DD with separation anxiety so much and I'll never ever forget it.

Based on DfE annual research about 20-25 hours of unpaid work a week.

My son attends a special school, when my father died the funeral was in the school holidays. His teacher took him out for a few hours while the rest of the family attended the funeral.
It was a huge relief to know ds was being looked after.

Everything! She’s honestly Miss Honey in real life. Dd can’t wait to get to school in the morning, lovely to see.

Oh god, almost everything. DS1 currently has two teachers (job share) and they both go so above and beyond. I appreciate it as a parent but at our introductory meeting I had to stop myself giving advice as a fellow professional about setting boundaries! They were both saying how happy they were to be emailed in the evening, how they'll answer them on their non-working days... I was thinking that people take the piss enough when you work part-time, don't encourage them!

All my kids teachers and support staff including kitchen staff etc have been fantastic. They really care, work endlessly to support the kids, communicate well though I feel sorry for them as some parents can't be pleased.

She sounds amazing! What sort of things does she do?

@Balletdancemum, it's Class Dojo that my son's school use.

DD struggles with her ADHD at times and a couple of teachers have managed her rather than taught her. She's perfect now with a lot of work!

The one I remember stopped me at the end of the year and said, "DD is the funniest child I have ever taught" with a smile. She really saw DD, really got her.

Even the most nightmarish child has something perfect about them. Good teachers see and mention those things. I've facilitated with gang-involved, 'challenging' youth. Just one comment that sees something good about them can change everything.

I work with schools.

I see HT, DHT and teachers giving up lunchtime, daily to spend time working with vulnerable and SEND children, in a small group, nurturing environment.

HT’s outside, all weathers to greet families.

Teachers providing clean clothes for children.

My daughters school are amazing, we had to flee domestic abuse. Its only recently I've had to tell the father what school DD goes to. The school have measures in place to prevent us from seeing each other. They will tell me when he's booked onto school events and parents evenings so I don't book onto the same one. I have the utmost trust DD is safe there.

My DSs teacher borrows books from the library for specific kids, knowing what they like to read. She also lends them her own books.

It was the depute head for my sons year rather than his teacher (who is all round wonderful!) but he spent hours on the phone on the first day of the Christmas holiday trying to get through to CAMHS to see if we could get any help sooner as we’d all been struggling with my sons additional needs. They sent us a letter telling us no way bugger off and keep waiting (3 years now!) but I was so grateful he tried.

No specific examples but just to say that the teachers in my DS's primary are all lovely. Teaching is so a hard job and teachers really do deserve better reward and recognition for the valuable work they do.

During Covid my son’s Assistant Head Teacher (secondary) rang me every day to support me when he knew my son was being abusive to me due to MH problems. He spoke to my son regularly and helped him with his University application. I cannot thank him enough as he was my lifeline.

DC was in ‘reception’ last year. The class teacher turned up to all their birthday parties. If one of the kids played a sport or danced etc and we invited teacher along, she would turn up to watch them play etc. She is amazing and Dc is so lucky to have had her for their first year of school. She instilled such a joy of school and learning in the class it was incredible to see and I doubt it’ll be that good again.

No current examples but my DD once had a SENDCO who allowed her to sit in her office and talk about her interests to her so she could calm down quietly away from the other kids.

During secondary school when COVID hit and we had to do home learning, I had to get in touch with several of the teachers via email because DD was struggling so much to keep on top of the volume of work and they were all lovely. It was also a much welcomed line of communication out of the house for me!

My ASD daughter's y4 teacher would allow her to stay in with her at lunchtime when she wasn't coping with the playground. She started a 'lunchtime club' with DD and some friends to help when friendships fractured. So using her own precious time to support her class.

Based on DfE annual research about 20-25 hours of unpaid work a week.

^This. Pretty much every teacher I know is doing 'over and above' every day which parents wouldn't ever be aware of, just due to the fact that there is far more of their job than they can fit into reasonable hours. So the ones parents actually notice are doing 'over and above' must be driving themselves into the ground.

Thank you for this. I'm a primary school teacher. On an average day I get in to school at 7.15 and get home at around 6pm. I usually do 1-2 hours work each evening, around housework, cooking and eating dinner, and supporting and supervising my own children's homework. A few hours at the weekend as well. There are some children who take up a lot of my head space (and heart space), who I think about, plan for and worry about for most of my waking (and sleeping) hours. The vast majority of the parents of the children in my class have no idea about this, probably if asked would say I work 8.30-3.30 with 13 weeks holiday.
I'm not a martyr, I went in to this profession quite late, having already had a career and raised a family, I don't take any shit and won't do things just for the sake of it, but even so I have to do all of the above just to meet the basic needs of my class and the expectations of the profession. The expectations of what children should be able to achieve at each stage of their education are incredibly high, but at the same time the level of need within each year group seems to be increasing each year. I have a huge amount of children with additional needs, which we can largely blame on lock-downs, screen-time, parental pressures etc etc but at the same time school budgets are shrinking, low wages are pushing quality teachers and support staff out and we still need to meet the increasingly diverse and complex needs of the children. It's shit, but the small wins make it worth it