Would you expect school to keep you updated regarding who is teaching DC?

[namechange7479]

DS teacher was suppose to return from maternity in September. She didn't and they had someone else until October half term. Nothing was ever communicated I only got information out of DS (he is in year 2 so not always the most detailed). Anyway he teacher returned last week for the week and has now gone off again. I only again found this out from DS and had noticed his reading book/homework book had not been changed. I know I can ask but would you expect school to keep us updated and tell us who is actually teaching him?
I am starting to get concerned as it seems to be very hit and miss if he reading book gets changed/he gets homework etc. Last year this was done weekly.

At that age yes, I would expect to be kept informed about who was teaching my child.

My child’s school would definitely informed me if the teacher wasn’t coming back from MAT leave when expected. The second absence you mentioned is more tricky as it’s likely the school won’t know the situation yet, they may not know if the teacher is going to be off for 2 weeks or 2 months. It’s hard to update when this is the case. It would be fine to ask about the reading book etc but be as nice as possible, there aren’t a line of wonderful supply teachers lined up and this will be a stressful situation for the head to manage.

Big things like maternity leave, long term illness... yes. When DDs teacher was on long term sickness we were informed of the Cover arrangements. Most of it was a teacher on a short term contract, who we were informed of the name but there were odd day with temporary supply teachers.

Short illness, odd training day etc... no.

There is probably nobody who has the time to let you know, the school are probably desperately looking for someone to teach the class. Indeed.co.uk has over 16,000 jobs for the search term 'Primary School Teacher'. Cover teachers are not generally teachers at all, they are adults who babysit a class with work supplied by the Head of Department. Supply teachers are usually qualified teachers. I am worried that people on Mumsnet really don't realise how bad the situation is in UK schools.