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Original poster

Was this a normal thing at my school?

10 replies

janeeire244 · 02/04/2025 14:18

I can remember one time when I was in Year 7, my Classics teacher asked me if I wanted to help her in return for some “reward points” on the behaviour system over lunch. I said “yes”.

We had just done our summer exams and the exams had been marked but for Classics, the scores needed to be filled in on the database.

For some reason, my teacher asked me to fill out the data on the database over lunchtime for her. She gave me access to all the marked exam papers for my year group and so I saw mine and everybody’s work and how much everyone scored and was graded and I just needed to fill in the data on the computer. I actually enjoyed the task but in hindsight I feel as though it may have been a bit of a violation of privacy and not a normal “task” that a teacher asks their student for help for.

Maybe she was genuinely busy or maybe she couldn’t be bothered. But I remember telling my other teachers about this at the same school years later and they appeared shocked that that would happen and some of them laughed thinking I was joking.

Is it a normal thing to have happened or not?

OP posts:
Whotochoose2025 · 02/04/2025 14:22

janeeire244 · 02/04/2025 14:18

I can remember one time when I was in Year 7, my Classics teacher asked me if I wanted to help her in return for some “reward points” on the behaviour system over lunch. I said “yes”.

We had just done our summer exams and the exams had been marked but for Classics, the scores needed to be filled in on the database.

For some reason, my teacher asked me to fill out the data on the database over lunchtime for her. She gave me access to all the marked exam papers for my year group and so I saw mine and everybody’s work and how much everyone scored and was graded and I just needed to fill in the data on the computer. I actually enjoyed the task but in hindsight I feel as though it may have been a bit of a violation of privacy and not a normal “task” that a teacher asks their student for help for.

Maybe she was genuinely busy or maybe she couldn’t be bothered. But I remember telling my other teachers about this at the same school years later and they appeared shocked that that would happen and some of them laughed thinking I was joking.

Is it a normal thing to have happened or not?

Probably normal (ish) depending on the era. It wouldn't happen now (or certainly shouldn't).

UpUpUpU · 02/04/2025 14:23

Sounds like when I was at school in the late 90's. Doubt it would happen now though.

lolly792 · 02/04/2025 14:27

Going back further, to 1970s, results would be read aloud to the entire class! And when I received my degree result (early 1980s) they were all pinned up on a noticeboard!

I think this would all be highly unusual now but wouldn’t have been a big deal in the past

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Octavia64 · 02/04/2025 14:30

It wouldn’t happen now.

we have done something sort of similar for mocks when we took year 10 classes to the computer room and they typed in their own results question by question. But that’s their own papers.

i can see it happening in the past.

Original poster
janeeire244 · 02/04/2025 18:01

It happened in 2018.

OP posts:
lolly792 · 02/04/2025 18:43

Does this sort of thing still happen? Are you still at the school or just left? And is it a private school? (the fact it’s Classics makes me wonder as that’s much more common in private) It seems unusual for just a few years ago but frankly some of the things you hear about in private schools wouldn’t totally surprise me

BassesAreBest · 02/04/2025 18:49

lolly792 · 02/04/2025 14:27

Going back further, to 1970s, results would be read aloud to the entire class! And when I received my degree result (early 1980s) they were all pinned up on a noticeboard!

I think this would all be highly unusual now but wouldn’t have been a big deal in the past

Degree results were still pinned up on a noticeboard when I graduated in 2000!

LittleGreenDuck · 02/04/2025 19:07

In the 90s everyone's GCSE results were printed in the local paper!

pizzaHeart · 02/04/2025 19:17

My friend and I often did this for our physics teacher. He used to give us lots of tests 🙂 It was 6th form, late 80s. No rewards.
It meant that we could access names, home addresses, and names and workplaces of parents and of course we did.

Original poster
janeeire244 · 02/04/2025 20:35

It’s an ex-private school that transitioned to being a state school a few years before I joined but still has many private school trappings like teaching Latin and Classics and having a swimming pool. Although, the school has been massively struggling to maintain its desire to be a quasi-private school as the new cohort of students are from a very socio-economically deprived background so are less in tune with private school values and the school has less funding and resources. Many of the old teachers have left. It feels like a bog standard comprehensive school now that’s trying to hold onto its private school past. Very interesting though.

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