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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think that a supply teacher in 3rd week of school is a bit much?

67 replies

OhToBeAYummyMummy · 15/09/2010 09:53

Ok, here goes, am prepared for pfb flaming :)

DS 4.6 started school 2 weeks ago. It's a slow induction process. He's been attending 9-11am every day with groups of 6 children being introduced every 3 days until the full class was put together on Mon. Full time hours don't start until Nov.

He has been nervous going in most days with full on tears and having to be peeled off me last week. We made an agreement that if he managed to go in without tears this week, he would get a treat at the weekend, (swimming which he adores).

He did so well on Mon and Tues going in with a stoical little face but when we got to the classroom this morning the TA explained to him that there was going to be a different teacher today as his teacher is on a course. At this point he broke down and ended up having to be peeled off me again. As I left two other children were in the cloakroom crying as they didn't want to go in either (this hasn't been the case any other morning that I've seen).

Is it a bit ridiculous for a teacher to be sent on a training course at this point in the induction process? I understand that the teacher could have ended up off sick and a supply teacher would have been brought in but she wasn't ill, this was a planned day out of the classroom. If we had been informed of it the day before we could have prepared our children for the fact that there was going to be a different teacher today.

I understand that my DS is going to have to get used to dealing with some situations without preparation or prior warning, but I feel that it was a bit tough on the little ones who are finding starting school a bit nerve wracking!

Go on, tell me I'm a helicopter parent :)

OP posts:

LindyHemming · 15/09/2010 09:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Fel1x · 15/09/2010 10:00

I undestand that it is hard to see your ds upset and that a supply teacher didn't help but the training will be necessary.
My ds has just started school too. He has aspergrs. His teacher is going on a one day training session on ways to teach him and act with him soon. It's v important to have the training as soon as possible after school starts as otherwise she will struggle with ds and that would disrupt the whole class more than a supply teacher on one day would!

pinkgrasshopper · 15/09/2010 10:01

YANBU. It's vital for little ones to have stability in the first couple of months of school and the same face at the front of the classroom is a key part of this. It would be different if the teacher was unwell but to take time out for training seems mad! Who schedules training courses for early years staff in Sept!? They should consider their organisational skills too!

MollieO · 15/09/2010 10:04

Ds's reception teachers did a job share so they had to deal with different teachers from the off. Not ideal but didn't have any long lasting effect on him. Job share was Mon-Tues and Wed-Thur-Fri. Meant starting school on a Thursday with one teacher for two days and then a completely different teacher after the weekend. Gave ds the impression of starting school twice!

Serendippy · 15/09/2010 10:07

I agree with pink, that the course should not have been scheduled for the first few weeks of term. However, as it was, it may have been very important for the teacher to attend, especially if it was not going to be repeated at any other time in the year.

A little PFB, but understandable. He will recover

brassband · 15/09/2010 10:12

What if she was off sick? These things happen-lighten up

mazzystartled · 15/09/2010 10:13

Oh goodness, have a little trust and a little respect. The school will have only scheduled this now for good and necessary reason.

Yes they could have given forewarning. Perhaps it would have helped, maybe not.

Ohtobe, sorry your ds is having a tough time settling/separating. FWIW I'd let him cry if he wants to cry. Has he been able to tell you why he doesn't want to go? Is he fine once you've left?

cory · 15/09/2010 10:16

Two possibilities I can see:

this training course (as in Fel1x's scenario) was one that needed to take place at this particular point in time to accommodate a new situation

this was the only date the school could get for this particular course as this was when it was running/all the other places were booked up

givemesomecandy · 15/09/2010 10:16

YANBU

My friend's daughter started school (reception) last week and on her very first day they had a supply teacher as the teacher had gone on a course- I think it's completely insane tbh! If it was my child i too would not be happy. Being off sick is completely different to a planned day off imo.

Littlefish · 15/09/2010 10:17

YABU. I agree with mazzystartled that you need to trust the school on this one.

I have just been sent details of some important Early Years Foundation Stage courses (aimed at Reception teachers) which take place next week and the week after.

I need to go on these courses in order to keep up to date as I'm in Reception for the first time in ages.

I would rather not be leaving my class this early on, but I need to go on the courses.

washngo · 15/09/2010 10:18

Is the teacher an nqt? If so she will need the training cours early in the year to prepare her for the year ahead. Even if not an nqt, the course is no doubt going to benefit the class in the long run. When I was off sick with hyperemesis the stress and misery were added to by complaints from parents demanding to know why I was off. In the end I was pressured into announcing my pregnancy before my twelve week scan. So I'm a bit sensitive on this subject.

LindyHemming · 15/09/2010 10:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

OhToBeAYummyMummy · 15/09/2010 10:25

Thanks everyone for your replies.

After a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit I agree that sometimes these things happen and it must have been necessary. I just wish that they had let us know beforehand as, in my experience with DS, he does respond well to explanation and prior preparation.

I'm sure when I go to collect him he'll be full of the joys and I'll have been worrying needlessly.

Mazzystartled, he only tells me that he likes being with me best. His teacher re-assured me that he was right as rain after a few minutes last week.

OP posts:

ChippingIn · 15/09/2010 10:26

Ohtobe - it's horrible having to leave them upset :(

My friends little one just started this week - they got a letter home about the teachers and their legal non contact hours & their job share arrangements as well. There are four teachers and three TA's over the 2 reception classes, doing a confusing arrangement of days/hours, I could barely work out when each one was going to be there, let alone explain it to a child, but I suppose at least we/they don't expect to have the same teacher or TA every day!

As others have said, there are reasons for doing the courses when they do them, it's just a shame they can't be done before the kids start. Maybe start the year with one or two 'Inset Days'?

ChippingIn · 15/09/2010 10:29

Oh and also, I wouldn't bribe him not to cry - I would let him cry if he's upset and work on ways for him to be less upset. I think the best thing is to start asking the other kids to come & play after school so he makes some friends he wants to go and see, or take things in for 'show & tell' (if his class does that). Bribing him not to cry only teaches him that his emotions are to be ignored - we don't need more men like that! x

mangoandlime · 15/09/2010 10:33

I don't actually think you're BU, at all.

backwardpossom · 15/09/2010 10:33

In some ways, it might be good for him to see a different face - get him used to the fact that he'll meet many different teachers/specialists etc in his first year (and subsequent years) at school.

Original poster

OhToBeAYummyMummy · 15/09/2010 10:34

I'm so pleased I posted as I hadn't even considered that bribing him not to cry is of course teaching him to ignore his emotions...doh! Thank you Mazzystartled and ChippingIn.

OP posts:

scaryteacher · 15/09/2010 10:39

They do do inset days before the kids come back - normally the two days before. However, if a course is only available then, and the teacher needs the CPD for a specific pupil in the class, then she has to go.

Course are not always run internally like inset days, and may be at the other end of the country - some courses I went on were a helluva long way from Cornwall - and are only held once or twice a year. There is never an ideal time to do a course, but if you want professional teachers, you have to get over it.

ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave · 15/09/2010 10:41

Um. Well, I don't think that intrinsically a Reception teacher being on a course in the third week of school is at all unreasonable. But if the school is insisting on a very slow induction process so that the course is scheduled for the first week that the class is all together then it becomes unreasonable.

From talking to parents of children who have tried all sorts of different induction processes, my personal opinion is that it's easier on all the children just to start them in with full days from the beginning, or after a couple of half days at most. The children seem to settle much more quickly that way. And if they'd done that then a change of teacher for a few days would be much easier for the children to take in their stride.

mangoandlime · 15/09/2010 10:46

I really feel it's crucial to have the same teacher for the first few weeks in Reception, (sickness excepted, of course).

The children settling in in those first few weeks ideally should be assisted by the same teacher. Obviously we all want professional teachers but something is wrong if courses are held in those first few weeks. I have no issue with courses at any other times, though.

Children are far, far more resilient than we give them credit for, I just think R shouod be a constant for at least three weeks. It can't be that hard.

roadkillbunny · 15/09/2010 11:54

It is not ideal I will give you that but as others have said sometimes there is just no other option.
The reception teacher at our school is a very experienced very well qualified teacher who I feel dd was lucky to have last year however the downside was that she was in demand to train other teachers, every Friday she was off running courses and supporting other teachers so dd and her class were taught by the headteacher and there where many other times through the year she was off fulfilling other commitments however the children always knew when she was going to be away (baring illness of course).
now dd is in Y1 she has her teacher for all but Monday afternoons but to be honest I am not seeing any difference in how settled the class is, I think the only thing to be slightly annoyed with is the lack of notice to the children that there would be a new face tomorrow (however they may have gaged that telling them the day before may have unsettled more of them with worry about who the new person might be, they have to go with the majority when making these decisions).

OrmRenewed · 15/09/2010 11:56

Dh took a day off to move into our new house in the second week with his new class. He was very sorry and all that but it couldn't be helped.

pinkbasket · 15/09/2010 11:57

YANBU and I wouldn't take his treat off him as it isn't his fault the teacher wasn't there.

Clumsymum · 15/09/2010 12:05

It seems that it was inevitable, as so many people have said, but I do agree with you that shoving supply teachers into classes is disruptive for children, and not just for the little ones.

I'm a school governor, and was utterly livid when we were setting budgets last term, as a couple of teachers were requesting provision to be made to bring in supply teachers to cover for them for 3 days each (6 days in total), so they could plan for a science week project.
Money is tight for this year anyway, but I was trying to explain that I felt it was disruptive to the children to use supply teachers in this way. I thought this sort of thing was why teachers now got PPA time?

OP, I don't suppose the situation at your son's school can be avoided, unless teachers accept that such courses should be carried out during the weeks when they don't have children in the classroom. Which will never happen.

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