to ask why some parents have to speak to the class teacher every morning?

[MarysBeard]

Especially when the general rule is to communicate via the reading book, the office if a routine matter, or if you must, to speak to the teacher at the end of the school day, and if it's something that takes more than five minutes, make an appointment.

I would expect it in reception, but by Year 3 surely parents should know not to be standing around monopolising the teachers' attention in the morning, delaying the children getting into school. Also (apart from in reception) the kids are meant to line up and the parents stand behind some cones after the bell has gone. Yet some parents still hang around the lines of kids after the bell has gone, sometimes getting in the way of the lines of kids getting into school. It's always the same people you see doing both, in spite of repeated reminders in the newsletters. I often feel sorry for the teaching staff in the mornings & wish that some parents would just let them get on with it (as most do!)

It's just very hard sometimes isn't it?

But oh, so worth it when the school provision is right and the staff deal with things before they become problems.

My DD has just started in such a unit. A few days in, I can't think of anything I need to write in the home/school diary and she is leaving each morning with a smile on her face.

I am not missing my chats with the teachers one little bit

No I don't get it either.there is one particular SAHD that monopolises the teacher every morning.i have some important information to be given re prescription medicine to be taken.the one and only time I've needed to speak to a teacher in the AM I have to get off to work and he's spouting on about nothing.GRRRR

because they are mother superiors
because they are dull
bacause they have nothing better to do

Good grief!!!!!

I think I'd better hide this thread

it's same at nursery
the wags monopolise the staff
oblivious to rest who wanna drop and go

I speak to my sons teacher every drop off and pick up. My son has severe special needs, not that you can tell by looking at him so you could easily mean me, and it's vital to pass information across to each other about how he has been, medication times etc.

Be glad you can drop and run!

People will always find reasons to judge. I have just reached a point where I just don't care if others are bothered by what, for us, is a necessary step in DS2's day. If only people only realised that they don't have all the facts and that it's none of their business, life would be so much easier for everyone involved.

I thought about this and could not relate to it. Then realised it is because my dc walk or are dropped off so I am unfamiliar with lining-up-to-talk-to-teacher scenarios. So I'm wondering how you get to see parents lined up if you only ever drop your child? And how would you know whether or not they were there every day?

Never noticed it at my DCs school. Each classroom has it's own outside door, which is open for 10 minutes. KS1 teachers come to their doors to greet the children and it is possible to have a very quick word then, parents are usually sensible enough to wait until the rush of children going in has died down. KS2 teachers stay in their classrooms, you are welcome to pop in for a very quick word within that 10 minute interval.

The main reason people speak to them is to tell them the child will be going home with another family that evening (KS1 only), volunteer helper parents arranging a time to come in and do reading etc, telling them that a child will be leaving for a medical appointment etc. We are encouraged to communicate directly with the teachers, not via the office, however the 10 minute window is strictly adhered to, after that the doors are shut and all communication (including arrival of late children) is via the office. The HT circulates in the playground in the morning and can chat, but no other staff come out, we are responsible for our own children till the doors open and they have gone in. I have never noticed pushy parents monopolising the teacher.

Runs off thread screaming with Goldmandra after reading scottishmummys post!

For my sixpenceworth, I had a very challenging child with Asperger's at school and was in daily contact with the teacher through email, or she'd talk to the relative collecting him, or send me a note.
I have the same sort of detailed communication with any parent of a child with additional needs in my class.
There are still a number of mothers of precious poppets who want to talk to teachers every morning about a number of insignificant things, or things that their child could have told me instead. I am also available through email.
I am a gold medalist in avoidance and triage procedures for morning conversations.

My DD has had ongoing constipation (which results in faeces being passed around the blockage without her knowledge) and wee issues which needed discussion with the teacher given how awful sitting in wet and soiled clothes is for not only my DD but the class as a whole so that is why I have had a fair bit of contact.

After school -fine. Before school- to be avoided except for emergencies when Email won't do.

Also, in my school, you are MEANT to catch the teachers in the morning - all classrooms open their doors 10-15 mins early, for 'Early Bird', and the teachers are available then to talk to. After school you'd have more hope of finding a needle in a haystack than a teacher to talk to, most of them are either running an after-school club, off picking their own DC's up, or in staff meetings or doing prep work or marking. They growl at you if you try to catch them after school! And there's no email either.

I'm not commenting on legit medical etc dialogue
its the inane blether
the urgency to impart hee haw on a daily basis whilst being a suckass

How is it inane blether if you are talking about SN's, about bullying issues, about lost PE kit when they have PE that day, about a poor night's sleep that may affect their concentration, about your DS needing to go to the office to take his steroids and can he please be reminded as he can't tell the time yet, reminding the new class teacher to warn me a week in advance when they will be doing cookery so that I can provide GF alternatives for DS1, asking them to avoid cross contamination with DS1 and food, telling the class teacher that due to SS involvement, my DS1's dad isn't to pick him up from school for the foreseeable future - a change from what has been the status quo for the last 6 years of his time at the school?

These are all things I have had call to talk to the teachers about. If I grace the playground with my presence it means I have something I NEED to tell the teacher.

And our school encourages parents to come in in the mornings to talk to the teachers.

WhoKnowsWhere - thank goodness! I was beginning to think my boys' schools were the only ones with any sense! Finally, another school who lets the children in when they arrive instead of making them wait outside with the nonsense this seem to bring!

We don't have teachers on doors but the TA on the 3 work area doors (3 classes to a work area) so slightly different. However, there isn't much queuing at the office, nobody hanging around in the classroom (because no parents break the barriers unless absolutely necessary) and no hanging around outside in the rain. The teachers are there to greet every child as they go in the room without somebody else's parent flapping around. If a child has SEN/behavioural problems that require a regular update, you either tell the TA on the door, or in some circumstances, take the child to the reception area door for them to be met by another TA or the DHT.

We don't have parents hanging around either.

Grabbing class teacher first thing no longer permitted in my youngest dc school. View is that teaching time starts when the bell goes, the TAs tackle anyone vying for a word with the teacher and direct them swiftly to the office where concerns can be passed on.
If 3 parents all wanted a quick work, the class would be on their own for 10 mins, maybe more. Recipe for chaos.

CouthyMowWearingOrange
about half the class will gave had a poor nights sleep
Should we all queue up to say that every morning?!

The irony for me is that the reason I need to be fucking quick if I have to tell the teacher something is because I have to leave my son who has SN inorder to get DD to school. It is incredibly stressful and i run like hell so he is alone for the shortest period of time possible.
Being caught behind the woman who complains every morning about her dds book not being hard enough or her piano lesson being too short because she wasn't let out of her class promptly enough is pretty annoying.

Fwiw She is lovely other that her immense pushiness, which she sees as a virtue and i kind of admire.
It must require a huge amount of energy but she sees it as part of doing her best for her dc. As long as I don't need to speak to the teacher I just see it as one of those things.
Make of that what you will.

In my experience, it's not the parents who have children with additional/special needs/having an ongoing crisis who do this, they tend to have fairly well set up communication strategies, in books, in meetings, or in after-school sessions, as well as chatting to th TA responsible for their child.

We have one mum who does this, arrives just as the bell goes in a tizzy, then monopolises the teacher for at least five minutes about very minor things (I have heard them numerous times). She herself is a teacher, so you would think she would know how irritating it is, but she likes to have teacherly loud conversations about her daughter's reading/being stretched/extra-curricular activities every morning. Utterly inconsiderate, especially as her daughter appear to all intents and purposes like a normal child with little to discuss.

And- surely if there was something to discuss, you would make an appointment? When my daughter was bullied and I wanted to speak with the class teacher than morning, we went in 30 minutes early for an urgent sit-down meeting! I didn't try to tackle a difficult problem with the teacher trying to lead the children in and settle them for the day. Medications/instructions/extra info I would write in a note and get my child to hand it in, much better than verbally reminding the teacher when they are ultra-busy.