To think DDs 2 English teacher should not have said " a C Grade at Gcse is only worth putting in the bin" .

[motown3000]

DD2 13 ,Yr8 at Grammar School. Her friend started talking to DD about her elder brother and that he is expecting C grades for most of his Gcses. DDs English teacher overhears them, and in front of the class says "A C grade is only worth putting in the bin" and you are both in lunch time Detention. ( They Both should have reading and doing a comprehension based on the reading).

The teacher is Old School, and was my Niece's favourite teacher, all her yr11s last year got A* Grades at Gcse. My niece got an A at A level with her she is a brilliant teacher however is very strict, ( she needs to adapt a little bit "Chill" , no one is allowed to take off their blazers E.T.C in her class. ( My niece says DD is very lucky to have her, and will grow to enjoy her classes) . However, though I think she should not have demeaned DDs friends brother who tries very hard. I agree they both deserved Detention for talking, just not the rudeness to DDs friends brother.

They both should have been reading.

oh there are lots of things that teachers should not say but what can you do? she is obviously a really good teacher if all her class got A*

IMO those types of teachers are rare and like gold. She seems to be a very good teacher and yes they should follow her rules, it's obviously working.

she is obviously a really good teacher if all her class got A

Very easy to be a really good teacher if you have a bunch of highly motivated kids in a grammar school.

The comment on its own is terrible (are you sure it's not been misquoted or taken out of context?), I'll be delighted if my son gets a few Cs (Y11).

Other than that, the teacher does not need to 'chill' and I wish there were teachers in this vein.

easy to be a poor teacher in any kind of school though isn't it?

If you don't want her send her to our school, she will fit right in.

The comment is not right, a C could be a child's absolute best. Yes it is easy to say when you have a class of highly academic Grammar school pupils. Would she get the same great results in a tough inner city school, where academia jay not take priority or tge children do not have the academic ability!

In this area, anything from a B down is greeted with Oh dear, never mind.

The teacher works in a grammar school so would expect that type of comment.

Well, a C is the accepted standard in terms of employers wanting C and above. However, objectively speaking, the standards required to achieve this are pitifully low. I don't think the teacher was right to make her views known as she did, but she does have a point.

Load of bollocks.

A kid could have no interest in English but a lot of further/higher education courses and jobs will insist on a minimum of C for maths and English gcse. So a C grade will keep plenty of doors open for them while they persue other subjects or careers.

By the time you're applying for jobs I don't think anyone really cares what grades you got at gcse as long as you passed.

I will follow what my mum always told me "so long as you do your best even if you fail I will never be disappointed in you" and I apply the same to everyone.

Exactly Ourmiracle that's what I feel.

I can see what she is up to, creating the perception that a C is like failing so all her students push themselves to do better, because she knows they are high ability and able to. Obviously it has worked in the past, as it should with the specific groups of kids she works with.

However, I have known some kids with mild learning difficulties work really, really hard to get C grades, so she shouldn't have made the comment about a child whose circumstances she wasn't aware of, it could have been really offensive. If I were the girls mum and that was the case I would have probably sent a grumbly email to someone in charge. I would totally support the detention for wrong doing, but needlessly insulting one of her family members is crossing a line.

My Niece tells me , tells me she starts off "Drilling" years 8, 9 in her way's of doing things. She does not even warn Girls , she just puts them in to Detention without a warning, "First Detention is lunchtime 30 minutes the second and thereafter is after school 1 hr". When they start yr 9 , she marks the work as if it was Gcse and a D grade is Detention. she expects yr 9 girls to be up to C grade Gcse standard yr10 B grade standard E.T.C.

C Grade at a Grammar school is poor. It's bottom set. In other schools it would be a fantastic achievement.

well my daughter has learning difficulties and goes to a bog standard school, and when she was predicted a C for english i was delighted.

I'm guessing the friends brother isn't at the grammar school?

I think the teacher has forgotten/has no idea what a normal comprehensive school is like. At dd's school only 41% of kids got 5 gcses inc maths and English at grade a-c last year.

Motown, the more you tell us, the more I love her.

She doesn't need to warn them, her MO will be the stuff of legend and passed down from year to year.

I take it that the friend's brother is not actually at the grammar? As a grammar school pupil would probably have been asked to leave if their estimated grades were all C's. She was a bit thoughtless since she doesn't know the circumstances of the brother, I assume. As others have said he could have SEN or other problems and be thrilled with C's. But rude? Not sure that it's rude. The friend may be a bit hurt on her brother's behalf but he doesn't have to know about it if she doesn't tell him.

Relatively speaking her comment doesn't sound untrue at all.

She also sounds like a maths teacher I had many moons ago, we were in fearful awe of her and I've never worked so hard in my life.

Steel blue eyes and slate grey hair. Perfect lady in fact, although at the time she was my arch nemesis.

I still remember her very fondly even though she had a scathing tongue if any of us were out of line. Her comments were never just for effect, harsh, fair and justifiable.

I turned out alright, I believe.

My dd who was predicted A's and A*'s had a breakdown and missed her maths exam because she was in hospital after a suicide attempt. When she got her C grade in the resit I was bursting with pride. And that C grade so far from only being bin-worthy enabled her to get into sixth form college where she is currently predicted A's and B's. Which is enough for RG university entry.

Working in a grammar school is no excuse for stupidity in my book.

Am also assuming that the teacher doesn't want the younger (more able, if at grammar) pupils thinking that a C grade is acceptable for THEM. They are at grammar, it's totally different and C grades are unacceptable. A's are what they are aiming for and I think she just wanted to reinforce that.

I say this as a mother of a DS who got A*s in both Eng Lit and Eng Lang GCSE and got a high A at A level in English, and DS2 got As at GCSE, I would absolutely hate her to teach my children.

Saying a C is worth chucking in the bin and punishing children for getting a D is awful in my eyes. She isn't teaching them, she is scaring them out of 'failing'. Nasty woman.