To think that secondary schools should not make children do desk duty

[ReallyTired]

My son's school gets each child to spend a day on the front desk on reception doing errands. They miss a whole day of lessons to do the job that frankly should be done by paid staff. I feel its wrong that parents get fined for taking their children out of school, but schools are allowed to waste children's time doing cr*p.

Was the only one who read this as 'in reception'? I was trying to work out what they'd get children of four or five to do which should be being done by a paid employee!

I cannot imagine any independent ever doing this.

I did it in secondry school (I think yr 8). I loved it! It was one day, not a big deal.

I agree with coolas, the year 9's do it at ds's school,I think it's fantastic.

"I cannot imagine any independent ever doing this."

There's hundreds of rather larger things I cannot imagine an independent school ever doing, including admitting a comprehensive intake regardless of academic ability, SEN, or their family's ability to pay.

I think a whole day is a tad much.

Our system involves a given KS3 form doing this duty for a week. 30 lessons, so each pair of students does a block of two lessons. This will happen twice over the year.

It's great for all the reasons Coolas has patiently listed, but I'd add that, as a tutor, I rota my pairs rather carefully so that the kids get the experience of working closely with someone they don't normally hang out with.

It's a gentle, safe way of doing work experience, which stands them in good stead when we inflict them on local businesses for a week in year 10.

Occasionally parents have objected. This is absolutely fine (not always with their offspring, who generally hate missing out) - if we run out of pairs by Friday, the privilege of an extra stint is offered to suitably deserving students.

It's expected that they complete homework set from the lessons they miss, & that teaching staff will ensure they are able to do so.

I think if it was done properly it could be useful.
Although I would like to get parents working in the school office for a day. Then maybe they would see why we ask for money to be sent into school in an envelope with the child's name and stating what it's for, why it's difficult for me to get a message to their child as school finishes telling them they need to go home with someone else, why we need to know if there child needs a packed lunch from school the day before a trip etc etc

My job sometimes involves visiting schools to work with children and I hated kids on the desk. For a start what I was doing was confidential and not something I wanted to discuss with students, and an awful lot of them used to just stare at me with that dead eyed look some teenagers have, so it was just a damn sight easier to go and find the office and speak to someone there.

I think it's down to a school's expectations of the pupils and the pupils expectations of themselves. I am pretty sure that pupils in more academic schools would not want to miss lessons for this kind of activity - they would prefer to be taught.

Just btw, in Japan schoolchildren typically have to clean their classroom at the end of the day. This is a proper clean, like scrubbing, and this is every day, not once a term or whenever. So, a bit of light desk duty is hardly a day down the coal mine...

It doesn't happen at our school. I've never seen it in any school I've worked in and it doesn't happen at dd1's school. I don't think I'd like pupils to miss my lessons so they can do 'desk duty'. I have enough issues with helping pupils catch up when they've missed lessons due to illness or educational visits/sports events. I'm sure it would be very popular if it was brought in, mostly because they'd miss proper lessons, I'm not entirely sure what educational value it has, but then I've never seen it happen so I don't know what it looks like in practice.

And I am not talking about state vs independent.

I wouldn't have a problem with it.

I think it sounds good. Lots of useful skills to be learnt. My dc would love it. If its just one day and they can catch up with the days lessons, then I see no issue.

I done this at school and enjoyed it. For us,they would set up a desk and phone near the school entrance and we'd 'work' from there and go into reception, classrooms etc as needed. Everyone loved it,made us feel all grown up too!

It's a bit of work experience. What is wrong with that?

Oh I teach in a locally notorious exam factory, fizzy.

It would not be accurate to suggest that we compromise academic performance by offering students the chance to fiddle with paperclips in the office.

So you can be 'pretty sure' but also a bit wrong, on this occasion.

But again, no child is dragged out of lessons against their parents' wishes.

Excellent posts by Coolas and Minty.

I'd better not let my dds see this thread as they will be very jealous that they don't get the chance to do this although the both were on a rota to cover office duties over lunchbreaks in Junior school.

I genuinely can't see why anyone would get worked up about missing one day of lessons, over the course of 190days x 7 years for any reason, even if it were something rather dull and boring.

Hmmm. No, I don't think I'd be happy at ALL with that. My eldest ahs just started high school, and if I knew he'd been taken out of lessons to man the desks I wouldn't be impressed! Smacks of free labour.
I take on board other points who are saying that it's learning new skills though. At last year of school, MAYBE. At the age of 11, 12, 13 though?
Are you balls. You'll be pratting around on the front desk and seeing it as a massive skive from your lessons!
School is for learning subjects. Not reception work.

eldest has not ahs

You might be pretty sure but you'd be wrong fizzy. Ds's school is very academic.

jellyboats - our front office manager is a FB friend. I've just let her know that you think that an 11yo in her office 'smacks of free labour'.

That sound you can hear is her cackling.

Seriously - you really think that supervising a year 7 kid putting calls through to the appropriate office or doing the photocopying is less bother than doing it yourself?

I'm reliably informed that this, in practice, is not the case!

Thinking about it, I've actually never heard of this. At all. What sort of school pulls schoolchildren out of lessons and onto the desks instead of creating a professional outlook for visitors and having only employed PAID people on the desks?!

Oh ok I stand corrected on that. I assumed any seriously academic school would not adopt this. It probably IS a state/independent thing then in that ase.

Case! Sorry.