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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

School newsletter and spelling

34 replies

Namechangenell · 09/10/2015 18:47

Ok, maybe I'm being pedantic. However, this week's school newsletter advertised an English language evening for parents and students. Rather than writing about how this was part of the school's 'parents in partnership' programme, it came under the heading 'parent's in partnership'... Seriously?! Oh, the irony. I just wish they'd proofread sometimes. Every weekly newsletter seems to contain little gems like this and it does worry me, to be honest. So - AIBU to email the school and ask them to take more care in future?

OP posts:

catfordbetty · 09/10/2015 18:50

Outrageous. That school should be burned to the ground.

Unreasonablebetty · 09/10/2015 18:52

I personally would, but I'm a bit funny about these things!
My DDs after school clubs website is littered with wrongly spelt words and misuse of words. I'd have not let DD start there if I'd have seen the website before enrolling her.
Slightly worse that these newsletters are a representation of the school educating your child and they make mistakes like that!

dontcryitsonlyajoke · 09/10/2015 18:58

This morning we received an email about the School Photo's.

Admittedly it is from the admin staff rather than a teacher, but DH and I haven't quite scraped our jaw off the floor yet.

It's not just state schools though. Local private school has rebranded and changed the name of its nursery. Its recent advert said "Nursery X formally known as Nursery Y." I was thinking of sending DS to that nursery and despite the fact that at 3 he wouldn't need to know the difference between formally and formerly so it's not a huge problem, I would expect the bloody marketing team to know how to proof read...

Original poster

Namechangenell · 09/10/2015 19:04

Sorry for the drip feed - it is a private school... Clearly the fees aren't going on staff who have an adequate grasp of the English language!

OP posts:

celtictoast · 09/10/2015 19:14

Admittedly it is from the admin staff rather than a teacher

I'd like to see more schools employing admin staff who can spell.

Sparklingbrook · 09/10/2015 19:49

I wouldn't email the school.

starlight2007 · 09/10/2015 19:51

yes.. you be that parent !!

cariadlet · 09/10/2015 19:52

This morning we received an email about the School Photo's.

Any chance that the apostrophe is being used to indicate an abbreviation rather than for possession ie "photo's" as a shortened version of "photographs".

Maybe I'm being a bit generous there.

Original poster

Namechangenell · 09/10/2015 19:54

Why is it considered bad to want a higher bar though? To be honest, before I'd been on MN a while, I'd have just emailed. Things I've read on here made me think it might not be the right thing to do though. But why? Surely you'd be extra careful with the wording around an event intended to promote higher standards in English?! Don't know what to do now...

OP posts:

exLtEveDallas · 09/10/2015 20:02

Well I send out at least 8 letters a day as a school administrator, plus invoices and letters to nursery parents and breakfast and after school club parents.

Mine are visually checked and doubled checked, especially as the platform we use doesn't support spellcheck or grammar check. This takes an inordinate amount of time and means that I regularly work over my hours to complete all the daily necessary tasks (without getting paid for them).

Rather than lambast a member of staff for missing a simple error (that does not make the letter unreadable or alter the text of the message) save your ire for the day they make a serious mistake.

An erroneous apostrophe is hardly the end of the world.

MumOfTheMoment · 09/10/2015 20:04

I have had a letter home requesting 100g of self raising flower for cookery club next week

ArkhamOffitt · 09/10/2015 20:08

It's not just an error though, is it? It's someone who is employed by the school who can't use grammar correctly. One can only hope their teacher recruitment is more vigorous.

exLtEveDallas · 09/10/2015 20:15

Can't use grammar correctly, or their platform adds apostrophes where they are not needed (as does my iPad on a regular basis).

I sent a letter out last month that had the word Sepetember in one of the paragraphs. I missed it. So shoot me.

14 parents didn't though, and felt it was their duty to email in. 14 emails I had to reply to and apologise for my mistake - because that didn't add another mini mountain of needless bollocks to my day.

Funnily enough though, 10 of the 14 still managed not to send their child to school with the correct equipment on that day in 'Sepetember' - it seems anyone can make a simple mistake, can't they?

Sparklingbrook · 09/10/2015 20:15

I agree Eve.

ArkhamOffitt · 09/10/2015 20:21

Being the public face of a school via written communication isn't needless bollocks. It shows the school as a whole values what is produced. But if everyone is operating at the level of spelling is not important then I'd be a bit about how they deliver the curriculum and the quality of the teaching.

School Secretary Can't Spell Or Cope With Autocorrect not very inspiring.

Sparklingbrook · 09/10/2015 20:26

I doubt the admin staff or the school secretary are delivering the curriculum or teaching. Just trying their hardest to keep parents informed.

We are talking one erroneous apostrophe here, let's not get carried away.

Narp · 09/10/2015 20:28

I think it's correct to have an apostrophe of omission in photo's

exLtEveDallas · 09/10/2015 20:38

Yeah, suddenly one erroneous apostrophe means that a school "is operating at the level of spelling is not important" (Christ, that's rotten English). Come again?

ArkhamOffitt · 09/10/2015 20:39

I'd want everyone employed by a school to know the basics. If they don't care if the admin staff can spell why would they care if a pupil can? General dumbing down, innit.

ArkhamOffitt · 09/10/2015 20:41

Yes, it was shit sentence construction. Good job it isn't going out to 200 parents

CalleighDoodle · 09/10/2015 20:43

Ive received a letter stating how the school will be teaching the correct use of apostrophe's.

exLtEveDallas · 09/10/2015 20:44

Why would you assume that the school secretary didn't know the basics from one simple mistake? Could she not have missed it in a rush?

Sparklingbrook · 09/10/2015 20:44

No, it's just a stray apostrophe. if it was a whole page of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors I might be a bit more bothered, but I can't get all frothy about an apostrophe to the point I would be emailing the school.

ArkhamOffitt · 09/10/2015 20:46

Noooooooo, Calleigh!

It's a secretary's job not to miss stuff like that.

echt · 09/10/2015 20:50

It's photos, not photo's.

The ' does not indicate omission, it's used to show possession, e.g. the photo's faded colours. More than one would be the photos'.

Don't see a problem with getting in touch with the school about the error, it's public document. I'd want to to know; not hang someone out to dry, but to avoid it in future. It could well be that things were rushed before printing and step in their process was glossed over or left out.

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