AIBU to think that school should have given my son a different certificate?

[notenoughbottle]

I'm probably being a bit U over this but my son has some minor additional needs, including Dyslexia and tries really hard at school despite a wandering concentration... I was a bit surprised to see this certificate he was sent home with. They have crossed out excellent and written good above the crossed out word. WTF?! Surely it should have just been sent out with the original wording. Even my son commented on it! To be fair school are normally pretty good so no complaint there but I thought this was well, just a bit odd?!

What a dumbass thing to do.

I'd probably do something petty like get them a mug at the end of the year saying "World's Greatest Okayest Teacher.

That does seem unnecessarily mean. I can't think of a single good reason for doing that, would definitely raise it with the school!

That really is so mean. There can't be any excellent good excuse for that really. It could be so damaging to your son's confidence. Definitely have a word, maybe along the lines of 'I'm not sure what has happened here...?' And show them. Then depending on whether you accept their explanation you can decide whether to go further. Leaving it open ended should give them enough rope, and if it's an 'innocent' though entirely shitty explanation you can't be labelled as having 'made a fuss'

"Have a reasonably sufficient two weeks of non-class-facing time" sent by email instead of cards for that school this Christmas with an image attached of said certificate.

I love planning the PA and pointless; never carry it out though.

Really mean and unnecessary

That is mean. Your poor boy.

It looks like a child's writing. Any chance a kid hot their hands on it?

This is incredibly cruel of them and I would be down there tomorrow. Normally I back the school but this is just horribly thoughtless.

It's pathetic.

Unfathomable in an age when printing a certificate is the work of a few seconds. On the other hand, the wails of outrage on this thread are somewhat disproportionate. I'm sure no-one set out to be, in the words of one poster, "cuntish".

That is so so cruel and completely unnecessary! I work in a school and I would back you if you complained about a colleague/staff member of mine doing that. Absolutely appalling. YANBU at all! It doesn’t matter if he has any additional needs or not. No child should ever ever be given such a negative message ‘dressed’ as a positive one.

Please speak to the school about this.

I'm a teacher and agree that's awful. Definitely have a quiet word. On a pettier note, they shouldn't be using red pen anymore either... It's been green for 10 years at my school as red is perceived as too aggressive!

That is astonishing. Who gave the certificates out? I'd see the head if the head presented it, as they should be mortified.

Definitely show this to the head. This is inexcusable.

how nasty! Definitely go to the head!

I've just had a chat with my DS and he says this was handed to him by the class teacher - also he was not the only child to have 'excellent' replaced with 'good'.... He says there were a good handful and more who had their 'excellent' crossed out. If he wasn't the only exception, where do I stand with complaining about it now? I doubt highly whether any other parents will comment on it. Although it is a Estyn rated 'Excellent' good school it is in a Flying Start area, as are many of the areas in our town including my own, and I don't think many of the parents would be that bothered about it.

Very bizarre... Talk about damning him with faint praise. Glad your son did not take this odd behaviour to heart, good on him!

Exactly what Rose said, I'm absoloutely amazed anyone could think that's ok!

If you were the head, wouldn't you want to know?

Shocking. I would complain.

Even if half the class recieved the crossed out certificate, it wouldn't make it okay. It's a complete confidence knocker!

But what is the certificate for exactly?
It seems like a generic 'certificate' measuring testable progress in learning those tables - so if he did his times tables test and got one or 2 wrong his knowledge isn't excellent -it is good.
If he got them all right it would be excellent ...and probably would be moving on to the next band - the cross out bit is to show them they are nearly there...but not quite....
I suspect they get one of these every few weeks - and they all get one ...it isn't for anything special or unique
Don't know if I have explained that well...

That's really awful. I was pissed off at DDs award night (they all get a certificate for something or another), DD has Sen and got an award for "good sitting" she's 14 and was mortified !!

Actually I think you might find that the other parents ARE bothered about it. This is a really shitty thing to do to any kid and I would definitely be showing that awful certificate to the Head. No teacher should be doing something so potentially damaging to the children in their care. It is just horrible.