To already roll eyes at the whingy school threads..

[Ditsyprint40]

Working in a school, and being totally inundated with both serious and trivial things..

I just dropped off my 5 yrSr old and was looking st the teacher hoping that he didn't feel the same as some of the teachers in this thread

Birds - Really??

That's beside the Girls that were killed every year, because the school was on the most dangerous in Liverpool and they insisted on late detentions, over Winter. It took around ten girls to die, before it was changed.

That's awful.

Parents should label things .Also never send into nursery or school what you aren't willing to lose - with 30 odd kids you can't be behind all of them all of the time to make sure nothing is lost. With emergency contacts, the whole point is that it is an emergency. If you can't get there quickly, find someone who can. Ok for lack of family but surely there's a friend/neighbour with a bit of neighbourly feeling. While things can definitely be a struggle for some families who need some support - dirty uniforms/smelly children - I'm relatively sure those parents who are struggling to the extent they need help are the minority in most schools

I just dropped off my 5 yrSr old and was looking st the teacher hoping that he didn't feel the same as some of the teachers in this thread.

I don't know, Ledkr, I don't think any teachers have been unfair or rude on here about sensible, non-entitled parents.

The thread has been an eye opener. Sometimes we forget that the teacher has to teach 30 kids all day, not just ours!

I quite like the back to school MN bingo though. Wouldn't want to be a teacher at the receiving end of any of these though.

Lost item and mum demanding school replaces it? Tick.
Uniform too expensive? Tick.
Moaning about DM article about kids who broke the uniform rule? Tick.
Reading level lower than expected? Tick.
Kid in one class, bff in another? I think that's still missing this year.

"Too right I'd kick off if my child was being used like this. It's your job to stamp out crap behaviour, not hers."

And this attitude sums up why teachers sometimes get pissed off. "Challenging" DCs have a right to an education and they have to sit somewhere. Sometimes it will be your DC they sit by. Or should we just not let them into school at all?

Emergency numbers - no use if the ill DC can't be collected within an hour of calling.

I can usually get to my DC within a hour. However, this can only happen if:

(a) the school calls the number I have designated as my emergency contact number. I have given you my office number for a reason. I have also written in capital letters on every fucking information sheet I have been asked to fill in that I do not have mobile reception at work. So if you insist on only calling my mobile then you are not going to be able to get hold of me.

(b) if you call and my secretary answers (my phone automatically re-directs if I'm away from my desk), then you have a much better chance of getting hold of me if you actually use my name. That's the one I've put down on the emergency contact form. Yes - I have a different surname to the DC. This is surely not unusual. If you ask for Mrs HisName, then don't be surprised that nobody knows who this is. I have only ever used one name for my entire life - I expect you to ask for me by this name.

(c) If I have notified you that I am travelling on business and this has been confirmed by the sick DC then FFS phone DH. I cannot have my phone on during hearings, so leaving a voicemail message on my mobile (which isn't designated as my emergency contact number anyway) and expecting me to pass the message along is inevitably going to result in a delay.

With emergency contacts, the whole point is that it is an emergency. If you can't get there quickly, find someone who can. Ok for lack of family but surely there's a friend/neighbour with a bit of neighbourly feeling.

If it's an emergency I will get a taxi to whichever hospital he is being sent to. I would not have a neighbour going to the hospital with my child - however friendly they may be! If he's not going to hospital - well then it's not an emergency is it.

I actually think some teachers have been unfair, the point about working more than an hour from school is unreasonable and shows that some people are out of touch with what the job market is like for many people.

As a parent I completely support the school & their rules but I hope that some of you aren't my children's teachers.
I get that some parents are precious & overbearing but really some of the attitudes towards their professional on this thread shock me.

And getting back to supporting the school, it's a bit difficult to have complete faith when they use & admit to using your child to help integrate other children which isn't the child's responsibility or how about when your child is left standing outside on her own for 45 minutes at 6yrs old before any of the staff realise & call me that she hadn't been collected by the after school club.

There are a few other points I can make but what I'm trying to say is yes, parents should support the school & teachers but the teachers & schools also need to support the parents & realise that as parents we are placing complete trust in them with our children.
We make mistakes & may not come across well at the best of times but neither do you always.

But I do find teachers very quick to demand rights when it comes to having to work late or deal with aggressive people/stressful hours, all of which are factors in many other jobs.

True, but those things are not part of teaching as a profession. Teachers should not have to spend late evenings and weekends and holiday time doing additional work. They should not be bearing the brunt of a parents bad day/mood.

So yes, we are quick to demand rights because we are finding ourselves doing an increasing amount of stuff that doesn't contribute in any way to the job we are there to do, which is teach.

But I do find teachers very quick to demand rights when it comes to having to work late or deal with aggressive people/stressful hours, all of which are factors in many other jobs.

True, but those things are not part of teaching as a profession. Teachers should not have to spend late evenings and weekends and holiday time doing additional work. They should not be bearing the brunt of a parents bad day/mood.

So yes, we are quick to demand rights because we are finding ourselves doing an increasing amount of stuff that doesn't contribute in any way to the job we are there to do, which is teach.

Also £30k a year is for most a salary you only get after a fair few years working up the pay scale or being given a more senior role. My OH is in a leadership role at secondary and only earns £33k in an outer London borough. Elsewhere in the country is much less, but I don't have much experience of that.

It's not a teacher's job to 'stamp out crap behaviour.' It's a teacher's job to manage the behaviour in the classroom, so that there is a learning environment that works.

It's interesting to note the juxtaposition between this thread and those bemoaning the state of their houses at the end of the holiday, desperate for the children to be back at school, challenging uniform rules, etc etc.

I think that it's not unreasonable to have an emergency contact who can get to the school quickly, unless there are totally unforeseen circumstances. I think an hour is probably OK, but I've seen really unwell children suffering for several hours because no one is available to collect them. Then the school has to make a judgement about the severity of the illness.

And feesh you may have been paid to deal with obnoxious people as part of your HR role. Teachers are paid to teach children, to plan lessons, to provide data, to review and evaluate their teaching and the progress of their pupils, A young teacher will not be earning £30k. They will also be taking work home, planning lessons, entering data, working early mornings and late nights. I've been screamed at, physically attacked, verbally abused and I wasn't paid to have to deal with that.

And what's with teachers giving a "class" punishment and telling the kids they have to monitor each others behaviour.

And don't get me started on teachers who think withdrawal of PE is an appropriate punishment.

I appreciate your view midnite and it might be a different set up at yours/ our school - 3 classes of mixed ages because we're a small village primary. Dd1 hadn't had any reading assessments done in 6 months by the time I raised the query (I didn't know they tested, the TA checked and showed me the record for dd1). So imo at that point, that teacher was failing my daughter by focusing on the younger children in the class where a bigger change could be demonstrated.

Too right I'd kick off if my child was being used like this. It's your job to stamp out crap behaviour, not hers

I sympathise with your daughter - but shouldn't the behaviour of the other child be also managed by the parent, not just the teacher?

Having said that, with a particularly ... challenging class, in four separate morning briefings it was announced that the parents of 6 particularly challenging children had requested that they should be seated at the front on their own - nice - if you happen to teach in the Albert Hall.

They all had to sit somewhere - and everywhere I sat them, someone complained. The HOURS it took to rejig seating plans - and every single time there was SOMETHING wrong. I was tearing my hair out by the end.

Am I the only parent who thinks children can learn a lot from being involved in helping others settle into school? My children were very "school shaped" -to coin a phrase- and were often asked to do this. I was pleased- school isn't just about academic stuff.

it won't be half as interesting and no one will pipe up about SN and MN HQ won't delete it.

kaitlin I appreciate it's difficult but the other child isn't my concern. My child is and if she was being disrupted or made to feel anxious by being sat next to a naughty kid then I'd be pissed off. It's like punishing her for being good. I was a naughty kid at school. I either was sat by myself until I behaved or sent outside.

I'm going to sound like a bit of a cow here, but DS1 is 10 and is one of those DCs who forgets things often. I've labelled everything, offer regular reminders and still he comes home minus a lunch box every few days. Last term he bought home a letter offering a school trip on a first-come-first-served basis. I replied, put the reply into his bag and said as he left the house the following morning "you must hand in the slip or you won't have a chance". He didn't hand it in. Not til three days later.

Now, DS1 also has ASD. He's very bright and generally doesn't struggle a great deal but instructions are a challenge. School found the reply slip, phoned me and offered me a place on the trip saying they understood why he'd delayed. And this is where I become evil; I said no. If there had been places available, I'd have said yes, but they'd have bumped another child to make space for DS1. And I felt that he needed to know that because he hadn't handed it in, he'd missed an opportunity. He was upset to have missed out, but we talked about why he'd not gone, and how we could have done things differently. Since this incident his self-care skills have improved; he brings letters home immediately and returns them straight to school. It might be a shitty lesson to learn, but schools aren't responsible for pandering to my DCs.

I agree Bertrand, my dd is helping year 5s settle in at her school this week, she is yr 6. She loves it and it is a great way to distract her from her own nerves. Most schools encouraged mentoring and modelling good behaviour in their pupils.

"If he's not going to hospital - well then it's not an emergency is it."

So who do you suggest looks after the ill child?

In the past one HT had enough of one particular set of parents who constantly sent their DCs into school while ill and refused to collect them when contacted. He considered it a safeguarding issue and contacted social services to collect the child after the parents refused. It isn't fair on the DCs to be ill in school or on the staff who cannot properly look after them while working.

If children have dress code rules, then so should adults.

NQTs - please dress appropriately for a day teaching 7-8yo kids. No, you are not going clubbing, nor stepping off an episode of TOWIE and a T shirt that tight is going to give them the giggles. Also, don't threaten a million things and then not carry them out (ds noticed this after day 2), especially in a class of fairly challenging but bright boys.

(Note: I have never ever commented on a teacher's clothing before - either to them or to another parent, but this one really took the biscuit!).

So many complaints on here from parents are not about education, they are about welfare issues: messages home,should be email not paper (because my child can't be bothered to give it to me). ringing this number not that number, remembering that I have a different name at work which apparently no-one knows, no back-up arrangements when child is sick, lost property, friendship issues.
Schools are unbelievably busy places and the poster who criticised the office staff for not being efficient needs to try doing secretarial work with half-a dozen children in the office at any time. There is nowhere in school for sick children to go; my last head insisted on them staying in the classroom because they looked 'unsightly' outside the office with a sick bucket.
If you go out to work then it is your responsibility to make arrangements for sick children, not the school's. School is being regarded more and more as a provider of childcare rather than an educational establishment, hence our decline in educational ratings. Schools in Europe do not have half the responsibilities for welfare that British schools do because they are not in loco parentis.