To already roll eyes at the whingy school threads..

[Ditsyprint40]

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

Well I certainly don't recognise any of the teachers or my DCs school on here, it's a great school and the staff all do a great job.

I do the parents though. We have the loud rough as rats types that are the first to complain because their child can't write their own name at the end of reception but are the only parents who do fuck all with their child out of school despite being repeatedly asked to because it's "not my job", to the parents that are always moaning about something in the playground, to the heart sinks when they approach types because they want a detailed itinerary every sodding day of their special snowflake and said snowflake has to wear shoes that aren't black for whatever shit reason has been made up.

I wouldn't do a teachers job for anything, they have my utmost respect and I haven't met one that isn't doing their best. If I'd had a problem, they have tried their best to help and sort it out, my DCs arrive on time, in the correct uniform (it isn't rocket science), off if they are ill, homework done, everything labelled, if it's lost it certainly isn't the teachers fault although I may ask if they have seen it and offered to look myself.

It really isn't that hard to have a good rapport with your child's school and I eye roll at some stuff I read too.

See, I'm confused at the lost jumper thing. My DS lost his in year 1, it had his name in, he looked for it, I looked in lost property and it wasn't there so I spoke to the teacher in case it was in the classroom shoved under something.

She checked the jumpers in the classroom that next day (that were being worn) and another child had it on! It was a much smaller child so was pretty obvious he had the wrong one when he went home plus the name label was at the top and red so hard to miss. If the teacher hadn't looked we would never have known, that family would have kept it and I would have been £15 down. The teacher was fine with me asking about the jumper otherwise she wouldn't have gone to the effort of checking the others the next day.

I was in the US a couple of weeks ago, and in Walmart (I really live the life) there was a board with all the local schools on and printed lists of their requirements, which ranged from pencils etc to anti-bacterial wipes! On the radio there were school supply drives for disadvantaged pupils.

Now, it made me think a) good idea and b) how much whingeing there would be - not least on MumsNet - about having to buy all this stuff and being dictated to about number of coloured pencils.

I don't really get the problem with sitting with different children at different times, surely no teacher would put the same 'good' child next to the challenging child every single time! I don't believe that for a second. My dss are considered good and quiet and I have never heard them moan about being disturbed by others. They have each a few disruptive children in their classes but they are well liked and friends so not a problem what so ever.

I am a parent and never been into volunteer or TA'd or taught but I can definitely see it from both sides anyway, I can see which parents are the annoying ones, it's so obvious. Surely all jobs/professions have their annoyances and needs to be moaned about no and again! I like this thread

I'm a nurse. I would never contribute to a thread complaining about patients' relatives. Because it would cause upset, anger and worry for the majority of those who read it.

This is incredibly unprofessional.

Most of us are concerned for the DCs in our care. Why shouldn't the reasonable parents in MNland see what it can be like on the front line?

It's heartbreaking to see a DC sobbing over a bucket, feeling dreadful and just wanting to go home.

"Difficult" DCs have as much right to an education as any other and sometimes one will sit next to your DC. That's the way it is unless you expect us to put them in a cupboard away from all the others. We care as much about them as all the others.

ducky exactly.

Also don't really get why (mostly) teachers sit around moaning about a job that not only did they choose to do, but are paid to do. If it's so shit, do something else!

Ducky I was a nurse for 25 years, there is no way Nurses would be on the Internet slagging off their patients and their relatives. In fact NHS staff have strict guidelines about how to behave on the Internet, they know they face disciplinary or even be sacked / struck off for bringing the profession into disrepute.
I wonder if teachers are given any guidelines on how to conduct themselves?

Think you could have posted about the problems you come across without being sarcastic and scathing.
The majority of parents are doing their best and entrust their kids into school for a large part of their lives and reading this just creates a "them and us"feeling which isn't helpful.

I wonder if teachers are given any guidelines on how to conduct themselves

Of course they are.

But I bet that if you were to go on a nurse's forum (or any other forum for any public sector body), you'd find people anonymously off loading - and I am sure they would not make it identifiable.

I do know teachers and TAs who have openly discussed issues on FB - and have paid the consequences.

I agree missy I'm a SW and dh a copper. We could fill the whole of mums net with our difficult client stories

Perhaps, if parents were less eager to send sick children in to school, dosed up with Calpol, they would be less likely to need calling out to pick up those children once the medication has worn off.

Keep them at home if they're ill! And definitely don't be so irresponsible and selfish as to send in a child who has been sick

Wow I hope some of the teachers on this thread are not teaching my DC!! I have full respect for most teachers and my dcs have had brilliant and approachable teachers, I'm sure it is a really tough job but some of the teachers comments are downright unkind. I'm a nurse and could you imagine if I spoke about my patients like this there would be an outcry and rightly so.

Most parents want to support teachers and don't endlessly moan to them or about them, I apreciate teachers are really busy and only speak to them if I'm really concerned, I would hate to think my DC were being cared for by some of the teachers on this thread, I'm really shocked to hear some of the teachers attitudes this dies not help the profession. Yes profession!!

Have seen on another social media site a parent complaining that their DC has lost some school outdoor activity clothing.
Uniform rules specify all clothing should be labelled. Towards the end of term a newsletter was sent advising that the lost property box was burgeoning and that it would be on display for a week to allow parents/carers to retrieve items. It stated that any items would be donated to charity at the close of school term.
This was followed up by email/text and posted on school website.

Moaning parent works f/t. Childcare is shared between au pair/nanny and gp's. Gps washed all school clothes and parent in question picked up from them on first day of term. Outdoor activity clothes washed do not belong to her DC. Parent is unhappy because
a) school lost property has not been kept
b) parent works f/t so has not had time to check lost property.
c) school suggested child ought to take some responsibility for checking they had their own clothes (child in yr1)

So even though there is a clearly-stated policy, and three lots of people that COULD have checked the clothing, it is the school's fault. Apparently 'an official complaint' is going to be made to the Head.

I would hate to think my DC were being cared for by some of the teachers on this thread, I'm really shocked to hear some of the teachers attitudes this dies not help the profession

What attitudes in particular stick out as an issue for you?

Re: picking up sick children from school - I honestly believe that most parents do their best here. If you work, particularly if you work more than an hour's drive from your child's school, it may not be possible for you to get there in under an hour if they are sick. Yes, you can put alternative arrangements in place, but even these can fall through from time to time.

Of course it is entirely unacceptable if a parent cannot be bothered to pick up their sick child, or if they send them into school knowing they are ill - but aren't these sorts of parents in the minority?

Re: expensive items in school - yes, it's best if the child doesn't take expensive stuff into school - but when the stuff is mandated by the school (like the £30 book bag mentioned on another thread), the parents don't have any choice in the matter. Ds1's senior school had eyewateringly expensive sports kit, and insisted on a uniform kit bag too - and the boys were not allowed to take their kit bags into class or the library or the dining hall with them (for very good reasons - space, safety etc), but this meant that the bags were piled up on shelves provided round the school, and people were forever picking up the wrong bag. And it made it very easy indeed for the school 'jokers' to carry out a popular prank, involving taking someone's PE kit bag, and hiding the items all over the school!

I didn't expect the school to replace ds1's PE kit when it went missing the first time - even though it went missing because he was obeying school rules - but the second time it went missing, I did go to the school and complain, because replacing over £100 worth of PE kit over and over again was not something I wanted to have to do! I wanted the school to know it was a problem (so they could try to crack down on the 'jokers'), and surely most people would be a bit pissed off at having to replace expensive kit not once but twice!

I do think that schools need to look at uniform requirements. When we lived in England, ds1 and ds2 went to schools with very strict uniform requirements - expensive blazers, specific PE kit (rugby shirt and shorts, specific rugby socks, indoor PE kit, two pairs of trainers - indoors and outdoors, and rugby boots, plus logoed kit bag and valuables bag), etc - and we complied with that. When we moved to Scotland, the uniform was much less strict - black trousers, white shirt, school tie, and either black v-necked jumper, sweatshirt, cardigan or zippered sweatshirt - no hoodies, and you must be able to see the knot of the tie, and PE kit was t-shirt and shorts - only rule was no football colours. It was so much easier to buy - and far less stressful too. Ds1's school blazer, at his old school, was dry-clean only, so it was a nightmare if it got dirty - at his new school, I bought a couple of cheap black sweatshirts, and threw them through the wash when necessary.

And whilst I appreciate why schools insist on strict uniforms, I have to say that, in my experience, the standard of education and behaviour at both schools was pretty similar - the only difference was that one looked like a private school, and the other didn't. I don't think the image had any real bearing on the quality of either school.

This is sad. I remember being a quiet kid at school and felt the absolute venom that came off the teachers. We all knew the teachers didn't really like us. Nothing we ever did was good enough.

If you're overworked and burnt out, leave the profession. This thread is so unprofessional. I know attitudes like this are normalised within the teaching profession, but it's a toxic culture and should be challenged.

I would not support a thread full of doctors saying similar stuff about patients. It reduces confidence in the profession. Plenty of people have difficult jobs, it doesn't make it OK to whinge en masse and encourage hostility.

When DD started school I didn't know any of the other parents. Everyone else I know works, so my emergency contact was someone who works. As this is London, it certainly can take an hour to get to the school.

There
Is
Fuck
All
I
Can
Do
About
That

I'm
Not
Doing
It
To
Piss
You
Off

And yes, the communication in our school is awful, and it's known to be awful (mentioned on at least 2 Ofsted reports). They seem to think you'll know stuff by osmosis.

Teaching staff are brill though.

YANBU OP.

How about you all re-think your jobs if you hate the stupid children and stupid parents so much?

Well yeah, except that there already aren't enough teachers. If all the teachers who get royally pissed off about these things resigned, there would hardly be any left at all.
Anyway, teachers don't hate the children and parents. They get extremely frustrated by the behaviour of some of them though, as it makes a hard job even harder.

Teachers want the very best for your child. Why wouldn't they? Not many people would be crazy enough go into teaching if they didn't actually want to work with and help young people. And teachers are judged very harshly on how well they do for your children. They would just appreciate it if parents and children were as keen to support them in their efforts to get the best outcomes for the child. Some parents and children aren't.

Our school is now very good with communication, because they listened to parents feedback from the family forum meeting they run each term. The newsletter is emailed weekly (on Fridays), there are paper copies available.
Homework is done in two formats there is a creative piece that's due at the end of each half term. Than the weekly homework is maths or English based on work they are doing in class. Again this is a result of listening to parents feedback.

However our school isn't perfect, it would be a miracle if a letter came home without a date error or spelling mistake.
Would also appreciate in the cold weather since I send my child with a suitable coat that you make sure they have it on, I don't expect anyone but my child to fasten it but it would be good if you could remind them and send them back in to get it.

I think that everyone gets frustrated at some aspect of their job - that's only natural. Dh loves his job, but even he gets pissed off by some things occasionally, and needs a bit of a rant.

Why should teachers be any different?

One thing MN is very good at, is sorting out which complaints are reasonable, and which aren't - no matter who is complaining about what.

I get so irritated with this "why don't the parents try teaching for a week - then they'd never complain again" sort of argument. Yes, teaching's a tough job and not for everyone. But you do realise that many parents do tough jobs too? Front line health workers, emergency services, customer facing roles and numerous other things in both the private and public sector. The work environment has changed for the worse for many of us with increased stress, admin, public expectations etc. I quite realise some parents are unreasonable, but most aren't.

Would also appreciate in the cold weather since I send my child with a suitable coat that you make sure they have it on, I don't expect anyone but my child to fasten it but it would be good if you could remind them and send them back in to get it

There are some parents who unfortunately forget to send their DC in coats. Or with appropriate shoes. And then there's those DCs who 'hear' what their teacher said and still run outside without their coat. Or take their coat outside, use it for a goal post and leave it in the rain.

Children, eh.

I quite realise some parents are unreasonable, but most aren't

MN is full of parents complaining about schools - but it's rare to see people on here complaining about other things like GPs, nurses, the police etc. It happens but not as much.

So no one here have noticed the parents that complain that the kids had to be out in the rain yet the next week complain that their kids were out when it was too hot. The ones that never hand in slips on time and then complain that their kids missed out on whatever activity was on offer or had the teacher having to chase them. List goes on!! nothing is ever right and one just have to complain about every little thing. My school is not perfect, the teachers are not perfect, I am not perfect but I can totally see why teachers would moan and talk about the above because it is ANNOYING and unnecessary