To ask you to tell us some positive stories about your DC's teacher and/or school

[CherryChasingDotMuncher]

I’m disheartened to see so many negative posts lately complaining about teachers (some are fair enough but most are ridiculous). I’m NOT a teacher BTW, but I have a huge amount of respect for the profession. I’d like to kick half term off on MN by countering the complaints by sharing positive stories about teachers.

My DD is 4 and started school last month. She’s never been an ‘arty’ child, which is a shame as I love arts and crafts and would like to enjoy doing them with her. She would never sit down to draw or paint for more than about 2 minutes, and wasn’t interested in any sort of crafts. Not a big deal, but personally I think children can gain a lot from arts so I thought it was just a shame.

Had a meeting with DD’s teacher, Miss B, prior to her starting, so she could find out about her likes and dislikes etc (all new kids had to do this) I mentioned she’s not arty. Miss B said “Ooh I’ll soon sort that out don’t you worry” (I thought ‘yeah right’).

I don’t know what Miss B has done, but DD has come home every night for the last 3 weeks begging to colour and paint and has also showed me all the crafts she’s done in class. I thanked Miss B yesterday( at the very least it gives us more to do on rainy days off so I’m genuinely grateful) and she jokingly said “told you I’d soon change it”.

My example seems really small and silly, but to get my DD interested in a subject she would previously brush-off before does seem like a small miracle!

Anyone care to share why they love their DC’s teacher?

When my DD was 7, she moved to a new school and being shy, she struggled socially....a lot.

Her amazing teacher then decided that she had to help her...so for a whole term, she implemented a new "club" where she'd go out at playtime with the kids and teach them old fashioned playground games...Oranges and Lemons and The Farmer Wants a Wife and so on.

Other stuff like British Bulldogs.

She did this as a way of bringing the kids all together and taking the pressure off my DD to have a "best friend" or join in small groups.

She then began to make different kids "the games master" and they got to choose the roles the others would take...this of course gave DD more confidence and helped her get to know her peers.

So thank you Miss D. Amazing teacher.

My sons state school is great. The head teacher is really enthusiastic, the teachers have all been very lovely and interested in the kids. The atmosphere is again very lovely and confidence building.

My son has had a great start to his education from the toddler group right up to the year 3 he is in now. He loves gong to school and although he can be a bit of a shit at times he has always been spoken to respectfully.

I could not ask for anything better.

Although DS is now 19 and DD is 15, they will both always remember a teacher that they had in primary school, year 1. He was a lovely man who genuinely cares about each and every child. Encouraged without forcing and got the best out of every one of them.

He never tolerated any bad behaviour but had a way of dealing with it that the children always agreed was fair.

An amazing man in every way.

My dc has only just started school, but I've been amazed at their progress with reading and writing in only a few weeks. That they make this sort of progress in a class of 30 needy little people I find astounding.

Ds2s teacher is bloody brilliant.

She was ds1s teacher two years ago and was an nqt, I was a bit worried with her not having the experience but she was amazing with him. Got him reading and writing and more importantly loving both, always made you feel like she had time for all the kids/parents and really made the effort to 'get' them. I was thrilled when she stayed on after her nqt year

Now she's Ds2s teacher - he's being assessed for 'something' and as a result he is more hard work. She works to find solutions to make sure he's happy and not stressed at school, she finds time to speak to me every day after school to let me know how the days gone. I was losing sleep about him starting school but she's done the best she can to make the transition as painless as possible

DD's teacher in year 4 was so kind. My DM had died so DD was missing her DGM terribly and became very quiet and down in the dumps. She just seemed to really look out for DD and would have little chats with her about her Granny as I used to get upset when she tried to talk to me about her (I just could't help it). I've never forgotten her kindness.

My dd is in year 8 and really likes pretty much all of her teachers. Her form teacher had a shockingly awful, life-changing bereavement very recently but was back at school remarkably quickly, being as wonderful and supportive as ever. I don't think her class have any idea what she's been through. I don't know how she carried on tbh.

Other stuff like British Bulldogs

Kudos to the teacher for introducing the children to old playground games, but British bulldogs was (quite rightly) banned in my school because so many kids were hurt!

this is really nice thread, my ds starts school next September and the horror stories on here have genuinely freaked me out, this is making me feel less anxious about it.

I think teachers are amazing. They are under-rated and underpaid. Nearly all my kids teachers have been great

My dd2 is just 9 and gets anxious about certain things. There was a trip to the local museum 2 weeks ago, kids are studying ancient civilizations and she knew they would see a mummy in the ancient Egypt section. Dd2 was scared but we talked it through, looked at pictures online and tried to decrease her fear. Thought it was going well til bedtime the day before the trip when she had a meltdown about it.

I emailed her teacher at 8pm to forewarn her that dd2 was anxious and didn’t want to see the mummy (or even be in the same room). I asked if there was anything she could think of that might help. Her teacher responded within 30 minutes. She said she completely understood, that she was the same at that age. Due to adult / child ratios, dd could not wait outside the room but she would ensure that dd was right next to her through the trip and that she would let dd listen to music on her (teachers) phone with headphones if that helped distract and calm her.

Dd came home of course saying she had a brilliant trip. We have been very lucky with teachers, there are some brilliant ones out there.

We've been lucky on the whole with the teachers at the dc's primary. They are a great, dedicated bunch. I've also been impressed with the teachers at dd1's high school. Dd seems to like them and she is getting on well and enjoying school.
to fab teachers.

As the mother of a young teacher who works incredibly hard for the children she works with, this thread makes me very happy!

Thank you for starting this lovely thread OP.

DD's nursery teacher was so amazing I would have left dd with her until she was 18.

Dd's main primary school teacher was so amazing I feel she's set her up for life in core competencies like maths and language skills. Aside from being the loveliest most human of teachers. When I was flying abroad to visit family for Christmas, I get this phone call, 7pm the night before. Dd's teacher "can I come to your house, dd forgot the crafty stuff she's made for the family for Christmas". Etc

Her main middle school teacher we saw at the school prizegiving thingy last week. She cried (teacher) at how proud she was of all her kids.

She's 2 months into secondary school now. One of the teachers I was hoping she would have has transferred to another part of the country and his ex students are devastated. He took with him (and put it on FB) a pencil, bog standard HB pencil. Stuck the photo on FB and when people asked ???? he said it was the best gift he'd ever been given. His kids had given it to him because they'd done a language exam with him where you had to write your answers in HB pencil. They'd all passed, thanks to him (they said) so gave him the pencil as reminder.

A teacher I worked with recently retired. Literally hundreds and hundreds of former students left her messages on FB. I always called her "Captain my Captain" because she was (and is) the teacher I want to be.

Sure there are some crap teachers. Dd had two appallingly bad ones. (music and PE) but the ones above more than compensate for that.

My DS teacher is amazing and so is the school. All the kids look really happy and they really go the extra mile.

My DS missed his school photo as he was ill, a couple of weeks later the teacher stops me and asks if we would like one of the teaching assistants to bob him over to another school nearby who is having their pictures done by the same firm which they did with a group of kids who had missed the photo
Fantastic

My DS started reception in September, he's academically behind, never sits still and is currently being assessed for additional needs. His teacher is wonderful, allows us to go in slightly later so that it is not too busy for him, speaks to me at the end of most days letting me know how he's got on and has made him love school. He even declared the other day "I love learning". She's amazing and I try my best to thank her every day. No idea how any teacher does it.

Perfume, your post reminded me that when one of my dcs was in year 1 a piece of her art work went missing and she was upset. The teacher turned up on our doorstep on Saturday morning with the art work. So kind. We were still in our pjs.
That teacher was also really kind when dd struggled a bit with making friends. Really did her utmost to help her.

My DS is a new reception started. He has had a terrible start and is waiting on assessments for autism. All the teachers in his school have been nothing but kind and supportive. He has hit most of them but they keep helping him. They are slowly working out what upsets him and coming up with solutions. His class teacher was beaming with happiness today because he has had a good week, for him. Despite his difficulties he loves school and happily tells me what he has been doing. If the teachers were not as supportive as they are he would be being alienated from education already.

Both my daughters are at secondary school. Earlier this week, we were told that the school has set aside funds to buy revision books for every student in year 11, regardless of whether their parents are able to pay. They are as strapped for cash as every other school but have found the money because they want everyone to have the same chances. There is a mechanism for those who are able to pay if they wish to (so they aren't wasting money), but I love the way they have put it, so that everyone is offered the books for free.

We had a "meet the teacher" event earlier this week to which parents of years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 were all invited. It was mayhem. But every teacher was patient, willing to talk and still smiling by the end. And every single one knew my daughters' names and could tell me exactly how they were getting on. It was hugely impressive.

To A in my DC's nursery -

Thank you for stepping in every morning when we have to leave for work to give my very sad son a very big cuddle. He loves school but has always hated separating from us. You make our day so much easier and less traumatic!

MY DS started school in September. The teacher seems a little stern at first and is quite firm which is exactly what he needs but at the same time she is really boosting their confidence and finds many ways to praise them and celebrate their successes however small.

State school here, experience of primary and senior.

We have had incredible teachers. Year 5 in particular is an important year here as children do entrance exams for the state grammar schools at the start of yr 6. My DTs Yr 5 teacher was nothing short of awesome. We had parents evening about 6 weeks into the year and she was so insightful about them - with completely different strengths, weaknesses and personalities - it was as if she'd known them all their lives. She just "got" them. Still bloody love her!!!

Aw these stories are lovely! I LOVE the one about the leaving teacher and the HB pencil