I’m not BU just need help. To all parents, TA’s, teachers and all staff in schools

[Letsmaketheworldbetter]

I’ve just posted this in education but let’s be honest we all love a AIBU thread so I thought I’d post it on here hoping to get more responses as I genuinely need all your help. I’m sure a lot will want to voice their opinion.

As parents/school staff there are always improvements we would like to see for our child/children’s school. Some of you may think they are too irrelevant to mention, or you may not have the confidence to voice your opinions to your child’s teacher or your colleague.
I am currently working in a primary school and would like to make some improvements. I don’t have the authority to employ more staff or buy more resources, but I’m hoping I can make a difference.
I would like your opinions in case I have missed anything.
Thank you in advance.

Dinnertimes are so hectic in schools; often just the bare minimum of staff. The only time ratios are ignored.
Not enough staff to watch all children outside and not enough to help children inside either. Lots of dinner staff have no real idea of the school rules and boundaries either. So you end up with some who go around stopping all the fun or others who are way too lenient.
Agree with a pp about senior staff being present; even if it is just while they eat their own meal.

CheesyToast - why do you need to retain all the info on a newsletter?? It's emailed out, just glance at the email every now and again, print it out and put it on the fridge, or just spend a couple of minutes putting important events on your phone calendar with a reminder!

I work at a school and am a parent so I see both sides.

Never ever ever rely on a child to pass anything on to a parent.

Everything goes out on email so there is no need to rely on notes or slips to make it home. We do hard copies too but the vast majority respond online now.

Google Forms is a brilliant free tool for getting responses from parents quickly, and it collates all the answers for you. I use it all the time.

Accept online payments for everything School related.

Get your diary dates out early and issue frequent reminders in an agreed format so people know where to look for info. For things like Sports Day that happen every year, there is no excuse for slt not setting the date months in advance.

I had 2 children at the school. A message on my answerphone talking about "your child" is not helpful

^^
This. About 80% of emails have either the year group or the class teachers name on.
It's the other 20% that are a pain. I have 3 children in 3 different years.

A letter saying 'headlice has been detected in your child's class's' or 'next term your child's class will be going swimming on a Friday morning' or ' please bring baking supplies on thursday' Which child ?!?!?!?!

I love my DCs’ school and have huge respect for school staff so very rarely complain. However, since you asked...

Stop craft / project homework for young children. If the child cannot do it themselves then please don’t set it. Every holiday you know there will be a project which hangs over you.

Remove 100% attendance awards (I do realise this is government policy but schools can decide themselves how much emphasis to put on these awards). Stop ranting about attendance in general.

Let children go to the toilet when they need to at least in KS1 and 2.

Remind them to put on sunscreen at breaks.

Set dates further in advance so parents can get time off.

Don’t sit disruptive pupils next to the same children constantly; of course they need to learn but it is so unfair on the other child.

As PP said, a list of what the school needs would be helpful; I’d happily buy craft supplies etc at Xmas.

Our school has all newsletters on the website which is really helpful.

Senior management actively and visibly supporting staff makes a huge difference.

In senior school from my own experience... careers advice should at least mention the need to think of which careers should be flexible for childcare instead of selling the idea that you can have it all.

If you're a parent on a PTA or a TA/Teacher - please treat the kitchen like you would any other part of the school. You wouldn't just walk into a classroom and take loads of books/pens/craft supplies/other resources and use them. So don't come into the kitchen and think you can take bin bags/paper towels/washing up liquid/ "a bit of bi carb for a volcano/ breakfast for little Jonny. They are all supplies which are budgeted for termly just like school supplies are and if the school use an outside caterer company then the company do tend to notice..

Also a note to school volunteer PTA members- you wouldn't leave a classroom in a mess when doing an event so don't leave the school kitchen in a mess either. It's someone's work place you know...

Thought of another one.

Get rid of gender stigma. A boy showing his Willy isn't just a case of "boys will be boys"

4. Don't send raffle tickets home with my child when it's rigged so only the pta friends and family win.

This does happen in our school but I can promise you it's not rigged. There are a handful of people that do often win prizes in raffles etc but they are the ones who always buy way more tickets than the standard book of 5 sent home to everyone. It's their way of getting more funds in to the school. Others do win, but these folk just win more often.

They are also the ones who will still be there at 6.30pm clearing up after the bazaar when everyone else buggered off at 4pm.

My oldest is in year 1, I still feel very new to the whole big school thing. This has actually been really helpful thank you!!

Oh and yy to those "your child ...." messages. I have 3 children at the primary school, which one is it?

Not implement things for the sake of it - the latest one being the Daily Mile. It is such a bandwagon with no creativity or thought as to what it may do. I completely get we have an obesity crisis and inactive kids. Making them march 50 laps of the playground in their break in freezing temperatures and not allowing them to talk is not going to encourage a love of exercise ffs! My daughter loves exercise, does swimming, dancing, gymnastics, tennis, she cries at the daily mile as they are so militant about it. Why not do something fun instead?

Secondly - communication but that's already been done to death.

Thirdly - reading. Whilst I know there are phonics groups etc as well I don't think reading to the teacher once a fortnight is acceptable. I remember standing in a line and reading to the teacher everyday at DDS age. Now there can be up to three teachers /TAs in class and it's once a fortnight?! Not good enough.

From a teacher:

Your child is not infallible - don't come storming in when they tell you something, it's very possible you'll be wrong.

Don't send your child in in shoes they can't tie themselves.

Don't send your child in with unlabelled items and complain when they get lost.

Don't be late to pick up your child and complain when I send them to aftercare, as you'll be charged (and I give ten mins grace).

Please read the emails and notes that get sent home.

Remember that we have a classroom full of children to teach, not just yours. Your child is no more important or deserving than any other.

Do not expect instant replies on email during the working day. If you've got an urgent message, ring the office.

To management generally, I don't work in the UK (thankfully) so my exposure to bullshit paperwork is quite low.

Regarding minimising workload, I think schools need to embrace a Good Enough mindset. Nothing can be 100% perfect. That's ok. I have some bad lessons, some amazing, the majority are good. But I think that schools in the UK need to look at reducing paperwork demands and encouraging teachers to simplify their workload, to give themselves a better work/life balance. I don't work in the UK, so I'm not too exposed to bullshit paperwork.

I've just pushed successfully to get deliberate, repeated leaving out of a child in group play down as a form of bullying, and written into the behavioural policy. It's horrible seeing one child alone in the playground when they don't want to be.

Well done allinclusive

I'm a parent with spare time and would happily help out at school and buy extra resources - let us know what we can do to help!!

I thanked my daughters teachers last week on "blue Monday" for getting out of bed every day and doing what they do (which doesn't go unnoticed) and it made the teacher cry

I really missed the daily report (just a few lines scribbled in her home school book) when my daughter went from nursery to reception. I know teachers can't do this for every child but seesaw or a even blog would be good so I know what she's been doing.

I recently complained ours aren't doing daily mile daily or even weekly I suspect . They are allowed to talk too. Stopping them talking is just mean. I believe it's extremely beneficial for most kids not so much for fitness but just to burn off excess energy or reset them and that it helps their concentration immensely once they get back into class.

Cambion I'm telling you it doesn't work. As your tales of the so very many parents not adhering to your system are demonstrating. It's outdated.

Firstly I don't use a printer, printers are old fashioned!

Secondly, I don't want to re-refer to anything, that is very ineffective use of time.

School apps and portals are with the times, it is people like you, so doggedly stuck in the past, who are the problem.

This is not limited to my personal experience; I research this for work. Broadly speaking, schools are very poor listeners and responders. They tend to assume that there is one way to do things and it's the way they've always done it. Fatally flawed thinking.

The progressive schools would never stoop to printed A4 newsletters.

If school starts at 9, blow the whistle and let them in at 9, not 8.56 (then lock the "latecomers" out at 8.58) or 9.05. Similarly if school ends at 3.30, don't let them out at 3.40 (especially if it is raining, no shelter in our playground).

Homework, please give guidance or a worked example showing the method you have used for maths. If you are going to hand out all the homework on one day, please don't make it a Friday, if it gets left at school on Friday, we have lost three days, there is no way we can complete it all for handing in on Tuesday. Also please bother to mark the homework.

Only punish a child if you are 100% sure they were to blame, when you realise that you were wrong, apologise to the child.

I’m on the PTA at local primary and we encourage the HT to ask for specific things rather than money.
We wanted a dishwasher and washing machine and let it be known via FB. Someone was having a new kitchen fitted so we got a perfectly good dishwasher. It’s better to beg for ‘things’ rather than keep asking for money.
Re the weekly newsletter. Parents really don’t care which class had 100% (or not) attendance that week. Please just tell parents what they need or would really like to know.

Last week school sent home 7 assorted letters. Too many!

invite parents in to learn about phonics school curriculum targets levels etc so they can take an active interest in their child's learning.....

Make volunteering worthwhile - give them targets or workshops etc make it fun for them to be there with tea coffee provided on tap!

Stop wasting PTA money on Christmas sweets - buy school stuff

Ditto parents - stop buying candles and wine - they need glue sticks and pencils - phonics games and outdoor playtime toys!!

Just saw previous post. Agree PLEASE don’t give out homework on a Friday! Wednesday for the next Wednesday gives time for it to be done either in evening or at weekend. A lot of kids see their non resident parent at weekends so homework doesn’t get done.

Get rid of 100% attendance awards
.
Appreciate that being moved down the behavioural chart has a massively different affect on different children so particularly when they are small it isnt an equal punishment and hugely distresses some kids

Communicate with parents. If kids are having problems, are in trouble, arent happy and tell us how we can help with school work.

If parents tell you something is massively out of character for their child listen to them.

Tell parents the curriculum for the year. Help us to help our kids. Don't assume because many parents aren't bothered we all aren't.

Just as people complain if you do day time things because they work please appreciate that some of us have partners that work away, or not 9-5, are single parents or dont have family round the corner. Evening events are difficult for many people due to childcare. Either run a day time option or allow kids to come.

And I would love the daily mile too although in silence sounds awful.

No homework for infants and definitely no projects . Read your bullying policy and adhere to it . If there's a problem or the child is struggling with something , don't wait until parents evening to mention it.

I don’t have the authority to employ more staff or buy more resources, but I’m hoping I can make a difference.

Contact local companies and ask them to provide or sponsor equipment, they get a nice pic int he local paper showing the new sports equipment or craft materials, you get a resource.

Lots of schools seem to have students gluing worksheets in to books. I was at one recently where they had their exercise books hole punched so worksheets could be fastened in with treasury tags - more appropriate for secondary but saved the whole hassle of waiting for the pritt stick to go through 30 pairs of hands.