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.

Don't assume educated parents understand the way kids are taught things now. Teaching has changed so much. I had never heard of number bonds for example.

Don't be afraid to ask for donations or volunteers for things. Lots of us parents have either money or time and expertise to spare and are keen to support the kids' school. Previous school did a "would you like to volunteer and what skills do you have" sheet and ended up with some amazing talented helpers e.g. for school play set design, language clubs, dance, as well as the usual reading helpers and trip helpers.

Or resources too. You want some new books for the infant library - ask parents of older classes to donate any they've grown out of. You'd have Julia Donaldson coming out of your ears. (And yes that would be a huge leap of an improvement from the current stock.)

CheesyToast it's people like you who are so doggedly inflexible and rude who cause a lot of the issues.

We don't have printed newsletters and haven't for years - we email out a short newsletter once a month (one side of A4) with all the necessary dates on). Everything is emailed or texted. We don't find it necessary to have an app /portal for our tiny school (50 children, and a lot of our parents struggle to use the electronic systems that we do have (ie ParentPay).

Sorry - the brackets went mad type there!

@cheesetoast & @cambion communication is so tricky because everything works differently for everyone. We have literally just stopped a weekly coloured PAPER newsletter. I still couldn’t believe in 2017 we were wasting so much paper and ink weekly, which gets thrown in the bin, unlikely that it was recycled. That frustrated me! We now have nothing as we are transitioning. But I’m assuming (hoping) that it will all be via email. Hopefully one email. I don’t think many of our parents have an email address but I will be happy to set one up for them as to get everyone on board. My daughters school send a million emails. Although annoying I do appreciate the update. But it is too much, to search my inbox for a specific email takes a while. To the point where I’d have to write what day certain emails were sent and put them in my diary as reference. They did set up parent mail as an app but it has never been used. They also use parentpay which I think is great and so simple.
I think the important thing is to choose one thing, not 3 apps and email. Just choose one and stick to it otherwise it does become confusing.

Goodness OP your school is so behind!

Here's the thing. Parents of school age children look at their phones more frequently than any other demographic
The way to communicate with your parent community is via their cellphones.
Email is fast becoming redundant. Apps, text alerts and portals are today's communication methods.

Um OP, either sort emails by sender or set up a separate folder for school messages.

@catkind good idea.
@cheesey we’re very behind. But all being fixed now. I think a lot of our parents will struggle with apps/email but it’s definitely the way forward and hopefully they will all be on board, even if it takes a step by step workshop!

Communication is the key to everything as is honesty.

I know everyone else is saying the same same thing, but I'll mae another plea for clear and early communication (I am an obsessive newsletter reader BTW). I'll bet the teachers get more than a week and a half's notice of parents' evening, so it would be nice if I could be extended the same courtesy so I can rearrange my work rota.

Ditto stuff like costumes - I can make a Magic Mirror/Mad Hatter/Victorian urchin costume, but it's far easier if I'm given a clear weekend's notice, rather than trying to sneak out to buy stuff in my lunch hour and staying up until midnight to make the thing.

@Letsmaketheworldbetter I'm intrigued as to what sort of area you're in either v rural and small or an urban deprived area that has somehow retained a v small school?

Remember that children don’t understand some of the stuff the teacher is doing, and that it can impact them beyond primary school. I was in the top spelling group - if I got 1 out of 20 wrong in the test I had to stay in and write it out correctly 30 times. Kid in the bottom group who only had to learn 5 and who got 3 correct got his token moved up the ladder (and that kid win a prize every term, I never did). As an adult I understand why, but it cemented in me that only perfection is acceptable for me, and at the time it felt really unfair - I didn’t get why I missed some okay time for getting 19 top group spellings correct. As other posters have said, I also felt this about behaviour rewards.

Won. Play. My spelling ability did not translate to typing.

"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."

Yes, but sometimes only SOME tickets go in the bucket too.

AND pls dont send each of my kids home with a form of £20 worth of sponsorship to get so they can earn a 'wrist band' for charity and 'their table' can win. Not fair at all.

I'd say:

LISTEN to children. LIsten to their parents.
Stop bullying (it is happening in your school right now)
Kids with SEN need proper support.
Just because little Joanna isnt chucking chairs around, doesnt mean she is not unhappy and needs help.

And the magic mirror/mad hatter/ urchin dress up stuff is insane.
If you are going to have eg, Diwali Day, pls teach my child what it means or it is utterly pointless.
If you are going to have 'inclusion' days, then actually practise that in your School or it is pointless virtue signalling.
Dont blame it on County when you dont answer emails.
It is not ALL about budget, it is often just as much about attitude.

Spelling mistakes on every communication from school e.g. too instead of to etc. Office staff who never acknowledge anything you send....ever. My child had a series of appointments necessitating he be collected at odd times which I always notified. It was like sending into a black hole and many a time they wouldn't let him leave and I had to go in and get him!

Cheeseytoast

Here's the thing. Parents of school age children look at their phones more frequently than any other demographic
The way to communicate with your parent community is via their cellphones.

That may be true for the majority - but what about all those parents with literacy difficulties/dyslexia/SLCN, etc who either cannot read and/or comprehend properly what they read on (tiny) screen? DH and adult DD2 can't and need to read hard copy! I doubt they are the only adults with SEN, in the country?

I got sick of being emailed newsletters, reports, etc all the time by schools. As a parent of a child with SEN, you get sent stacks of reports up to 50 pages long by email - EHC plans, annual review papers, social care assessments of need, care plans, carer's assessments..... These are legal documents, which may contain untruths and weasel words. Try sitting, the two of you in an annual review with 15 professionals, going through the annual review reports and you are reading them on your phone - especially flicking about from one page to another!

No doubt, LAs and schools have jumped onto this, because it saves their resources in terms of admin, paper, ink, postage, etc; but they forget that for you as a parent, you need to print it on an ink jet printer at 10p a page, to read and digest (where it costs them 0.1p on a photocopier)! Then so many are not print friendly - expensive colours and photographs all over the place! IMO, schools and LA have simply dumped the costs onto parents, who have suffered equally from years of austerity!

As a person who works with schools:-
Don't send your child to a faith school and then complain about the school talking about faith. It's in the school name, it shouldn't be a surprise.
If in doubt ask. It's probably in the enewsletter, on the website, on the facebook page, but if in doubt ask the school.
School staff leave, get pregnant etc and although we are really sorry she is your child's favourite it's not something we can control. A petition, really, the woman is pregnant, the baby is already growing inside her.
Staff illness is something a school cannot control. We will ensure your child is taught, and taught well, but we can not control the illnesses that affect staff. We are sorry if this means a teacher changes at short notice.
Say thnaks you more.

As a user of schools.

Keep the website up to date.
Answer the phone or have an answerphone.
Understand that you've done it for years, but I haven't.
Say thank you more

Don't have a what's app group

Mufti days. It’s either a mufti day or it isn’t. No “just wear odd socks” “just wear a yellow tshirt “ “wear an animal top” for a pound. I’ll try to accommodate the wear a colour, but arguing with a child that doesn’t see the point in wearing school trousers and shoes but a different top is just so tiring! Make it a wear something yellow mufti instead of picking and choosing what they wear and don’t wear.

Put the bloody homework on the website like you promised! My kid is in tears that he has forgotten his sheet and needs to do it.

Another whinge about money. When ds (now Year 12), was in year 6, one month we forked out £55- between trips, non uniform, theatre coming to school, author coming to school and CAFOD. It was a stupid amount when approx 25% of children are in free school meals.