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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Aibu to think it’s poor if a Year 2 child can spell better than whoever send the school text messages?

75 replies

BlueMirror · 27/02/2018 11:29

Received a message from the school yesterday. Without being too outing it was about making sure the children have appropriate clothing for the cold weather. It was a very short message but they managed to use the incorrect ‘wear’ (they wrote were) and it’s was missing the apostrophe.
Now I’m not going to complain because it’s not going to be anyone who is teaching my child who has written it and I’ve no wish to have a member of office staff humiliated. But aibu to think they should check stuff like this as it does reflect on the school? The newsletters are littered with errors as well. Really bad ones.
My 7 yr old was able to spot the mistakes in the text message (I didn’t say it was from his school!).
Maybe some of the more able year 6’s proofreading the newsletters would be a valuable exercise?

OP posts:

chocolateiamydrug · 27/02/2018 13:27

maybe your y2 child should prove read what you post on here. Your DC certainly hasn't got her extraordinarily advanced spelling genes from you, OP

anxious2017 · 27/02/2018 13:31

Who sends the school text messages? Sometimes we have volunteers come in to help and they are given easy tasks like copying and typing school texts into the system, laminating, pinning displays etc. Some of the volunteers are from a disabled adults scheme and they may have learning difficulties or dyslexia.

Unless the correspondence is coming from a teacher at the school, or it's so badly written you can't understand the message, I really don't think it's an issue.

Annabelle4 · 27/02/2018 13:33

Whoever send, or whoever sends? Or whoever sent?

Maybe you should get your child to proof read your MN titles before posting them OP

DenPerry · 27/02/2018 13:37

My son's reception teacher recently said "shit" instead of "shot" and also "here" instead if "hear" on the app. I think she has so much to remember and rushes the posts so I just laughed! I'm sure they always get it right when teaching.

PersianCatLady · 27/02/2018 13:41

OP - Could you post the phrase that contained "its" without the apostrophe please?

Borris · 27/02/2018 13:45

I'm afraid I agree that spelling mistakes on school communications reflect poorly. And wear / were isn't just a typo but is the wrong word altogether.

RatherBeRiding · 27/02/2018 13:51

Of course it matters. The communication came from the school - it was an official communication that contained fairly basic errors of spelling and grammar.

I work for a professional organisation and anything "official" would not be sent unless it was either proof-read or sent by someone who can be trusted to tell the difference between "wear" and "were".

It reflects badly on a place of education. And I don't know why the OP is getting a hard time about errors in her post title. She's posting on an anonymous forum in a private capacity. Not sending an official communication from a place that exists to teach spelling and grammar.

anxious2017 · 27/02/2018 13:56

I once sent a letter asking parents to provide wellies for our Minibreast hunt. It was definitely an auto correct as I typed the message on my phone and once I'd found out the error, tested it again and it corrected.

The parents found it absolutely hilarious,
especially as I'm a bit of a grammar nerd!

PersianCatLady · 27/02/2018 14:01

And wear / were isn't just a typo but is the wrong word altogether
You see mistakes like that all the time.

People use spellcheck and think because there are no spelling mistakes that they don't have to proof read a document before sending it.

Pengggwn · 27/02/2018 14:02

I think common sense tells you that some people can't spell, but if they don't do a bad job in other areas and it's not affecting your child's education, get over it.

Dontoutmenow · 27/02/2018 14:09

Of course it matters. It’s a slippery slope. My DC attend a school where this also happens often. They had an English workshop for parents once and the invitation letters had spelling and grammar errors! I emailed at that point and asked if they’d spotted the irony...

The head is the worst, to be honest. Sends out appalling missives each Friday, each littered with some contrived anecdote so he can get in his idiom or the week. It’s cringe-making. Anyway, off we go to a new school come September. So far all of their correspondence has been top class.

Ultimately it’s about standards. If you’re happy to be sloppy about spelling and grammar, pretty basic things really, what else are you going to be sloppy about?

ClaryFray · 27/02/2018 14:12

Maybe the person who sent it was dyslexic.

ObscuredbyFog · 27/02/2018 14:23

Why does it matter?

Because they are the organisation teaching my child for x hours per day and I'd expect their communications to be of a professional standard.

Poor spelling and grammar on communications from school make them look inept and incompetent.

anxious2017 · 27/02/2018 14:26

The secretary or volunteer responsible doesn't teach your children though.

Again, if it was a formal letter then they definitely should be correct. An informal text though? Mistakes are very easily made.

doesthislookoddtoyou · 27/02/2018 14:27

Why does it matter?

because if the school admin staff have the spelling ability of a 7 year old , what else are they getting wrong?

SoupDragon · 27/02/2018 14:27

It’s just an autocorrect problem. Have you never checked something and then spotted the error the moment you hit send?

SpiceRack · 27/02/2018 14:47

I agree with ObscuredbyFog and doesthislookoddtoyou

MyHairNeedsASnip · 27/02/2018 14:57

Ah give us a break. That text was possibly sent while a line of parents were banging on the window with forgotten lunchboxes/guitars/gloves, a vomiting kid sat in the corner and trying to get hold of one of the vomiting kids parents and failing, counting 30 little piles of change and holding in a wee for the 2nd hour.

Muddlingalongalone · 27/02/2018 15:27

I think you need to make a distinction between typos/autocorrect and genuine use of the incorrect word.
The former is irritating but understandable if people are doing 100 things at once. The latter is worrying if It's being sent out by the teaching staff and is more than a one-off.
Everyone makes mistakes.

SweetMoon · 27/02/2018 16:04

I think it matters and it reflects bad on the school. My ds old school weekly newsletters would have grammar and spelling errors in 50% of the time.

I understand sometimes you can fall foul of spellcheck but surely if you are a teacher putting your name to these things you'd proof read it first?

Anyway the school was crap in more ways than this, thankfully he has moved on from there now.

Pemba · 27/02/2018 16:41

I think it does matter. This is the organisation that is supposed to be helping your children to become literate, so what kind of message does it give if their own communications are full of errors? It looks unprofessional and it would worry me.

They should hire office staff who have reasonable spelling and grammar, but if that's really too much to ask, then they should make sure that everything is checked by the head before it's sent out to parents.

BoneyBackJefferson · 27/02/2018 17:21

anxious2017 · 27/02/2018 17:24

they should make sure that everything is checked by the head before it's sent out to parents

That made me genuinely laugh out loud

Pengggwn · 27/02/2018 18:07

but if that's really too much to ask, then they should make sure that everything is checked by the head before it's sent out to parents.

That's really how you want your child's HT allocating time?

Dixiestampsagain · 27/02/2018 18:38

I agree with you, and it annoys me when texts or notes from school have mistakes; however, I do realise that the messages are usually sent by office staff rather than the people who are actually teaching the children.

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