Teacher Reply Over Summer

[hairnightmare17]

Son is in secondary school.

We received school reports on Monday. One grade on there is different to what my son said he achieved. It was a terrible mark for an important subject and he would need work on it over the summer if it is correct, since he is going into year 11.

I tend to believe my son didn't get that mark but without a reply from the teachers I won't know for sure. I have queried it by email twice this week, no reply. Attempted to call, to no avail. School broke up yesterday.

Is it worth emailing again? Is it likely I would receive a response over the summer break.

Jaxhog I'm with you, a complete turn around on the usual teacher threads!
The OP emailed the teacher twice this week, when the teacher was in school, working. I absolutely would expect the teacher to answer, as a courtesy if nothing else, as the OP has repeatedly asked during work time. It's annoying,YANBU OP.

EleanorLavish

The last week of term can be extremely hectic. It isn't always possible to get to everything. That doesn't mean I need to do it when I am off and not being paid.

It's not a complete turnaround at all.

Teachers have their holiday. We often work in part of it. Just like we are contracted to work 32.5 hours a week but do more.

Sadly there are idiots every year who like to argue our jobs are easy because we get all this paid holiday, don't work in the real world etc. We point out we will often do some work in our holiday (often with accompanying explanations every year about not being paid to work in the holiday) and then someone comes along being a GF saying 'eeh well apparnetly you all work every minute of your holiday but now you don't want to email parents because it's your holiday. Make your mind up'.

Same shitty arguments every single year.

And then by week 3 of the holidays there'll be threads on MN and social media of parents fed up with having their own kids for a few weeks calling for shorter summer holidays (same people who also complain term times are too long and nobody learns anything in the last few weeks of term anyway).

Are you emailing the school office or the actual teacher? If the email isn’t being passed on it’s hardly the teachers fault. Also if it is the office address then I doubt the office staff will be in for the whole summer so again the email may not be passed on to the teacher

You don’t need to email again. If they check their email and want to answer, they’ll answer the emails you have already sent.

I work in a secondary school in a non teaching role and do not get email replies from my colleagues now they have broken up. Our last day of term was yesterday and I very much needed a reply for something very important but didn't hear anything after 12pm so I wouldn't imagine you'd hear anything back at all. My job is actually term time as well but I'm working on Monday and Tuesday next week as I work in a different county from where my children go to school and I have so much to organise and do before they break up next week. I do not intend on responding to emails from colleagues though I am getting my office, paperwork in order and creating report work. I am not officially in so there's no requirement for me to respond to emails. I would imagine that's how teachers view it to.

People forget teachers are not paid for their holidays! They don't get 13 weeks paid holiday- they bloody wish they did! Yes they work evenings, Sundays, some of their holidays- all in their own time, to keep on top of their work load.

The last few days are hectic in a school- ds's school the whole week was trips, fun activities out of the classroom etc. For all you know the two teachers you emailed may not have even been in school they could be part time and the other on a trip 🤷🏻‍♀️. They may have been dealing with issues that were more serious and time consuming, which pushed your query of a mark to the bottom of the pile. There's numerous reasons why they may not have responded.
Yet it's jump straight on because there's no response within 24 hours 🙄

Yet it's jump straight on because there's no response within 24 hours 🙄

It's actually fucking cheeky, and the more she emailed me the longer I would take to answer her.

I'd not worry about teacher getting back to you. Get DS to focus a bit more on that subject over the summer but at the same time let him have a break. If he says that reports were written earlier I'd believe him as that is what happens at my school.

Honestly he sounds like a good kid and will probably knuckle down in September once the prospect of the exams become more real, most lazy but bright boys do around that time.

If you want to raise it in September with the teachers do but keep in mind that they are on holiday now and really don't owe you a reply during their holiday so don't go in huffing and puffing about how they didn't get back to you before hand.

I would go by his exam resaults, you say he didn’t do well in his exam due to lack of revision? So he needs to try harder?

My dd’s Resaults change quite a lot, they get 2 separate grades, one for effort and attitude to learning and one for their actual grades. Dd’s are making not 7’s and 8’s (she’s going into year 10) but occasionally there will be a 5 or 6 thrown in which doesn’t always make sense. I don’t make her do any extra work in the holidays, she’s usually set a couple pieces of work in English and history (to help pusher her levels up to a 8) but I don’t make her do any work, I kind of leave her too it.

Yes, I only started working in a school this year but my husband who is an Architect kept asking me why my pay was so low considering my salary, I explained as it's a term time job they work it out with a 45 weeks a year calculation rather than 52 as he has and most people have. He proclaimed it was one big con!

I think your better to let it go.
Then next year between Sept and Dec remind him how bad his grade was due to the lack of revision.
Being a tiger mum can cause your child to lie and pretend to be doing work, no one can force him to work, so try encouragement instead.

I can't believe you'd even expect him to 'brush up' on topics during the holidays! Leave the poor kid alone and let him have his holidays. When school goes back, you'll get a response and find out whether he's lied or not. Then you can do what you like, but making him work during the holidays is just going to make him resent studying. Everyone deserves a break.

I hear a lot of complaints from teachers who say that the 6 weeks 'holidays' are not really holidays as they have a lot of work to do. Yet people are also suggesting that parents should not expect a response because they are on holidays! Which is it?

where is the confusion? None of the work I do over the summer involves interacting with students or parents. Most of it is at my discretion to arrange to do as and when fits in around my family. i already have shedloads to plough through, no way would I add to it by reading and responding to emails

Yes, sounds like he'll have a fun summer!

The OP emailed the teacher twice this week, when the teacher was in school, working

How do you know the teacher has been in the school working? our normal policy is an acknowledgement within two days working on site, and a detailed response within two weeks.

I have been on site twice this week, on Wednesday afternoon, briefly, then on Friday morning.

not enough time on site to qualify for the "within two normal working days" time to send an acknowledgement. Certainly wouldn't get any sort of response until about two weeks into September.

Whether he got a 4 or a 7 I think a boot camp over the summer is a terrible idea. They work hard enough for the duration of Y11 as it is without pressure in the summer holiday preceding the new academic year

I can't believe you'd even expect him to 'brush up' on topics during the holidays! Leave the poor kid alone and let him have his holidays. When school goes back, you'll get a response and find out whether he's lied or not. Then you can do what you like, but making him work during the holidays is just going to make him resent studying. Everyone deserves a break.

come results day, I will be able to sort out the children with parents like you purely from the look on their faces, and I will be able to identify the children with parents like the OP from the look on theirs.

yes, it is the summer, but no, year 10 children should not be abandoning their studies.

this is the time to revise, consolidate, practice, develop independent study skills and boost their grades.

They can do this in their own time and at their own pace, sure, but parents advocating they take the whole summer off are setting them up for a life time of disappointment, frustration and underachievement,

Is the school admin open still? I would call and check who is in - preferably his teacher, but hopefully someone who could review the mark/exam score for you before they break up.

Failing that, I would do the boot camp, tell your son that based on the results you have he needs the additional effort, which won't be wasted even if he has the better grade.

Just a point here: teachers are paid DURING their holidays not FOR their holidays. We are only actually paid for directed time in schoool: lessons, duties meetings, open eves and parents eves.

Everything done out side of that time is UNPAID overtime. During term time that can be an extra 20 hours per week.

The teacher probably forgot to reply, not ideal. But it is increasingly the case that parents expect a detailed email response/ long phone call for everything. I often don’t get a loo break or eat lunch between lessons/meetings/duties/running dt/data entry/marking/clubs etc.

One parent once in a while is fairly easy to respond to. But attitudes are changing and the amount of contact is getter no out of control really. My HoD spends nearly two hours a day replying to parental queries.

"Let your son have the summer holidays to relax and turn off totally from school/revision/worrying about his grades - because, in all honesty, he needs it with what's to come."

Totally agree with this ^^

My dd has just completed Year 11. Exhausting.

"but parents advocating they take the whole summer off are setting them up for a life time of disappointment, frustration and underachievement"

And this ^^ by contrast is total and utter bollocks

Can you get him to do last year’s paper and mark it yourself? They’re often available online.

Can you get him to do last year’s paper and mark it yourself? They’re often available online.

Better yet, why not just get him to mark it? He can give himself a grade 9 and then everyone's smiling.

Can you get him to do last year’s paper and mark it yourself? They’re often available online.

Please don’t do this. Last year’s papernis often the final mock before the exam. Again, more and more kids are finding them to do at home or with their tutor and it makes a mockery of the whole mock exam system and means his teachers will have no idea what he’s really capable of.