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.

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

How ridiculous .

How ridiculous

not ridiculous at all, I see a constant stream of children severely let down by parents with this attitude,

just to remind you, the summer holiday was originally so children could work on the farm, not so they could spend 6 weeks doing nothing.

just to remind you, the summer holiday was originally so children could work on the farm, not so they could spend 6 weeks doing nothing

Yeah, but they weren't poring over books or doing "research", they were working in the fields. The 21st century equivalent would be doing the gardening/playing sport. helping round the house.

Exactly echt

Its attitudes like Clairetree's that are contributing to the explosion in mental health issues among young people

I agree with echt. Kids should be out and about or doing things- finding out stuff and letting loose.

They should not be locked inside studying. Nor should they be locked inside playing Fortnite. They should be outside playing, exploring and learning some practical skills.

A tiny amount of common sense says the sensible thing to do between Y10 and Y11 is to review topics you aren't sure about.

I've advised my students to refresh their weakest 2 areas over the holidays and consolidate their revision notes/flashcards from the y10 content so they don't have to make them all over again in y11 (they did some for material on y10 exams).

I certainly wouldn't be expecting a bootcamp, even for a weaker student.

As for lazy students, they need a kick up the backside and the realisation that they have to work. A bootcamp style revision set up doesn't achieve that because lazy students can fill 3 hours of revision time appearing busy but not actually revising.

One of my friends DC is having to work on three subjects over the summer. The school discussed it with her and advised her that he needed to get up to the standard of his class. My DD has homework to do over the summer also. It certainly isn't the time to take the foot off the pedal when you have important exams coming up. Factoring in small amounts of revision over the summer puts you in a good position for starting yr 11. We will have some parents who don't take an interest in there education, you have those that are extreme and those in the middle. However we have an expectation that our DC go to good universities and to do that a grade 6 and under isn't going to cut it I am afraid. OP there is nothing wrong with expecting your DS to do a little work over the summer.

I do not expect to be contacted by work when on holiday and they are aware of this. Neither do I disturb others at work when they are away.

Same should apply to teachers.

Jesus I wrote the several hours a day thing as I was waiting for a body pump class to start. I was trying to distinguish between brushing up if he's got a 7 and and doing more than that if it is a 4. The subject is science so it is basically 3 GCSE's or is it 2. He's doing combined not triple. So it's not like it is history least he can ditch that at A level. His dream career will require realistically a 7 in science, since what he wants to do is science based. I trying to support him to achieve his dream which is hampered by being immature and lazy. His teachers have always said he is easily capable of an 8.

I doubt I would literally force him to do several hours a day, it would be something he would be central to, in the decision making. It would be fluid and if he didn't want to then, i can't or won't force him.

Please don't make assumptions about our entire lives on the basis of a few posts. I have a lovely son and a great, loving relationship and this is a small worry. He's gone to an enormous school, in a big city, where many kids in his year have been experimenting with drugs, alcohol, fighting all over the place is off the scale, inside and outside of school. There are many kids in his year in notorious gangs and involved in knife gangs and god knows what else. He's got through all of that with never a bad word, never a detention or a behaviour card. 100% attendance at school. I feel enormously guilty for doubting his word but I did tell him he would have to work in the summer if he didn't do well in science and maths. He got a 7 in maths and hopefully a 7 if he told the truth in science. He might have been motivated to lie to avoid working in summer but his general conduct is not that of a liar. However as lovely as he is, he is not a perfect angel and I simply wanted confirmation one way or the other. I rarely contact teachers. I could count on one hand how many times in his 4 times at the school. My tone was polite and neutral. Maybe you could argue the teachers have too much on their plates to respond given all the behaviour distractions but he is in the top set and that I am given to believe it is pretty civilised in his class.

All I wanted to know was whether it was worth contacting them or not. Not to have my life so badly dissected. On one of the rare occasions I have contacted a teacher in the past, I remember receiving a reply at 9pm at night. This gave me the impression that teaching staff do reply out of hours. As do I and most professional people I know. I don't know what the general rule is in the teaching profession. Do they work during school holidays or are their holidays the same as children's school holidays? I've never been sure if the 2 are one and the same and never really cared until now.

Can I ask, hairymorag, and not in a goady way at all, what if they don't want to go to University ?

I have a cousin who went to University, and done very well, but I also had a friend who went and couldn't cope with it at all, it wasn't even her wish to go, but her DPs.

I am simply curious .

Your son's explanation that they used a previous data drop is perfectly feasible. I'd take more notice of what the teacher's comments are. A test is a snap-shot on one day, the comments will cover how he performing generally. Is he working hard?

If DS is finding some aspects difficult, has not been engaged with the lessons or has missed some of the work, then some brushing up might be helpful, if you are knowledgeable enough to help him.

However, the idea of the long holiday is that it is a break from school to unwind, to peruse other interests and go back to school refreshed and ready to learn.

As an aside, if it is a state school in England then end of year reports should have been sent out 10 school days before the end of term, so there is an opportunity given for parents to discuss the contents.

How "holiday" is defined seems to be a problem.

I get paid £35k/yr including "6 weeks holidays". Most people in my profession don't take as many as 6 wks.
This says avg teacher pay for secondary geography is £40.7k. Yet, "no holidays".
Except even the teachers I know really do have some time off every year. When they absolutely aren't working. Maybe 4 wks, +statuatory, about same as most folk in my job.
So basically, they take about the same amount of holiday, but they are paid more (than me) for annual salary.
I'm not feeling a lot of "poor you" in this situation.

Or he could just have the summer off like all other children and enjoy one of the last few times in his life that he'll get an extended 6 week holiday. Before he ends up in the real world? Does he care or seem concerned about his grade? If not leave him alone. He's fine.

On one of the rare occasions I have contacted a teacher in the past, I remember receiving a reply at 9pm at night. This gave me the impression that teaching staff do reply out of hours. As do I and most professional people I know. I don't know what the general rule is in the teaching profession.
Some CHOOSE to, but many sensible schools have an email policy where staff aren't replying to emails outside of reasonable hours.
In fact, I would go further and argue that members of staff who do reply at ridiculous hours are undermining their colleagues. I am not at work at 9pm and night and don't take kindly when parents think that because Mr Blogs replied at 11pm giving homework help for the next day I should too (true story!)
Do they work during school holidays or are their holidays the same as children's school holidays? I've never been sure if the 2 are one and the same and never really cared until now
This comes up every year.
Our holidays are our holidays.
We are NOT contracted to work in them.
We are contracted to work 32.5 hours a week for term time only + 5 PD days.
We cannot be directed to work in our holidays (like every other job!).
We are not expected to be contactable during the holidays whether that's from colleagues, SLT, students or parents.

We have our OWN planning and preparation which we tend to do in the holidays and most of us accept that as part of the job.

It's not bloody rocket science. If school is closed and staff are not at work or are on holiday, you can't reasonably expect a reply.

At my school teachers usually go away (if at all) during the first few weeks of the summer holiday, so that they have time for lesson planning etc when they get back. Doesn't necessarily mean they'll check their emails during that time, but it's more likely they'll check them at home/in school than while they're lying on a beach in Mexico! Give it a couple of weeks and you might get a response. A few weeks won't make a significant difference to your son's progress, and I say that as a former maths tutor. (Also several hours every day is insane even if he is on a 4, but you've been told that already.)

You're also more likely to get a response if you've made it clear that a) this is a simple fact-checking query and you're not asking for an in-depth report on everything he needs to work on, and b) your reason for asking is to see whether he needs to do summer work and not to harangue the poor teacher for giving your PFB a lower grade than he deserves. A 'sorry to email you during the holiday' wouldn't go amiss either

Leesa65 not goady at all, I have 4 DC. One is at Uni, my DD has chosen a career path that will require her to go to Uni. My DP and I have professional roles and my DP is very academic and went to a good uni to study medicine. Our niece is in Cambridge Uni and as a family its openly discussed and all the adults discuss how proud we are of the DC and how well they are all doing. Obviously if any of my DC would rather chose a different path and perhaps do an apprenticeship I would support that too and they may not be able to cut it academically anyway. I should add that no one in my own family had gone to uni until my eldest DS, I came from a house with a disinterested in education parenting style. I just want to do my best for my DC and give them opportunities I didnt have myself

Sorry, x-post re the several hours a day bit!

@psychomath that's exactly what I have done. No long winded analysis needed just a number.

Most of the teachers I know tend to be away towards the start of the holidays (as there's fuck all point going in and sorting out classrooms etc when they're just going to get messed up again with the summer cleaning/repair work - so they all tend to hang fire with the school related work till toward the latter half of the holidays) so you're much less likely to get replies at the beginning.

Just the general pattern of working and breaks I've seen from various colleagues over the years.

I've emailed the school office during the holidays in the past, not expecting a reply but just getting the email there for whoever picks them up at some point - and the teacher in question has actually replied a few days later - but it was one who is a total workaholic and not typical of the others in the school (and definitely not expected to get a reply with any remote degree of urgency).

£40.7k average salary for a geography teacher?! I don’t think so. I wish! Haha! Certainly not for a bog standard classroom teacher!! www.nasuwt.org.uk/uploads/assets/uploaded/6319e9f3-9a9d-4c6a-b6feadae64abdba7.pdf

But that figure is plucked from nowhere llijkk. The government made up a figure of about 37k average, but this is highly disputed by the unions. Main pay scale is 22-33k, ups 3 so performance related and minimum 11 years teaching experience is £36k. 50% of trainee teChers will give up teaching within five years and many academies are largely staffed by mainscale teachers but I would suggest that no one could even vaguely tell you accurately average geography teacher salary.

The teacher may or may not read your email, may or may not have access to the data to check your DS's scores and may or may not be able to or to wish to spend their holidays answering emails from parents (if they reply to one parent, then they should reply to them all - working 50+ hours per week is one thing over term time, it's another to expect staff to answer emails in the holidays).

Assume you won't hear anything, that your DS is telling the truth and decide what to do with him. As it is Science (I'd guessed Maths), he may be finding some aspects harder than the others and may appreciate the chance of some support, especially if perusing science is important to him.

I have sent an e-mail to a parent this morning (primary teacher).

We had discussed something a couple of weeks ago, which in the end of term full-on busy-ness I had failed to send her. She sent in a very polite query / reminder on the last day of term, and I replied to it this morning.

a) I would say that primary teachers, on the whole, are more likely to do work over the summer, just because 'setting up the classroom for the new year' is a much bigger job when books, pegs and drawer labels are needed, where the 'classroom environment' is a much bigger element in everyday teaching & learning, and where a classroom is a class's 'home' for a year.

b) I was asked, and reminded, with exemplary politeness and courtesy. i know that this shouldn't be a factor, but human nature being what it is, it DID make a difference to my motivation!

psychomath that's exactly what I have done. No long winded analysis needed just a number

Your OP required a detailed response, so YABU you piss and moan about the responses. Especially in AIBU.

Arf at your body pump class as an excuse.

"avg teacher pay for secondary geography is £40.7k"

What the link doesn't state is the includes HT/SLT wages. An NQT starts on £22,917. I've been teaching 15 years, have a TLR and I'm on less than that average quoted