Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wish schools would scrap registration

217 replies

gettingevenhotter · 27/07/2018 11:18

Seems to make more sense to me to register kids in lessons.

We could finish half an hour earlier if this was the case. Bliss.

OP posts:
Dopplerineffect · 27/07/2018 14:38

I agree with you to some extent op. The form time is literally my most stressful part of the day ( partly because its not in my own classroom) and we have it twice! 20 mins in the morning and 15 in the afternoon.

Now I can cope with the morning. I check uniform. We have a schedule like pp said but it goes down like a lead balloon. Hence stressful. So now I just talk to them and build relationships. My Dd is coming to my school next year. A group of girls in my form can’t wait.

Now the afternoon 15 minutes is like the wild west and I tell them that. Loud, excitable, 10 mins to calm down. It really is a waste of time.

I can understand 15 mins in the morning for assembly, lateness, uniforms and information. The afternoon gives me the sickness ( even now thinking about it in the holidays)!

LimeIce · 27/07/2018 14:42

@Sparklyshoes16 Dd has had the FT for the last 3 years and I've never seen her. She's been helpful over email though and seems to take the role seriously

Dopplerineffect · 27/07/2018 14:45

We also have a form mentor day where we are off timetable and meet all the parents.

Well those who want to.

Newuseronboard · 27/07/2018 14:48

We have registration in the morning and afternoon at my primary school.
It is built in to the timetable so causes no problems.

Registration is important and I would imagine even more so in secondary. Students have the opputunity to deal with any issues too.

Gottensomedraws · 27/07/2018 14:57

OP - do you gain extra payment from this role? Just interested what your motivation is to do it otherwise?

Piggywaspushed · 27/07/2018 15:01

Hahahahahaha gotten, that's a good one!

PumpkinPie2016 · 27/07/2018 15:07

I really like the time with my form. We have 15 mins in the morning and once a week that is extended to 30 mins so we can reach PHSE.

We don't have afternoon registration and pupils are still registered in each lesson.

I find I am not stuck for things to do - far from it! In a week we do news (watching newsround and discussing the issues raised) - the kids love this one!, assembly, PHSE, numeracy/literacy - takes various forms.

In addition we give out messages, ensure pupils have the correct equipment for the day (I lend my kids something if they have forgotton to ensure that the teacher in lesson isn't having to find a pen etc.), monitor report cards and have general conversations with them. Also, things like careers guidance and fundraising stuff is fine in forms.

There are two pupils in particular in my form who have had some tough times this year and I have worked with both ensuring the are accessing the support offered and just checking in with them regularly to make sure they are ok. Gives them someone who isn't linked to a subject to talk things over with.

I love being a form tutor and would miss the time with them if I didn't have it.

pieceofpurplesky · 27/07/2018 15:30

Gotten I really hope that was a joke!
I love my form - nothing like taking a group through the whole five years and being part of their changes. It amazing Grin

3BriansWithNoShirt · 27/07/2018 15:42

I think form time is a way of forging a “bond” of some sort with one particular teacher. When I was at school and in the first year especially, it was nice to have that link with a certain teacher and certain peers, as in the second year when you’re all split up it can be quite daunting.

Plus I work in school admin and loads of pupils tend to piss off after lunch so that little window of time after lunch when the tutor knows which kids were in school that morning or if they are authorised to be absent in the PM saves a lot of misunderstanding from “after lunch” teachers who don’t know who or who isn’t in school that day

Original poster
gettingevenhotter · 27/07/2018 16:06

Afternoon reg definitely needs to go.

OP posts:
OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow · 27/07/2018 16:18

Anyone got the hell of verticle tutor groups? We had it for a few years to "foster good relations" between the years.t It didn't.

Original poster
gettingevenhotter · 27/07/2018 16:19

I can imagine Grin

OP posts:
haggisaggis · 27/07/2018 16:31

Our council (in Scotland) got rid of it last year in order to extend teaching time. I am not sure it is wholly successful. It means Period 1 actually ahs to start at 08.55 - so beginning of lesson frequently disturbed and messages get lost etc. The instances of us receiving texts because our child not in school has increased too (as the teacher of that period has forgotten to do the electronic registration).
It used to be vertical tutor groups which I think worked quite well - certainly my dc used it to get help with homework on occasion!

Piggywaspushed · 27/07/2018 16:34

Wel haggis I think this just proves that OP is deluded if she thinks getting rid of reg would give her an earlier home time! It's all about 'maximising learning' these days!

Original poster
gettingevenhotter · 27/07/2018 16:36

Deluded ... another lovely insult. Never mind. At any rate, I do think the afternoon reg needs to go, and the morning one could do with being ten minutes shorter at least.

OP posts:
Piggywaspushed · 27/07/2018 16:53

I agree that afternoon reg is difficukt and think it should be am but often powers that be think lessons are better off starting at 8.30. It's actually quite an old school school that has two regs. But just be careful what you wish for. We took time off pm reg and removed am reg and just ended up finishing 10 minutes earlier and a shorter lunch hour after all that!!

TheOnceAndFutureQueen · 27/07/2018 17:06

I’m not farting about giving detentions. Way to make your form hate you.

Well there's a big part of your problem then. I give detentions to my tutees if they don't behave as expected/come in properly equipped and they don't hate me. In fact I'm on maternity leave at the moment and when I went in to visit recently a large group of them were begging me to come back soon. It sounds like you think it's a waste of time, therefore don't actually bother trying to make it productive.
Hardly surprising you have the issues you do if that's the case.

Fancyaruck · 27/07/2018 17:14

Even if you don't like them, surely you can appreciate that for some students, having a consistent friendly (hopefully!) face in the same room at the start of every school day can be reassuring and set them up well for the day - especially if they have a chaotic home life? My tutor times are sometimes filled with important stuff - PSHE, careers talks, notices - but other times half the class engage in nonsensical chatting whilst the others help each other finish homework that's normally due the next period. I wouldn't drop it for the world - it's definitely allowed me to build fantastic relationships with the vast majority of my tutor group.

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 27/07/2018 17:33

Do you have to be a form tutor? That’s a genuine question, because it’s such a chore for you that it may be better if you didn’t have to do it.

As a HoY, I’d want people who were keen to be tutors.

Dopplerineffect · 27/07/2018 17:45

Yes in most schools you do. The only ones in ours that aren't are SLT, part time and NQTs. However I was one in NQT.

I sure most people would love the extra 35 minutes a day to mark. I would thats for sure.

Original poster
gettingevenhotter · 27/07/2018 18:28

I would as well!

I don’t find detentions a particularly effective form of managing behaviour anyway.

OP posts:
Eemamc · 27/07/2018 19:40

It kind of depends how you do the detention tbh

Original poster
gettingevenhotter · 27/07/2018 19:47

Mostly it just takes valuable time away from you and time they need to relax away from them.

They are only effective when part of a whole school system IME.

OP posts:
Tanaqui · 27/07/2018 20:18

I don’t think Piggy was really calling you deluded- more pointing out light heartedly that the school will get their pound of flesh somehow! I’m primary, so no insight here, but I do like a calm start to the day so I’m sorry if it isn’t that for you!

IncyWincyMouseRat · 27/07/2018 20:37

We had loads of clubs running during tutor time. I did so many (two choirs, jazz band, various other bits and bobs) that I could easily roll into school (and frequently did) 30 mins late and no one knew because registration wasn’t taken in the clubs and my form tutor would have marked me as elsewhere, not absent. They did do a trial of tutor time after lunch, instead of the morning, for a year... it didn’t stick but I don’t really know why.

Swipe left for the next trending thread