To think FFS at school teacher....

[Stanmorevisit]

Background: DD (secondary) in hospital for 2 weeks planned admission solid therapy to help fix an ongoing problem that school know about and she has soldiered through
Despite a lot of pain in school . She's doing hospital school whilst she's here. The hospital is nearly 3 hours from home, I have another child with SN so logistically its a nightmare and I've been splitting myself in two. family have visited when i cant. Except tonight when I actually made it in overnight, she has/Will be staying in on her own and done most of the therapy solo. She's also also going to be going back to school with a few day to day adaptations that will make her life easier but will be different. It will be hard as a cool preteen. She's in a metric ton of pain from strengthening muscles that haven't worked properly in along time and it won't be any easier next week. She's also essentially missing half term.

I get to (hospital ward) bed tonight to find one of her teachers has emailed me to say as DD has missed an test due to her injury, would I mind if she repeated the assessment on the first day back!!! They appreciate my support for her education!!!

End result is I'm up trying to write a polite reply when all I want to say is on what fucking planet are you on. I don't need to be dealing with this now and there us no way a full scale test should be happening DD's first day back at school after a major hospital admission.

AIBU to think you must be an absolute fuckwit to think that is ok.

Sofia I understand that the OP is having a very stressful time and her DD is not in a fit state to do any work.

BUT that is not always the case for every single child who is off school, even those who have been in hospital. Some of them are capable of doing work and indeed teachers are sometimes requested to send work home to keep them going till they get back to school.

The teacher asked if it was possible for the test to take place first day back. It’s not. The teacher doesn’t need to be hung, drawn and quartered for not knowing the exact medical implications of this hospital visit. We’re not doctors!

Hahaha to the poster who suggested a teacher would have time off to recuperate and wouldn't work from hospital. I'm a teacher and I've marked essays, set work and responded to emails from parents all from hospital.
I suspect the subject teacher doesn't know what's up (is it Stanmore rehab OP?) Schools have been hit by GDPR regulations and are erring on the side of caution and not telling teachers stuff about their pupils that would be helpful to know. He/she may think DD is in hospital this week and would have been back next week were it not half term.
Just let her know (as you have) and if you've copied in the tutor she can sort it out with the other teacher. I'd do that for my tutees.Leave it to he, don't worry about it, and focus on your DD. I've heard great things about Stanmore rehab, hope it helps her!

If I'm not allowed to hang draw and quarter the teacher, can I at least just stock and pillory her a bit...

BUT that is not always the case for every single child who is off school, even those who have been in hospital. Some of them are capable of doing work and indeed teachers are sometimes requested to send work home to keep them going till they get back to school.
The teacher asked if it was possible for the test to take place first day back. It’s not. The teacher doesn’t need to be hung, drawn and quartered for not knowing the exact medical implications of this hospital visit. We’re not doctors!
This.
Some absences I can think of have been:
Missing nearly 3/4 of their mainstream education for a number of years following a totally different curriculum administered by an EOTAS team.
Off school for a number of months but needed packs to work for a tutor or hospital team to teach our curriculum.
Off school and in and out of hospital but completing work to be submitted to school regularly.
Off school recovering from a medical issue and only returning when well enough to manage the demands of school
Off school and then phased back subjects at a time with rest breaks and half days etc for a period of time.

There's any number of options that don't involve "but the teacher should have known a load of medical details and should stop being a twat".

none of those options include "and let's get the kid to set a test the day the kid returns to school"

FFS

Stanmorevisit
It depends what it is and how the school assesses.

E.g. My GCSE class sat an English Language assessment last week. They did half an exam paper which is writing a piece of description or a story. No revision required because they've been developing those skills for 4 years already.
Equally, a short mark answer on unseen poetry or prose would be totally reasonable because any child who has been in school in the last year has done those things multiple times.
In those cases if a child is well enough to attend school then they are well enough to do those pieces as the only difference between those assessments and class work is that I'd be recording a grade.

But if it was a full GCSE literature exam on a topic only covered when the child was absent and requires substantial revision then obviously wouldn't be appropriate.

Maisypops the point of not testing someone on their first day back (especially when going back with adaptions they haven’t had before) isn’t because they might not have done the revision. It’s because they (and you) have no idea how they are going to take to being back in a demanding and tiring environment. Because they will be getting their bearings again. Because they will likely be more overwhelmed than normal and feeling fragile.

OP teacher may have no idea about the details of the hospital stay or the staged return, and coming back after half term, it isn’t at all out of the question that someone who’s coming back hasn’t had a whole week at which they could have been at school if the holiday hadn’t fallen then. So the teacher may just be trying to find out what the situation is without outright asking for information she’s probably been told she may have been barred from accessing. It would be good if the school gave enough support to families in your position to ease the return more. It must be hugely stressful. I hope recovery goes well.

BoomBoomsCousin
But depending on what the assessment task is it may be no different to class work.
That's my point.
(E.g. if a child isn't well enough to cope with writing a piece of descriptive writing and can't cope with the demands of a lesson then they aren't well enough to be in school. The fact a piece is going to get graded as part of an assessment would be irrelevant.)

There's no need for a blanket 'don't ever do this' because as many of us have said there isn't a one size fits all approach because each situation is different (see the sorts of examples I mentioned earlier. All required a different approach).

All staff can do is ask and if home say 'actually no and this is the bigger picture' then take it from there and adapt accordingly.

Maisypops It doesn’t matter if it’s no different to class work. The child has had significant medical intervention and is going back with new adaptions to her school life. She is going to be acclimatising to school again. She is unlikely to be performing her class work to her normal standard.

It’s like you either haven’t read the OP’s posts, don’t believe her, or just have no empathy for how someone whos life has been impacted and changed by significant health concerns.

*have no empathy for someone whose life has just been impacted and changed by significant health concerns.

I am curious. I am in California. My ds had an IEP at school because of his medical issues and his IEP very clearly delineated that he had medical issues that resulted in his missing significant amounts of school and that he would need accommodations as a result. All his teachers had a copy of the relevant bits from the IEP and in addition would have had the guidelines explained to them carefully by Ds' Case Carrier. Additionally, at a very minimum, the Los Angeles Unified School District Guidelines (Rules) clearly state that if a child misses school due to illness then they have to be given an amount of time back at school equal to what they missed to catch up. Ds' absences were so extreme that he needed additional accommodations. I know that IEP's (Statements) exist in the UK. Are they not done for children with chronic or severe illnesses?

Despite being extremely bright, Ds would have never made it through school without his IEP and as is, he left early and went on to further education where teaching style is far more flexible and suited to his needs.

BoomBoomsCousin
I have read the OP's posts.
I have said the OP should explain to school and let school know it's not appropriate in this situation.

What I'm disputing is all the people frothing about how it's never ok to ask about doing an assessment, the teacher is being a twat, email back going on about the law as if the teacher has failed in some sort of way.

There is not a blanket approach to these things (as I've said multiple times and given examples).

Some children won't come back to school until they can manage a full day properly, others do phased returns with part time tables, some complete a different curriculum when absent, some have packs of work because whilst they are resting physically at home they are able to keep on top of class work, others are so poorly thry miss over a year of mainstream education, others have high illness related absence and home have tutors who we work with, some have normal days when they come back in, others have reduced timetables with rest breaks in the learning support base.

There are many, many options depending on the child and the situation. People acting like there is a blanket approach to long term medical issues just show their lack of understanding.

You have my sympathy op. It’s not just the situation it’s how you’re feeling and having to deal with the situation.
I had similar when ds had an extended hospital stay, then was immune compromised so I called school to tell them he was going to be off at least 2 more weeks.
Teacher called, was sympathetic but suggested 4 weeks of just mornings rather than 2 weeks of. Was hard to explain that unless the viruses could take mornings off that wouldn’t help.
Concentrate on your dd and when it’s tkme to back to school make sure all staff know that she’s been in hospital.

@Maisypops please don't assume that everyone who disagrees with you has no experience. I have been a teacher, a child with significant medical absences, a parent if a child with SN, significant IEP who has had both planned and unplanned hospital admissions and the one my OP is about. I have either experienced myself through my children or through my friends children all of the scenarios you mention in your post

In no case would significant testing on the first day back have been appropriate

I can't think of one.

In sone cases DS has even been excused a spelling test.

Stanmorevisit

I have to agree with MaisyPops. If an in lesson assessment is taking place which requires no revision and is a means of assessing where they are with a particular skill, such as punctuation or grammar, rather than a means of assessing knowledge built up over the preceding weeks, then I don't see why the child should automatically be excused because they haven't been in school.

Thisreallyisafarce
It's always down to the specifics of an individual situation.

E.g. teacher knows full details and expects a full mock exam after 4 weeks absence - teacher is quite clearly out of order

Teacher doesn't have full info but child has missed 5 lessons and may be well enough - teacher is not unreasonable to ask the question

Blanket insisting from staff is unreasonable. Blanket claims that any assessed piece is always unacceptable is also unreasonable

I've been a secondary school teacher; I do teach now but primary.

Regardless of the reason I would NEVER expect any child to do an exam or test in their first day back after a period of illness or hospital stay.

I can't see how that's ever a good idea!

Aragog

I can't see why. If they're well enough for school and the test doesn't rely on knowledge taught during their absence, why make the exception?

I agree with @Maisypops as well.

Teachers are usually just given bare bones information about absence. This teacher has asked if you would mind - totally reasonable - all you needed to do was explain that on the first day that won’t be a good idea. That’s it. Why get in such a state about it ffs? It’s a request that’s been made?

Thisreallyisafarce

I'm sure you teach your kids the importance of getting all the information you need from the information provided, Right?

I said in the OP that this was a test that she missed.

So this isn't a test everyone just happens to be sitting. She will be pulled out if her regular maths class (missing the first taught lesson of a new topic) and peer group to sit on her own to do the test.

On her first day first day back from a significant medical absence.

In my second post I explained this may well be a test they use to organise setting. And DD has already suffered from the "just get on with it" approach last year.

To clarify further (this information isn't in my previous posts) They spent the week revising before they sat the test. For me this was a good thing as DD will not Th rough her hospital admission missed new learning.

Because the first day back after time off ill or in hospital is never going to be the day to get the best out of a child.

To be honest I don't even like tests on the first day back after. Half term, etc for ANY child. Half term is there for a reason - to give them a break. Not to,spend the whole time working and studying.

Obviously this is even more so if a child is ill or injured. If you're in pain or discomfort, whilst you have more time, your body is also working overtime to repair and heal the body. To,add additional stresses to that isn't ideal.

If a school wants to get the best from a child - which, after all, is what they should be aiming for - they should leave it a few days at least. Most people, adults and children, routinely return to work and school slightly earlier than full recovery. I've yet to meet people who stay off until they are 100T recovered.

As a result: Give the child space to return, get their head round being back in the school routine, get back into the whole routine of studying, completing work, etc. And also to catch up with friends and get that out of their system a bit. A;so, a return after time off can be quite tiring, mentally and physically.

And then, after a few days (week later perhaps), when the child is back into the swing of things, has had some time with less pain/discomfort and is used to being back - that's when they're generally more likely to be ready for assessment and when they're more likely to be up to showing their true potential.

I've yet to meet anyone who performs at their best on their first day back at work or school after prolonged time off.

Dear teacher

Thanks so much for getting in contact. DD is recovering well but will take a little time to acclimatise back into school life.
I hope it will be ok to postpone the test for a couple of weeks - thank you for checking with me I appreciate it. Please let me know if there is any particular area I can encourage her with in preparation.
Best wishes.

Yeah that’s weird, even if there had been scope to revise a bit- the pressure of going back straight to a test when it’s daunting enough to go back when you have been off; especially in hospital is really thoughtless.

But the teacher asked so it’s not thoughtless!!! Some parents would reply and say that was fine - she’s crawling the walls with boredom here etc. If the teacher hadn’t asked then it would be thoughtless. But it’s now not going to happen. So it’s really no big deal surely?