I think the teacher is wanting to see me about what I said on Facebook...

[TruckLoadOfSubtleGlitter]

Do I have a leg to stand on?

One of the TA's has been disregarding my 7yo DC's hard work and he missed out on 'extra play' despite doing the work asked of him (I can go into more detail if needed).

This is reading that is done at home and written in a book for school.

The TA was counting the reads, in fact totally ignoring most of them.

I bought it up with her, she tried to explain which made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
I played it over in my mind for 2 days and did not understand why they weren't counting all of my sons reads and why he was missing out. Reading doesn't come easy to him, he would rather not do it, it's a battle every day. Yet we do it, we record it, but it's not being ticked off by the TA (some is, some is ignored).

Still not understanding why 50% of it is ignored, I went on to the Facebook class page. It's a closed group of 20-30 parents. A closed and private group.

I posted a picture of his book and asked them to help me make sense of it. I don't understand??
Some other parents couldn't understand either.
I said I was really disappointed in the person who marked it. That I would mark it for them and add up his reads and do their job so they could see in black and white what work he had done. I haven't mentioned any names. It's happened to other kids too and they are missing out on 'extra play' as well despite doing the hard work.

DS has been in tears about this several times.

It wasn't an issue for the first 3 years at school and it wasn't a an issue for the 7 years my other DS was at this school. It's an issue now.

Now they have called me in for a meeting at 3pm - I cant make it today but I'm almost certain this is what it's about.
I think someone has reported me being annoyed with them and posting asking for advice about it on Facebook.

But surely I can ask for advice and express my disappointment (the only negative word I used, I was very careful!) no names mentioned?
I need to know if I've done something wrong here.

I'm still seriously fucked off them them so I held back what I really thought and just saved that information for my husband.

AIBU?

What I am not clear on is why don't you ask the school what the meeting is about? You don't HAVE to turn up to a meeting - they're not the police. And I wouldn't turn up to any other meeting without an idea of what it's about.

Regardless I think it's fine to share problems and seek solutions with an FB group but not fine at all to slag off anyone in that forum.

YABU - I wouldn’t dream of discussing a teacher or TA on social media. You should ask thebTa to clarify more, speak to the teacher or the head. They may just be calling you In to explain the system used. There’s not much they can do about people talking about them other than explain how whining about teachers to a bigger group is not constructive as each kid and situation is unique. Going down the ‘u ok hun’ route on FB isn’t going to help your child in any way.

I don't understand why you didn't ask her to keep explaining until you did understand? Surely she should be better able to explain than the other parents?

You might not have mentioned names but is likely people know who it is - if its a closed facebook than another parent didn't agree with what you said and told the school.
I don't get the angst...no luck with TA bring it up with the teacher for goodness sake! You made it much bigger posting it on a forum!! Remember you do have years of this school left....

And there is the perfect explanation for why teachers are leaving in their droves. I can't think of many jobs that I'd rather do less except prime minister.

I have never really felt sorry for teachers before I read so many threads about them on here by parents. Dealing with them would be enough to make me switch professions.

@Beaverhausen You disgust me with your attitude. I'm a teacher and last year had over 30 kids in the class, 8 of whom were in care, had terrible family situations etc. I also had a boy with ASD, and a group of children who struggled with the curriculum. I put in over 50 hours a week alone, including at 30 + weeks of pregnancy. How DARE you insinuate that teachers don't try their best. The government have put us in an impossible situation. The curriculum has become very difficult and excludes those with SEN, many learning support assistants have been made redundant due to cuts, and more than 50% of our job is pointless, government driven paperwork which eats into precious time we should be using to help the kids.
OP, did you bring this up directly with the class teacher rather than just the TA?

Not read the whole thread but here's my top tip : keep a pen in his bag and fill it in every morning as you are waiting for them to go in

@definitely - its just the online version of a chat in the playground though. don't kid yourself it's not happening all the time

If you have an issue with a professional then take your concerns to the school or the person you have a issue with.
agree to a point but if lots of people are having the same issue, it is much much better for them to share experience and collectively support and make change. Schools (most institutions) are terrible for closing ranks and not addressing issues.

Ok I've just looked through all the weekly school letters and it states that the reading is counted weekly. But it doesn't say what day of the week.

Home-Learning-
• 10 mins + Daily home reading to an adult. As discussed with many of you at parent consultations, this is vital. Keep building that reading stamina and asking about the meanings of new words you discover in your chosen book. Remember to record reading in books and we will continue to check these weekly moving their * towards the lagoon for a treat at the end of November – we still only had about 10 children achieving this for October.

Which is why it's never been a problem before.
It is a problem now and they aren't making it clear why.
To get the readings written down has been my assumption but I shouldn't have assumed because no one has actually told me this.
More fool me really.

You shouldn't have taken this to social media. Grow up.

So you don’t read the letters either but you bitch on fb?

You owe them a big apology.

*to get the readings written down by Thursday was my assumption

The TA presumably has 30 reading records to check and record each week. You expect her, in addition to that, to check the previous week's reading records in case the parent has filled it in retrospectively and change what she recorded the previous week. I don't understand why you think she should have to do that when it would have been so easy to do what the school expects and fill in the record on a daily basis.

I really don't understand your system for recording your son's reading anyway. You say you're too busy to write it in his book every day, but why doesn't whoever is listening to him note it down while he's reading or immediately afterwards? Why go to the trouble of writing in on a whiteboard and then writing it again into the book when you could write it only once?

I wouldn’t dream of discussing a teacher or TA on social media.

I didn't. I said I was disappointed, I asked them to help me understand how they marked it.
I didn't mention names.

But everybody in the class knows who you mean. And you bitched. Ffs.

Look at it this way

Week 1 - Friday to Thursday and checked on Friday. This record is then disposed of.
From this week, you have filled in Friday

Week 2 - Friday is completed (on the weekend) and Monday to Thursday is blank. The record is then disposed of.

And so it continues.

You need to imagine that the record is changed weekly and you have NO access to back fill what your child has done

OP, do you know what “discussing” actually means?

Because that is exactly what you did.

If they only mark it on a particular day, why not just keep the book at home until then, fake the results and hand it back in on the day it's due? As long as you do the reading when you can, who gives a fuck when it actually is? It's a tick box exercise.

It is checked on a Friday (for the most part) except for the 5th as there was probably something on the 9th that interrupted normal schooling.

You say you put in 8th to 11th on the 11th so when she marked it on the 16th she saw up to the 11th but she cannot tick 8th ir9th because that was the previous week (so not counted) but you didn’t have 12th to 16th do that couldn’t be ticked therefore your DS got 2 ticks for that week. The “WEEK” obviously runs from Saturday to Friday so when she marked on the 23rd she could only tick the 17th and 18th as anything up to the 16th has ALREADY been marked.

You didn’t need to mention names. School parents will know who the ta in your child’s class is!
And if you are being called in to speak about taking issues to SM then posting an identifiable thread on here (including an extract from a school letter just in case there’s any doubt) isn’t really going to look great if any staff or parents from the school see it.

Its a stupid system, if your dc is reading every night, that is the whole point. Just prefill in the reading record when you have a moment and ignore her irrational system.

Too busy to spend 30 seconds filling in his book? You must be Theresa May!

But yes I suppose when the TA is asked to tally up reading figures for the week it’s perfectly reasonable to have to come back and do yours on the following Monday.

I didn't. I said I was disappointed, I asked them to help me understand how they marked it. I didn't mention names

And all your friend(s) on FB know your child's school and year level and can infer the Teacher/TA.

Am I the only one totally appalled that any child is being punished for not reading? Especially a 7yo child?

Our DCs' school have always asked/encourage all the children to read every day. But they know this cannot always happen

1. Family commitments sometimes interfere (not a reasonable regular excuse but it happens occasionally.)
2. Outside activities may mean say, reading on a Thursday is just too much to do absolutely every week (especially when they are small and tire easily).
3. Reluctant readers - this could mean with a tired child the "battle" over getting them to read is not worth it - it would actively put them off reading. My DS at this age was reluctant. The school said do it as often as you can but "Do not make it a battle - it will put him off".
4. Difficult home life - either non-supportive parents or child-carer situations. Are these children punished too?!!

Seriously, in what world should a child of 7 be punished for not reading every night. Yes I know it is the ideal. But at this age it is surely more likely to turn reading into a chore and resented than a joy.

For what it is worth, my reluctant reader - now 10 years old - never read every night at this age - it was probably 4/7 nights. If that. We never turned it into a battle. He is now a total book worm and been assessed as having a reading age of 12/13+