Is this school newsletter too rude?

[RudeHead]

NC as obviously outing to other parents. This week's primary school newsletter had the following from the head^^ about parents' evening...

Thank you for all the positive comments that teachers received yesterday. They all work so hard for each child in their class. Though I have noticed that there are too many parents not attending the parents meeting and making individual appointments with teachers before and after school This will not be allowed. We start at 1.30pm and finish at 7pm so whatever job you have, you can still make the consultation. I have to keep the workload down for our teachers. If there is a reason why you cannot meet on the designated parent consultation, which is dated in September, then please write to me.

AIBU that this is unacceptably rude? I feel like I should write in or something. I get her point but surely there's a better way to make it?

The worst are the ones who talk about their husband's job like it's their achievement.

You mean like YellowFish?

We do know that bad Teachers exist and I do not deny this. Part of my job used to be to weed them out and to promote best practice.

I am not above telling a child that the Teacher was wrong, btw. She was. Very very wrong. And bad. And horrible. Nasty. Uncaring. A Let-down. Get rid of her!

Ellyess, I sincerely hope that you have not "weeded out" teachers based on such flimsy evidence. You have no idea of the actual circumstances of that poster's allegation. I

All these people who are too Busy and Important to create time off to discuss their child's education; when do they manage to fit in actually spending time with their kids at all, with these inflexible and lengthy working hours.

If their working hours are inflexible it may happen to coincide with parents evening and they can't change it. Every other evening that week they may be free. For example if they were teachers who had their own parents' evening to attend that night. For 95% of parents at least one could attend if they planned in advance but not for all.

For 95% of parents at least one could attend if they planned in advance but not for all.

Well, if 95% of parents were turning up at the OP's school for Parent Consultation on the designated evenings, presumably the HT wouldn't have felt the need to write that letter (which I agree is poorly worded). Obviously there was a trend developing of people expecting to swan in at all sorts of other times, which severely impacts teachers' workload.

@OhDearGodLookAtThisMess

Where did I say any of that in my post? It's very obvious that parents are not bothering to make arrangements in advance and just expecting teachers to accommodate them at their convenience and that's why the headmaster has had to react. I was responding to the poster who said that because a pair of parents aren't available on one particular night they're not spending anytime with their kids which is obviously not fair.

95%, if applied to my class, would mean that over 3 Parents' evenings - so 18 months' worth - the parents of 5 -6 children would need to be seen at another time.

I'd settle for that, absolutely. It's currently running at at least 3x that number (ie parents of 5-6 children each time we hold a Parents' evening), with an increasing trend.

OhDearGodLookAtThisMess

The point is most people CAN make it and don't require a separate appointment, but think they do for various reasons and excuses thus the head's letter.

@cantkeepawayforever To be fair I pulled that figure out of my ass I imagine it wouldn't be more than 1 in each class where neither parent could make it at all. My parents evening happened to be quite inconvenient for me and DH couldn't take time off work on that day but I wouldn't have dreamed of deciding to offload that inconvenience onto the class teacher.

DC are both in primary school and there are various slots (some before school some after) available over a few days. It's easier as our school has childcare before and after. YOu'd have to be VERY unlucky to be unable to make any of the appointments.

JingleJangle, I am aware of that. It is exactly the point I have been making all along.

So I haven't read the whole thread. But if I wanted a discussion with my child's class teacher I would not expect to be told 'This will not be allowed ' I think he/she needs to remember who the recipients are and have a little respect. Parents are not school children and even if you think the message is valid (which I don't think it is-what about single parents, those who have a number of dependents and no support etc, not to mention shift patterns), the tone is not. Unfortunately, there are some teachers who go from school to university and back to school without putting a foot in the real world.

@Devora13 You may not be bothered to read the rather lengthy thread, but you really ought to read the original post. It's about set piece parent teacher meetings. It's not about extra chats you may need with the teacher during the course of the year. And it's giving six months notice for people to get themselves organised.

So an extra chat to discuss your child's progress. I'm sorry, I understood parents' evenings were to discuss your child's progress. What else would you be chatting about?

@devora13

Parents evenings are to discuss a child’s progress. If there were any issues or concerns about anything - progress, behaviour, bullying - then I don’t know any school or teacher that wouldn’t meet with the parent. In my own experience as a teacher, I’ve contacted far more parents to discuss issues with their child than vice versa. I wouldn’t have waited till parents evening to bring up an issue. To me parents evening is more about drilling down into how they’re getting on in my subject and pointers to make better progress, not about issue raising.

YellowFish123 - your dh does work from home. The reason I know this is because he and I are shagging. A lot. I don't like the way he refers to me as a 'client' though, so could you have a word in his ear please?

the real world
Ah yes! That old insult that people like to sling in teachers' direction.
Most teachers have more experience of "the real world" than most office/shop workers will in their whole lives. We see, first-hand, the impact that family break-up, addiction, poverty, neglect, abuse, bullying and much more, have on the children and families we interact with daily.