To be upset about the class Pods!?

[irishmammy85]

My DS (5) is starting school this year and they have been put into pods of 4/5 and not 1 of his good friends are in his pod...😭 surely it's pointless separating them as they will be having play dates outside of school!! Also does it not make sense to have them with their best buddies to make all this easier on them!? Aibu...I don't want to be THAT parent but I'm gutted for him already and they haven't even started 😫

YABU and you absolutely are being precious

They’re five, they will make friends with the children in their pod. You can choose to see the other children out of school if you like.

As a teacher you really should have some concept of the many factors that go into deciding children’s groups!

@EnidMatilda we always do it here...we even ask who they are friends with from playschool etc so that we can make the transition easier!

@Miner49er really because I wouldn't find it helpful for my pods to do it that way.

If I know that a child from pod A is Playing 2/3 times a week with a child from Pod B and in the instance that a child in Pod A displays symptoms of Covid and all of Pod A have to stay home then in theory so should Pod B. Do you see what I mean? As a teacher that's what I was thinking of!

@EnidMatilda all my parents are happy and I have given them the opportunity to let me know otherwise.

[quote irishmammy85]@Bunnybigears I Get that but why are they even bothering to pod them if they are just going to mix after school...surely that defeats the purpose! A pod is used to contain/control spread no??[/quote]
Well then that's your responsibility as a parent to make sure they're not mixing fgs. Use some common sense lol. If it's a problem don't do it?

Embarrassed that you are a fellow teacher!!! Should know better ...

I would rather my DC was separated from friends as he could be quite silly at that age and it did impact his learning.

It makes it harder for the kids who don't already have "best buddies" if they are put together. And they learn to mix, play up less, learn better... I'm sure you know all this.
After school is for the parents to maintain guidelines. You are being a bit precious, sorry.

Don't make a fuss over nothing, your child will be fine! Loads of children start school knowing no one.

How have the school managed this, staff wise???

We’re so short on staff now we can’t share TAs much that I have no one to cover me for a toilet or lunch break between 8.30 and 3.30 on at least one day a week....

@Looneytune253 I'm not going to stop living my life and visiting family (which we are allowed to do!) I will be collecting the other child from school alongside my DS a few days a week! I cannot avoid that...

@toobusytothink...I should know better than what...than having the children's interests at heart and making all of this as easy as I can for them...right ok I'm embarrassed that you don't see that!!

What does the pod actually mean? Are they only allowed to play with their podmates in the playground? How are they planning to police that?

My elder DC also starts school next month and there's been no mention of such nonsense thank goodness.

@SandieCheeks I would find that easier to be honest...but my DS is going to go into school and be told outright he cannot play with his cousin or his best friend...kind of makes for a shitty start don't you think?!

YABU.

Like the parent in our incoming class who was demanding multiple children be switched around between the classes because they were his child's friends and they should be with his child. Seriously. he thought he could dictate who was in his child's class. He also wanted a couple of children moved elsewhere. We've said no.

It's going to be a long year, and we haven't even started yet.

You sound nothing like any teacher i've ever known OP.

Are you in Ireland mammy?

And if you're a teacher, you should know better. Sometimes friends shouldn't be together in classes for very good reasons.

5 year olds make friends in 5 minutes. As a parent I would much prefer my son to be in a pod with new children that he didn’t know. He would be far more likely to mess about and be silly if he had friends in his pod. As it is, he starts reception in September and doesn’t know 1 child in his class of 30. But I’m not worried as he will soon find his own friends. I think you need to be a bit less worked up than you are!

Don't bring it up with the school, you will be making a holy show of yourself over a tiny issue. What you do regarding childcare and collections isn't in the schools remit and as a teacher, I wouldn't be allowing you input on class seating arrangements. As it's an infant class and social distancing isn't required they will be mixing anyway no doubt. The kid will be fine.

How have the school managed this, staff wise???

Pods are essentially glorified table groups, no extra staff required.

My friends twins are in separate bubbles in September. We can’t stop pods/bubbles from mixing

we even ask who they are friends with from playschool etc so that we can make the transition easier!

Maybe school asked preschool and preschool suggested mixing them up to either widen their friendship circles or put them in groups more conducive to learning.

I'm guessing a pod of 4-5 basically equals a table. And in a class of 18, they're not going to be completely isolated from their particular friends, just a bit distanced. Depending on the children, might mean teacher will need to do quite a bit of behaviour management needed around staying in seats and not calling across tables though.

As a teacher, you really should know how this goes. There are all kinds of reasons children are grouped in particular ways, including separating tricky combinations any way possible, alphabet, and literally names out of a hat. I'm sure at least one parent has whinged about your groupings in the past. Last year, I had complaints because 3 girls were close friends and I put 1 on the opposite side of the table (seats 4) to the others. How was I supposed to seat 3 girls next to each other when only space for 2?! (Also, previous teacher had suggested that the child I had "separated from her friends" was extremely adept at copying them to make it look like she was doing well when actually it was going over her head.)

You could always ask out of professional interest what the reasons were for grouping pods in that particular way.

@uglyface I have no idea we don't have TA's here in Ireland anyway.

@DappledThings that's exactly what it means...they work in the pod, the play in the pod...how it will be policed is by the teachers keeping them apart... it's going to be fun!!

Embarrassed that as a teacher you can’t trust other teachers. Surely you know that these kind of decisions aren’t taken lightly and in fact thought does go into them (which you did - I wasn’t referring to what you have done in your professional capacity as embarrassing). So you should know that you most definitely would be THAT parent 🙄

You're clearly hyper emotional over this and, to be honest, it's making it very difficult to empathise with any of your points. You wanted people to tell you the school are utterly unreasonable which they correctly IMO haven't done and you're on the defensive. Plus, as a parent, teacher and senior leader in a large primary school, you sound like a treat to work alongside🙄

I bet 20 quid you’re not a teacher

You also put me in mind of this OP: www.facebook.com/307568483030995/posts/1001947273593109/

Seriously, chill out. I know this is a stressful year for everyone starting (and returning to) school but you are making a mountain out of a molehill.