To think secondary schools could scrap the tutor period?

[padthehallways]

I think most schools are like the one I work in, with a twenty / thirty minute tutor period either in the middle of the day or first thing. Once a week assembly.

Ours is currently first thing, and once a week we don’t have it and finish twenty minutes early.

Do we need it at all? Once a week assembly for each year group, so once a week in a bit earlier.

Maybe in my naive utopia I’m thinking it would reduce school traffic a bit with staggered starts, give teachers a bit more time (yes teacher bashers, we do need it) and reduce another layer of stress.

Perhaps I’m being naive.

I have a year 10 tutor group. They don’t engage in or show any real interest in the tutor activities. The whole session is a bit of an unnecessary pain tbh.

Surely then as a teacher you need to consider how you doing things and make changes to encourage engagement?

When I was in high school my tutor was bloody useless. Its actually a revelation that they are supposed to be there for pastoral care.

In theory @Sirzy, that sounds fine, doesn’t it?

In practice, motivating students in twenty minutes to engage with a quiz or to do revision for a myriad of different subjects is not realistically possible.

My kids school dropped the form time last year. My DDs really missed it, they are much happier now it has been reinstated. They both like their form tutor, but one of DD1's friends had a personality clash with hers and so moved forms during Y7.

Tutor time has been very beneficial for my DD and I wouldn't want that to change.

I think tutor period is really important.

With lunch being only 30 minutes and kids having to eat, use toilet etc in that time, and the other break being only 10 minutes, the tutor time is the only chance the kids get to properly chat to each other and have discussions about things that aren’t about the lesson they’re in.
And it gives them a good bond with the teacher in a lot of cases that isn’t able to be formed with a teacher actually teaching them Maths or whatever.
Things can be a bit more relaxed in tutor time and having it in the morning, like at my child’s school, eases them into the day nicely and wakes them up rather than walking straight into a science lesson about covalent bonding when maybe an hour before they were still asleep. 😅

I think if children aren’t engaging then that is the fault of the teacher tbh. DS really enjoys tutor time - but his tutor really shows interest in them. They each take a turn to make little Kahoot quizzes and chat through what’s coming up at school.

People haven’t really explained what is so essential beyond pointed comments about ‘showing an interest’ in the students.

I have them for twenty minutes three times a week, so any interest is always going to be a bit restricted. I see far more of the students in my own classes.

If you think it’s essential that’s fair enough. But the ‘well you must be a bad form tutor’ is just daft. No one accuses you of being a bad parent if your child isn’t overjoyed in your presence all the time.

My daughter's tutor is fab and has been a great support to her during some difficulties she's been having. DD enjoys tutor time, it's where she's made her closest friends and it sets them up for the day

So how would you structure pastoral care then? What are your suggested other ways?

People have given plenty of examples of how it has been so important to their children. One poster even said their school tried to get rid of it and realised it didn’t work.

And if a parent was struggling to engage their children yes the advice would be to change what your doing. If you can’t engage the children in your care then your doing them a disservice

@Porfre, me too! I looking back now and am stunned that they were supposed to do anything apart from take the register!

I went to a so-called "good school" too

*I'm

My child’s daily 20mins tutor time is at the end of the day -everyone’s tired and wants to leave/go to co-curricular activities.

They already have weekly House, Year and whole School assemblies and a constant stream of daily emails as well, so it does seem a complete waste of time for everyone.

People have said their children like tutor period because they like their tutor. That’s lovely, but it also doesn’t really mean there is anything special happening in that period that makes it essential.

Tbh @Sirzy, I’m not looking for an argument here. I know when I was at school, tutor period was registration and that was fine. We now have electric registration and have done for some two decades so it isn’t quite as essential as it once was. Yet schools hang onto things, I find.

Re pastoral care, I’m not a pastoral teacher so I don’t profess to be an expert but I also don’t think twenty minutes at the start of the day solves all pastoral issues.

That is a pain @Georgie8

Staggered starts wouldn't really work at my school because of the amount of kids who come in on buses. Like who supervises the kids who start later and where would they go?

Also tutor time is when the pshe curriculum is delivered and intervention

I can quite see that re the buses.

We don’t do PSHE in tutor - it’s done in days, one every half term.

I bloody love form time and working with my lot even though I tend to be given/collect quite a lot of the tricky customers and they do cause me no end of frustration at times.

Taking a form through is one of the pleasures of teaching in my opinion and I'd hate for it to disappear from my day. That said we are only 20 mins every day with one of those being assembly so it's not a massive chunk of time, plus we have a pretty good pastoral routine that isn't so rigid that we can't do our own thing a bit as well. We have some December rituals that I'm looking forward to new members of the form experiencing with my old hands.

It's important to have that tutor time, as it's classed as pastoral care. Any problems get picked up and dealt with. I loved tutor time, it made me feel connected, and it provided a base to touch in. It makes you feel like, someone cares about you and the group, and gets to know you all.

Nine times out of ten tutor time has been when any issues my older three were having came up. That tended to be the teacher they’d speak to about problems, and in one case it was that teacher who spotted the problem.

I think the regular contact with a member of staff who isn’t focussed on teaching a specific subject is important.

Tutor in my old school was an absolute waste of time. It just made students grumpy waiting around and I never saw the point of waking up early to sit around for no reason.
I can't say I ever had a good tutor or one that I felt knew me or cared.
I remember I went with a friend to tell the tutor she was being bullied and scared of being assaulted by a gang of girls. The tutor told us this isnt primary school anymore and to stick up for herself. So she did. She was assaulted twice and had to have a head of year walk her to the bus after school every day.

In my DS2's school they do PSHE in tutor time, so this week they have been doing stuff on anti-bullying, and they'll do sex ed, relationships, have topical conversations, etc. They keep the same tutor group for their whole time at secondary school so the teacher knows them really well and they trust him. It has been really good for DS especially going back after lockdown.

It isn't quite as structured in DS1's, but in years 10 and 11 they move tutor groups to support them with GSCE subjects. So for example he was moved after half term to an English tutor group as he needed support with that subject more than others. I'm not sure whether that is ideal as is feel a bit disruptive to change mid term, but he is happy with it.

Even if you didn't have tutor time, how could you have staggered starts - their first lessons would still begin at the same time? Would they just hang around in the playground for longer?

I agree 20 mins the time a week isn't enough to get to know them well. In my daughters' school they have two slightly shorter tutor sessions every day, and the same tutor stays with the class from year 7 to year 11 (unless they leave, obvs)

By the time both my daughters were in year 10 and 11, their tutors knew them really well and were in a great position to support them through the rocky road of GCSEs and all the anxiety inducing stuff that happen around that time. And their tutors were genuinely someone I knew I could always rely on to understand what was going on in the class and keep an eye out when things were difficult.

You’re right about the staggered starts

Perhaps it is assembly that has had its day!