AIBU to say something even though it has nothing to do with me?

[Pleaseletitbenaptime]

I received a notification today via the primary school app stating that children in the year group above my DS need their parents to email in photos of their home and their child's bedroom as they will be doing some creative writing on their homes next week.

Whilst we are fortunate to live in a nice home I know that not all children at the school will and I know that if I had to do this as a child I would have been horrified due to my own home conditions. Not only that but working with families in the area where we live I know that poverty and the effects of it are very real and I would say that there already are noticeable disparities at the school due to the way the catchment boundary works.

As mentioned this has absolutely nothing to do with me, and I am fully aware that I could be projecting my own feelings on to this but WIBU to send an email in just saying that this could potentially cause some children and parents to feel very uncomfortable and maybe they could consider the children finding pictures of homes they like online/ imagining and drawing a dream home etc as another option?

[quote Nix32]@Nanny0gg Children love to talk about themselves. It's not lazy, it's about taking an interest.[/quote]
Talking about themselves is all very lovely (and actually, not all children want to do that) but it's very different to intruding on their home circumstances.

But if the children don't bring in pictures the teacher will have to make the effort to find links/pictures themselves. That's more effort

I remember being asked to describe our homes in primary school and draw a picture. One of my friends copied mine.
Even at such a young age children are aware of differences.

It's shocking that they would suggest this. It would make some children feel terrible and could easily lead to bullying.

Terrible thing for the children to have to do. You are right to email in. Schools do not think sometimes about their pupils families different circumstances. They want children to wear uniforms etc to make everyone equal then they do foolish things like this which just highlight differences. My DCs school did a graph about which children had apple watches, laptops, mobile phones and a switch etc in maths. That gave me the rage because my child came home asking why they didn’t have a lot of those things because all their friends claimed they did. I don’t know what teachers are thinking sometimes.

Thank you everyone for your responses - I'm glad that I wasn't alone in my thinking.

The head teacher was in the playground at pick up time so I managed to have a quick chat with her (I would have spoken to the teachers who issued the notice but had no idea what they look like)- said she didn't know anything about it and shared my concerns re disparities and safeguarding so I'm sure an amendment to the original notice will come soon!

My son's class recently did a project about different types of houses. They were asked about houses in their family and for photos. I was hugely uncomfortable with this, as it happens the parents/ grandparents all have lovely homes (ours modest but actually really identifiable locally - so other children might pass it on to parents without meaning to be indiscreet). But i was thinking about the teachers / TA's it just felt really intrusive. So I had my son draw pictures, kept it more vague (i did include a close in photo of a blue plaque on one though). The teachers surely realise this is very personal stuff. It was bad enough "inviting" whole classes into our dining room for online learning.

Send the email. It will be even harder for someone who does feel embarrassed of their house to speak up.

Nice one op

I’d feel the same OP.

It’s very shortsighted of the school.

I still remember an assignment when I was 9 for all the children to weigh ourselves then plot the graphs and charts out.
I was mortified and pretended to be weighed and lied about it then the teacher made us all do it again and of course, I was 3 stone heavier than I’d said (I was a big kid)

It’s stayed with me forever and I felt so much shame about the comparison. I was the heaviest child by quite a bit
The kicker was the teacher sitting me down after telling me weight didn’t matter and we shouldn’t be ashamed. Clearly SHE didn’t care about weight because she wasn’t the one who was now the official fattiest kid in the class!

I heard about bed poverty recently, some children have very poor living conditions. I was always embarrassed about our little home, DM was a single mum and so we were always skint. I’m so glad you managed to speak to HT.
www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/bed-poverty-children-north-east-22332867

@Nanny0gg

Send the email and refuse to send in pictures.

Surely they could find some online or on Instagram.

What tone-deaf, lazy teaching.

It’s not remotely lazy, it’s personalised.

Oh god, we lived in a terrible state when I was young this would have been terrible for me. I would email in...

I remember being asked at school to find out what Dad did for a living. I think I was about 8 ish. I was told to tell the teacher he was a safe cracker. I got into so much trouble! My Dad sent the teacher a letter about it because I had been really told off! I didn't even know what a safe cracker was! Dad was actually an aircraft engineer, but was very much a believer of "Big Brother" and George Orwell's 1984. Creative writing indeed.