School won’t let me see his books

[Stephthegreat]

I had an appointment for parents eve last week with my ds Y3 teacher.For the past year he has been struggling with his work and I have been asking the teacher for more help for him.

The class is split year 2 and year 3 and the class teacher works with the year 2 and my ds class have an assistant. The teacher oversees this work. My ds has no confidence and is anxious about school now.

I wanted to see his exercise books last week as the teacher said ds is lazy (she said it in a more polite way)! The teacher said they don’t have a policy of putting the books out for parents any more. Ds said he often cant do the work because he doesn’t understand and puts his hand up.The assistant teacher only works with a SEN boy. Other children are like my son in the class and are sat with hands up but the parents say they don’t like to complain.

AIBU to ask the head for a meeting and have I right to see my child’s work?

My ds is in a similar situation. Is the school an academy? I would definitely raise your concerns with the headteacher.

I'm a bit confused whats actually happening what info has come from the teacher and what from your son. You definitely need clarification how your son and others are being taught and helped when they're struggling. If thevteacher is not giving you enough info the headteacher would be the next step.

That sounds pretty poor and it sounds to me as if they don’t want parents seeing the books and asking awkward questions.

When she said they dont have a policy of putting them out, did you ask why? Or ask to see them anyway?

In the mixed year groups I know the teacher teaches the whole class

There shouldn't be a situation where the children of one year are constantly with the TA. The teacher should be teaching the whole class.

It sounds like they have big issues. Email the head. Of course you can see your child's work - I'd be pushing hard as it sounds like they have something to hide and they damn well know it.

If what you've said is correct it is shocking. Everyone needs to be taught by the teacher. I've taught two, three and even four year groups at once (tiny school). You help everyone. In a two year group class they can all be doing the same area of learning anyway, just differentiated to meet year group objectives. I'd show any parent who asked books and would be delighted they were taking an interest.

I will write to the head, my ds really is struggling. What's worse is the homework is so difficult and many can't do it. The class teacher is busy getting the year 2 ready for SATs.

I would move school tbh

We're still on virtual parents evenings so I'm impressed you're allowed in but assume they don't want parents touching large piles of books. You could ask to see the teacher after school and look at the books?

If the assistant teacher only works with a SEN boy I assume. They are funded to work with that child and they have v limited capacity to support others.

I think I'd start with a meeting with the teacher, if this doesn't resolve things, then see the head.

My DC go to an academy with mixed classes and the teacher teaches them all except when the teacher is off sick or has to go to a meeting, then the assistant takes over. I’ve always wondered if the assistant gets paid any more for the obvious extra responsibility but I bet they don’t. Crazy.

Fwiw, I’ve never seen their books in this school either. Their old school wasn’t an academy and I always saw their books at parents evening. No idea if this is an academy policy or not but it is weird.

Is the “no book look” policy to do with Covid? We have only just reintroduced parent book looks in the past few weeks as we haven’t been able to allow parents in school for the past 2 years.

I wouldn't be happy with this. Your child is not being taught by a teacher. I'd ask to see all books for starters. Ask for an appointment with teacher. Go through everything. If so, Complain to Head and look to move schools.

@SartresSoul

My DC go to an academy with mixed classes and the teacher teaches them all except when the teacher is off sick or has to go to a meeting, then the assistant takes over. I’ve always wondered if the assistant gets paid any more for the obvious extra responsibility but I bet they don’t. Crazy.

Fwiw, I’ve never seen their books in this school either. Their old school wasn’t an academy and I always saw their books at parents evening. No idea if this is an academy policy or not but it is weird.

You are correct that TAs aren’t paid any more for teaching a class. It drives me crazy! Teachers train for a number of years to be able to teach efficiently and manage behaviour; it’s a real skill. TAs are often unqualified and expected to step up at short notice to deliver quality teaching and are paid not much more than minimum wage. It is crazy.

As a first step, I'd make a request directly and specifically to see your DS books. Be specific about exactly which ones you would like to see (e.g. literacy, maths and topic). Our policy is that we no longer have books available at parents evening - which is partly to do with 'reducing staff workload' (haha) and COVID (they don't want us to run late and have extra parents in the building waiting, so cutting down a conversation point). This means I don't have specific books readily to hand, BUT I am quite happy for parents to look at their childs books. When requests have been made I've photocopied samples of the work to send home, and/or popped the appropriate books into the childs school bag on a Friday evening to be returned on Monday and have a follow up phone call.

If the teacher is not prepared to have a similar system, then I would complain to the headteacher. You just need to be really sure that they are actually denying you access and not just being difficult with 'policy'. The other thing I would do is keep a diary of every time your DS comes home and says they were unable to do the work as they did not get help (but put their hand up) and/or the homework is too difficult, so that you have a trail of 'evidence' to support your concerns.

OP my DD is at a small rural school with mixed year groups as was her older sister. I have never experienced the teacher only concentrating one one year group-even in the run up to SATs. This isn't ok. Especially if we are talking constantly rather than one afternoon a week.
I would definitely query it. First with the teacher to get the facts straight. Then go higher. I'd email actually rather than speak to them. But that's mainly because I'm rarely there to do pick ups etc. An email is also a paper trail.

Bear in mind that teachers don’t usually have the freedom to unilaterally make decisions about policies like these. The hands up classroom issue would be something I’d raise with the actual teacher, but re the book policy and teaching of one year group over another you need to go directly to SLT. It’s a rare school nowadays where teachers have the freedom to do things like that without it being a policy imposed from above.

Some schools probably won’t let parents see the books because of the complaints they get from parents. Some schools marking policies are for more verbal marking than physically marking books and I assume some parents will complain that the work doesn’t appear to have been marked

Go in calmly and gather the facts before demanding things. Children are not always accurate - I always listen but then ask questions to get the full picture.
One of the challenges of looking in books is you need to be able to gather somewhere to look in them so I can understand why they've withheld books.
Ask questions and communicate with the school. Once you have the facts you can then decide on next steps.

I'd never send a book home though - would be too bug a risk I'd not get it back.

It will be because year 2 have days coming up. Yet another reason why external testing is a bad idea.

SATs (not sure why that autocorrected to days!)

I have a mixed year 1 and 2 class. I do the input to the whole class then I work with one year group and my TA works with the other. Usually we swap who works with which year group each day. However, at this time of year i probably work with year 2 a little more as they need to be prepared for end of ks 1 assessment. This is not just 'sats'. There are ridiculously pernickety demands on exactly what needs to be seen in their exercise books should the local authority come to moderate teacher assessment.

However this doesn't mean that the other year group can be neglected. I would probably make an appointment to see the head op and discuss your concerns.

We still have virtual parent’s evenings and the teachers take pictures of their work and upload it for us to see beforehand. So that’s not an excuse, really.

I have taught mixed age classes for many years, and it's absolutely not right that one year group gets a teaching assistant the whole time. In fact, the whole class should be doing the same topic, but differentiated, which is often more to do with ability than which year the child is in. You also should be able to see the books if you ask. I would definitely make a meeting with the head.