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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

School work remainly at school at the end of year.

167 replies

jkbabymassage · 25/05/2022 21:33

I just found out that at the end of the academic year my daughter who is in Yr 1 won't be allowed to bring her exercise books and school work home for us to keep and cherish. And that she won't even get them at the end of her time at primary school..that they will be archived? Apparently it's some stupid safeguarding thing? But what about parental rights and my daughter's rights? Surely the work belongs to her and we should take ownership of it? My mum to this day cherishes work that I brought home from school. It's made me both sad and angry that the best that I'll get is a quick peek in them on the odd parent's evening and then it will just all collect dust in some archive box somewhere. Anyone else had this at their child's school?

OP posts:
SunshinePie · 25/05/2022 22:53

Oh that’s really sad they don’t let you keep her work! My kids school lets us keep their books, I can’t understand why any school wouldn’t! I love looking through the books every now and then 💕

Original poster
jkbabymassage · 25/05/2022 22:54

WaltzingToWalsingham · 25/05/2022 22:50

I agree with you, OP. My mum kept a selection of my school books, and I've kept most of my DC's books, too. I particularly love their English books. Some of the things they've written are hilarious!

I don't look at my or my DC's books every day, but I do look at them from time to time. They bring back memories; they are interesting as a way of comparing different teaching styles; and they're great to chat about with the DC, years later.

I can't really see the safeguarding issue. If children mention fellow pupils, it's usually only by their first name (or first name and initial, if there's more than one). "I made this castle with Ryan S" isn't a safeguarding issue. And schools always maintain a list of children whose photo can't be used on twitter, the school website etc, so teachers are already careful about use of photos.

Those posters who dont want their DC's books are of course welcome to leave them at school or recycle them, but if school doesn't want or need to keep them, I think they should allow parents to keep them if they'd like to.

Thank you! I'm glad that someone gets where I'm coming from!! 😁

OP posts:
Clymene · 25/05/2022 23:04

Is sin they'd had this policy at primary school. So much to recycle

KatherineofGaunt · 25/05/2022 23:05

jkbabymassage · 25/05/2022 22:51

Sad when the odd idiot parent spoils it for everyone else.

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'Tis ever the way, unfortunately. You get plenty of truly awful parents and school staff are often a target.

I've just thought that perhaps the 'safeguarding' was referring to keeping the teacher's safe from parental scrutiny. Not the right word to use, exactly, but perhaps a woolly enough explanation that parents don't feel like the school doesn't trust them. If that makes sense.

Original poster
jkbabymassage · 25/05/2022 23:11

KatherineofGaunt · 25/05/2022 22:46

Just because you "pay taxes" doesn't mean you own the books!!

By that logic, you would technically own anything the school bought. Or the local hospital bought. The school lets your daughter use the books while she's there but they don't really belong to her.

For what it's worth, I prefer it when schools send all the books home. Having to store them and then later have to tear the front covers off every single one before throwing them away is so annoying, not to mention you just know some parents would like to keep them. I'm just trying to explain some reasons why schools may keep their exercise books.

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But what about the content of the books? I know my daughter is proud of her work particularly her writing book. Do you think she feels that the book belongs to school? No. It's HER work. HER book!

OP posts:
watcherintherye · 25/05/2022 23:12

‘It’s because…… safeguarding’ sounds like one of those spurious but unarguable reasons for petty rules that people trot out when they don’t really know what the reason is, or they don’t know if there is an actual rule, but they think there should be. I would clarify the policy with another member of staff.

AngelinaFibres · 25/05/2022 23:14

jkbabymassage · 25/05/2022 22:08

Nope, it doesn't come home at any time for me to photograph. Walking into her classroom to take photos would definitely be a safeguarding issue!

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Presumably you get to look through the books at parents evening. Take photos then .

Original poster
jkbabymassage · 25/05/2022 23:28

iwantmyownicecreamvan · 25/05/2022 21:43

When I worked in a primary school, nobody took exercise books home and at the end of Year 6 they were destroyed - maybe a sample of books was kept for inspection purposes, but certainly they didn't archive whole year groups of work.

Destroyed! That's so sad. All those years of hard work. Hope my DD never gets wind of it. She'd be mortified. She's really proud of her work.

OP posts:
Sherrystrull · 25/05/2022 23:40

Books have photos of other children in.
Parents complain things aren't marked correctly.
Parents complain about content.
Parents complain if you've accidentally written the wrong name or not written enough comments or if you've written something negative or if you've accidentally ticked something that was wrong.
I can understand why schools may wish to avoid this.

Forgothowmuchlhatehomeschoolin · 25/05/2022 23:48

Love an entitled parent!!

Original poster
jkbabymassage · 26/05/2022 00:08

Forgothowmuchlhatehomeschoolin · 25/05/2022 23:48

Love an entitled parent!!

Hardly entitled to want to have a look at my own child's work and maybe keep some of it? Its not really a huge ask, not after years of primary education. It not like the school needs it once my daughter has left!!

OP posts:
Original poster
jkbabymassage · 26/05/2022 00:10

watcherintherye · 25/05/2022 23:12

‘It’s because…… safeguarding’ sounds like one of those spurious but unarguable reasons for petty rules that people trot out when they don’t really know what the reason is, or they don’t know if there is an actual rule, but they think there should be. I would clarify the policy with another member of staff.

Absolutely! 😁

OP posts:
Original poster
jkbabymassage · 26/05/2022 00:17

Newmumatlast · 25/05/2022 22:48

She never does homework?

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Nope. Only Yr 1. Probably later on..

OP posts:
Original poster
jkbabymassage · 26/05/2022 00:29

Newmumatlast · 25/05/2022 22:53

The I pay my taxes retort rarely makes anyone's argument seem reasonable tbh. It doesn't entitle you to whatever you deem your taxes to cover. I pay a lot of tax. Do I have a right to other people's kids' books?

Also people so frequently get confused about parental rights. They aren't really rights but responsibilities. See the Children Act. It's unhelpful to appear possessive over your child to be honest.

I see why you're upset but really you're unlikely missing out. The drawings and stories your child does at home are likely much more valuable.

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Denying me access to a couple of used exercise books would be a little petty of the school if it was actually about ownership/cost of the items. Which it isn't. I'm not been possessive over my child. I know my child would want to bring her work home too. She is likely to be disappointed also. She sees her work books as hers. And why shouldn't she..she's worked hard in them?

OP posts:
Original poster
jkbabymassage · 26/05/2022 00:36

watcherintherye · 25/05/2022 23:12

‘It’s because…… safeguarding’ sounds like one of those spurious but unarguable reasons for petty rules that people trot out when they don’t really know what the reason is, or they don’t know if there is an actual rule, but they think there should be. I would clarify the policy with another member of staff.

Will do 👍

OP posts:
Quackpot · 26/05/2022 00:44

They barely use books any more

Original poster
jkbabymassage · 26/05/2022 00:46

Big fan of exercise books at DD's school!

OP posts:
Beachhuts90 · 26/05/2022 05:45

If one of my Y1 parents asked to take photos of their child's books I'd make an appointment for them to come in after or before school. However we send a lot of stuff home including everything that has been on a display, which is mounted on nice card and is the best of each child's work.

PriamFarrl · 26/05/2022 06:03

jkbabymassage · 25/05/2022 22:17

My child's right to keep her own work? My right as a parent to see it and choose to keep some of it if I wish? What right does the school have to keep it all when they no longer need it?

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That’s a lot rights you are banging on about there.

MissMissICantDoThis · 26/05/2022 06:24

Teacher here.

I think safeguarding is a non-issue as books should not have images or names in them unless permission has been given.

Schools still have an obligation to protect teachers from harm and abuse and this is a typical catalyst for parental complaints.

To be fair, anyone that states that they pay their taxes for that exercise book and is therefore entitled to it is a classic example of one of "those parents".

Are you one of those parents? It might be why you got the safeguarding speech.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the more accommodating parents were privately handed some of their children's books on request.

Boymumsoymum · 26/05/2022 06:35

Sorry MissMiss are you actually saying 'more accommodating' parents would be treated differently?! Are you actually a teacher? I really wish schools would stop treating parents who care about their child's education, and occasionally hold school to account, as 'pushy' and 'those parents'. You sound incredibly unprofessional

parrotonmyshoulder · 26/05/2022 06:38

‘Schools still have an obligation to protect teachers from harm and abuse and this is a typical catalyst for parental complaints.’

Yes, it is very, very likely to be for this reason. Not just your books but a whole school wide decision. Parents may have a lot of time to go through their one child’s book with a fine tooth comb, noting every uncorrected misspelled word, teacher error, unmarked sentence, perceived ‘boring’ task. Often, they fail to remember that the teacher will have had 29 other books to mark (as a tiny proportion of the work they have to do in the rest of their working day).

Perhaps you could ask the school to consider photocopying a ‘best’ piece of work for your child. Do they ever bring home a finished piece that was on display, or something like that?

Iamnotthe1 · 26/05/2022 06:55

@jkbabymassage
But what about the content of the books? I know my daughter is proud of her work particularly her writing book. Do you think she feels that the book belongs to school? No. It's HER work. HER book!

Just as a side note here, all work completed by a child or staff member as part of their learning or teaching is seen and treated as the property of the school. Personal feelings would not come into it when determining whether a child, parent or staff member had a 'right' to something.

That being said, many schools choose to send books home, minus a few here and there for sampling/modelling purposes.

If you don't understand the school's reasoning or their response of 'safeguarding' then ask for it to be explained to you again in more detail. However, don't go in talking about 'rights' as, no, neither you nor your child have any legal right to the work completed as part of schooling.

SpringIntoChaos · 26/05/2022 07:06

jkbabymassage · 25/05/2022 21:49

I mean the school surely can't refuse to let my child keep her OWN work? Yep, they threw the 'safeguarding' tagline at me. I have no idea what they meant, not sure the teacher did either to be fair. I think it's ridiculous. I can see why they might want to keep her work so they can see her progress through her education but not even to let us have it when she leaves in Yr 6? I really want to know if this policy is a national thing so just something weird that my child's school is doing?

No it's definitely NOT something we all do 😱 Christ...where would we put the thousands and thousands of books we fill up???

At my school, we keep the previous years books 'for a bit' in case evidence is needed for Ofsted (it NEVER is!!) then send them home. Usually around Easter 🙌🏼

ChiselandBits · 26/05/2022 07:08

Please don't write off 'sadeguatding' as an excuse. I teach older kids but I've had more than a few kids disclose bullying via a piece of writing that has then been used and recorded in the evidence chain. Ditto home abuse / neglect. It's a real thing. And dont be that 'I pay my taxes' parent. Does that mean you pay the teachers' salary and and can demand X? I really hope not, but there are loads like that out there.