Head girl at my daughter's school is Head Mistress's daughter.

[StrawberryPims]

Just to be clear my daughter was not in the running and is in a lower year group. It is a primary school, year 6. The new Head Girl is more of an all rounder than an academic. No idea how they make these decisions, but, regardless feel that there is a massive conflict on interest. AIBU?

[onlythreenow]

It's not a ridiculous thing to say. Teaching at the same school as your child is a massive conflict of interest.
If anything can be done to prevent this e.g travelling a bit further then so be it.

Oh give it a rest!!! It happens all around the world and in most cases works. 'Massive conflict of interest' - it's a school for crying out loud. Incidentally, remind me again, what has it to do with you?

[Cillery]

@onlythreenow

It's not a ridiculous thing to say. Teaching at the same school as your child is a massive conflict of interest.
If anything can be done to prevent this e.g travelling a bit further then so be it.

Oh give it a rest!!! It happens all around the world and in most cases works. 'Massive conflict of interest' - it's a school for crying out loud. Incidentally, remind me again, what has it to do with you?

Amazing the people who chime in with things they know nothing about. I was friends with the heads daughter and there was no conflict of interest. We even got the slipper together and she got it just as hard as I did! 😀

[MrsElijahMikaelson1]

I suspect as it was a conflict of interest, any decent head would have absentee themselves from any vote. Hence YABU, whether it was voted for by teachers or other students, she shouldn’t miss out just because her mother runs the school.

[Itloggedmeoutagain]

In one post you say you don't know how it's made but in another you say there's no student vote and it's made by senior staff.
Saying the head doesn't pay for her daughter's education in a private school is a big assumption to make.

[lovelyboneslove]

@onlythreenow

It's not a ridiculous thing to say. Teaching at the same school as your child is a massive conflict of interest.
If anything can be done to prevent this e.g travelling a bit further then so be it.

Oh give it a rest!!! It happens all around the world and in most cases works. 'Massive conflict of interest' - it's a school for crying out loud. Incidentally, remind me again, what has it to do with you?

It doesn't work in most cases. The children always get treated differently- even if it's coming down harder on them or making it be easier for them.
Also you will always act as a parent first. So if your child is being bullied by another child in the school you are going to naturally side with your child.

[lovelyboneslove]

@Itloggedmeoutagain

In one post you say you don't know how it's made but in another you say there's no student vote and it's made by senior staff.
Saying the head doesn't pay for her daughter's education in a private school is a big assumption to make.

Not a big assumption at all. Staff at private schools get massive discounts

[Cillery]

@lovelyboneslove

It doesn't work in most cases. The children always get treated differently- even if it's coming down harder on them or making it be easier for them.
Also you will always act as a parent first. So if your child is being bullied by another child in the school you are going to naturally side with your child.

How many cases do you actually know of?

[Itloggedmeoutagain]

@lovelyboneslove

Not a big assumption at all. Staff at private schools get massive discounts

OP didn't say discount, she said free

[lovelyboneslove]

@Cillery when I was a school this happened with two girls. One of the mothers was a teacher.

It's natural to have more empathy towards your child.
Also this thread wouldn't exist if there was no conflict of interest with the headteacher having their child at the school.

I don't know why you are getting so angry about it. It just makes sense not to teach at the same school as your child. It makes it easier for everyone especially your child.

[Cillery]

@lovelyboneslove

@Cillery when I was a school this happened with two girls. One of the mothers was a teacher.

It's natural to have more empathy towards your child.
Also this thread wouldn't exist if there was no conflict of interest with the headteacher having their child at the school.

I don't know why you are getting so angry about it. It just makes sense not to teach at the same school as your child. It makes it easier for everyone especially your child.

Who is getting angry? I’m not angry at all. Why should I be angry about something which doesn’t now affect me? I think you’re just putting your own anger on to me about something you are obviously angry about. My friend and I were treated exactly the same even though she was the heads daughter. So why should I be angry?

[OfTheNight]

Being the daughter of the HT is no picnic. My mum was my primary HT and I knew, from a very early age, that I was under pressure to do well, behave impeccably and be gracious at all times to other pupils because I was representing her. It is a lot of pressure.

I also knew everything was fed back to her, so I never escaped a ‘double punishment’ from both my teacher and my mum. Most of the other kids were oblivious until we got to year 5, then lots of people started to tease me. Nothing was done. I just got told to tolerate it. I think mum was afraid to tackle it for fear of being accused of showing favouritism.

I was automatically excluded from winning any school prizes. My only opportunity was to win at sports day where I could physically demonstrate I deserved to win. Unfortunately I was crap a sport so I never won anything.

Hopefully, this HT is less draconian than my mum was. If her daughter is a confident ‘all rounder’, it sounds like she’s a great pick for Head Girl. At primary age the title is irrelevant anyway.

[lovelyboneslove]

@Beees

I don't understand why it's a conflict of interest. Children of teachers often get the very shortest straw when it comes to anything to do with school. They often can't have the main parts in the platy, can't win certificates, can't be chosen for sports events and can't be seen to do well in anything because someone always cries it's because of who their mum or dad is.

Maybe just maybe the poor kid was the best candidate or was selected by her peers. Either way it shouldn't be an issue and I can say with certainty the reason she was chosen is clearly not because she was the heads daughter.

You asked why it was a conflict of interest? However you've just answered the question yourself.
It is not fair on the child and other children.

[GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing]

I don’t think we can know if it was fair or not without being there and really involved in the whole thing.

I think Head Girl in primary school is absolutely meaningless, although it does probably make the children who get these positions feel good and those who don’t feel bad. Probably shouldn’t bother with it in primary tbh - have a school council that seems elected but everyone who wants to eventually gets a turn of (even the naughty ones if they’re keen as they’ll learn a lot) and leave out this singling out position.