Terrible class teacher causing concern amongst parents

[DodgyMcDodgerson]

My son is in Year 2. To briefly summarise, his class teacher shouts at the class frequently, there’s alot of punishments both individual and whole class, alot of putting kids down and responding to them very abruptly.
most of the girls in the class are terrified of her (as in to the point some girls are crying coming into school, another little girl wet herself rather than interrupt the teacher to ask to go to the toilet. When the girls mother suggested her daughter had been nervous to put her hand up in case she got shouted at, the teacher completely dismissed this as unthinkable). There are a few boys in particular who she seems to really
single out to tell off, and these are lovely kids - not unruly or being disruptive. She’s telling one boy off for not understanding the work as an example. The kids are unanimous in their dislike of her. The parents in the class are unanimous in their dislike of her.Literally not heard one positive word about her.
one child has already transferred to a different school and there is talk of more
following.
bearing in mind that this is not even 6 months into a new job and in a class of 28 children there have already been at least 5 complaints (that I’m aware of) - is this teacher likely to remain at the school????

@KillerTomato7 if you read my 14.58 post you will see that I said this may not be the case here 🙄

@DodgyMcDodgerson can I ask what area of the country this is in? She sounds suspiciously like a teacher our school fired less than a year ago for very similar (identical) sounding behaviour.

OP please report this behaviour - I grew up in the 80’s and I had such a horrific reception / infant teacher that without being dramatic scarred me emotionally. For example being hit on the hand for writing with my left hand. Her not giving me my Christmas cards because of some perceived sleight in the classroom (I was 5 years old) which doesn’t sound much but when the Christmas cards was being shared out it was such a big thing in my school. So for it to look like no one had sent me a card was humiliating.

I didn’t have the language to tell my mother but how she didn’t notice is also beyond me. Be your child’s hero this teacher sounds like a bully and will damage the confidence and self esteem of the children.

@abouttogetlynched Bit worried this could be outing if I name the area
I do know the school the teacher came from if you want to PM me?!
but surely if she had been fired or had.not had a good reference she would not have been given another teaching job with young children I would have thought so any way?

We have the Covid affected yr 3 bunch. This lot had their reception and year 1 disrupted for months. The behaviour levels have been challenging but tbf they would be anyway, we can’t blame Covid forever. Things that would have been corrected in reception dragged in to year 2 with a flip flop of a reception teacher who had around 6 months off sick.
Alongside that every year has had different expectations of the kids, for example reception they freeplayed a lot, in yr 1 they were expected to sit. This year going in to year 3 the brain power needed is markedly more. In short bad behaviour is less tolerated and being stamped out as they are now juniors and not infants and have to adopt a new mentality.

If you have issues with YOUR child speak to the head. Don’t get involved in a witch hunt. Stay away from the mum chat. Even if it is happening, do not discuss it with others. You speak to the HT only.

This happened in my son’s year 1 teacher, we all had an opinion and it went horribly gossipy, now 2 years on we recognise what she was working with. She was trying to install a sense of routine, discipline and order.

We all thought our kids were cute angels but what was happening in the classroom with 28 very different personalities in various stages of post Covid awkwardness was just not the case. The expectations of the teachers are clear. If the kids are being shouted at then it sounds like the children are not meeting them. In our case they put in a lot of work with class rules, marbles in jars, toilet passes etc and mostly they are settling down.

Speak to your head, she will be observing the classes and teacher so she will know what’s happening but don’t add fuel to the parental fire. 🔥

Agree, this sounds like forming a group to stage a witch hunt before making sure of facts. Give them a chance, it's not easy being a teacher! Maybe being extra strict to pave the way for boundaries and expected standards but if not and they are really actually horrible then individual complaints mount up and get noticed. No need for a bitch about gloating group, would you like it?

You can’t take anything young children say as gospel, it has to come from the school. I was really glad our son was moving into a class with an old school teacher. I knew she’d straighten them all out and I was pleased about it. Prior to them moving, they were mostly feral and were desperate to have a strong role model as the gentle type teachers before that didn’t have a clue. This was complained about many times and parents were asking teachers to put in the appropriate sanctions. There were a few complaints about the new class teacher but these were from the parents of the unruly kids. As a whole, the rest of the parents saw a dramatic change both at home and academically.

Really surprised at how disbelieving so many of the posters are that a teacher could be plain horrible. I'm in my 40s but I still remember a really nasty teacher when I was at primary school who shouted at us and deliberately called me by the surname of a boy in the class to make others laugh at me. She was a really horrible woman. My mother complained as well as many other parents. I remember another teacher coming into our classroom to speak to this teacher during one of our lessons.

I find it extraordinary how many negative replies the OP is receiving. Some teachers really are in the wrong job because they apparently don't like children. Or certain children. I have posted before about the damage done to my son's self esteem and confidence by a teacher very like the one the OP describes. I won't go into it again but it was only when other parents began to tell me their child had been upset by her behaviour towards mine that I found out about it. He was not badly behaved. She just didn't like him. Please report your concerns to the head and if nothing changes, write to the governors.

Terrible teachers do exist, unfortunately. Many people seem to find this hard to believe.

Op, you need to raise the issues with the school, but only as they relate to your child. You can't speak for other children and their parents, that's for them to do.

Have you brought your concerns to the Headteacher and failing that the Chair of Governors?

OP, I was the child (in 1965) who wet herself because she was scared to ask the teacher if she could go to the loo.
If you have an issue with the teacher, go to the HT.
The teacher might be encouraged to retrain rather than be moved on.

Sorry but a 7 year old wetting themselves because they're scared to ask the teacher says it all.
Children can be hard work in the classroom. And disruptive and unruly. This is NOT the way to deal with it. Trust me.

On the wetting yourself in class issue for fear of a terrifying teacher - I once dated a 44 year old man who could still recall the moment he wet himself in his primary school days with such vivid clarity it was as though he was describing the room we were sitting in when he told me about it.

That is to say things like this should not be taken lightly.

We’ve got one of these teachers at our school. Year after year, kids leave the school either before they get to her class or during it. The reason I believe that it’s an actually a teacher problem, is because I’ve heard how she talks to the parents. Plus some of the kids who are too scared to go in are the type who don’t say boo to a goose. I don’t know why it’s so unthinkable that a teacher could be shit. There is a world of difference between a strict teacher and a bully. The latter do exist.

These are very young children to be being shouted at. She’s sounds a bully I’d be speaking to her and the head

Some people can’t accept that teachers are not all angelic wonder creatures. There are bad teachers and there are teachers who don’t give two hoots about their job as well (and also teachers are brilliant and put in extra hours and care about the children). We have a year 5 teacher at the moment for one of our children who is utterly hopeless as a teacher and also doesn’t care - she openly admits she is a 9-3 teacher who turns up at the last possible moment and leaves on the dot of 3pm to go and get her own children from their school. Unfortunately it seems she is here to stay as despite numerous complaints and lots of children moving to other schools, it seems she is impossible to oust.

All you can do is to write an email of complaint every time your son tells you something that has happened that has affected him. By putting it in an email the leadership team can’t ignore it.

Sounds like every teacher from the 60’s 70’s and 80’s

Urgh teachers like this boil me. My son had one. We ended up in a stand off and I removed my child from the school. He’s SEN and all she did was shout at him and call him stupid the time. It’s taken him years to get any confidence back. Complete Bitch. The Headteacher did nothing about it either, they all stick together unfortunately.
You all need to complain, individually, every week if you have to!

The children and parents unanimously dislike the teacher.

OP took a vote.
OP made sure all werent influenced.

Retired teacher here. It is imperative that official procedure is followed in cases like this. Group complaints carry no weight and are generally regressive in the resolution process. All is clearly not well, but it's far from certain what is at the root of it all. The non confrontational approach is the way to go .

That sounds better than my teacher at that age. She was tough on kids, one kid bit another child, my teacher, bit the other child, and when the child cried, she said, see if you don't like it don't do it to other's. She didn't brake the skin. But made a point. (it was the 80's) none of the parents complained, the kid didn't bully anymore.
I aren't saying teachers should do this, but the ones who got yelled at (yes she did that too) where the ones who caused trouble. We learnt a lesson, don't do something, that you don't want done to yourself.
I wouldn't report the teacher, just keep any eye out, but remember that those who complaie are the ones, that think there child is an angel, when they are little devil's at school.

I've never had a student to be too scared to ASK to go to the toilet. I might not say yes however. I also rarely shout at students of any age. Being quiet is far more scary and effective. It sounds like she can't control her class which is worrying if it's Y2 as they are usually adorable when offered stickers/stories and are always shushing each other. Punishments should be rare. It could be that the Head knows but is having to go through Procedure to get rid.

Agree.

If it is a universal dislike, the common denominator is the teacher.