To email headteacher about this

[schoolgrinch]

DS is in year one, at a 2 form state primary. It is very well regarded, DS is doing brilliantly, and generally we are very happy.

However.

My child is in Class X. They have had two part time teachers (Teacher A Monday-Wednesday and Teacher B Wednesday-Friday) for year 1.

Teacher A announced her pregnancy early in 2024 and parents were told that she was planning to go on maternity leave after May half term. An alternative teacher in the school would take over her days at this point, for term 6. About a month ago we were told that Teacher A was now starting maternity leave 2 weeks before May half term, and a different member of staff would cover these 2 weeks.

So in one year, the class will have had 4 different teachers,

In comparison, the other Year 1 class, Class Y, have had 1 teacher the whole year.

Now- this isn't anything against part time working, pregnancy rights etc etc. I have benefitted from both of these provisions myself.

However- WIBU to email the headteacher to ensure that it has been considered in terms of planning teacher allocations for next year, that Class X have had quite considerable disruption this year, and would benefit from an opportunity for more consistent teaching next year?

1. YANBU, totally reasonable to email
2. YANBY, but the headteacher will clearly be aware of this and will already have considered it
3. YABU (please give reason)

Don't. Just don't.

RTFT people!!! Op has clearly said she won't be sending it.

Op I actually understand your thinking and good on you for posting here and taking advice.

Apparently I was wrong. OP taking advice and following it within a few posts hasn't ruined this thread for anyone. Because the majority have ignored that and continued berating her anyway.

You'll be glad to hear that you won't have to have on your membership after all @schoolgrinch

Surely they would have a different teacher anyway in yr 2? Also who to say that another teacher wont have similar issues,if heaven forbid became ill or a family issue arose .Shall we all have Robot Teachers? Just relax OP, your LO sounds a bright little chap and he will do well. As he gets older there will be other challenges ,Class behaviour in secondary school, Teachers changing over and so on .My own DS had all of these issues and now has a Masters degree in Physics from a RG uni! I am sure your son will be similar!Just relax and enjoy his childhood ,it goes by so quickly!

The headteacher isn’t stupid, why do you think you need to tell them
how to do their job? Plus he could allocate your DC to a class with what appears to be an extremely stable teacher only to find that they resign 2 weeks into the term, the LSA gets ill, the normal supply teacher resigns and then the recruited replacement doesn’t fit in with the school and also leaves. This happens, and what would you expect the head to do about it? The teaching profession is in crisis and it’s almost impossible to recruit and retain quality teachers in most schools.

Youd be much better off supporting the school on the parent fund raising team or as a governor if you’re so concerned than just trying to get him to favour your own child.

Pretty sure they are fully aware of the issue and not sat waiting for some parent to email them with advice 🤣

YANBU
Of course pregnancy/illness can’t be foreseen but even starting the year with two teachers on a job share is not ideal. If parents don’t say anything how would the head know that they are/aren’t happy about it?
It also means that if next year your child has again the job share teachers when the other
class only has the one, the school can’t say « you should have told us before, too late now » when you complain.

If he’s doing brilliantly I don’t see the problem. Also the head will be VERY aware but there isn’t really anything she could do. I would see the email as pointless as it won’t achieve anything and if I was the headteacher I would roll my eyes- thankless job!

There’s a shortage of teachers as it is, and you can’t get rid of part time staff for that reason - illegal and if in a primary school there would be no where to reallocate those teachers

I'm going to go against the grain here and say you're absolutely NOT u reasonable. We had to pull DD out of her lovely one form entry primary, due to exactly this disruption. One year it was Mat leave, the elsecond year a member of staff left (year was split between 2 teachers), another year they were given an NQT who had v little support. We pulled her out but by the time I brought it up with SLT the feedback was "well you should have said something years ago when you were first unhappy" (tbf they are right). Anyway, I wish I'd said something. Not sure if it would have changed the outcome of her schooling but I would have had it on record when we pulled her for "the last straw"

There may be nothing a ht can do. They can't stop a teacher leaving.

Dd1 and dd2 had 3 teachers each at infant.

Ds had 3 in reception due to a job share and maternity leave.
In year 1 his teacher was taken seriously ill part way through the year, so he had 2 teachers

When going into year 2 dh (who was a governor) jokingly said to his teacher that he hoped she wasn't going to leave and she assured him she had no plans ... Until her perfect job came up and she left at the start of the summer term

It was basically bad luck that it happened to their form The other form has the standard 3 teachers over the 3 years. They had 7 and a short time of supply.

I remember someone on here complaining that their DC's teacher was leaving and stated "they wouldn't have let it happen to the other form because there because there was a governor's child in it. There were 3 in ds' form!

Edited to say and the job share worked brilliantly. They were very different teachers who played to their interests

This.

You do realise there is a huge shortage of teachers?

Think about this issue when voting on 4 July.

Not bizarre at all, job sharing is common in primary schools and is a good way of keeping experienced teachers in post while giving them the opportunity of work life balance to raise their own children, undertake caring duties,or chill out on the sofa with a box of chocs and Netflix if that is what they choose to do!

The class get two teacher’s expertise, often teachers have different strengths and specialisations and the class benefit from this. They also get a fresh teacher half way through the week, believe me the single teacher in a Primary class will be flagging by the time they get to Thursday, whereas the job share will still have energy.

It’s a system that benefits schools, teachers and children and needs to be encouraged and promoted so that the huge pool of inactive teachers jaded by exhaustion and disillusion can be persuaded back into the classroom.

Secondaries are struggling for staff. My secondary age dc both have 3 differenr teachers for English and maths. I'm presuming this was to ensure consistency for older students in ks4 and ks5.

Recruiting teachers is such a problem .

Classes with job shares are often very lucky. If the teachers are just doing two or three days a week( and not teaching elsewhere in the school on there non class days) They come in less tired and ready to put in concentrated effort for their full hours. I've taught along side a job share and always felt I was running to catch up abd then been part of a job share where we both gave fully of our time in class to make sure it worked.
The added bonus is if your child has a personality clash with one teacher they only have to see them part of the week! Classes with job shares are not disadvantaged.

What’s the point in emailing the head about it? It’s really not their fault, it’s no one’s fault, just how things have worked out.

Right decision OP, hope your child can continue to do well at school.

Jesus ...the head deals with these issues frequently. Im fairly sure he/she does not need your expertise and input!

The teacher obviously changed her mind on when she was leaving which is non of your business frankly

Dear Head
I am writing to point out the glaringly obvious, to highlight my credentials as that parent, to pointlessly take up some of your time, and to patronisingly check that you are doing your job.

I'm disappointed you've decided against emailing op.

It's made me realise how many people out there need an email from me so that they can do their jobs properly. Dentists, doctors, sales assistants. I'll be writing to them all from now on. Do sales assistants know the conveyor belt travels at speed, for example.

I think I am in a minority here but I would email the head and be as nice as possible. Your child’s education is your priority. They have clearly had a different experience from the other class. Consistency is important. Like the others, in a well run school, I would absolutely expect the head to be on top of this and take it forward next year and mitigate this year’s experience where possible. However, we do not live in an ideal world and not all schools are managed well. A polite email now can do no harm other than to help emphasise the point. Obviously unexpected situations can still arise.

Who is to say which class has had the better experience? The job share teachers could be amazing, the single teacher could be dire.

They have had consistency. Two teachers up until now, then a teacher they are familiar with for two weeks, then a new teacher , but with a well known teacher to settle them in.

Not all schools are managed well, but it sounds to me as though this school has been well managed , they have kept things as smooth as possible, have kept parents well informed, and have made sure the unexpected two week hiatus caused by the teacher going on maternity a little earlier than planned was covered by someone familiar.

What point/s exactly would you want the OP to emphasise in her polite do no harm email?

“Please make sure your teachers have adequate birth control in future, and I don’t want any teachers who might have sick children, elderly parents or a partner with a new job offer being my child’s teacher. And by the way no newly qualified teachers either, in case they aren’t very good. Thank you for your consideration and help in this matter, as you know the school needs to be run efficiently so that my child can reach its full potential without any obstacles being placed in its way by class teachers having a life.”

Yabu I’m sure the head will consult the teachers he is planning to give your child’s class about their reproductive choices before he allocates classes. The head will be aware of the situation as well as the situations in every other class in the school and will do their utmost to balance all
needs across the school, not just your child. It’s in their interests for all children to achieve. And having one teacher for 6 days is irrelevant over the year, they had one teacher all year one for most of the year and one for half a term when they have sports day and end of term stuff.

This. My son had two teachers in year one too, OK, so he didn't have the mixed up maternity, but he had a great time.

YABU. Your DC has consistency with the other teacher. DC is lucky in this case that they have 2 teachers so that at least one stays the same.

Having 2 teachers is a good thing. Two brains for the price of one!