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AIBU?

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Teacher hand delivered certificate usually given out in class.

1000 replies

howmanycorners · 26/06/2026 14:35

I don’t know what to make of this, dc is in primary school and every week someone gets a certificate.
Suddenly I saw my child’s teacher walk past the lounge window at about 8 pm and post a certificate through the door.
Aibu to find it a bit strange and wonder why she did this having had to look up our address and purposely drive to our house when all certificates are handed out in school and she would see my child in the morning?

OP posts:
neverbeenskiing · 26/06/2026 21:01

Oliveoy · 26/06/2026 20:55

How did the teacher know beforehand however that when they arrived at the house, they would have no contact with anybody and would be able to just put it through the letterbox? How did they know that their pupil wouldn't be playing in the front garden, and that they wouldn't have an unsupervised interaction with them?

You need refreshing on your training by the sounds of it.

I'd better stay inside my house whenever I'm not at school then. I live in the community in which I work, so there is risk of me having an unplanned, unsupervised interaction with a child from school every time I pop to the local shops or take my own children to the park, every time I step outside my own front door in fact since there are children from school who live on the same street.

Thatcannotberight · 26/06/2026 21:02

StartingFreshFor2026 · 26/06/2026 19:21

I am close friends with my neighbours. I am not close friends with the professionals in my life, who I have a professional relationship with.

Your child's teacher? You don't have any kind of friendly relationship with your child's teacher? Never had a chat about how your child is doing? Had a conversation about anything?

Cardomomle · 26/06/2026 21:02

Oliveoy · 26/06/2026 20:55

How did the teacher know beforehand however that when they arrived at the house, they would have no contact with anybody and would be able to just put it through the letterbox? How did they know that their pupil wouldn't be playing in the front garden, and that they wouldn't have an unsupervised interaction with them?

You need refreshing on your training by the sounds of it.

I thought you'd get personal. Of course. I am quite up to date, thank you.
Ofsted's verdict was "exemplary".
I suppose that the teacher would have said hello to the child, and proceeded to the front door.
The teacher has been DBS checked and it was not a high risk situation.
I wouldn't do it myself, but then I'm not so kind.

Cardomomle · 26/06/2026 21:04

I wonder where this comes from, a fear of contact, even through something inanimate coming through a letterbox, from a teacher with the best of intentions?
Perhaps the reports of a significant rise in social anxiety are correct.

Cardomomle · 26/06/2026 21:06

neverbeenskiing · 26/06/2026 21:01

I'd better stay inside my house whenever I'm not at school then. I live in the community in which I work, so there is risk of me having an unplanned, unsupervised interaction with a child from school every time I pop to the local shops or take my own children to the park, every time I step outside my own front door in fact since there are children from school who live on the same street.

It sounds like you'd better do that!
Even though of course all your S&CP training, by law, is up to date!

EmmaB1309 · 26/06/2026 21:06

What’s the issue? Obviously your child’s certificate got overlooked. She did a nice thing.

Oliveoy · 26/06/2026 21:06

neverbeenskiing · 26/06/2026 21:01

I'd better stay inside my house whenever I'm not at school then. I live in the community in which I work, so there is risk of me having an unplanned, unsupervised interaction with a child from school every time I pop to the local shops or take my own children to the park, every time I step outside my own front door in fact since there are children from school who live on the same street.

Those examples are incidental and could obviously be accounted for should any interaction end up being misconstrued. Completely different to purposefully going to a pupil's house uninvited.

Supersleepysheepy · 26/06/2026 21:07

Cardomomle · 26/06/2026 20:45

Every year I have to do Safeguarding and Child Protection courses and GDPR. This is advanced because of my pastoral role.
There is no risk to the teacher, or family member by posting a certificate through the letterbox. No grooming could ever be construed.
You are right. Those points are extreme.

Precisely, the teacher did what a postman does and put a letter through the postbox. Nothing more. Except of course, she did it to be kind, she shouldn't have bothered really as people are desperate to find fault in everything nowadays. It's actually really sad.

Supersleepysheepy · 26/06/2026 21:07

Oliveoy · 26/06/2026 21:06

Those examples are incidental and could obviously be accounted for should any interaction end up being misconstrued. Completely different to purposefully going to a pupil's house uninvited.

She didn't go round for tea and cake, she dropped a certificate through the door.

Cardomomle · 26/06/2026 21:12

Supersleepysheepy · 26/06/2026 21:07

Precisely, the teacher did what a postman does and put a letter through the postbox. Nothing more. Except of course, she did it to be kind, she shouldn't have bothered really as people are desperate to find fault in everything nowadays. It's actually really sad.

Yes, it is sad. I think some of the unpleasantness on here is really hard to understand as well.
🤷

Uricon2 · 26/06/2026 21:13

One of the very few people I've known and actually thought (and I had extremely good reason) was a sociopath had a traffic accident. Her then team collected for flowers and signed a card and her manager dropped them off at her home. This would have been utterly standard in any department.

Cue official complaint against said manager for "violating her privacy".

She was/is an utterly vile human being who left a trail of destruction in her wake. I'm not suggesting you are OP, at all, but check the paranoia because it does not reflect well on you.

Oliveoy · 26/06/2026 21:18

Cardomomle · 26/06/2026 21:02

I thought you'd get personal. Of course. I am quite up to date, thank you.
Ofsted's verdict was "exemplary".
I suppose that the teacher would have said hello to the child, and proceeded to the front door.
The teacher has been DBS checked and it was not a high risk situation.
I wouldn't do it myself, but then I'm not so kind.

A teacher being DBS checked and what they would have done is spectacularly missing the point.

The simplest things can get misconstrued, especially when a child is relating them. And that could make a teacher's life very difficult indeed if it's happened at a child's home without prior arrangement.

Jk987 · 26/06/2026 21:18

She didn’t knock and invite herself in! I’d think they’d be a reason the certificate couldn’t be given in the morning and she went out her way to get it to your child.

Cardomomle · 26/06/2026 21:20

Oliveoy · 26/06/2026 21:18

A teacher being DBS checked and what they would have done is spectacularly missing the point.

The simplest things can get misconstrued, especially when a child is relating them. And that could make a teacher's life very difficult indeed if it's happened at a child's home without prior arrangement.

She didn't enter the child's home.

Supersleepysheepy · 26/06/2026 21:20

Cardomomle · 26/06/2026 21:20

She didn't enter the child's home.

Exactly, like a postman, she out something through a letterbox. That's it.

Oliveoy · 26/06/2026 21:21

Supersleepysheepy · 26/06/2026 21:07

She didn't go round for tea and cake, she dropped a certificate through the door.

Edited

That makes absolutely no sense in the context of what I was replying to

Supersleepysheepy · 26/06/2026 21:22

Oliveoy · 26/06/2026 21:21

That makes absolutely no sense in the context of what I was replying to

It clearly does.

StripyHorse · 26/06/2026 21:24

howmanycorners · 26/06/2026 14:58

So why come over?

Because she cares about your child.

I agree, assemblies have been cancelled in many schools this week, and routines have gone out of the window. Maybe she lives nearby and just didn't want the child to miss out on the certificate. She wouldn't have been doing it to check up on you.

ClayPotaLot · 26/06/2026 21:25

It's out of the norm, and with no obvious reason, so I would also be wondering why, OP. I wouldn't be assuming she was doing it for a negative reason, but I might wonder if wires had gotten crossed about something.

Surprised, given you were obviously in, that she didn't knock and explain and congratulate DC as she presumably would have done in class. But maybe it was a matter of the award was given in class but a mistake had been made with the certificate, so this was just ensuring he got the correct bit of paper and she wanted to ensure you got it tonight in case DC told you about getting it. Did your DC know about the award or was it a surprise to him?

southerngirl10 · 26/06/2026 21:26

Maybe she hand delivered to al the kids in class? Computer glitch, special touch. On the other hand, maybe she's out there fight, in the bushes with a pair of binoculars.

WearyAuldWumman · 26/06/2026 21:29

Uricon2 · 26/06/2026 21:13

One of the very few people I've known and actually thought (and I had extremely good reason) was a sociopath had a traffic accident. Her then team collected for flowers and signed a card and her manager dropped them off at her home. This would have been utterly standard in any department.

Cue official complaint against said manager for "violating her privacy".

She was/is an utterly vile human being who left a trail of destruction in her wake. I'm not suggesting you are OP, at all, but check the paranoia because it does not reflect well on you.

I've mentioned elsewhere that a father wrote to me, threatening to report me to the Director of Education for phoning his wife at work, to say that their child was ill. (Said child was lying across two chairs moaning "Oh, my belly!" They should have been in a mock exam. The yells were enough to waken the dead.)

We couldn't take any chances, so I'd phoned the first emergency contact, the grandmother. No answer.

I'd phoned the second emergency contact, an aunt. No answer.

I then tried phoning the father at work. No answer.

As a last resort, I phoned the office at the mother's place of work and asked them to pass on a message. This, apparently, was outrageous behaviour.

The mother was a teacher in the feeder primary 10 minutes away from our secondary school. I had phoned the father before the mother precisely because I thought that it would be more awkward for her to leave her class than it would be for the father to step out of his office.

I recall that both my HT and area union rep found it hilarious that the parent seriously believed that the Director of Education would report me to the GTCS for unprofessional conduct.

em2026 · 26/06/2026 21:29

I’m actually with you on this one.
It would be strange if it happened to us..I also work in a school & don’t know anyone who would personally visit houses to post something..
id ask next time you see her, even if it’s just ‘is everything ok? We saw you walking away from the house the other day’ and obvs a thank you for the certificate but yeah I think I’d ask because it would be strange to me! 😅
I’ve had one in the post before (defo stamped and address written etc) but not hand posted 🤔
im a bit baffled by this even though everyone else seems not to be! 😅
Even so I’m sure it was just a nice gesture and not anything sinister as such.. 😬

Morepositivemum · 26/06/2026 21:29

Op address what makes you weary about a teacher seeing your home life- be it then seeing ye arguing or shouting/ how clean the house is/ that they might judge your house for some reason. See if it’s rational and justified. A teacher hand posting something should be seen as a nod to how good the teacher is!!

StartingFreshFor2026 · 26/06/2026 21:30

Thatcannotberight · 26/06/2026 21:02

Your child's teacher? You don't have any kind of friendly relationship with your child's teacher? Never had a chat about how your child is doing? Had a conversation about anything?

I am not close friends with my child's current teacher, no. We have a friendly professional relationship.

Noodles1234 · 26/06/2026 21:34

I see this as going above and beyond, what a great teacher not wanting your child to miss out. Maybe all the other kids have theirs already?

Goodness, what a lovely kind idea and yet people still moan.

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