to resent the unnecessary additional tasks schools drop on us?

[elliott]

Ds2 has just started in reception. Today I got a note in his bag saying 'Please bring in a 'word tin' for ds2 - a pencil tin is ideal'.

Now, WHY do they need a pencil tin ffs? Do they think we have these things just hanging round the house? Or do they not think twice about expecting that we find time for a special trip to the shops to source one of these things (I have no idea where I might buy said 'pencil tin')? Do they think we have nothing better to do?

Honestly, wouldn't an envelope do?

[stitch]

schools in the uk think that parents are actually unpaid staff members with nothing else to do all day long but help them get through the national curriculum

[Nappyzoneneedssleep]

It goes on and on im afraid - our school thinkks were all just loaded - i feel like writing in and explaining the credit crunch and how i am not at a lucrative job that allows me to plough zillions into there voluntary fruit fund which we are named and shamed over if we do not contribute. My dd in yr 1 sent a verbal message back they had all been told off for not having outdoor pe kit - we have had no word ever they did outdoor pe so dutifully i scratched about some money and went and got a tesco joggy suit to keep her warm and sent her with her trainers - next week verbal message back she not allwoed flashing trainers so i scratched about behind my sofa again and got non flashing trainers - today she has a letter home yes they have now bothereed to write a letter realising 5 yr olds cant remember everything saying no flashing trainers, fashion trainers but must be trainers for outdoor and the outdoor pe kit must be black or navy - so not chuffing grey like i bought - i am standing by this one and refusing to go out and buy another grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr sorry for the rant but i know exactly were you are coming from.

[pointydog]

an envelope would do
a pencil tin is ideal.

What is your problem?

[stitch]

like the bloody non competitive sports day. they expect you to take a day off work so you can watch them on the field, doing exactly what you watch them doing at home. and then, if it reains, they expect you to take another day off. and the juniors and seniours are on separte days.;
and you have to come in an help read, help change for swimming,
they demand a direct debit sett up , and gift aided at the beginning of reception for ten pounds a term for the next seven years. and if you refuse, they hound you.
then there are the summer fayre and christmas farye and football fun, and fashion show, and shopping extravaganza, and bingo night, and film night, and quiz night, and formal dinner/dance, that you are expected to stump up for. oh, forgot the termly discos as well.
and guess what? they still dont have fans in the class rooms. electronic whiteboards certainly, but not bloody fans when it was 34 degrees celcisus. or access to water on the playing fields. or shade. grr.....

[AbbeyA]

YABU any box would do. School should be a partnership-not somewhere that you just drop them off. They have more important things to spend money on than little boxes. Wait until you get to secondary school-a small box will seem very minor!

[stitch]

oh, and dd isnt allowed to take her water bottle out of her lunch bag for drinking during snack time, or after they come in from play. she has to take in a separate bottle for this.
why?
so, she carried into school her book bag, whichis big enought o put a single a4 size piece of paper. it cant cope with two. a lunch bag. a separate bag for her other bottle and fruit, because hte fruit isnt allowec to be removed form the lunchbag. and then something else for her jumper, or if she has to take anything else in, like the said pencil tins.

[duckyfuzz]

some parents in the uk think that schools are actually paid just to bring up their kids for them with nothing else to do all day long but provide for their cherubs, worship them and jump through any hoops they may dictate

most parents in the uk appreciate the work schools do with their children and have no problem with supporting them - in other countries (e.g. France, Spain) you have to provide everything even exercise books imagine that

[stitch]

we have only had one month of secondary school, and have yet to have a stupid request from them
i the last month alone, the primary seems to have come back with at least 12

[SaintRiven]

that access to water bugs me no end. ds2 got very hot doing PE last week and actually vomited. No water available on the filed and a long hot coach ride to and fro from said field

[emj23]

I don't think finding a tin is too much hassle. Getting DS dressed up as a Christmas cracker for his school play really bloody annoyed me though. I spent a small fortune on materials to make his costume, and it took ages, only to discover that he had been told to sit right at the back and as far to the side as was possible. He was practically in the wings. I could've dressed him as an elephant and no-one would've been able to see. Actually, I might try that next time

[stitch]

schools in th euk are meant to TEACH them the basics of literacy and numeracy. something they seem to be failing at spectacularlyl.
dc go to a school that ofsted calls outstanding. the only children who have done well out of it are those who are bright neough to get into the grammar schools of their own accord, or those that are tutored tow ithin an inch of their lives. there are no sports acheivemetns. nothing good happens academically unless the parents teach the kids at home. etc etc etc.
i speak only from the experience of dc school, but as i said, ofsted think it is wonderful

[Simplysally]

I imagine the separate bottles for water/lunch drinks is so that they have something to drink at lunchtime instead of having guzzled it break or whenever. My dd isn't allowed to access her lunchbox at playtime either.

[stitch]

i wouldnt mind gettin the tin if i thought it was benefiting him in some way. but after seven years of experience with the school, i know it will be completely uselsess to him. he will gain nothing, absolutely nothing from it. but the school will be able to show ofsted that they get the parents involved so much.....
agian, i wouldnt mind the drama so much but i know the parts will go to the kids who are the biggest bullies, or rather, the kids with the biggest bullies for parents.

[hatwoman]

I remember being told dd1 needed white tights for a costume of some sort. being obedient and not working that day I trotted off to town (am fortunate it's only a 10 minute walk) even though dd1 was poorly. she threw up. in Next. all over the place. The fact that I had thought this might happen and was armed with a (ahem) tin (bigger than a word tin) clearly made all the other customers think I was incredibly negligent - I had knowingly taken a sick child to the shops. tut tut.

half the kids didn;t have white tights. from then on I stopped making special trips. I make do.

[stitch]

both bottles usually come back with about ten ml missing from each. dd does not guzzle her water.

[nooka]

I have never been told I had to come for sports day (and I never have), nor to do reading or to help the children change before swimming, or to set up a direct debit (for what?) The fayres, discos and stuff are all voluntary too aren't they?

My children have always had a backpack, into which goes the bookbag (for homework), lunch box, drinking bottle and anything else they need. As far as I am aware that's what everyone else does too.

Now we have to supply and pay for everything we are more aware of the vast amount of stuff the children go through at school (we had to supply 60 pencils for example).

My main complaint is too short notice, and the assumption that the requests are simple and easy to fulfill, which often they aren't, but I am sure the teachers aren't deliberately trying to annoy me!

[Simplysally]

I can remember trawling Tescos at 10pm for black tights for dd (after the sheep costume debacle) .

Luckily they served as school tights afterwards....

[stitch]

nooka, your school sounds like heaven. inmy kids school, the word voluntary is rather like breathing being voluntary. you dont have to breath if you dont want to, but you wont be able to survive for very long if you dont.
i once made a stand about the constant 'voluntary contributions' towards trips, and firemen visits etc. i thought it best to make a stand over a tiny amount, £2, so it would be obvious it wasnt about the ability pay, but the principle of the thing. after all, with three children, 2, 9, 15, 20 quid soon add up to over a hundred a year.
i was HOUNDED. mercilessly. eventually i had to give in, or never show my face in the playground again.

[stitch]

oh and the looks and comments,i got from the other parents when i didnt attend sprots day,

[Simplysally]

I think I'd change schools if that was practicable Stitch.

[ruddynorah]

have you got a tampon box?

give him that if you can't be naffed picking up a pencil tin next time you go to the supermarket.

[stitch]

ss, if only it was. .. home schooling is really the only option, but i dont have the patience required for that.

[nooka]

Ah well as I don't often attend the playground I may be unaware that I am breaking all the unwritten rules! But as working parents it just wouldn't be possible for us to do school helping type stuff on anything other than a very occasional basis. It does sound as if you are very angry with your school though - would a change be possible?

[Janni]

What about a tupperware box? Have you got any of those? That's what I would do. Or a margarine tub or something. You can get your DS to draw a picture to stick on the lid if you want to make it more personal.

[Janni]

Just saw that Janeite said the same as me!