This is my DDs first term at school. I know im probably being Pfb (even though shes my second) but i just get a bit of a funny feeling about her teacher. Firstly, she seems lovely and everyone raves about how good she is. The teaching assistant is lovely too.
But my daughter really struggles with one to one. She is very shy, although once she comes out of her shell she is as loud and in yer face as the rest of them. Its just that whenver adults adress her, in her face i guess, she goes very shy, will say NO and look down or run and hide behind my legs and not come out for ANYTHING. It took her ages to warm to her key worker at nursery although he said that she would still have her moments when she didnt want to talk.
So, fast forward to the first parents evening and the first comment her teacher makes is - She is very willful isnt she?? Now to be fair, DD is actually quite stubborn if she doesnt want to do anything - although i was a bit to have this as the first thing the teacher said to me - she explained that DD wojuldnt be persuaded into line etc and that she would just look down and say no. I explained that actually this is shyness and that shes always been like that, that hopefully she will grow out of it. Anyway, i didnt want to take it personally as it is early days.
Moving on a bit and I am getting messages in her reading book that she doesn't want to sit and talk about books etc with the teacher. (happier with TA tbh) So i have tried to encourage DD without making an issue of it - but i wrote in her book about her problems with one-one and asking if this was a problem at her age - the message i got back was "well yes, it is a problem because how can we assess her if she wont talk to us!" There are always exclamation marks after these negative comments and this really riles me for some reason. Its like the teacher thinks my DD is being naughty.
To be honest, im really upset about this - my DP says that i shouldnt take any notice but i dont want DDs shyness to hinder her in school. He is very much of the school, well DD will come on in her own time - yes, so am i, but i do want to work with the school to overcome any potential problems.
Thing is, i just cant shake this feeling that the teacher doesnt 'like' DD, which i know is really silly but its there and its making me very defensive.
This is an excellent school (by far the best reputation in our area) but it does seem to have high academic expectations. I sent her there because its a catholic school.
I am all over the place about this - part of me wants to march up to the school and say, look here, ive told you she is shy, get off her bloody case but of course i know that would be the wrong thing to do.
What SHOULD i do?? these are messages in the school contact book and like email, maybe im misunderstanding the slant of it.