in thinking our primary school should not bring back a teacher who went off ill in November for three weeks to admister the SATs and then go off again...

[Strix]

DD's year 2 teacher went off ill in November. They have had one single supply teacher since then who has worked out very well and provided continuity and the kids and the parents like her. It has just been announced that ill teacher is coming back part time for 4 weeks (half time with returning teacher and 1/2 with the temp cover teacher). Then returning teacher will teach the class full time for three weeks (when I believe the KS1 SATs will be given), and then she will begin her maternity leave and the temp teacher will resume full time for the rest of the year.

Several parent are unhappy about the dispruption to the kids.

Now, of course, the teacher has every right to come back to work. But, we feel she does not need to replace the teacher who has now settled with the year 2 class. I am especially unhappy about all this disruption being just in time for SATs.

It does sound disruptive. But I expect the school are in a corner where they have to let her return to work until the maternity leave starts.
I don't think there's much you can do.

They should give her something else to do. My child's education is more important than the schools staff swapping issues.

I know. You're right. But then they'd have to pay her and the supply.

Message withdrawn

If you feel that it will disrupt SATS then withdraw your child form them - you have every right to do so and they are pretty much irrelevant at this stage anyway.

I regard SATs as very important because they will have an impact on the level of work she gets next year.

So the teacher's right to return to work inmore important than 30 children's education?

I'm am all for women's rights to work, but this is the tail wagging the dog.

I'd be quite happy with a jobshare that had been going on for some time and continues as normal through the SATs. It's the chopping and changing I don't like.

At our school the SAT result is big factor in determining what work they get in year 3. Perhaps not at other schools. But, it is at our school. So her test result most certainly matters.

Message withdrawn

My DC moved from an infant school to a junior school. The junior school took no notice of their SAT results, and retested them in the first couple of weeks. Some children with 3s from the infants weren't in the top groups, and some children with lower marks were.

It seems to me that the junior school is far less influenced by their perception of the children's parents.

Anyway, I think you don't need to worry unduly about SATs - Oxbridge aren't interested, and more importantly, secondary schools - even selective ones - don't give a damn about how your child does at 7.

Bloss, I could understand that argument if she was comming back for 8 months before she left again on maternity leave. But, she is coming back for 3 weeks, which is hardly going to impact her experience / career path.

Does a teacher actually have a legal right to return to teach the exact class she left? Or could she teach another class? If I went off sick for months I would expect to come back and be given a project to manage, but necessarily the exact project I left.

It does all seem unfair.

At ds's school they employed a teacher after a huge search who would do music. The teacher concerned was specifically charged with organising the Christmas production. She turned up for her new job already pregnant and then ducked out of the school play because of the extra hours required.

Had she been a long-serving member of staff, then I'm sure everyone would have been understanding, but this woman was really taking the piss and was waved off on her maternity leave with a sigh of relief all round.

I'm fully in favour of flexibility to enable women's participation and indeed to harness and retain their skills, but from an employer's point of view (and in teaching from the pupils' side as well) I really think that someone should have proved their worth before being entitled to generous leave and their job back.

It is a primary school so she is not moving from an infant to a different junior. She is just going from year 2 to year 3 in the same school.

This has nothing to do with Oxbridge or even senior school applications. It has everything to do with my 7 year old DD getting the reocgnition for which she has worked very hard and rightly deserves. And I don't wan't her efforts to be diminished by an unnecessary disruption in the classromm because it suits a 3 week staffing issue for the school.

What do you suggest they do with the teacher instead?

Given that my children barely knew that they'd sat SATs - they just thought they'd done some work in 'special books' - they didn't relate doing well in tests with recognition of their achievements. Which is just the way it should be.

Strix, I understand your frustration at the disruption to your daughter's class, but really, I'm sure any teacher on here will tell you that Y2 SAT results will in no way affect work given in Y3. Children are generally informally assessed at the beginning of each year as a baseline to inform teaching and learning and this assessment will be ongoing throughout the year.

"What do you suggest they do with the teacher instead?"

I obviously can't answer that because I'm not the Head Teacher and therefore don't know what else needs doing which would be suitable work for her. But, the school does not impress me as being overstafffed so I'm sure there is something suitable. I'm not suggesting she sweep floors, but I bet there is plenty of teaching work to be done.

DD will relate her achievement because we study at home, I tell her why, and I tell her where I hope she will score. It gives her a purpose for her hard work. I expect her to do well (in maths). But still I would like her to have that sense of achievement when she is told how well she did.

In theory the assessment is throught the year. In reality, they were streamed las October and haven't moved since. I have been told by the school that SATs do affect the streaming next year.

You are probably right that the school cares more about the teacher's rights and their budget than they do about the children's education. But, it is still wrong.

Why let your DD know about the tests? Honestly, mine knew nothing about them. And yes, they did get all threes.

I'm not sure this teacher's leave is your main problem at this school.
I think the school are silly if they put a limit onto the children's future learning by sats results at year 2.