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.

I would share your frustration, but IMo it is possible to at least try to look at thsi positively.

Fresh teacher, fresh eyes that may spot things the current teacher doesn't, unbiased testing, appropriate use of skilled staff? - break for supply teacher who can then return refreshed to teach the rest of the year, having had a fellow-professional to talk to about her work and the class, to take a contract that lasts a proper length of time (a year). The old maternity leave of 12 weeks wasn't really enough for any good-quality cover IMO.

If it turns out to be impossible to consider this as anything other than a bad idea, then go to the Head.

The problem is, that the school are probably so stretched for money that they have no other option. I've worked as a governor on school finance as well as as a teacher, and I can tell you that budgets often have virtually no leeway at all. Schools usually have insurance to cover supply staff during sick pay, but that insurance won't pay out once the original teacher is fit to go back to work. Therefore they will have absolutely no way of paying the supply teacher to stay on during that time. It won't be to do with caring more about rights and their budget than your child's education. They have to follow the employemnt laws and they are not allowed to go over budget. It's about them having no choice in the matter.

It's definitely not the best situation, but remember that SATs are a measure of the success of the school, not the child. The school will be as keen or keener for her to do well than you are.

Because our particular school has an attitude that boys are better at math than girls are. If my DD was a fab reader and didn't really like math this would be okay. But, actually, math is what she likes, and what she is good at. So, this test score is my amunition for next year when/if she is not given challenging math work. I work with her at home, and she picks things up quickly. It;s a pity the school doesn't do this - largely because she has the misfortune having two X chromosomes.

The best way to convince DD that her teachers are full of crap is for her to prove it herself with success on this test. She can do it. And yes, I realise a change in teacher isn't going to be so traumatic it will cause her to bomb the test. But, every little bit helps to counteract their bloody Victorian views on math. So I'm doing everything in my power to prepare her. And it will be really good for her confidence when she succeeds.

Strix, I'm afraid I have to say that if your DD is disappointed with how she achieves in these SATs, I suspect it will have little to do with her original teacher being around for a couple of weeks and much more to do with the pressure you seem to be putting her under to succeed. ANd if she ends up in a lower set in Year 3, then I suspect that that is where she is meant to be and that the last three weeks before SATs will make no difference.
Chill. She's 7 years old.

If your school truly has that view, then there is a problem. But that's a whole different issue. I still don't see why your daughter needs to know about the tests. Saying that doing well in the test will give her confidence is only true if you have built the SATs up in her mind. And what happens if she doesn't do as well as you think she should? That will knock her confidence, more than any alleged gender bias by the school.

Sounds like staffing is the least of your worries with the school to be honest.

Putting this amount of pressure on any kids is awful at their age - I have a ds in p3 (y2) and he is regularly informally assessed by his teacher and given work that suits him. As are my dds in their own years.

They all occasionally come home with a wee slip of paper saying "Ds passed level B maths and will now be working at level C" (the levels etc are different up here) but none of them have ever been aware of a formal test and I certainly would not be studying for tests with them at home (except spelling tests).

Letting a one off test stream children for the whole of the next year is, basically, crap and lazy teaching. (And yes, I'm a teacher!)

Blimey she is 7 stop stressing ! I have a Y2 and a Y6 child and thankfully at their school SAs are not the be all and end all, even the Y6 teacher said last night if they flunk the test so what, no one will remember in a couple of years and the high school go on teacher assessment too so they are really not that important.

What are you going to be like when she gets to her GCSEs poor child.

As for the teacher its not ideal but I wouldnt worry about it at all.

You are right that this is largely about another problem. But I can not march into school and say welcome to the 21st centure where women have brains too. I can, however, prepare DD to do well on the test.

And, of course, I don't punish her for not doing well. I praise her when she does well. The whole score conversation started because she wanted to know how she did. She a lot marked wrong on a level 3 test and was very unhappy. SO I explained that actually the test is very hard and if you get half of them right that's a great job. I hadn't planned to tally the score, but she wanted to know. SO, I added it up and it turned out she scored a 3 on that mock test. So I explained she had done really well. DD is naturally REALLY competitive. She wants to get them all right... which is a tall order of course. But, if she is really determined then who am I to discourae that. I emcourage, I do not put pressure on her to perform.

I do tell her that the way to get better is practise. I tell her no one is clever by magic and that success comes from hard work. I say if you work really hard I think you can achieve a 3, which would be great. But, if you don't that's okay too.

Year 2 SATS are teacher assessed anyway arn't they so it won't make any difference surely.

I donlt know a huge amount about SATS as my children don't do them but I'm sure it isn't formal in Year 2.

strix I really doubt having a bit of a change around of teachers over just a few weeks will make much if any impact on her SATs results. It may well work out to be a positive thing, and if not, well these things happen. I am sure she will do vey well since you support her well at home and that is more important than what goes on at school in any case. Even if she doesn't do as well as you hope, you can still advocate for her. She certainly won't be the only child in the country to have experienced some disruption to her teaching by a long way.

In years to come it may be her that is benefiting from maternity/sick laws, so this is something you have to live with I think.

musicposy, thanks for your post. You are probably right about the budget having no cushion and therefore no choice in the matter. It's too bad. But, I will probably have to accept the teacher swap.

It is a formal test at our school. I asked. It is one book which covers level 2 and level 3.

We will just keep studying and if there is a big teacher swap, then I guess so be it. DD is probably more resilient than some of the other children. So actually, it may benefit her.

I still think it's rubbish. But hey ho... such is life in a state school I guess.

She has to be given a job of the same level as the one she had. School budgets are tight and they proabably can't afford to pay supply teacher and her to be there.

Another one here whose ds didn't know he'd been doing SATs.

I think the issue here isn't with the school allowing a teacher to return to work during SATs week, but with the school rigidly streaming solely on the basis of SATs results. if thay are doing this, they are being v.lazy imo.

Another point - I'd imagine the permanant teacher is more experienced when it comes to SATs than the supply - in which case surely it's preferable for her to return for this apparently crucial week.

Such isn't necessarily life in a state school!

Just in yours, by the sounds of things.

I don't thin the SATS/streaming problem is because it's a state school. Your school does just seem to be streaming and organizing work particularly badly.

what - teachers don't get sick or pregnant in other state schools weegie?

"But hey ho... such is life in a state school I guess"

Not at ours it isn't.

ment to add, this sort of thing can happen in any school, state or private.

I think you are worrying unnecessarily. It won't disrupt the children to any great extent and I very much doubt that it will affect the SATS results (and if it does, TBH the affected child wasn't a sure thing for that the higher mark anyway and, in your scenario, would not have been able to cope with the appropriate work in Y3)

Personally, I think that using the SATS results alone to govern what your child is taught in Y3 is utterly ridiculous. Is there no movement in the year? Is it the case that if your child is graded at one level in the SATS then they work at that level the next year regardless? If so, you should complain about this not the return of a sick teacher.

"school has an attitude that boys are better at math than girls are"

"this test score is my amunition (sic) for next year"

"The best way to convince DD that her teachers are full of crap"

"I can not march into school and say welcome to the 21st centure where women have brains too."

I'm a bit at your tone, to be honest. And wondering what message you are giving your daughter about her school.

"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." she is seven! Is it any wonder that there's talk of seven year olds suffering from stress when they have pushy parents like this.

I think you need to chill out, stop studying at home for a test that means nothing to the children and let her be a child until such times as academic achievement really does count.

Thread's moving fast - x-posted!

"I can not march into school and say welcome to the 21st centure where women have brains too"

I think you can, actually. Perhaps not march on in there, guns blazing, but you can challenge the school's bizarre, sexist approach to maths. I would.

I'm probably x-posting again, but how do you know that they have these attitudes? Have they told you?

Strix, was it your DD who needs the violin grades for a scholarship?
(Maybe you can be out of the state system soon).

I doubt very much that any school believes girls can't do maths, whatever the OP believes. I think today boys are more likely to have to prove themselves than girls.