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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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...

138 replies

Strix · 23/03/2010 10:17

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.

OP posts:
OtterInaSkoda · 23/03/2010 12:49

I agree, wannaBe. I think the OP is probably being too pushy and overplaying the significance of SATs.

OTOH OP, if your dd loves tests and being able to quantify her progress, could you not devise tests of your own? Or download some? You could have your own assesment system. Build a performance report in Excel (she could help do this) with graphs and suchlike.

I do think you're probably overstating the significance of it all - she is only 7 fgs - but I understand that maybe she's driving this rather than you. But please do be prepared to relax a bit and please try and allow her to relax a bit, too - the pressure could get unbearable for such a wee thing.

weegiemum · 23/03/2010 12:49

Oh yes teachers get sick and pregnant.

But the forcing of 7-year-olds to do SATS which will "stream" them for the following year and the whole idea of it getting parents so stressed that they are tutoring at home and freaking out, and state schools having "victorian" attitudes towards maths etc .... not so much!

clam · 23/03/2010 12:50

Agree with jeee. It's an easy cliche to believe, but one which no primary school nowadays can seriously get away with.

Strix, why would you want to ensure your DD is put in a set where she may struggle? If she needs such extensive studying to do well in an assessment that is meant to see roughly where they're at naturally, then maybe the upper set is not for her.

mrsflowerpot · 23/03/2010 12:50

They might not even do SATS this year, anyway - the teaching unions are being balloted over a boycott soon aren't they?
I would be a bit concerned about any school where year 2 children were aware what the SATS were all about and where they place this much significance on them.

OP - in answer to your original question, it's not ideal, is it - in our school when people come back from maternity or long term sick leave at a potentially disruptive time for the children - eg a short time before the end of term - they do seem to try to stick with the status quo in the interim and redeploy the returner for short periods. But it's a question of budgets when supply teachers are needed, and of course she has the right to return to work and to take maternity leave.

BTW, ds is in a job-share class (yr 4) and it works fantastically well. The teachers have different strengths and enthusiasms and it also eliminates that potential personality clash that can happen occasionally with a child and a teacher, which is miserable when they are stuck with each other for the whole year (ds's best friend had this last year, and it was awful).

OtterInaSkoda · 23/03/2010 12:58

jeee - agreed. I think expectations are higher for girls than they are for boys these days, which is why I asked how the OP knew the school favoured boys. If anything, boys are allowed to languish a bit imo.

This isn't always a bad thing, but I do think that being a boy is used as an excuse for underachievement.

SoupDragon · 23/03/2010 12:58

"If she needs such extensive studying to do well in an assessment that is meant to see roughly where they're at naturally, then maybe the upper set is not for her. "

Absolutely.

Original poster
Strix · 23/03/2010 12:58

I didn't say the SATs were the only faqctor in next year's streaming. I said they were a big factor. I don't really know how big so perhaps I should have just said factor.

OP posts:
MrsC2010 · 23/03/2010 13:05

The teacher has a right to return to her class. Unfortunately that is the way that schools work. If she already knows the class 3 wks is enough time to settle back in and work. It isn't her fault and the school are quite tied in this respect.

andirobobo · 23/03/2010 13:05

The original teacher probably has to come back to work to get paid before she starts her maternity leave otherwise she may have to start her mat leave early and then return to school earlier. Must have been some sickness to keep her off for so long.

DD is in year 3 and they are streamed for maths - she got a level 2a in her KS1 SATS but is in the middle group for maths, having started in the bottom set. She has floated around two of the three groups from term to term - probably not helped by her school having a mixed year 3/4 class as well as a Yr3 and a Yr4 class. She is in the mixed class and is in the middle set for maths - which I think is ok for her level.

Schools are funny places in my opinion!

Original poster
Strix · 23/03/2010 13:05

"where they are at naturally"

I think you are giving the natural component of ability too much credit. Academic success is something you work for, and not something you are just born with no matter what you do or don't study. Natural abilities do vary, but they are not everything.

I don't think my DD is alone in having more ability than the school is encouraging to be fair. I think the schools are failing most of our children in maths. I'm doing something about it because they probably won't.

OP posts:
wannaBe · 23/03/2010 13:06

so actually, you don't know that sats form the basis for y3 at all? But you're making your dd study and stressing the importance of the result in the test anyway?

To put it bluntly - I don't think it's the school that's the problem here.

SoupDragon · 23/03/2010 13:07

As an aside, the Y2 SATS are so low key at DSs school I only discovered last week he got straight 3s and he's now in Y4 And that is exactly how it should be - low key. IIRC, his teacher had a fair amount of time off for pregnancy related stuff that year too.

SoupDragon · 23/03/2010 13:09

"I think you are giving the natural component of ability too much credit. Academic success is something you work for, and not something you are just born with no matter what you do or don't study. Natural abilities do vary, but they are not everything."

Actually, you're wrong. DS1 has just sat exams for private secondaries. They then interview the boys who pass and weed out those who have clearly been extensively tutored and offer the scholarships to those boys with natural talent.

FioFio · 23/03/2010 13:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster
Strix · 23/03/2010 13:10

No, wannabe, I do not think your extrapolations are an accurate representation of my posts on this thread.

OP posts:
paisleyleaf · 23/03/2010 13:14

I think she's 6 (I couldn't say any more on the violin thread when I realized it was a just 6 year old).

wannaBe · 23/03/2010 13:18

what is the violin thread

snorkie · 23/03/2010 13:19

violin & kumon will also help with the maths irrespective of the teacher.

clam · 23/03/2010 13:22

I'm afraid to say that I'm beginning to feel a little sorry for your DD.

purpleturtle · 23/03/2010 13:24

The highest you can get is a 3 anyway - there's not point in tutoring like mad, because no matter how well she does, it'll only be given the same grade as the papers done by all the children with untutored natural talent.

I think it's a waste of your time. Go out and have some fun with your DD.

Baileysismyfriend · 23/03/2010 13:25

Strix, give your daughter a break, shes only little and SAT results are really not that important and certainly not something that you or your DD need to stress about.

Ease up on her a bit, the time will come for lots of studying but not for a few years yet.

Pikelit · 23/03/2010 13:28

Maths, ffs. In this country (where small children are encouraged to think they are complete educational failures by Year 2) we do maths. Not math.

OtterInaSkoda · 23/03/2010 13:37

Pikelit. I managed to resist the urge to emphasise the s in my posts. Until now: maths.

OP, may I ask why maths is so important to you, in relation to other subjects? At 6 or 7 maths is still about arithmetic pretty much, with the odd bit of geometry and so on thrown in. I understand that it is useful to be able to do sums quickly (a skill I didn't really develop until I had to, working with money) but where are you hoping your dd will be, mathswise, by the end of Y4?

hobnobsaremyfavourite · 23/03/2010 13:38

I love living in Wales where there are no formal SAT's tests. DS2 is in year 3 he has no idea what grades he achieved in the teacher assessments he undertook during year 2. I at no point coached him or pushed him as there was no point as there was no big formal "exam" just monitoring of his progress through the year. DS1 has just gone to high school he was reasessed by the new school and streamed by them according to their teacher assessment. Personally I think SAT grades seem more about producing data for the school about a child so that they can teach each individual according to their ability than a great big "Gee aren't you clever" to any particular child. OP you do seem ever so slightly precious

Devendra · 23/03/2010 13:39

ffs they are yr2 sats.. get a grip woman YABU