Is it too much to ask for the school to not "lose" things?

[thefroggy]

Ds (year 10) has had his art folder "mislaid". He had the choice apparently to take it home every week or leave in the classroom. He left it at school where he thought it would be safer. It has now gone missing from the classroom. The tutor has told him he will have to do ALL his coursework again.

Will this affect his grades? I'm not too pleased with his report already. They estimate most of his grades at a D or E and although his behaviour was excellent and he has achieved or surpassed most of those grades already, I dont think they are giving him the help he needs. He's under the SENCO as he was at primary but the school claim the primary never sent his records. I've called both schools over and over, primary insist his records were sent. The staff at his primary are very good so i'm more inclined to think it's an error on the part of his secondary.

Are you sure the school mislaid it? If they did that is absolutely outrageous. However almost always, claims that the school has lost something are a pupl covering up that they have lost it themselves. ( I deal with at least half a dozen of these claims every week, once or twice in the last couple of years has it genuinly been the teacher, on all other occasions it has been the pupil) No, he will not have to repeat anything if the school has lost it. The school will need to get in touch with the exam board, and explain, they should have a record of his marks, and these can be submitted without the folder. You will need to get on their backs though, some staff and schools I have known to try and brush this sort of thing under the carpet, rather than confess openly to what has happened. Teachers are only human, mistakes can happen, however lying to cover up is unforgiveable. What you say about your son being told to repeat the work implies someone is lieing. Either your son, or the teacher. You need to get to the bottom ofthis, obviously it has serious implications for your sons grades and his future career.

My dd'a art folder went missing in year 10. After an anxious week, it was finally found on the top of a cupboard, and a class mate guiltily remembered putting it there because dd had left it on a table the other girl wanted to use for somethig messy. She put dd's folder safe (good) then forgot about it (bad)! But she wouldn't have had to do all the work again-there were recorded marks for most of it- she would just have had to redo the unmarked bits.

Has your ds really searched? Not teenage boy searched?

I find it hard to believe tbh,that if the school has lost the work,your son is being made to redo it.

Speak to the teacher concerned and get all the facts.

I don't know. Ds doesn't tend to tell lies but i'm well aware of his teenage boy searching skills . I'm going to wait until Art day and see if another student brings it back (thinking they may have picked it up accidentally), if not I will ask to speak to the teacher...if she still insists he has to do the work again what information do I need to be armed with?

How far away is art day? I would try and get this sorted as fast as possible. Does DS know any of his marks? Take a list with you. Contact the teacher now, and ask for a full search, and if it isn't found, a full investigation into what happened. If you don't get a response within a week, contact the head and ask the same.