Not confident that my children are getting a good education!

[spencerkids]

We received a letter from school this week stating that our year 3 teacher had gone on long-term sick! The school have decided not to get a supply teacher but to mix teachers around so year 2 teacher will teach year 2 in the morning and year 3 in the afternoon, year 6 teacher will teach year 6 in the morning and year 2 in the afternoon, the deputy head will teach year 3 in the morning!

I am concerned about the possibility of having the kind of cohesive approach that primary children need when two teachers are swapping over. I feel that a primary class needs one teacher who can get to know the children properly and create a stable environment! I don?t believe that it will be easier for one teacher to personally know 60 children better than they can get to know 30!

Also the school lacks on communication. We have one parents meeting at the end of the year! I understand from a few other schools that at least four target performance meetings take place between parents and teachers each year. We are not informed of the childrens grades. The children do bring home reading books but we don't get any more homework than this.

I emailed the headteacher about my concerns and she sent back an email that I think is very intimidating (see below).

'Please will you contact the admin office to make an appointment that suits us both. I will invite my senior management team, my Learning Mentor Manager and the Chair of Governors to attend the meeting'.

I hate to sound negative all the time but nothing is more important to me than my three children. I want the best for them and the best education I can get for them. I was so excited thinking about my children starting school, assisting in their learning (doing homework) I never guessed it would be this difficult!

I have been told they do have insurance in place for this type of thing! Maybe the reason is about finding decent supply staff (not sure how hard this is to do)?

I know they are cutting back on TA's! However, adults seem to be very thin on the ground lately hence, my DD in yr1 having to send time playing in nursery whilst the receptionist watch them

They certainly shoiuld have insurance.
My guess is that they are making up for a hole in their budget caused by something else. Was the DH previoulsy not in the classroom? Maybe that was unsustainable?

btw who is teaching year 6 in the afternoon? It sounds like they are still short of half a teacher.

Thanks SarkyWench. DH is new to being a school governor and still figuring it out! I know HT had to make a quick decision! However, when this question was asked by DH her reponse was 'please be aware that staffing issues such as these, do not have to go to governors for approval/consultation' maybe a better response would have been to inform DH that the decisions made will be dicussed at the next meeting?

I didn't think of the possibility that she has asked for the meeting to include all the schools key figures as a way to getting a better solution! I guess due to the fact that some of her first response to me was on the defensive that I also jumped on the defensive side. Thanks SarkyWench I will keep an open mind

Year 6 are being taught by a teacher who normally works will each year teaching writing skills.

Has your DH done the induction training yet?
I actually found it really helpful in clarifying our role.

@OP - If you hear hooves over the horizon of some English field I think 'horse' rather than 'zebra'.

If I asked to see my HM about staffing issues that I felt was impacting my DCs education and the HM arranged a meeting with key people I would think that I was being treated seriously. I certainly wouldn't suspect the HM of trying to intimidate me.

Anyway, that is just me.

I agree that there are important issues here and it appears to me that the HM is trying to address your concerns. I hope that it goes well.

He's not done the training yet but it has been mentioned! After the first three meetings he was wondering if it's a good use of his time. (Topics discussed seemed to be all about staff salary's). It has also been said to DH by HT not to bring up conversations about certain issues e.g books not being swopped enough, communication not being great, anything that might offend a teacher! From your experience as a school governor would you recomend him to stick it out?

I would recommend he has a chat with the chair. And does the training (if for no other reason than it is really useful to chat with governors from other local schools so that he can get a feel for whether his GB is typical).

Obviously governors need to be sensitive to the staff governors present, and we should NEVER comment about issues to do with individual staff members at meetings. Also we need to be very careful not to tell the professionals how to do their job. It is not for us to say how often a book should be changed.

BUT... if there are recurring issues in the school that governors suspect are having an impact on pupil progress then these should be discussed. Or if there are recurring negative themes in parents' feedback about the school then these should be discussed. So I'd not expect to discuss details like book swapping, but I would expect to discuss more general issues to do with how to involve parents in their children's education, setting up parent forums etc.

I woud also expect governors to be given detailed summaries of pupil progress so that if there is a dip in progress in particular year groups then they would know this and be able to quiz the HT as to why this might be. So this time next year he should know what the impact of this staffing decision has been. Ultimately the governors need to be given all the information that they need to know whether all is well at the school. And if all is not well, then they should know exactly what is being done to improve the situation.

Do the governors do school visits? That is another way of them finding out more about what is going on.

Thanks for your advise. You seem to get a lot of possitives from being a school governor. I'll pass it on to DH. I'm feeling more positive about my meeting also. I guess I'll go talk to them findout the situation and take it from there. Much better option than selling up and moving schools ! From the feed back it sounds very much like all schools experience similar things!

Hi

Not had time to read whole post so if I repeat anything I apologise.

Main reason for not getting in a supply teacher I'm afraid will be cost, yes they have insurance, but they won't want to use it. The mix up of teachers is most definitely detrimental to education, completely inconsistent, will only serve to confuse the kids.

DH is also a Governer and has found it very difficult to question HT, she is very forthright and been in the position 14yrs, my DH only having been a govn for one yr feels unable at the point to be questioning of her.

Our school is also rubbish at communication and I have had to be very in your face about finding things out, constantly n class changing books myself and asking for assessments to be done. That said we have (so far) a better teacher this yr, DS2 is in yr1 and teacher an NQT, was worried initially but he seems to be thriving and coming on in leaps and bounds.

As regards your DD being sent to the nursery with receptionist, OMG! She is entitled to an age appropriate education and they are not providing it.

Yes a meeting with HT is first port of call, then govn, then LEA.

Don't settle for this, they are out of order and HT knows it, hence the amt of people she wants on her side at the meeting.

Good Luck!

Hi JJWMummy so nice to hear from someone facing similar problems. Has a working mum with three young children I certainly don't want to take these issues on but I will never sit back and say nothing I feel these people are not providing a good education. I glad you're happy with the teacher this year!