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Original poster

So cross but am I going over the top, really stressing now

46 replies

SecondhandRose · 12/06/2006 20:31

You'll probably think I'm being daft but my DD has come home with spellings to learn this week and last week. Last week the word naughtiest was spelt nautiest and this week she has to learn accommodation and accessible. BUT the school have spelt them accomodation and accesible.

NOW WHAT IS THE BLOODY POINT OF GIVEN THEM WORDS SPELT INCORRECTLY TO LEARN!!!!!

I feel like going to the head but should I stop at the form tutor?

DD is a long way ahead in spelling (she is yr 2) so she is only one in the year doing these spellings but surely other years are doing them, but who knows?

To top it all it's a private school so I'm paying for her to be taught incorrect spellings! I've already given notice for her to leave as she is starting a more academic state school in Sept and I really feel like having a go now.

OP posts:

frogs · 12/06/2006 21:28

We've had this too. Dd1 spent the whole of Y5 playing 'spot the howler' in the homework sheets. We had 'criteria' and 'bacteria' given as examples of words that were the same in the singular and the plural; dd1's spelling of 'gateaux' marked incorrect as the plural of 'gateau' (should have been 'gateaus' according to the teacher); and maths sheets showing what was clearly a square-based pyramid labelled as a tetrahedron. And so on. Correct answers being marked as wrong is even more galling than mistakes in homework sheets, imo.

Dd1 being herself of course tends to feel it is her duty to point out the teacher's errors, which can trigger WWIII, depending on how able the teacher is to admit mistakes. In Y5 dd1 spent more time standing outside the classroom than she did in it. And, going back all the way to Y2, I remember her getting into a standup argument with her then teacher who had written 'baloons' on the board and refused to accept that she had made a mistake.

I'd write a letter to the form tutor and copy it to the head, enclosing an amended version of the offending sheet. Actually I probably wouldn't, but that's what I'd like to do. What I actually did would depend on whether or not I cared about getting the school's back up. At the current school the head also can neither spell nor punctuate, and has never thought to ask himself what those little red wiggly lines are that Word scatters through the text.

The barbarians are at the gates, I'm afraid.

snorkle · 12/06/2006 22:15

Oh we had this one year too. Dd is not a great speller (dyslexic), but uses good vocabulary in her writing. She would get work returned with all spelling mistakes underlined and a list of supposedly correct words at the bottom of the page which she had to copy out three times. The list wasn't all the incorrect words, but a subset (or it would have taken forever). However instead of picking out the basic words which would have been helpful for dd to learn the teacher always picked out the obscure ones which she then often spelt wrongly herself. Perhaps not quite as bad as having incorrect spelling lists but still most unhelpful for a child already struggling with spelling.

brimfull · 12/06/2006 22:40

I am shocked at nautiest...
dd had a yr one teacher who couldn't spell to save her life.She lasted a year at the school!Head had to vet all her letters and reports as she was so hopeless.

Blu · 12/06/2006 22:51

PanicPants · 12/06/2006 22:59

Sometimes when we do guided writing I make a spelling mistake on purpose, so I can model how to edit writing. The children think it's funny and that they've caught me out. :o

peasinapod · 12/06/2006 23:15

Havnt read all of thread (sorry ) But my ds yr 2 has spelling tests and if he writes them down wrongly or you cant read them properly the teacher or TA writes them correctly by the side .

peasinapod · 12/06/2006 23:18

Me again can you let us know what happens I would love to know what she says . Thanks .

cat64 · 12/06/2006 23:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

carolt · 14/06/2006 16:20

Just to add that at primary school (in other ways a very good school academically, I should add), a teacher of mine corrected the spelling of my SURNAME!!!! on the grounds that the rule is i before e except after c (I have a German surname spelt ei but pronounced i)!

How stupid is that!

As a teacher of English as a foreign language, on my training course on of the trainers spelt category as catagory - a whole group of us trainee teachers were observing at the back of the class, wondering whether to point out her error in front of the class she was teaching.. I think none of us did...And that was a teacher trainer!

Shocking.

alligator · 14/06/2006 16:33

I'm with Blu on the 'haitch' thing Its NOT wrong just different and there is nothing wrong with regional variation and certainly not on a par with incorrect spelling.

Original poster

SecondhandRose · 14/06/2006 17:24

Just to update you. I walked into DD's class early yesterday, I was the only one there with the teacher and I told her I was very cross last night although calmer now. I asked who wrote the spelling lists and she said that she the teacher did.

I pointed out the 2 mistakes this week and the 1 last week and she was "very sorry". I stropped at her for another minute about it not being good enough and she just said sorry and that was that.

Now she has to learn all those ruddy spellings for Friday morning. Will go and test her in a minute.

OP posts:

PanicPants · 14/06/2006 17:48

Seconfhandrose, I'm so shocked it was the actual teacher.

BUT am I right in thinking that private schools don't have to take on qualified teachers? My friend is an unqualified teacher and works for a pittance at a private school.

I was so sure it was going to turn out that a helper or ta had done it.

Smellen · 14/06/2006 19:02

Have to agree with the last post. I'd be furious if I were paying for a private education and this was the type of teaching my kid was receiving.

Are you going to follow this up? ...If only to ensure that this teacher doesn't teach other kids how not to spell?

tigermoth · 14/06/2006 19:22

I am shocked too - I just cannot get over the spelling of the word 'nautiest'. And my spelling is far from perfect. How old and experienced is the teacher?

Piffle · 14/06/2006 19:38

We got this all the time as ds was ahead in spellings and his teacher I do not think had ever learned to spell. Later found it was the classroom assistant...
I used to write the corrections in red pen and write to the teacher to ensure she marked them properly.

cat64 · 14/06/2006 21:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

swedishmum · 15/06/2006 00:00

How about a refund on fees??

Original poster

SecondhandRose · 15/06/2006 12:14

Yeah, a refund in fees I can just imagine that! DD is leaving on 6th July, will keep the boat smooth until then. Can't be bothered with the stress. DS is going to the upper school so we'll have to go there every day to pick him up and I don't want the staff giving me 'evils'.

OP posts:

LucyJones · 15/06/2006 12:17

Personally I would have gone to the ead or the board of governors. It is outrageous that someone who can't spell is teaching spelling

Tortington · 15/06/2006 12:37

i'd go to the head - if they can't do the fucking job they shouldnt fucking be there -

tigermoth · 15/06/2006 13:27

if you want to avoid the 'evils' why not photocopy some of the spelling sheets with the worst mistakes, remove all names to identify them with your dd and post them to the head, with a note 'from a concerned parent' - or even 'from some concerned parents' if you can get some other parents on your side.

I would feel so, so tempted to not let this drop - these spelling mistakes are more than an odd typo - they are frequent and serious!

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