Its good enough for mine if its good enough for yours

[educationforteachers]

If the school is not good enough for the teachers kids, then should it be good enough for our kids?

Should this apply to primary and secondary?

Should this apply to the methods they are using in school?

Since teachers are after all the best people to ask!

'But how the hell would you KNOW if there wasn't a "good" reason.'

I would know it wasn't a good reason if, for example, the deputy head told me there was incompetent teaching and his son wouldn't get an education.

This has really happened.

Perhaps read the posts?

How would you know (as a parent) whether a teacher was actively avoiding the school?

Explain it.

More carefully.

Yes, you're right. That happened. ONCE.

What about the hundreds of other schools?

And, by your own admission, that happened because it was a teacher-to-teacher conversation. The OP was not talking about special knowledge that only teachers might have, but about parents in general.

Round here it would be considered very odd if a teacher lived in catchment and sent their child elsewhere.

Going to the school where you parent teaches is pants. You can never be you as you are always Mr/Mrs X's child and are treated differently as a result (sometimes in a beneficial way, more often in a negative way).

A teacher sending their child to a different (local) school may not be a reflection on their opinion of the school, but actually a kindness to their child (one I wasn't given and suffered for).

I wouldn't see it as a good or bad sign if teachers chose to send or not send their child to the school where they teach as I don't know their personal circumstances and reasons for choosing their child's school.

Like clam I'm staggered that people actually think this way

Many posters have already given examples.

LeVolcan was annoyed by her son's teacher saying that her own son went to a school where he would be 'pushed'.

I would be concerned if a teacher said they had chosen a different school because they were concerned about behaviour or stretching or support or range of subjects at their own school.

If that would not concern you great. But those would be warning signs to ME.

I have a child of a teacher in most of my classes , they are not treated any differently . My own children are not treated any differently .

EvilTwins - I was about to post the same thing! Of COURSE lots of teachers would lie, and no of COURSE you couldn't tell by looking at their faces. If I were going to say my school was good, I'd be perfectly capable of saying it convincingly.
Plus there are plenty of teachers at my school who do think it's a good school. We just happen to have different opinions about what makes a good school. So even if I were to give my real opinion, whose opinion do you trust?

But if it's clear that there isn't a good reason then as parent I would see that as a possible warning sign as would many other parents.

One person's "good reason" for appearing to avoid a certain school, might well not count to someone else. Frankly it's no one else's business.

Looking at it from another perspective - as someone who lives in the middle of catchment - I would feel very uncomfortable actively choosing to send my child to another school . I also know that people would comment on it. Good, let them comment. But if your main reason, personal to you and therefore the only relevant concern, is that you don't think it would work for you and your children being in the same school, then there's no need for anyone else to get their knickers in a twist about that.

And I often take other people's opinions with a pinch of salt anyway. I prefer to make my own mind up. But, as I've said, I wouldn't read anything bad into staff's children attending elsewhere, UNLESS I had other concerns about the school as well.

I suppose I return to my starting point of wondering why some of you are being so uppity and argumentative.

If YOU personally think whether or not teachers send their own kids to the same school or actively avoid it has no bearing on your choice, good for you.

But I don't think it's on to rubbish this as a concern for other parents.

My school is on the fringes of a grammar school catchment . So if staff were likely to send their children elsewhere - the grammar would be the most obvious choice. We see ourselves as a comprehensive and lose very few students to the grammar. In most cases a teacher in our school who chose to send their child to the grammar would be saying that the comprehensive system is not good enough for their child - but is for everyone else's.

Clam I think that is a fair point about existing concerns. If I was happy with a school I might not even think about where the staff send their children . However if I am unhappy with the school and notice that my neighbour ships her children to another school , despite teaching at the local school , I am likely to have questions.

whendidyoulast Seriously? Perhaps you ought to re-read your own posts! You are the main one being uppity on here, and rubbishing others' opinions.

'Like clam I'm staggered that people actually think this way'

Honestly?

You would find it staggering that many parents would see it as a warning sign if teachers were actively avoiding that school for reasons other than not wanting to work at the same school or living in another catchment etc?

You really don't get why some parents would find this a concern?

I think there are pros and cons-
Pros- drop off and pick up is easier, you have a handle on what the ethos is and can support your child within it, you have a good idea of the frustrations they might face and can sympathise or tell them to get a grip as appropriate.
Cons- worries about favouritism, worries about the opposite by people who you don't get on with in the staff room, worries that your child might not spend their teenage years as they should; having minor dramas and learning lessons, etc without mum or dad breathing down their neck and finding out about every little thing.

There could be a 'this school is good/carp' issue, but I think the social side would concern me more.

Where have I rubbished other people's opinions clam?

Look, just because you don't care about where teachers send their school doesn't give you the right to tell other parents they shouldn't care about this either.

Surely it's up to them whether it matters or not.

Where teachers send their kids that should say.

If the deputy head says 'I would not send my own son to this school because they would get a better education at x school down the road' then I would see that as one huge great warning sign.

If you don't bully for you but don't tell me what to think.

But whendidyoulast (and I don't know how I can make this any clearer to you) "parents", and I'm talking parents in general, not parents who also happen to be teachers in neighbouring schools and therefore might have a different perspective do not know whether teachers are "actively avoiding" a school, or if they are sending their children elsewhere for other, totally valid and personal reasons.

You are so tied up in your own choice, and so insistent that your way is the only way, that you are incapable of seeing anyone else's point of view.

Tell me here I've told other parents that they shouldn't care about school choice?

Surely it's up to them whether it matters or not. EXACTLY!

Teachers teach for around 30 years
their kids are at any one school for 7 years maximum
therefore in the scheme of their careers its an irrelevance

the school they work at is their job

the school their kids go to is chosen to be right for their kids

the two are not linked

Then stop telling them it doesn't matter.

But come on, how many deputy heads would say that to a parent? I am astounded that you expect teachers to be that disloyal to their school to so brutally honest with every parent that asks.