Standards in grammar

[TandC]

We have recently started my young child in a private school in Surrey. This is our first experience of private education having been state educated and having visited a number of private and state schools in the area. We have been surprised and the level of spoken and written grammar having overheard more than one teacher say things like: 'he come back from swimming very happy' and 'they was playing happily in the playground'. I have noticed a number of parents speak this way too. Written communication from the school to parents often has errors too like thank you presented as one word, and misuse of the apostrophe. Obviously young children aren't going to pick up on written errors but are they not and indicator of standards? Am I being unreasonable to expect more?

Ds had a teacher who said "tooken" instead of taken. It lasted a year. Shudder.

I would not expect grammatical or spelling errors in written communications from teachers. Get your red pen out!

It really shouldn't make any difference if you are paying or not.

Oooh 'tooken' - that's bad. Poor you. Agree it shouldn't make a difference whether one is paying or not.

This is unacceptable. I would make it clear you do not expect your child to be exposed to incorrect grammar, either written or spoken. You are paying for her to be educated!

That is a normal way of speaking for some people.

I come from Notting Hill which was a very working class area when I was in primary and most kids and classroom assistants (not teachers) spoke like that. I have an RP accent thanks to a posh father and foreign mother.

I agree about poor written standards but I think your child will automatically copy you and I also don't think the way those people speak is incorrect as such.

I wouldn't't be so concerned about spoken English - everyone has regional dialects and ways of saying things - but I would expect letters etc to be correct.

I would not be happy. It's bad enough at any school, but if you're paying school fees I think it makes it even worse. I may sound like a total snob but I'd expect 'naice' accents and perfect spelling and grammar.

It also makes me think that the school are saving on the staff bill (the largest overhead for a private school) by employing undereducated people. Are the fees on the low side OP?

I would expect a private school to provide & encourage impeccable grammar & speaking ability. Nothing less would be acceptable!

Hi everyone, appreciate your comments. In answer to HPparent - the fees at the school are comparable to schools in the South East of England. You may be right that the funds are channelled into the prep school, leaving the pre-prep under resourced. Having said that the pre-prep has recently been rated outstanding by the Independent Schools Inspectorate so I just don't understand how this has come about. What confuses me is that I haven't heard one of the older prep school children speak poorly. They acted as hosts on the Open day, so I spoke to a few of them.