GCSE '18s (20) - half term beckons!

[mmmz]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/further_education/3355907-gcse-18s-19-new-beginnings

I'm glad that you are going to get the opportunity to put her straight Cherryburn

That's so unprofessional of the teacher, Cherryburn. The accusing your Ds of lying is actually the worst part because anyone can make a mistake but that is an error of judgement that will impact his relationship with her for the next two years. I'd be mad and I'd complain to the HoD.

From a school point of view, DS2 is doing well - working hard, joining things, volunteering to help.

At home he has recently become uncommunicative (unless sighs and grunts count as communication) and not very cooperative when asked to do something. This is very unlike him.

He is socially a bit delayed, so it's hopefully just that he is just now hitting the adolescent / teenage developmental phase. I will keep an eye on it as we have a family history of mental health problems.

I agree whistl. If she’d said she’d mislaid the second half of the paper that would have been frustrating but as you say, anyone can make a mistake. It’s the accusation that he’s either not done it or deliberately not handed it in that’s made me (and DS) so angry.

I’ve emailed the HoD to request a slot with him at parents’ evening. Pretty sure they’ll be moved into sets after half term and I’m going to say I want him moved out of her class regardless. To be honest he’s had problems with her since term started. He asked her if she could give him a heads up when they were moving on to a new topic so that he could have a look at it before the lesson (because she seems to teach at pace and expects them to copy from the board and listen at the same time, and his dyslexia makes this really difficult) and she said it wasn’t really possible for her to do that...

Cherryburn I can't see why it would be difficult for the teacher to give notice that she's about to move onto a new topic and say what it is. She must know if she's is in any way competent at planning. So, it can only be that she doesn't want to, and that can only be because its a tiny extra effort for herself.

Reasonable adjustments" is the phrase that comes to mind. And failure to make the reasonable adjustments is what? A violation of the Equality Act 2010??

Yes ‘reasonable adjustments’ has been at the forefront of my mind since I heard from him whistl.

Cherryburn - has he got a ILP? DD has one and made her teachers sign it. It included the request for a copy of the term's rough lesson plans from each of her teachers (she made the teachers sign her ILP too).
She also added in that she didn't want homework with a 24 hour turn around time due to organisational skills - although I think that's as much to do with her martial arts commitments

It doesn't solve the lost exam paper problem though!

bpisok no, no ILP. But it’s a very good point. I think we’ll go to see Learning Support, ask for their input and try to get something formalised. He’s having no problems in his other subjects (History & Economics) and in fact Economics are adopting a ‘flipped classroom’ approach where they are given materials to review before the lessons, which is suiting DS really well.

DD ended up writing her own - the SENCo doesn't seem to be proactive for the 6th formers (not that she was particularly proactive to start with!).
She also put on her ILP that she wanted to be able to record lessons on her phone, have full access to the school WiFi so she could save everything to the cloud (recording take up a lot of space). She asked for the codes to download her text books onto her laptop and to email all her homework to the teachers. Plus the usual request for extra time in exams, class tests and the use of her laptop. She also said that she wanted the opportunity to play back any instructions in her own words so she can make sure that she fully understands what the teacher requires of her.
DDs quite assertive
All the teachers signed her ILP and only one didn't furnish her with their lesson plan. She chased her up and received it a week later (it was the same teacher who lost her gcse course work so I suspect she didn't have a lesson plan !)

I should mention that she used last year's proforma and did pass it through the SEN Dept before she got the teachers to sign it - she just did the paperwork on their behalf!!

Wow bpisok good for your DD . She’ll go far! Some great ideas there.

That's fantastic bpisok and is actually very much in line with the 'normal way of working' that DDs have found at Uni so she will be a step ahead. Although DS hasn't had individual LS lessons for a while he (and I) have stayed in touch with the LS department very much for this reason - the LS teacher reminds his teachers of his difficulties and what support he needs in lessons - but there are always some that just don't get it however much it is explained.

DD2 started her Uni course last week and each module has lesson plan on line with suggested pre reading provided for each lecture/seminar (they don't even have to go and find it) and all lectures available as recordings and powerpoints etc

I like your dd's style bpisok

Cherry how annoying for you and your DS but I’m guessing your DS is suffering due to the no. if students who will have claimed to have done work they haven’t - you know your ds wouldn’t do that but she may not.

We may be heading this way with DD needing more support. The fact that she has carried on so far is frankly astonishing. At only the couple of open days that we did get to DD spoke to the Disability and Special Needs representative and they confirmed that all lectures are recorded etc and notes available online. It seems that unis are far more advanced than School. Glad to hear it.

The thing is Oratory this was a test they sat in class, in a double lesson, so unless he’d sat there staring into space it should have been pretty obvious to her that he’d done it.

I feel really sorry for him. He has a really good work ethic (evidenced by his gcse results) and he’s gutted not to get feedback from this that would have really helped him in the big test after half term. She made a big deal about all of these tests going towards their predicted grades at the end of the year before she handed them back. He wants to do well and he knows that he often has to work harder than NT pupils to do so. She basically called him a liar in front of the whole class, and then questioned his attitude when he tried to defend himself, which just isn’t on. Quite a few of them spoke to him afterwards to say they thought she was really out of order, which helped a bit.

I’ll have to calm down before parents’ evening!

I guess now is the time for our DC to start fighting their own battles. Just over 1.5 years and they will have finished school and will be looking towards Uni and leaving home.
DD is my one and only. Her dad and I split up when she was a tiny baby and up until the last 6 years it was just me and her

GCSEs are only just over and I am already fretting about the next chapter- not whether she is ready but whether I am!!

Don't calm down too much Cherryburn - I think a bit of righteous indignation may be just the ticket

I find things like this - challenging the school - extremely challenging. Even after all these years of being an adult and having to stand up for myself.
In your shoes, Cherryburn, I'd need to be both a bit annoyed and very strong on the details to bring an effective complaint. Without the anger, I would not be able to see it through. Not too much anger though because then you lose the moral high ground.

TBH, DS does need to speak up for himself, but I wouldn't send him into battle against authority just yet.

pardon the pun!

Don’t worry Limit I’m still at a lively simmer!

whistl I think the detail is pretty clear. DS is generally a pretty laid-back character and we’ve never had any complaints about his behaviour (or anything really) in all his years at school. The opposite usually. He’s not given to exaggeration or drama and knows that this will be being discussed at parents’ evening tonight with him sitting there, so I do fully believe his version of events.

As I said, he’s been complaining to me about this teacher since term started. He says if you tell her you don’t understand something she says things like ‘you can’t have been listening’. Up till now I’ve largely brushed it off and told him that A Level study requires you to work on things independently etc (which is true to an extent). But I’ve got his (incomplete) marked test here and I’m a bit at the comments. On one question that he got wrong she’s written ‘Complete the square, as I’ve taught you’. Weirdly, she decided his rough working sheet was his answer to one of the missing questions (which he knows he got right) and she’s written on the bottom ‘I’m not sure what you’re trying to do here. What have I taught you about arithmetic sequences?’

AIBU?!

Seriously, AIBU?! I’ll be there in a few hours discussing this...

Definitely push for the change of teacher - she sounds quite unapproachable and a bit dismissive

My ds is currently reporting that he doesn't like his new GCSE maths teacher!

YANBU cherry those comments are the kind of thing I would blurt out in my worst PM day... Not helpful at all.

Cherry YANBU, I have had to deal with similar over the years with DS funnily enough its always been maths teachers!

The one thing I would say is be clear from the beginning what it is you want to achieve from the meeting, I wouldn't get too caught up in who said what, he might well have this teacher for the rest of the year if not next so you don't really want to alienate her if you can help it