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Original poster

Can schools refuse to show school work to parents

53 replies

shouldhavetakenmorenotice · 30/03/2023 08:46

DD informed me that her teacher said she wasn't allowed to show me her PSHE school book during an end of term stat and share.

I contacted the school to understand if DD had misunderstood almost two weeks ago. I've heard nothing.

I can't find anything clear on the schools website.

Are primary schools allowed to do this? I'm not concerned about the content, I'm more worried about the principle. Especially given the cover of the Times today.

OP posts:
Whoiscomingtosaveyou · 30/03/2023 09:26

Is it that OP wants to see if her child is being gender theory? In which case she has every right to know what material is being used.

Hoppinggreen · 30/03/2023 09:26

shouldhavetakenmorenotice · 30/03/2023 09:18

@Hoppinggreen - you sound like part of the problem

Which problem would that be exactly?

7Worfs · 30/03/2023 09:29

Whoiscomingtosaveyou · 30/03/2023 09:26

Is it that OP wants to see if her child is being gender theory? In which case she has every right to know what material is being used.

That, but also age-inappropriate stuff. It happens, so we shouldn’t minimise.

I feel for teachers, however their SLT need to acutely feel accountable and not be afraid of transparency.

toomuchlaundry · 30/03/2023 09:31

Schools should have details of their curriculum on their website. Also they should do a consultation with parents re RHSE policy, but in my experience of our local Primaries very few parents took any notice of the offered meeting.

Climbles · 30/03/2023 09:45

Private companies provide the content and it’s copyrighted. They have been criticised for the fact they will give an outline but not provide parents with the actual materials that have been taught. I don’t know if that’s what’s happening here but it’s highly concerning.

Sugargliderwombat · 30/03/2023 09:45

At parents evening most schools will only put certain books out. We do English maths science. At the end of the year they look at all their books during a sharing evening. They don't take them home and school are allowed to keep them.

Sugargliderwombat · 30/03/2023 09:50

Some of the drama on here is hilarious 🤣. We literally get told "this term can we put x, y, z books out for parents to share".

What books did they put out ?

RudsyFarmer · 30/03/2023 09:52

Hoppinggreen · 30/03/2023 08:47

Have you got nothing better to do?

I have nothing better to do than care about my children’s education and welfare. How are you filling your time?

FlemishHorse · 30/03/2023 10:04

There are alarmist generalisations being thrown up here. Most of the anxiety about sex ed is being created by publicity from campaigning pressure groups. Real issues are very rare.

Just call or email the school again repeating your query. Take it from there.

TeenDivided · 30/03/2023 10:08

FlemishHorse · 30/03/2023 10:04

There are alarmist generalisations being thrown up here. Most of the anxiety about sex ed is being created by publicity from campaigning pressure groups. Real issues are very rare.

Just call or email the school again repeating your query. Take it from there.

Sex ed not the issue.
There are clearly issues with gender ed in some schools though.

Hoppinggreen · 30/03/2023 10:08

RudsyFarmer · 30/03/2023 09:52

I have nothing better to do than care about my children’s education and welfare. How are you filling your time?

Show quote history

Luckily I trust my children’s school to teach them so it frees up my time for more interesting things
Anyway, this is Legal not AIBU so apologies to OP for the derail. I hope you get the information you need to set your mind at rest

RudsyFarmer · 30/03/2023 10:16

Hoppinggreen · 30/03/2023 10:08

Luckily I trust my children’s school to teach them so it frees up my time for more interesting things
Anyway, this is Legal not AIBU so apologies to OP for the derail. I hope you get the information you need to set your mind at rest

Show quote history

I wouldn’t be glibly trusting your child’s school when it came to PHSE. They are outsourcing this in many instances and some of the material that’s being taught to children about sex and relationships are questionable to say the least. I’d suddenly be extremely interested in the OP’s case and wonder why these books in particular are not for my eyes.

RenegadeMistress · 30/03/2023 10:17

7Worfs · 30/03/2023 09:19

Considering there is no national curriculum for PHSE and schools can get materials from 3rd parties with dubious agendas, I’d say you absolutely need to see the materials.

Check this out: https://twitter.com/SafeSchools_UK

There's numerous examples on there of real safeguarding failures and dodgy materials that have been taught in schools.

https://twitter.com/SafeSchools_UK

CurlewKate · 30/03/2023 11:11

I would want to know whether this is actually what the tracer said too. I considered myself part of a partnership in my children's education at this stage, so I wanted to know as much about what was going on as possible. I would also have been concerned about a teacher putting this on to a primary aged child. Adults should not tell children to keep secrets from their parents. So it was either a misunderstanding, which can and should be easily sorted out, or a concern, which needs to be investigated further.

FlemishHorse · 30/03/2023 11:28

#Renegade Mistress

Quoting as “evidence” a Twitter thread from a self styled “grassroots campaigning organisation” rather makes my point.

Clymene · 30/03/2023 11:33

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/7197ed74-ce4a-11ed-9a78-fca06b87e87b?shareToken=fc37100549b4d67552502e215cea6d5a

Half of all schools use external agencies for sex education. Most of them are pushing gender ideology.

RenegadeMistress · 30/03/2023 11:38

FlemishHorse · 30/03/2023 11:28

#Renegade Mistress

Quoting as “evidence” a Twitter thread from a self styled “grassroots campaigning organisation” rather makes my point.

I mean, you could just read the Times today? Or the report here: https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/asleep-at-the-wheel/

Asleep at the Wheel - Policy Exchange

Download Publication Online Reader A new report by Policy Exchange today reveals that schools are increasingly becoming influenced by gender ideology, to the extent that fundamental safeguarding principles are being compromised by school’s approaches t...

https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/asleep-at-the-wheel

7Worfs · 30/03/2023 12:53

Blimey, I didn’t expect to see AIBU-level gaslighting in Legal.

Imagine trying to convince women they are hysterical and not thinking straight because they would like some transparency in education paid for by their own taxes

SwordToFlamethrower · 30/03/2023 13:01

Seeing as my daughter's school socially transitioned her without my knowledge or consent, and that they are teaching very harmful unscientific crap to children, you are absolutely right to want to see what they are teaching.

What was your main reason OP? Do you have any safe guarding concerns?

Also, at age 8, I'd say you absolutely do have a right to see work books. She is your child, not the state's.

CurlewKate · 30/03/2023 17:19

To be honest, I hadn't thought of anything to do with the trans issue. My first thought was that there was some Christian influence in PHSE- in year 6 they will be talking about sex, and possibly also marriage and maybe even abortion and contraception. I would very much want to know what a school was teaching about those subjects and whether they were going beyond the curriculum.

FlemishHorse · 30/03/2023 18:30

Legal requirements - see here “What is required” for the policy the school has to publish with details of what they are teaching at each Key Stage. You can legitimately complain if it isn’t on their website or otherwise made publicly available.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/introduction-to-requirements#what-is-required

Introduction to requirements

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education/introduction-to-requirements#what-is-required

Waydown · 30/03/2023 19:05

What obligations under GDPR cover this situation?

I think it's more likely that there's a reason DD doesn't want mum to see the book than that school have told her not to show it, but they should reply to the email, so I'd follow that up.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 30/03/2023 19:07

7Worfs · 30/03/2023 09:19

Considering there is no national curriculum for PHSE and schools can get materials from 3rd parties with dubious agendas, I’d say you absolutely need to see the materials.

This would be the reason I would want to see it. Our school uses Jigsaw for their PSHE so I like to keep an eye on the way Jigsaw swings on certain topics.

Redebs · 30/03/2023 19:18

Bearing in mind that parents can legally withdraw children from RE and sex ed, but not Relationships Education, I think it's vital to know and trust what's being taught.

My thought was that since much of the work children do in this subject might be discussion based or role-play etc then maybe there's not much written down and school doesn't want to explain this to parents.

Can you ask your daughter what RSE lessons are like, OP?

Username9898 · 30/03/2023 19:56

Does she actually have her own individual PSHE book? I know a lot of schools keep a class book to track learning - so it might have photos, quotes etc from the whole class in. Obviously they can refuse to show you work that belongs to other children, so if they do the whole class book it would be quite tricky to share with you.
Also it is the end of term and the teacher likely has 1001 things to get done by 3 o’clock tomorrow - this wouldn’t be that high on their agenda and might get back to you after the holidays?