Not sure what to ask Son's teacher. wwd?

[ConfusedMUM75]

Hello! I am not sure where to start, in short DS?s school is going down the drain, it went from being ?outstanding? A few years back(when he just started), to ?unsatisfactory? according to the latest Ofstead report. Starting this year DS still has not got any homework to do (previous years it was given out 2 times a week), we don?t get any letters form teachers telling us what are they studying in general (we used to get those every term) and the last drop was him coming home and telling me they did not have time for math as they were too busy making paper puppets. Every Friday is a TV day now, they watch TV instead of studying. I know that a few really good teachers left last year and were replaced by new stuff, all early 20s. His teacher wears so much make up, fake eye-lashes and ultra-short mini skirts, did not know it was even allowed at school. She looks like she just came out from a night club. I am very worried, he is in year 5 and is going to seat Grammar School exams soon, he really needs to concentrate on his studies. I asked for an appointment with his teacher, but not sure what to say or to ask, I just want to make sure he is making enough effort and is up to date with the national curriculum.

I understand you are concerned but your personal remarks anout the teachers appearance are unnecessary. The best teacher I ever worked with always had loads of make up on but she was amazing with children. Just say you want to know how he is getting on and is there any homework he should be doing.

I would ask them about the issues you have mentioned here.

Lack of communication with parents, limited maths, tv days. Homework I would be less bothered about as long as they are getting on well while in school.

If you want to be proactive you can get hold of lots of year related workbooks (see amazon, smiths etc) and work through those with him at home.

And maybe get some practise grammar school tests so that he will be familiar with the sort of questions they ask.

A school that has dropped from outstanding to satisfactory will probably being closely observed and kept on track - so hopefully things are not as bad as you perceive.

You could also talk to the head about your concerns.

Thanks for your comments. It actually dropped to UNsatisfactory. The ofstead report says the curriculum is not satisfactory, the teaching is not satisfactory and the general development of the kids. All due to new management and stuff. There was some kind of argument with the new principal and 90% of the old stuff had resigned. 5 of my son's classmates left this year, they all went to private schools, unfortunately we cannot really afford it. I looked into schools in our area, but all are oversubscribed.

Get him a tutor. And I stand by your remarks on his teachers appearance....in business it's not ok for women to wear revealing clothing...why is it ok for a teacher?

If you go in and tell the teacher she wears too much make up - the meeting is not going to be a resounding success. Being frank - that's none of your business, and you're not going to be able to broach that in a none-offensive manner so steer well clear. If her appearance is a genuine problem - the managment of the school will take it up, if it's just that it doesn't suit you - I'm afraid to say, tough.

Sounds like you don't like the new staff purely because they're not the old staff which is hardly fair. Putting things another way - if these staff changed over in September, I'm going to assume it's actually the old staff whom you liked who could be seen to be responsible for the slide into unsatisfactory by Ofsted. However, the Ofsted goalposts have been moved fairly drastically recently so comparing reports purely by ratings may not be the best way to look at things.

Go in with what you want clarification on (but bear in mind that things get muddled on the way home from school - and you may not have the full story before you go in all guns blazing). Basically it looks like your concerns are:

Homework - is it going to be set, how often will it be set, what type of homework will it be (worksheets, research, planning, reading, learning facts etc)

Curriculum newsletters - are they continuing (it could be that it's just slipped to the back of the mind with the start of the new term to be honest - I was guilty of that in the past)

What the situation is with the Friday TV... I think wires might have been crossed here to be honest though - are you sure it's not some form of end of the week Golden Time? Usually something like a 30 minute treat they have to earn over the course of the week by doing the right thing. Or was it something like a DVD being shown in one subject - something like Science or History?

If you go in ranting and raving that the teacher looks like they've left a nightclub you're going to get nowhere. That's not the issue- break it down into the specific questions you want addressing, keep the personal judgements on this teacher you've just decided you don't like out of it and make a list of what you want to ask. Remember you might not have the full story based just on what's been told to you at home (remember all those days where you're told your child's done "nothing" at school... they haven't really!) and the meeting will go much better. But her false eyelashes and lipstick are none of your business.

Thanks for your input Emptyshell. Will write down the questions you had suggested. And of course I was not going to mention teacher's appearance, I just find it strange and to me it shows that school's standards are slipping. Its not just me by the way, most mums looked shocked at the Meet the Teacher evening. And as I said 5 kids had already left.