Does your primary school have a home/school contract

[BlueberryPancake]

and do you think it's worth anything?

There is one for my DS primary school and I am not sure I will sign it. There seems to be a very disproportional level of responsibility put on the children (he's in reception) compared to the ressponsibility of the school and teachers.

my ds2 is in reception.
I have signed twice now, but on both have put a note to the effect that I don't think it is reasonable to expect my ds to sign it.
I don't know if they sent the 2nd one cos of the wording on the 1st, but I just put the same thing and sent it back.

Utterly ridiculous, what are they going to do if he is naughty? Say "but ds2 you signed this agreement to say you wouldn't do that".

Bump? we have a PTA meeting tonight and I would like to raise it as a discussion point. Anyone else has a view on this?

we have signed one, personnaly i dont have a problem with signing it or my dd signing it, its all pretty reasonable stuff that we would probably do any way.

These came in several years ago. A few schools were doing it, after consultation with parents and the children, and found that having agreed expectations could help behaviour and achievement. Then the government said that ALL schools had to have them. Our headteacher at the time promptly wrote her own without any consultation and set a lot of parents backs up.

There is an argument that those who would follow the basic agreement would do it whether they signed or not. And those who could do with improving behaviour, attitude etc (I'm talking about parents here) won't read or sign it anyway.

I have signed dd2's agreement. I have also kept a copy and have asked the school why they haven't kept to their part of the "contract". The answer is usually that when they vary the terms it is for the children's benefit. Wish I got away with that argument!

DD's school has one. I didn't sign it last year and I haven't signed it this year. It is ridiculous to expect a 4/5/6/7 year old to sign such a thing. The school is great but I really dislike the HT who is a complete jobsworth.

Idon'tknowhowtohelpher - your 2nd para is exactly why these things are such a waste of paper.

The expectation on parents on our sheet is pretty basic - like children on time and school uniform, and work with the school for behaviour issues. But here's a list of what is expected of children:

• be truthful
• take initiatice
• exercise self-control in work and play,
• show consideration to others at all times
• listen to teachers other adults and other children
• behave muyself and follow the school rules
• be kind and considerate
• do my best and not mess about
• be honest
• accept others for who they are
• contribute to being ready for school on time

DS is 4 years old!!! Isn't it a bit much??

I think they are ridiculous and insulting. Ours has a bit under the teachers' list that goes something like 'I promise to wear suitable clothes to school' which I think is totally patronising, humiliating and insulting for the teachers. Personally, I don't care if they work in a bikini if they are good at their job. We're not signing ours.

You are joking... That's an HR issue, not public information that parents should be informed of!

Not joking! It reads (just got it off noticeboard) 'We will make sure we wear clothes that are right for the work we do in school'. How awful to make teachers sign that!
Kids have to promise to 'be in school every day' - pretty tough if they are ill, or if, like my ds, have hospital appointments

Ours says they will ' teach the children to respect others, regardless of age, race, disability, belief or values'. I have scribbled on it that I'd prefer my children to retain a healthy disrespect for nutters with weird beliefs and values, thank you...

but my pen ran out halfway, so now I'll be down as Mad Parent with Purple Feltpen, and not just Mad Parent.

I signed it, but crossed out things I didn't agree with (homework, uniform)

Good idea Highlander. I feel sorry for the teachers having to promise not to wear clown shoes or whatever to work

I think it's a good list. All you are doing is agreeing that you think those things are important and that you will help your son in trying to achieve them to the best of his ability.
In reception, to take one example, it is about "trying to be truthful" which I'm sure you would support because the alternative is "deliberately lying"...?

As for crossing out what you don't agree with, that would be irrelevant because you CHOSE that school and therfore the children have to follow the rules of the institution they attend. Reminds me of a dad who repeatedly came into our school threatening to sue us for infringing his son's human rights for giving him a detention for repeated failure to complete homework (secondary).

As for the teacher's clothing, that is part of our professional standards agreement anyway so it is just informing parents of what teachers have to do anyway.

Can't remember if we have had one for school here (moved in June).

Clement, schools sometimes impose changes re uniform/homework etc that parents did not choose when they CHOSE the school. In fact they may have chosen the school because those rules were not in place.
And the agreements are stupid, because people either do these things or not. So far all the list has done is scare my six year old who tells me she has to go to school every day even if she is ill .

I think it erodes respect for teachers if they have to promise pupils to wear suitable clothes!

Really? Don't you think that respect is a two-way street?
If the school imposes changes they need to do so with proper consultation. If they didn't you would challenge them via the LEA, not by refusing to sign the contract in your child's planner!

If your child thinks that ColdComfrt, why don't you just ask her teacher to clarify it to the whole class? Sometimes things get lost in translation - how are teachers to know if parents don't tell them?

Consultation can still mean that people for whom certain things were a key reason why they chose a school - uniform/non-uniform, uniform policy - are changed against their will after they made that choice. So saying 'you chose the school' doesn't work in this case.
I don't think the school encourages respect for teachers by getting them to sign demeaning statements. They might as well say, 'I promise you that I will have a wash and brush my teeth every day'. I think it's rather humiliating.

In that case, the school you chose is no longer available and you look elsewhere or home-school surely? Or if you chose to remain because your children are happy there, you compromise.

As for the clothing, I have never signed such a thing because I am secondary, but the primary teacher is a different breed! More seriously, it is important to be culturally sensitive whilst working in a school, and such an agreement would equally cover not wearing a bra top and hotpants to teach PE as it would to wear a full burqa in front of children. Most schools don't have that on their agreement, so there must be a local reason why it would be included.

I am not getting this ... why do children have to adhere to all these rules, including uniform, on which they have no choice whatsoever and teachers cannot even promise to wear suitable clothes. I am peeved at seriously overweight teachers stuffing themselves with biscuits in front of children wearing jogging suits and telling children they can only have a piece of fruit. Ridiculous!

We have one, but at the time the parent signed it, not the child (since mine would have been 3 and a bit at the time of signing up, they were barely able to scrawl their names).

All seemed reasonable stuff really - uniform, attendance, homework, backing the school up on discipline. I didn't attach much importance to it, and it's not come up in their school career, but occasionally when DD has been particularly intransigent on homework (without good reason, just procrastination) I do say "I signed an important piece of paper in which I promised the school faithfully that I'd make you do your homework".

Yes, it's so easy just to find another school, when the one you so carefully chos suddenly decides to change its policies, especially when one child is statemented and both parents work... but it doesn't mean I have to agree with stupid, non-science/evidence based changes and sign a ridiculous bit of paper.
I like the casual clothes my children's teachers wear. I certainly don't think that adults should be promising to dress in a certain way in a public document. I think it is demeaning to them. I think the whole home/school agreement is demeaning to everyone, frankly.

I don't believe in homework at primary level (no evidence it helps, some evidence it harms) , and so do not make my children do it. I already have to fill in gaps left by the modern curriculum that apparently doesn't have time to teach children their times tables so we have to do it. That is annoying!

Oh, and I've just had parents evening where I was told my youngest is exceptional at writing and 'polite, eager, and a real pleasure to have in my class' and my older child was predicted all 5s in his SATS. So I think I'm doing my bit!