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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Should the teacher have done this?

40 replies

ChelKie · 18/03/2011 15:47

I wanted to get some second opinions on this.

An 8 yr old boy had forgot that it was the class photo day. So most/all of his classmates were all dressed up and polished up and he wasn't. As his teacher told the class to line up to go to the gym where the photo was being taken she called him over to her desk and took out a brush and started to brush his hair which was looking a bit unkempt and telling him how he needed to look more presentable. Then, struggling to tame some hair that was sticking up at the back of his head she took several hair grips and pinned those bits down. After the photograph had been taken it was a lunch break and the boy forgot for a moment about the grips in his hair. When he realized he went back to find her and she had already gone. He ended up having to ask some girls in his class to help him take them out as she had criss crossed some of them which caused him no end of embarrassment as no one had really noticed until that point what the teacher had done.

Should she have taken it on herself to smarten him up a bit? Used the hair grips? Remembered that she should have taken them out after the photo? Or is this much ado about nothing?

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myredcardigan · 18/03/2011 15:50

I think if he is only 8yrs old, his mother should have made a note on the family calender that it was school photo day.

He could also have gone to the staffroom and asked for help with the hair thing.

I don't normally brush their hair but I do kkep a spare jumper in the cupboard and I do make sure they tuck their polo shirt in.

myredcardigan · 18/03/2011 15:51

Oh and yes, it is MAAN. I think the hair clips were probably unnecessary but I'm sure she had other things to do and just forgot about them.

TheFlyingOnion · 18/03/2011 15:53

Am I missing the point? Teacher smartens up child for school photo... so what?

I'm not sure I would have bothered with hair grips, but then I haven't seen the child in question.

Teacher forgot about hair grips, someone else took them out for him as he couldn't manage it....

Much ado about nothing imo.

PatriciaHolm · 18/03/2011 15:54

He must have been able to find another teacher/adult, surely, if he didn't want to ask the girls?

Seems an odd thing for the teacher to do though. If his parents had forgotten it was photo day, then it's not really up to the school to brush his hair etc.

Original poster

ChelKie · 18/03/2011 15:59

@TheFlyingOnion: Smartening him up, yes I agree with. Brushing his hair, fine. I suppose I am just thinking she went too far with the hair grips (on a boy) and it was embarrassing to him and I wondered whether others saw it the same, or not that big a deal. I'm not really arguing the right or wrongs, but just wondered how others saw it. But to picture this, yes, his hair was probably sticking up at the back (but then the back of his head wasn't being photographed :) )

OP posts:

myredcardigan · 18/03/2011 16:01

Teachers can't win on this.
Parents forget or don't bother on photos day and if you tidy them up they complain and if you leave them looking a little messy they wonder why you didn't bother to smarten them up.

Sarsaparilllla · 18/03/2011 16:08

I think she was trying to do a favour really, making him look a bit more presentable, thinking that although you'd forgotten the date of the photos being taken you might still like his photo to look half decent

I assume they were kirby grips and not big sparkly hair slides ;o therefore, much ado about nothing

Original poster

ChelKie · 18/03/2011 16:12

@Sarsaparilllla: Yes, just regular brown kirby grips.

OP posts:

ShatnersBassoon · 18/03/2011 16:14

It doesn't sound like a big problem. He got a bit embarrassed, his mother won't forget photo day next year.

crunchbag · 18/03/2011 16:16

It will all be forgotten come Monday and the mum has a nice picture :)

It was very nice of the teacher to do that.

Lonnie · 18/03/2011 16:33

Can't se the issue in fact I think the teacher was trying to be nice.

littlepigshavebigears · 18/03/2011 16:37

well strictly speaking the teacher should have remembered to take the grips out of his hair, if she was going to put them in

but teachers are busy and it's an acceptable human mistake to forget IMO

it was very nice of her to give a monkeys whether he looked smart in the photo or not. I think my ds1's teacher would do it, and I love my ds1's teacher because she genuinely cares about the children:)

FebreezeYourJeans · 18/03/2011 16:39

It's a big, fat, much ado about nothing!

cat64 · 18/03/2011 16:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Joolyjoolyjoo · 18/03/2011 16:56

I would probably just be glad that she had made the effort. Even though I try to send mine out the door neatly on school photo day, they look like scarecrows by mid-morning.

Yeah, she should probably have remembered to take the clips out, but that's kind of understandable. I don't think I'd get too het up about it, to be honest

EvilTwins · 18/03/2011 16:57

Defo much ado about nothing. I'm sure there have been several threads on MN along the lines of "Just had DD's school photo back. She looks a right mess. You'd have thought the teacher would have bothered to sort her hair out..."

Whoever said teacher's can't win is right on.

EvilTwins · 18/03/2011 16:58

teacher's? Oops. Teachers (bad EvilTwins)

starfishmummy · 18/03/2011 16:58

I think she was trying to be helpful as the mum would have been upset to have a scruffy picture. Does seem a bit odd to use grips but at least she didn't try to flatten it with spit!

mrz · 18/03/2011 17:00

if it was embarrassing he would have objected to her doing it surely ...
the number of parents who complain that their child's hair is a bit out of place on school photos probably influenced her actions

usualsuspect · 18/03/2011 17:11

bit odd to put grips in ..I dunno what I think really I kind of like my DC's old school photos ,with their sticking up hair ..its nice to embarrass them now they are older

but on the other hand I think the teacher was only trying to help

MADABOUTTHEBOY2000 · 18/03/2011 18:01

i agree with myredcardigan and from my exp a lot of teachers remind them about their collar and tie and hair and tuck your shirt in ect ect, the hairgrips bit funny but she sounds like a lovely motherly type of teacher which is so nice to see one who its really a vocation for iyswim and i for one am one of the parents who (ive never forgotten about the photo but) have thought when ive seen my two Ds's school photo and they look like they have been dragged through a hedge backwards because its always after lunch wished the teacher had said something to them but i still buy them nevertheless.

unfitmother · 18/03/2011 18:03

She sounds like a kind teacher, I'm sure she didn't leave them in on purpose

PixieOnaLeaf · 18/03/2011 18:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

bigTillyMint · 18/03/2011 18:07

FGS did you want your DS to look a complete mess on the photo (and possibly pretty geeky) amongst all the others?

And why didn't he remind the teacher about the hair grips, he's 8, not 4.

Chaotica · 18/03/2011 18:08

I am known to criticise teachers for all sorts of things. But I really can't see what's wrong with this.

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