10 things you probably would not expect about primary schools

[meredeux]

Come and help me make a list for all those parents out there who are about to send their children to school for the first time. What did know one tell you but you learned through experience?

Here is my first one:
YOU (the parent) will teach your child to read. The school will provide reading books and someone (probably not the teacher) will listen to your child for a few minutes at a time in the first couple of years maybe once a week but your child will learn to read because you will teach them that (using the school's reading books which the teacher will issue).

Odd thing is ds's year isnt half as bad as dds was 2 years ago. They are all in year 7 at secondary now with very strict headmaster and the behaviour problems have all mysteriously vanished (not the children) so fortunately theyll probably be ok in the right environment. Very frustrating.

here will be a class bear - your DC will be devastated every friday not to be chosen to take it home - the weekend s/she gets it you will be tyrannised by giving it a good time and photgraphing it (several enlightening mumsnet thread on this)
at least once in your DC's school life they will be inexplicably left off a party list - this will seem devastating at the time, but the DC soon foget about it as long as the parent does not make a big deal start another thread on mumsnet-- about it
bolder/more assertive/pushier paretns than you will hav tried to verturn the crazy reading system that doesn't allow the DC to have more than one book in the reading scheme per week - save your energy and buy a spare set on ebay among a few friends

Only read the first page - not sure if I will bother with the rest. What a great thread to come home to - and way to spook prospective parents. Well done, ladies.

Don't be spooked, Feenie! Some of us are being positive and light-hearted - see my post earlier on about being really pleased with DD's school.

Yes, yes, to checking their schoolbags (or drawers) as soon as you can. Or you lose the very important note home / invite / amazing artwork they've produced.

I scrapped the drawers in my class after finding rotting food in most of them. Everything goes straight into book bags

I saw some more balanced posts, TheOldestCat - nice work .

What an irresponsible thread though.

Ive had 10 yrs, 3 DCs and experience of no less than 4 primary schools, what I will say is that they are all different and the children are all different.

My children have had some wonderful teachers and ive met some brilliant support staff, the good far outweigh the bad.

One bit of advice I will give is that the more positive about school/learning that you are, the better an experience your child with have, not to mention you will have a better rapport with the school which definitely helps if there are any problems.

OP - that seems a very sad and cynical attitude, and I can't imagine what sort of state your kids will be in, in ten or so year's time!

YES, there are unfortunately some sub-standard schools out there, but there are also some BRILLIANT ones, and I have been lucky enough to work (as a male Teaching Assistant) in several.

seeker : I agree entirely; good for you!

I have known children from deprived homes where the school has had to 'clean him up' before he could be allowed in: not nice for the teacher, the rest of the class or the child himself.

Pesto - kids are hungry because they have (hopefully) been mentally and physically active ALL DAY.

(I may have more on this sometime.)

Yes, no problem with them being hungry. Just as a new parent, it's v useful to know this so you come armed with sustaining food and drink for them to gobble immediately before they go into meltdown .

I wrote a nice thing too! My youngest dcs' school is fabulous. I cried for weeks when ds left to go to big bad secondary - now there's another thread idea.....

Hey all, as a prospective primary school mum (this September, help!!) I'm really appreciating all the different experiences from the coal face as it were - thanks for starting the thread, OP.

feenie there is loads of funny stuff here. And a few top tips. I said my DC's school was brill.

And if some posters weren't lucky enough to have such a great experience, they shouldn't be silenced. Shouting down people who aren't as lucky as you always seems to happen on MN.

PestoPenguin my dd2 started nursery school last September. She was in 9.00am-1.30pm with a 2 course hot school dinner at noon, I had to have a snack in the car for her at 1.35pm to avoid any tired and emotional moments

"feenie there is loads of funny stuff here. And a few top tips. I said my DC's school was brill.

And if some posters weren't lucky enough to have such a great experience, they shouldn't be silenced. Shouting down people who aren't as lucky as you always seems to happen on MN."

People are always getting support and advice for particular issues they have with their child's school. The op is suggesting that, with one exception, every school she and her friends have encountered is crap. She is not being challenged for sharing a bad experience. Shebis being challenged for extrapolating from the particular to the general.

Back again. The schools in my personal experience are not crap (except one that is crap). I am suggesting that what I am describing is normal.

There is another thread running this evening. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1452861-Teacher-doesnt-do-levels
Along the way, the OP implies my point no.2 i.e. the teacher has told her that there is a work problem for her DD and now the OP is trying to grapple with ways to solve it. Why aren't the no-sayers on there, telling the Op that her school must be "crap"?

The board would be very dull if we were all relentlessly upbeat and positive all the time. There's space for all types of posts. My own experience is patchy. I did teach DD to read at the start as she didn't progress at all in yr R and I started to get worried. For some reason the teacher (who gets great results generally and is lovely) scared my DD and she lost all confidence. I don't understand why it happened at all. But luckily DD's next teacher has taken on the ropes and DD now does most of her learning at school, with me helping out at home, which I'm happy to do. DS taught himself, but then he's a bit peculiar, drives most teachers and me to distraction regularly with his complete inability to be taught, but great ability to self teach!

So the schools in your personal experience aren't crap (except one) yet all the negatives you describe are normal?

The schools in my personal experience are not crap (except one that is crap). I am suggesting that what I am describing is normal.

It's a long way from normal, especially the stuff in your OP. Vent your spleen by all means, but please don't start a thread aimed at new parents insisting that most schools are like that. That's just scaremongering.

mrz and feenie - as teachers can you estimate how many hours per week your Y1 teacher spends listening to individual children read? I don't mean phonics or group reading. I mean 1-1 tuition where you correct individual mistakes and provide words of encouragement.

disagree with the OPS 1-5 .

My DS in Yr 1 now has a better understanding of phonics than I do. He has been taught to read by school, I don't read phoneticly, At his age I wasn't reading at all.

They read every day and the teacher does correct individual mistakes and provides words of encouragement. They don't get 1-1 tuition - how would that even work in a class of 30? Every single child makes good progress though.

We have lots of children who don't get to practise at home - they still access the same good teaching in school, and become excellent readers.

5 days x 5 hours 14 subjects 30 pupils you tell me

Meredeux,

If you equate 'reading 1 to 1' with 'teaching to read' then I am beginning to understand your OP - because it is based on a pure misunderstanding of the process of 'teaching to read'.

Phonics and group reading is 'being taught to read' - in the same way as a maths lesson is 'being taught maths'.

I presume that your child receives no teaching AT ALL, in any subject, because none of that teaching is 1:1? Why is group reading - in which every child reads, and works towards a specific reading objective under the skilled guidance of a member of staff - any different from a maths group within a maths lesson, in which every child does maths, and works towards a specific objective under the skilled guidance of a member of staff? Why is phonics NOT being taught to read, while you probably regard a lesson on number bonds as definitely being taught to add up....??

1:1 reading rehearsal is fetishised in a way that no other type of teaching is...very odd.

my dds class have a great system. guided reading consists of, day 1, 1:1 with ta or teacher, day 2, reading responce, read and small passage then write a paragraph about what they have read, day 3 quite individual reading, day 4, read to a partner, day 5, read to a a group, generaly a mixed ability group. they also do other literacy work and phonix work.

But surely at y1 in class they are reading pretty much constantly through out the day with most subjects they are doing.

festi - that weekly reading schedule sounds truly dire.