Calling teachers and people who know about schools

[2468Motorway]

I have requested a meeting with my childs teacher as there are a few issues I want to raise. I won't be going in all guns blazing I just need to register a little disquiet about a couple of things.

Will this meeting be recorded? (I don't mean on a tape!) And will any of the senior team know it took place?

Overall I like the school and in an ideal world I'd like to complain about the teacher but I think I'm doing the right thing by raising the issues I have with the class teacher first. I'd like it if it was recorded (that I came to a meeting) as I have had a child at the school for over 4 yrs and never felt the need to meet the teacher before (I have never spoken to a member of the senior team). I say this to show I'm not a serial grumbler but I want to be taken seriously.

Not necessarily. Although the teacher may have mentioned to someone that you want to speak to them.

Thanks, I wasn't sure if it would go on record. I guess the only way to ensure that is to write to the school.

The best thing to do is to go to the meeting, take notes if you wish, then when you get home, send an email (or a letter if the teacher doesn't have an email address you can use) stating that "when we met in the classroom at xpm on x date we discussed the following points....." then put down all the points you discussed and what was agreed. Put down what you have agreed to do as well as what they have agreed as this provides an unbiased perspective on the meeting. Think of it as like writing minutes of a meeting. It doesn't need to be word for word, just a brief overview, eg 'We discussed that my child requires additional support in literacy and this would be provided by yourself in the form of providing one on one reading once per week, and by us at home reading with him for twenty minutes per evening" as a very basic example.

This gives you a paper trail about what was discussed and you can use this if you need to take your matter further. I do this each time I have a meeting with a parent (or any meeting in an official capacity actually). It has served me well over the years.

I'm slightly weary of coming off too officious. I don't want to cause a problem with or for the teacher who hasn't been teaching that long. I was just sort of hoping the a note like 'X's mum met with teacher to discuss low self esteem and Y was agreed'.

That sort of thing. I guess I'll see how the meeting goes and take it from there.

I think you're right to see how the meeting goes - hopefully the teacher will be able to help you.

Different in different schools. I teach in secondary, and I record in SIMS anything like that. We log stuff like phone calls and meetings, so I might log "spoke to Mrs X about her DD's worries about GCSEs. Agreed that DDX will do extra maths classes after school" or "called Mrs Y to inform her of fantastic work in class" etc

It's hard I've never felt the need before but I guess I'm hoping to adopt a friendly light touch but also to achieve what I want.

Thanks for your help. BTW if I was a teacher I'd record everything. Some parents can be a bit unreasonable :)

I'd suggest you keep a diary and let the teacher know you will keep notes on what is said. I'd probably take it in quite openly, have already jotted down some questions/ideas, and maybe say it was because of my "terrible memory".

But then I am a very experienced parent of children with SEN.

2468Motorway

I am not clear whether you are worried about this going on your child's record (i.e. Mum insisted on a meeting - 'time waster' label/ PITA label) or you want in on record in case you have to go up the chain (i.e. complaints to SMG/ Governors/ LEA).

If it's the former - most likely the teacher will want to assure you he/she's aware on the problem and will try their best to help/ maybe give you some suggestions as well about what you can do to help.

If it's the latter - my advice is e-mail the general enquiry e-mail address - asking them to forward your e-mail to the teacher. Don't go into too many details (because it is public) - but thank the teacher for meeting with you and discussing issue ? regarding your child in Year X. Keep it positive - you appreciate her time/ are grateful for her suggestion that you try x or y at home/ and are grateful she will try a,b,c in class. And thank her for taking the time to reassure you its perfectly normal/ a common problem/ a phase/ etc...

Give the teacher a fair amount of time to deal with the issue - but if you are having no joy and the problems are persisting take the complaint over her head.

My advice is for any meeting (from the teacher/ HT/ governors) - come prepared. Make a list of points you want to raise. I actually came with a typed summary of our issue/ what we had attempted to do as parents in terms of raising it at school/ what the school had done (which was nothing) in response to our concerns.

Try not to get emotional. Try not to blame or insult teachers - but do try to get the school (teacher/ HT/ governors) to agree there is a problem and then you can press them to put steps in place to resolve it.

I've found it easier to let them feel they're coming up with solutions - but tend to suggest ideas (as they seem wholly unaware of best practice documentation) - so in maths I suggested that another school in Birmingham handles slow addition/ subtraction by supply of extra worksheets or recommending video games addressing specific issues (i.e. bridging numbers >10/ numbers > 20) for those children which parents can go through with them at home. [The OFSTED website has lots of best practice exemplar studies on everything from tackling bullying to teaching maths in KS1 - lots of good practice/ ideas there].

My one piece of advice is if the school ever uses 'highly trained professionals' against you - you have them on toast. As highly trained professionals there is no reason they shouldn't be aware of best practice and using it to inform their own pedagogy at the school.

HTH