Ill teacher

[streep]

My DD1 is in year 3 at a small school.

She has 2 teachers on a job share, one of whom has been on and off on sick leave for about the last 2 years. The most recent absence was about 2 months, before that there was the odd day or week here and there and I think a few more extended periods (DD1 wasn't in her class then). During this last absence they've had a good supply teacher that the children and parents seem happy with.

The last ofsted report was satisfactory and noted that sick leave could have affected the standards in KS2. DD1 came home from school last week and mentioned in passing how they'd all learned to be patient when their teacher was in pain and to give her a couple of minutes to get herself together.

I'm incredibly sympathetic to her teacher - it sounds awful - and I'm of course also concerned about how this might be affecting the children's learning. At what point does the effect on the children outweigh the need to be flexible and understanding to someone who is ill?

Hi streep:

I'm afraid this falls under employment law and if the doctor signs the teacher off as fit for work, then she's fit for work.

I know it's frustrating - you want every year in school to be productive and to see your child getting better and better at reading, writing and arithmetic.

It's not ideal but perhaps the solution is to try and make a bit more time (genuinely 15 minutes here or there) at home to do a bit more to keep learning progressing and ensure your child is reading regularly (possibly not always to you, but doing a bit each day - maybe before going to sleep).

Woodlands junior school resources are fantastic: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/ - a lot of learning/ practise can be achieved fairly painlessly through the video game links (all free) they've put together in their Maths/ Literacy zone. Their other 'Zones' are a huge help when homework comes home asking you to research 10 facts about rivers out of the blue.

If you go to the national curriculum link and scroll down - you can find what a Y3 child should notionally be covering in each subject (they call it programme of study). This can help guide your selections of games on Woodland Junior School resources.

We've had a teacher in the midst of an ugly divorce, an unhappy job share and ill staff for DD1 which meant much of Y1-Y3 was chaotic and inconsistent - with some weeks highly organised & lots getting done and other weeks endless substitutes and lots of watching videos/ reading independently. Of course I complained - as did other parents. But the school management were in a difficult position - and certainly the divorcing teacher is now much happier and has returned to her more reliable and hard working self.

I know it's small comfort - but you can have bad years where it seems no progress is being made at all - and then have an amazing year where you and your child adore the teacher and tons of progress is made. It sincerely all does come out in the wash - however a bit of help at home doesn't go amiss.

Sorry:

forgot to put in national curriculum link - here it is: www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum

My children's school also seems to have a problem with teachers' health as we haven't had a single year without severe disruption due to sick leave, and by this I mean a whole term off (or more) with a string of supply teachers.

I feel that whilst it can be done that one patches up at home, not much can be done in terms of emotional disruption to a child, who has to get used to different adults managing the class in different ways all the time. I think it isn't ideal so I empathise although not much can be done..

In terms of the school management, the head should be dealing with long term leave appropriately (i.e. for anything longer than a week, a long-term-supply with appropriate experience should be hired for the duration). May penny pinch with a supply for a week here and a week there, on the off chance the teacher will feel guilty and drag themselves back in while still ill (yes, believe me, as a manager I have more problems with this than skivers!!).

The OFSTED grading suggests some want in leadership and management: this short-term-pinching impacts because of course then the returning staff member is ground down and goes off again. Short term gains, long term issues.

Could you contact the governing body and ask for feedback on how the long term sick leave is being dealt with?

Thanks PastSellByDate - those are really helpful links and reassuring advice. DDI is doing well generally with excellent reading and writing but her maths is really pretty dire. We struggle to spend the time doing the extra bits here and there, but yes, you're right we should do that more.

squizita - yes, it's the short term leave that's the problem isn't it. The supply teacher we had for the last few months is brilliant, and of course because she was here for a while has built up a good relationship with the children. They're keeping her on for the next few weeks, possibly anticipating that again the returning teacher isn't really up to being back. I think they've learnt their lesson on that front over the last couple of years.

And funnily enough, yes there is a general problem with leadership, but we're getting a new Head in September :)

Hi Streep:

This is the point where regulars will say uh oh here she goes again ... so apologies folks...

If maths is the problem there are solutions out there:

mathsfactor: www.themathsfactor.com/ - we've used this to great success. Carol vorderman presents a little lesson showing step by step how to perform a certain type of calculation - there then is a warm up exercise and then practice. At first (certainly Y2/ Y3) I had to help with typing, but eventually my DD1 got fed up with me typing too slowly and took over.

Others have recommended:

Komodo maths: komodomath.com/

Math whizz: www.whizz.com/

Mathletics: www.mathletics.co.uk/

Now these all have slightly different formats, some are more openly competitive than others and others have more of a tutorial style format - but I think all of them offer free trials - so my advice is have a visit to their websites & try them out, let your DD have an opinion in going for one of these or not - you really have nothing to lose.

Additionally:

FREE Khan academy (this is set up for US school system - so each 'grade' is roughly 1 behind English Year groups - e.g. Grade 5 = UK Year 4): www.khanacademy.org/ - from opening page - select LEARN - then select Math & then select appropriate US Grade. Curriculum is slightly different - but basically core skills are taught. (My DDs found faceless voice a bit dry - preferred to see Carol and giggle about inconsistent hair styles although same outfit on mathsfactor - but we do use this when they aren't quite getting it (nice back-up resource).

Other useful free resources:

Woodland Junior School Maths Zone: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/ - just brilliant - go to area you want to work on and follow links to all sorts of resources/ free on-line games.

Multiplication.com: www.multiplication.com/games - lots of games here (not just multiplication) but great practice for learning times tables.

Mumnset had a link to Math Champs on their education pages a while ago (not sure if still there) - times tables are spread across age groups - but lots of great practice here & again all free: www.mathschamps.co.uk/#home

-----

DD1 finished Y2 on NCL1 at KS1 SATs and could barely add to 20 and could not even take 1 from ten. I was in utter despair - but through doing a concerted 1 hour of extra maths a week (mathsfactor/ games on woodlands junior maths zone/ games through My Maths which the school subscribed to) mostly whilst I was doing chores (cooking/ cleaning/ ironing/ etc...) she has slowly but surely improved beyond all recognition. DD1 is in Y6 now and is literally expected to attain NC L6 on KS2 SATs. She's taken 5 mock tests now (past SATs papers from previous years) with the school and has passed every time. It may be that on the day she doesn't pass - but we're just so pleased that she's ahead of the game where maths skills are concerned going into secondary, especially after such a poor start.

HTH

Sorry got the US to ENGLISH grade thing wrong for Khan academy

UK Year 6 = US Grade 5 (age 10/11).

HTH

That's great thanks. They have mathletics at school so we use that at home a little bit, but not consistently enough. Hearing about your DD1 is heartening though, and makes me realise that we just need to add it regularly into the weekly routine.