Reception advice

[Deedle]

Hi all,

We have just found out that a very popular TA in reception class will be leaving next week, there was a line in the weekly newsletter. I have been told by concerned parents that she has raised issues with the head about the standard of education and issues with the NQT in the class, nothing has been addressed and that she feels this is her last alternative. She does not have a job to go to. Another TA is off sick at the moment. They are both experienced, wonderful TA's who love their jobs and the fact this has blown up has devastated us all.

We are meeting with the head next week and was looking for some advice about how to proceed. I know something has happened to make her resign but how to we find out what it is? Are resignation letters covered under the freedom of information act? The school is not long out of special measures. Morale has dropped again and I am genuinely worried it will slide again. It is so complex. I am obviously worried about teaching standards but do not have the EYFS knowledge to know the right questions to ask. Any advice would be be gratefully received.

And you know everything that is happening in her personal life?

Fair enough, thanks for the advice, will take it on board.

As LIZS said they can't replace someone who us absent due to illness (stress) ... they may employ someone on a temporary basis or rely on supply if there is money in the budget to do so.
There isn't any legal requirement to have a TA in a reception class the statutory requirement is one teacher to thirty pupils so the don't need to replace either TA.

iF I was you I would be concerned about how my child was functioning in the school. The staffing arrangements are really none of your business, although you speak about this Ta with fondness and obviously have great faith in her ability she is not invincible and could be replaced by someone as equally dynamic. If necessary the school will arrange cover whilst the position is being advertised. I don't want to sound harsh OP but the circumstances surrounding the TA's resignation are confidential and I find it hard to believe that the Head will discuss this matter in depth with any parent.

Re the not seeing samples if work have you been in the classroom are there displays on the walls etc? You are unlikely to see loads of worksheets in a reception class as the whole ethos of eyfs is learning through play. Many interactive methods are used.

I've met some very young dinosaurs products of their training and nature. Some people just hate change.

How do you know? Do you know her? Do you see LJ? I am sorry this smacks of a lot of interfering busy body parents. You don't know what has happened. And some schools keep on LJ for everything. Some schools have topic books where the work is divided up. Some children's LJ are full because they do loads of independent art, writing etc and some are not because they don't and they keep repeating the same things. Which tells you what a LJ is for - recording progress.

The staffing maybe 1 to 30 but in an eyfs classroom where the children should be playing inside and out with free flow while a teacher does group work.. well lets just say it will lead to a court case because someone is getting seriously hurt. The children also have the right to a key worker and one teacher who has thirty is not the guidelines.

I admit its impossible to run continuous indoor and outdoor access with one member of staff but that doesnt change the statutory requirement or the fact that many teachers are having to organise their classes because there is no TA (or a part time TA).

No Poppy it isnt in the guidelines because it isn't a guideline it is statutory
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335504/EYFS_framework_from_1_September_2014__with_clarification_note.pdf

"3.38.
Reception classes in maintained schools are subject to infant class size legislation.
The School Admissions (Infant Class Size) Regulations 2012 limit the size of infant classes to 30 pupils per school teacher while an ordinary teaching session is conducted. ‘School teachers’ do not include teaching assistants, higher level teaching assistants or other support staff.
Consequently, in an ordinary teaching session, a school must employ sufficient school teachers to enable it to teach its infant classes in groups of no more than 30 per school teacher"

Key workers is apart of outstanding practice. Which everyone should go for.

We all know you get 1 -30 that doesn't change the fact there is a mismatch between what eyfs want and what for money reasons is the situation.

If I as a reception teacher was left with 30 children and no TA whatsoever I would quit. My life isn't worth that.

Key workers, or more correctly, having a key person, is a legal requirement of the EYFS
Does that not apply to schools too?

The class teacher is the key person.

Wow, I'd go flipping nuts if a parent asked to see my resignation letter - well and truly none of their business! Please be prudent in your approach here; as a teacher myself, I have heard parents around me come up with the most ridiculous ideas, opinions and rumours based on things they and their children have heard; they have gone crashing in to interfere and come out looking rather foolish.

By all means, ask the head how s/he feels not having a TA in will impact on your own child's progress, but trust me, they will have thought about nothing more than the impact on the children. Themselves and their academic and emotional progress. The yams we'll have a supply TA come in, that is what we do to cover periods of absence. Not ideal but at least there are enough adults.

If there is one thing I've learnt as my DCs go through primary school, it is that what I see and hear as a parent (and I'm an involved parent, PTA, help in class, child with SENs) is only a tiny smidgen of what actually goes on behind the scenes. Also that there are some parents who are overly invested, try and get to know the staff as friends, think they know everything that is going on and overstep the mark with involvement. The reasons for this TA resigning are between her and the school and indeed all she needed to tell them was that she was leaving. I know it can be hard to stand back, but if your child is happy and making progress then those really are the main things.

If you have specific concerns go in and ask, maybe ask the class teacher first before going straight to the head. But vague, possibly unfounded concerns, no. And maybe think about becoming a parent governor, that way you can influence the way school is being run.

A key person for 30 wouldn't quite make the mark with Ofsted I am afraid.

I agree with whoknows gossip about schools is a bit like gossip about famous people... you have no idea and you are talking about people you don't know. Please do be careful and do not be led by gossip. You will end up looking stupid and the school will mark you.as one of those parents.

A key person for 30 does hit the mark for Ofsted because it meets the legal requirement.

I have been told by concerned parents

This is your first mistake. Unless you have seen it with your own eyes, and it is impacting upon your child, then it is not your business.

It's very likely there has been a clash between the TA and the teacher. When I first started teaching, I had a TA similar to poppy70 who thought she ran the classroom. She would talk to parents about their child without discussing with me, and bitch to parents that I wasn't doing things like the 'old teacher' (well no, I was 30 years younger and trained in a far different education system than the one she had been trained in). She started calling in sick on days that I had specifically planned activities that required her (she preferred to just wander around the classroom dealing with students she liked and ignoring the rest) and refused to do any of the tasks that I needed her to do, even when I tried to give her a choice of tasks. I had to really take a firm line against the undermining that she was doing against me. A great TA is worth their weight in gold, a bad one is like a cancer in the classroom. Once that TA flounced and left the school because I didn't allow myself to be bullied by her, it was amazing the change that came over the classroom and my relationships with the parents. I rarely have TA's now, and I actually prefer to have my various student teachers come in whenever they can spare the time in their uni schedule and help me out, even after they have finished their placements. Great experience for them, and they really want to learn and be part of the classroom.

OP, if you must go in to the head about this, then you need to stick very specifically to actual incidents that have occurred involving your child. Anything else is hearsay.