Dilemma

[Hogwarts2004]

I'm not quite sure what to do. I work in my daughters school as a TA. My daughter has always gone through school being a high achiever and always on the Gifted and Talented program. We have always been told she is on target for a level 6. Just before Christmas her teacher (who is an Outstanding teacher) took on the role of SENCO co-ordinator . She is now out of class 3 days a week. The school have taken on a substitute teacher who has no experience with a year 6 class and has been absent twice with a substitute for the substitute coming in. My daughter's staying at the same level and I'm annoyed. I understand in the great scheme of things the SATS are not THAT important as she will be assessed a few months into going into high school anyway. Do I say anything? Obviously if I didn't work in the school I probably wouldn't notice all the disruption my daughters class is having. It's so close to the SATS now I'm not sure they would do anything.

What would you want to achieve by speaking to the school? No school would take their year 6 teacher out of class at this time of year if they had a choice. There's a teaching recruitment crisis - vacancies everywhere which schools can't fill.

When I say just before Christmas it was October. I also know it's not just my daughter, the whole year 6 class are struggling while the other year six class have all gone up two sub levels. The substitute teacher is very lax with some of the disruptive children in the class. When I say a substitute for a substitute came in twice there have been many other cases where a higher level TA from the school has had them and another time a class 2 TA had them on her own for the day. I don't think I'm being unreasonable and as I say my daughters SATS are coming up and while I can help her at home the other children in the class may not have that support at home.

2 sub levels is a years progress (under that system). I don't think they would be going up that much since October.

Also I think I should have said it is my daughter who came home saying she isn't making any progress. Her teacher had told her she hasn't made any progress and she obviously doesn't want the level 6 that much otherwise she would be working harder. I am not one of those mums that think my DD is the bees knees, if she needs a kick up the backside (metaphorically) then I'll give her one. I'm quite happy if she's doesn't do the level 6 paper but as she's been told constantly she can do it she is now feeling the pressure.

That's what I've been told by the other year 6 teacher

How do you know that every child in the parallel class has made two sub levels of progress? If you have been told then that is immensely unprofessional of the teacher.

Unless there is a particular reason why you need to know, but your DD being in the other class is not one of them IMO.

I also think the likelihood of every child going up 2 sub levels is very unlikely.

As I said I work in the school the particular teacher was very proud of her class and takes in upon herself to do lunchtime sessions former hose who were struggling at the beginning of the year.

Seems unlikely that every child in the other class would have gone up 2 sub levels since October - some kids might have made that progress, yes, but I doubt all of them would have done. Perhaps you misunderstood what the teacher meant?

What do you want the school to do?

I would like the school to acknowledge that the children in this class need stability, I feel that they are being passed from pillar to post. If this was another year 6 class I would have the same concerns, as I say I feel my child will do her best which is all that matters but I feel as a member of staff something should be said. It's not just cattiness in the staffroom but I have voiced my concerns to other teachers and they said they agree.

So if they acknowledge that stability is best for children, will you be happy? Even if they can't provide any better cover than they are at the moment? If the SLT aren't aware of the issues, then the school has far, far greater problems than lack of stability in one year 6 class. The leaders will know what is going on and, given how important SATS results are to the school, will have done everything possible to address it. Trouble is, their hands may well be tied. As I said in my original post, there is a serious teacher recruitment crisis in many areas of the country. If problems are being dealt with by HR (ie capability, support programmes), then other members of staff shouldn't know anything about it. They might have someone lined up for after Easter that they can't say anything about yet. Any number of things could be happening behind the scenes that only the HT/DHT/SLT know about, and that's the way it should be.

The school are in a slightly difficult position because they do want as little disruption as possible in year 6, but they do seem to have somewhat shot themselves in the foot by employing short term somebody who is not up to the task.
I tend to disagree with others who have posted in that I do think that you should mention some of this to the head teacher. Put it in the context of as a parent of a child in the class I am aware that a good number of parents are now concerned by the apparent lack of progress in the class and I think you need to know of these grumblings. It is then up to the head to decide if something needs to happen. Personally I think the obvious answer is for the original class teacher to go off being SENCO for the next couple of months so that she is full time committed to the class. After all the school will be judged on the KS2 test results not how many EHC forms have been completed
You should definitely not mention how the other class is doing when speaking with the head teacher, I agree with others that the other teacher has been somewhat unprofessional, though I could see that many pupils could make 2 sub levels of progress in the time period.

I thought this was a friendly forum but I think a few people are being quite nasty. As for talking about the other teacher being new that is not what I meant by other teachers agreeing it was that the teacher who has taken the SEN position had taken on too much. Therefore the children were being affected by poor management decisions. Just to answer the other questions do any of you not discuss pupil progress in class whether you are proud or struggling with a certain child? Obviously being that you do not mention particular names.