I don't want to be THAT parent but...

[theninjabreadma]

My daughter has just started her fifth year at primary. Her first four years at school have been great, she has done well academically, had positive reports from teachers etc, and aside from the odd minor irritation over trivial stuff, I couldn't fault her school.

She has now started P5 and it is awful. DD is anxious and miserable going to school. The teacher seems really really unorganised, and just, well, not capable to be honest. They have been at school for a month and despite having long (hour and half or more of work) homework set night after night, it hasn't been marked. They haven't done PE once. The teacher apparently gets frustrated and snappy if a child asks her to explain something.

I'm normally very supportive of schools, and believe in letting them get on with stuff, but how do we get through this year? It is hard seeing a previously enthusiastic child struggling to get out the door in the morning, and coming out of school looking like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders.

I'm planning on speaking to the principal to make my concerns known, but what do I actually say to her? I can't just march up to school and say 'this teacher is crap'.

Have you spoken to the teacher? I would definitely raise the specific concerns you raise here - no PE, homework not marked, daughter is miserable (is anything wrong at school)? I'm a bit concerned that there is a lot of "seems" and "apparently" in your post, and I would suspect the headteacher would want you to give the class teacher a chance to address your points before you got straight to her.

I th8nkg the homework issue needs addressing. It should equate to an hour and a half a week not night! Maybe try speaking to the teacher first?

Also what doe the school website say about timetable? Ours has it set out which days they get homework when they have indoor and out door pe and so on.

P.E and one work not marked would not be what I would raise with the teacher/headteacher first. I would make a appointment to speak with the teacher & say that your dd is not happy this year and does the teacher know why or if there is anything you need to know to help. This flags to the teacher that your dd is not happy and that you are aware of it. It might be the prompt needed for the teacher to get his/her act together. If not then speak to the headteacher. From my experience it is better to flag this to the headteacher so that the situation can be kept an eye on.

Not done PE at all is weird; PE is very timetabled into regular slots in our school (one indoors for sure). Our hall is small & always busy so they have to have regular slots in there. You could certainly ask about how the PE is timetabled.

Lack of feedback on the homework, too, you can cite.

Whatever you complain about it needs to be specific things you want changed.

Unfortunately hard to be specific about what is "snappy".

I would let the teacher know shes unhappy, and has she noticed anything amiss?
I find teachers love talking and you get to know more if you let them ... otherwise they are very defensive.

Thanks for your suggestions.

The school website doesn't say anything about timetable for homework. But homework is set every Mon to Thursday, for the next day. They don't get any at weekends. We have to sign the homework book each time and it is clear that the previous days homework hasn't been marked. So that's weeks of homework not marked.

When I say 'apparently', I'm obviously basing that on what dd has told me. She was sobbing over her homework, unsure what she was meant to do and the worksheet wasn't at all clear. When I asked why she hadn't asked the teacher to explain, she said she didn't want to as she had asked a question about the previous nights homework and the teacher had snapped at her and told her something that didn't actually answer her question.

I have already spoken to the teacher and she just went off on a tangent and started talking about something else, it was like she just wasn't listening to what I said. Which does tie in with what dd says. I feel awful because she seems lovely.