This a thread NOT moaning about teachers or schools

[roisin]

Just sometimes I get a bit fed up reading mumsnet and a continual list of complaints about schools and teachers.

My boys and 7 and 9 and their teachers do a great job: every day they come home buzzing with enthusiasm about at least one thing they've done at school that day.

As well as standard classroom stuff, they have lots of exciting assemblies, trips, visiting theatre groups, green council, K'nex challenge, APE club, etc.

Primary school life is certainly far more varied and exciting than it was in my day.

Expectations are high, and they are acknowledged and rewarded when these are met, and we leave the school to deal out appropriate sanctions when they are not.

They are encouraged to take responsibility for themselves, and if they forget to hand in homework, reply slips, or payments; or to bring letters home or give them to me promptly then I and the school put the responsiblity firmly on them.

The staff at our school are very committed and work extremely hard, with the best interests of the children at heart.

You may think I am describing the perfect school, but of course there are things that are not perfect at the school. Sometimes I think parents need to see things from the perspective of the staff, and to appreciate quite how hard many of our teachers do work.

Yeah roisin I'm with you on this.

Planning to retrain this Sept so will have a view from that side of the fence soon.

But I've also seen at first hand how hard the teachers have to work in our schools (and our school is an "easy" one if such a thing exists) and I too get a bit tired of "school is failing my child cause he can't read Shakespear yet and the teacher isn't attending to his every need...."

Really agree with you both. This year both DS and DD have excellent inspiring teachers and they love going to school.

awww, thanks, I needed that as I still have another hour of planning and marking! (more if I stay on here..)

Just wanted to add my appreciation of the work the teachers do. Dd?s teachers have all been wonderful. The school environment is friendly and welcoming. The children are always engaged with their work and the teachers have always done their best to find work appropriate to the children?s abilities. Dd has always had an excellent relationship with her teachers and so far as I am aware this is true for the other 29 children in her class. This is not a school at the top of the league tables, just our local primary school. It has had problems with funding and overlarge class sizes in some years, but the staff do a wonderful job and I have been very impressed by the way dd and her class mates have flourished there.

roisin, my thought sexactly. People don't go around saying how nice and unproblematic things have been during their day, people tend to remember when something was awful and they forget the nice things or take them for granted.
I also have a great primary teacher for dd but spend most of my time worrying about the really crap teacher that ds has to deal with. That's maybe human nature, grass is always greener sort of thing.

Hear hear! More praise and appreciation from me for our local primary. When we first moved here this school was under Special Measures and I worried about dd1 (who was then a baby) going there. However a new Head turned the school around and it hasn't looked back since. My dds love going to school, adore their teachers every year and they do loads of fab exciting things. Plus, I have had the opportunity of going with them on lots of the school outings to really interesting places that I wouldn't normally have gone to, as a helper. I am just a bit worried now that Secondary school might not live up to this brilliant start we've had. DD1 has only got 1 more year at primary and I am already nervous about her moving up to such a large school. Hopefully though, it will be OK if her friends move there too.

I am seeing things from the parent's point of view for the first time this year, and have to say that I really impressed so far. DD adores school and her teacher, and teaching assistant, work so hard and really get the children inspired and motivated. They manage to get them to work and learn, without the girls really even realising they are learning!

I moved dd (then y5) and ds (then y4) last year and it's the best thing I ever did. The teachers at the new school are fantastic and there has been a total turnaround in dd's attitude. Only wish I'd done it sooner. I agree that there are some fantastic teachers out there.

Clary, are you doing a PGCE. Me too? Any thoughts.

And yes, I've always thought there were some strange comments on mumsnet re: teachers. The number of times I've read advice along the lines of "write to the chair of governors" about something that was (to my mind) a storm in a teacup.

Let's hear it for the good teachers. And the hard working kids. And the nice classmates.

I completely agree. DD1 is enormously happy at school - a really fairly ordinary state primary in a not very glamorous bit of London - and I can see why. I reckon DD2 will adore it too when she starts in January. They're busy, happy, and clearly learning a lot in an unpressured atmosphere.

(Also her young male teacher is a total sweetie.)

Bless you Roisin

My kids' teachers are marvelous and have been highly supportive of our two, who are having a dodgy time of things atm.

One of dd's previous teachers always asks how dh is and is massivly supportive of me, which was utterly unexpected but exceptionaly nice!

as a parent my dd adores school and her teacher, I do let our head or teacher know if I thimk they are doing a great job and I think I am not alone in that.

I also had three lots of lovely feedback about the school I teach in this week, 1 from a parent, 2 from a propsective parent and one from a librarian in another school and it made me glow inside as we are a school that people love to knock.

my 2 like their school and seem to be doing well there

The week after next ds1 is going on a residential, and one of the staff is a teacher who retired last summer. DS1 has a special bond with him and can't wait to go on the trip ... He hasn't ever been ds1's class teacher; this bond has simply developed from activities, clubs, assemblies and especially him taking time to chat to ds1 during playtimes and answer his questions. Once ds1 was asking him about goosegrass in the break, and after his duty was finished the teacher cut his lunchbreak short to get a microscope out to show ds1 the 'hooks' on the seeds..! Needless to say ds1 worships the ground he walks on.

roisin thank you for starting this thread

My ds loves school, he is happy, thriving and developing. The lessons are varied, he has access to lots of after school activities, provided by the staff who are not paid for this extra curricular provision. He is encouraged to take responsibility for himself (homework, handing in reading books etc). He loves his teacher lots.

His favourite teacher however is the other Year 1 teacher who is currently on maternity leave (and happens to be his Mummy...)

Speaking from the other side of the coin, I know how hard the staff work, how much effort, time and thier own money they put into making the lessons and the learning as full and varied as possible, and how much they love the children and care about them.

It's really nice to read such positivity on an Education thread

gliterfairy feels like this about her kids' new primary school - it is so nice to know that wonderful schools exist (ours wasn't like that, because of the Head, although most of the teachers were fab)

My dds love their school, DD1 is on G&T and DD2 is on SA+ so both ends of the scale and both do well.When dd1 was ill her teacher let her do 1/2 days would call me as soon as she wasn't up to it or if she was ok to stay longer.Really went out of her way to help.

I do agree roisin. A few month ago our school had such an excellent school inspection report that my eyes welled up reading it. They do have some pretty big challenges as a school and I was so proud that they'd done so well. However, I couldn't find anything to post this on without sounding smug, I thought. I guess MN can be a bit like the press - thrives on bad news.

my dd loves her school! she has been there only since jan and has such a great time and has learnt so much

she loves her teachers and the teaching assistant and is full of enthusiasm. She also loves the school dinners especially pudding.

all good in my mind - hope it lasts for whole of her childhood

What a lovely thread

I agree. My 7 and 5 year olds have been in 3 state primaries (cos we've moved twice in the last year), all fairly typical ones in many ways I think, not chosen particularly carefully. And all 3 have had wonderful dedicated caring teachers, nice parents, nice kids, lovely atmospheres.

And all 3 have coped absolutely fine with my bright 5yo who's easily been top of the class at all her 3 schools and there has never been any crap about not letting her work at her own level or read harder books etc. they just let her go at her own pace.

3 fairly perfect schools as far as I'm concerned.

That last bit was because I do get a bit fed up of threads which suggest that state school teachers deliberately try and keep their brighter children down or can't cope with them. Which hasn't been our experience at all so far.

I started a thread recently because my dd started reception class 2 weeks ago, and was coming home in tears every night, exhausted, not eating as she was being left on her own at the table as she's a slow eater, thirsty as daren't drink as she didn't know where the toilets were, stressed as she's one of only a few gone into a class of kids who started in sept or jan, and worried that she can't read and won't catch up.

Having expressed my concerns to the teacher after the first week, on Friday i went to the assembly where she was asked to come up to the front of the school and receive a certificate for 'beautiful reading'. She was thrilled. The teacher has given her so much encouragement , she's started making her own friends, and was invited round for tea with 2 different girls on the same night and had to choose!

I'm so relieved and happy that they picked up on what she needed and have made her feel really important.

NKF re PGCE, yes, I have a place from Sept.

Main feeling is panic at leaving the career I've had for 20+ years to fly without the aid of a safety net (ie my salary).

And also huge excitement at the propsect of doing something I know I will love (and hopefully have a chanc eto make a difference to a few people)