Question - teacher left classroom, OK?

[GooseyLoosey]

Took my ds with a group of other children to visit reception at his new primary school today. While I was there, some visitors came (expected but early) and teacher left classroom for an hour.

The teaching assistant talked to one of the other adults there but did not direct the children in any activitied. The children did whatever they wanted (playing with toys, playing outside, looking at books etc).

The children were well behaved and were not overly noisy or disruptive but many were clearly bored - they were not given any task to do.

I was a bit alarmed by this. It was not apparent to me what was supposed to be happening in the classroom. Ds was bored out of his brain - visiting children were just given a few toys and left to get on with it.

I really have no idea what goes on in schools today and am totally unfamiliar with what teaching assistants do. Is this something I should be conncerned about or is this acceptible in a reception class where focus is supposed to be more on play than learning?

THat does seem very odd, and not normal at all. OK, teacher may have legitamely left the classroom - perhaps her PPA time? And the tecaching assistant could be qualified sufficiently to be left alone with the children too. However, there should have been some direction in class, and some supervision of the children.

Agree with Hulababy. I think it's particularly odd considering there were new children there, you would have thought they would make an effort. Not sure what to suggest tho.

Are you sure it wasn't a scheduled free play or "Golden Time", our Reception class also have a Toy Afternoon where they can bring something in from home to share . As long as they were being supervised and interacting appropriately then it may be perfectly normal part of the curriculum.

Thanks - what's PPA time?

There was no real supervision at all and now I am worrying that ds will spend his entire time bored. He is not good at entertaining himself and needs tasks to be set for him.

Was hoping people would tell me I was worrying about nothing and of course teachers do this.

Thanks LIZS - didn't know they had such things. Still seems an odd time to have this when there are 6 visitng children though - doesn't it?

It does seem odd but may have been least distracting from the present chidlren's point of view. Are there further visits ?

PPA time is a set period of time that a teacher is given when they leave the classroom to mark, prepare work etc.

All teachers have this time as part of their contract

PPA is the teacher's planning and prep time - they get a set period of time each week, away from their class. The class is covered by a suitable qualified person - maybe another teacher employed for this person or maybe a high level TA.

Thanks all - that makes me feel a bit better.

It does seem a bit odd at the teacher would be outof the classroom during a new child visit - I'd thought the teacher would want to see her new children.

But it me be that she had an urgent personal matter to take care of or a child protection issue that needs to be dealt with that day or a medical issue. There could be lots of reasons why the teacher was not in the class.

Ds1 does "Plan, Do & Review" in the afternoons in his reception class. I think this basically means they can do anything they want!! It normally looks like complete chaos if I ever have the misfortune of going in there at that time but apparently it's all good

cat64, that's exactly why it bothered me so much. Ds is not looking forward to school so I wanted him to see it as fun - in the circumstances he is now even less enthusiastic.

cazzybabs - the other visitors were adults who had turned up early to plan a future classroom project in which they were involved.

Thanks to everyone for pointing out that this may not be as odd as I thought. I know of several parents who have taken their children out of the school recently so I guess I am looking for reasons.

Why would a teacher walk out on a settling-in session for new kids? Isn't the purpose of such a session for the child to get to know the teacher?

Surely the teacher's planning time could have been rescheduled.

It's most rude to say the least.

If I were you, I'd look for another school.