worried that dd's class next year is having a supply teacher

[dinny]

great school, all the staff and brilliant and dd very happy there. however, Year 1 teacher is off sick long-term and school unable to recruit, so will be using a supply teacher. hm says she is aware it's not ideal but assures us the children will receive the best teaching she can deliver.

can supply teachers be as good as permanent ones? this is all a bit new to me.

thanks, Dinny

hello
As long as they can use the same person it should n't be any more of an issue than having any other unknown teacher such as in the case of ML (there's been a rash of that at ours atm!). Continuity is the key to success imho. MIL did supply regularly for the same school when she took early retirement.

hi LIZS

yeah, I suppose so. what is ML?

maternity leave !

There are some very good supply teachers.

Our school tends to use the same supply teachers where possible (it is a small primary with only four teachers anyway).

They are currently using one supply teacher to cover any gaps and she is excellent (she covered one teacher's mat leave last year I think).

doh, sorry - brain switched off after late night at work last night!

yes, don't know why I feel worried, really - mainly because they current (very good) supply teacher won't be coming back and an as-yet-unknown replacement will....

There are loads of good supply teachers. As long as the Head and the other staff are supportive and provide the necessary information there is no reason to suggest your lo will suffer in any way. they might all benefit from a fresh face.
Why can't the school recruit- is it in a challenging area?

It's a fantastic school, very happy with all the teachers.

she said they can't recruit due to difficult legal situation with the class teacher who is on sick leave....

yes , Tuesday after school . Will try to remember to look out for you tomorrow ;)

Our school was in this position with a longterm sick leave. They were so pleased with the supply person who covered for the absence, that when a permanent vacancy came up they took her on.

Actually there are advantages to having a supply in this position: they are usually just on a very short-term contract, and don't have the 'rights' of permanent teachers. So if there are serious problems then it's a relatively simple process to get rid of them - unlike a new appointment!

At my school we had someone covering for a term, whose performance was very unsatisfactory.
At the end of the Friday of the second week the SMT told him not to come back the following Monday

LIZS - can't decide what dance option to do next year (1) - ballet/tap/modern...

Roisin, oooh, hope that's our outcome!

At our infants school we have a supply teacher who is in school once a week to run special group work. She also does alot of supply if someone is off and it works really well. The kids know her, she knows the kids, its great.

When my DD went into year 3 she had a supply teacher for the whole year and she was excellent and would have been an asset to any school but she didnt want a full time contract at that time as was planning on moving away from area!

imo continuity is the key. if it's the same supply teacher for the whole time, that is perfect. the situation you don't want is when the teacher changes every day / week.

Yes, supply teachers can often be as good as permanent ones.

sometimes they're better

We don't do Tap yet as it would be on Saturdays and she has been able, so far , to do the others during the week ! We spend enough time there as it is . Modern is quite sociable and a bit less formal than Ballet !