I don't WANT a parent helper to write comments about dd1's reading in her reading book!

[pilote]

Is she a teacher? NO! Am I being totally unreasonable to ask her teacher who this person is and what her qualifications are? The TA already does most of the reading and handwriting practice with dd1, what is her bloody teacher doing all day fgs.

pfb?

Why does it matter who this woman is. Are you going to confront her?

Unless you have actually been into the classroom and seen what they do, you actually have no idea what the teacher is doing and when.

I am a parent helper in ds' school. Ironically, I had this very conversation with his teacher last week, as I said I was always available to come and listen to children read. and she said "thank you, the problem I have is that parents expect me to be the one that writes in their reading records. But listening to the children read individually is not productive use of my time, because if I listened to them all every day then I would do nothing but listen to children read, and I wouldn't be teaching them anything. So the ideal situation is for me to do the teaching, and for the parents at home, or the parent helpers, if we can get them, to listen to them, to help reinforce what I have taught."

Maybe people haven't come across in the way you wanted them to on this thread, but then again, you haven't exactly shown much appreciation for the fact that other people are giving up their time to help your child.

Memo to self. Never ever volunteer to help in child's classroom.

I think that's good practice Gdg and excellent - but I also wager that isn't necessarily the case everywhere

Memo to self. Never ever become a "bloody teacher."

thud

I am obviously married to the right person as my dh agrees with me - no we are not grateful for 'any' offer of help with dd1s reading, in fact we think ill-informed negative comments could have a detrimental effect on her.

Yes the helper certainly should by law be CRB checked, of course.

lol, that was meant to be [thud] as in hand slapped in exasperated way against forehead and / or head collapsing onto desk

I had a friend that helped in a number of school lunchtime clubs including a reading club and science club. They were CRB'd nut don't know the logistics of being alone with children etc.

I am sorry, but appreciating the fact that you have given your time for no pay doesnt make up for the fact that I would prefer comments to be written by the teacher.

Why don't you tell the "bloody teacher" you don't want any "random parent helper" listening to your daughter read? Using just that delightful language.

That should do the trick nicely.

all parent helpers at my ds' school have to be crb checked.

It is not about what you would prefer Pilote, it is about what is best for your child's learning. And it doesn't sound like you are a very good judge of that.

What attitude sobernow? Her school is very good and she is happy there. I am surprised that they need a parent helper with the very high ratio of staff to children.

No, it's new at our school hmc.

I was a parent helper last year - reading with reception/yr 1 isn't rocket science though.

Make sure the teacher knows that your dh thinks the same thing. I mean, if you both think it, it must be okay then.

High ratio! Are you quite insane?

I dont think reading once a fortnight to a random individual (of course it is not important to know who they are!) is going to bring her reading on in leaps and bounds as a matter of fact.

I can clarify re the CRB stuff ( quite familiar with Ofsted requirements being Chair of Pre-School (for which I have absolutely no qualifications) - you don't have to be CRB checked to help out with children in a class room situation, as long as the educational establishment can guarantee that you won't be left alone and unsupervised

However personally think it is good practice to get everyone CRB checked - t'aint that hard

I think three full time staff in a class of 25 is very good in the state sector.

so, given that the "bloody teacher" wouldn't have the time to listen to, and comment on, your child's reading every day, you would actually have no idea whether your child was being listened to or not. so perhaps you would rather home ed your dd since "bloody teachers" and "bloody random strangers" are not qualified to have an opinion on your daughter's abilities.

has the op posted here before?

If you read with your dd every night what's the problem? There really is no issue with one extra session of reading every 2 weeks is there?

polite - is this definately a parent help and not a payed TA, who spends all of her time supporting literacy?

In DTDs class they have a teacher and 2 TAs - one for literacy and a genrall TA.

Both TAs are shared with the other year 2 class. BUt having a dedicated literacy TA is a whole lot different to a random parent helper....not that I think there is anything wrong with parent helpers. God I see far too many complaints on her that DCs are not reading enough at school....they would read even less if they didn't have the support from volunteers and TAs.

And IMO, if they don't comment in the book they might as well not read.

For example the helper - has probably been guided on what to look for. She is telling you where she needs to put in extra effort, so that you know how to help and encourage her to improve. Without that many parents would just listen, because parents don't know what a child in a given level should be acheiving, whats normal, what to 'ignore' etc.

What did they say anyway? "Read very nicely. Enjoyed the book."