Teachers secondary age daughter helping in primary one class

[Fashion83]

Our DS is in primary 1. (Scotland - age 5, almost 6). He is in a council ran school. We are privileged to have so many PSA’s (teaching assistants) in the school so the children get quite a bit of small group time with one adult. However this week on a video posted to a parent app the teacher was showing us a group who were doing a literacy game with her daughter who I think would be around 14/15/16 years old. Assume she is off on study leave. Am I right in thinking this is a bit strange? Since when did teachers take their children in to help. Unless she wants to study teaching but perhaps let us know?

As an aside, said teacher is part time & the deputy head teaches our son and his class on a Friday which I was quite happy with however I could count on my hand how many times she’s been there in class over the past 2 terms and they’ve had another teacher. No issue as such but we as parents haven’t been told which annoys me. AIBU to expect to be told?

Thanks.

My son has been into my school on a number of occasions to volunteer either because it is INSET, 'take your child to work', or work experience. It is a special school and the children adore him and ask for him to come back frequently! I can't quite see what is 'unprofessional'. I think it is highly beneficial for the children in class, my teenager, and the class team.

My teen son volunteers - in his own time - at a sports after school club run by a local primary. Incidentally it’s the school he went to and I work at but there’s a whole group of them helping that that doesn’t apply to.

The kids love it, the teacher loves the help - and the teens love being ‘a grown up’ and get an early sense of the benefit of volunteering. Winning all round.

The teens are NEVER allowed unsupervised and the parents aren’t informed as far as I know.

When work experience/volunteering DC is over 16, there might be a need for a DBS check. Depends on age of DCs in activity, supervision and what the activity is. Volunteers aged 16 and over might need to be DBS checked if they are around young DC in changing rooms for example - swimming clubs need to be aware of this.

I agree it is likely to be work experience.

I don't know about Scotland but in England youngsters do work experience in Year 10 so they are aged 14-15. May/June is a very popular time although my son's school did theirs in November.

My issue is a really don’t think it’s work experience.

Why?

We live in a small rural village and recently the secondary all local teens go to had an inset that the primary didn't have (v unusual) and a huge number of them arranged to go into the primary with their siblings for the day. The head was happy to have them and arranged it so that siblings weren't helping in a class that had their family in. The younger kids massively benefitted from enthusiastic okay leaders at break and the school got loads of help with pre cutting of craft projects etc as well as lots.of small group reading and phonics games going on.

I thought it was so lovely that the older ones still see themselves as part of their primary school community. And the year 6s said it was exciting to hear more about the secondary they will be going to.

As far as I know no parents were explicitly informed.

Yes, this happens in my kids private school.

I'd have no issue with the teenager being in class but I don't think that deputy heads should be timetabled to take a class when it's impossible for them to be there and teach, due to their other commitments.

My dc go to an overseas private school and I don't know everyone who goes into the classroom.
It is normal for older dc to help support younger dc in various ways.
I really don't see any odd about this.

This is why schools can never win now. Parents thinking every decision needs to be run by them or ‘formalised’. The school does not need to run its general day to day decisions past parents for everything, and who assists in the classroom is down to the school. They will obviously safeguard the children but other than that parents don’t need to know everything or else schools will be so bogged down with ‘formalising’ everything that they’d grind to a halt.