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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Bad feeling about supply teacher

119 replies

christmaslover88 · 08/12/2022 13:25

I want to start by saying I don't want to be "that parent" but I have some concerns. ds started reception in September. The school is fab and the teachers all seem really amazing. He's very happy there and always excited to go

Yesterday I dropped him off and his normal class teacher was there. However, when he got home he told me his normal teacher had to leave as her baby was poorly (absolutely no issue with this, kids get sick, it's really tough for working parents) and they had a supply teacher for the rest of the day. Ds talked about the teacher, he's 4 so no concept of what makes a good/bad teacher so it was all just general chat about the day. Not one thing he said sat right with me

DS was unwell over the weekend with a stomach bug. He last vomited Sunday afternoon so I kept him off Monday and Tuesday due to the 48h rule. Somehow the supply teacher knew he'd been off sick. She told him he was "still poorly" because he had a cough. It's fucking winter, everyone has a cough. I'm not keeping a perfectly healthy 4 year old off school because he coughed a couple of times
She told him off for coughing into his hand not his elbow because he "would spread germs". I've made a point during covid not to make ds paranoid about germs and teach hand washing and covering mouth when coughing without putting a negative spin on it. I saw far too many toddlers scared of germs due to lockdown and parents driving the point home too negatively
She didn't take her coat off the whole time she was there. I know it's cold but the school is really warm. This one might be petty but it just doesn't sit right with me
She sat them all down on the carpet to discuss "things we don't do at school". I appreciate this could have been prompted by poor behaviour, but the normal class teachers have never had to do this sit down chat
They spent the afternoon watching Hey Duggee. I'm not against tv in school (I know they watch numberblocks as part of their maths lessons) but it doesn't sound like this was linked to a lesson, just a way for the supply teacher to avoid teaching
They weren't allowed to play outside. Reception have their own outside area connected to their classroom and it is normally free flow in and out in the afternoon. They all have coats, waterproof trousers and wellies in school

Obviously I understand the class teacher had to leave suddenly and it's not easy to get a good supply teacher at short notice like this, but not one thing ds told me was (in my eyes) a positive. Would you mention it to the school or just let it go? To be clear, I wouldn't be complaining or anything, just sending an email saying this is what ds told me. The school may not know what she was like or how the day unfolded if no one else was around

Happy to be told it's not a big deal or to not get involved, it's my first term with a child at school and definitely don't want to be difficult but I just felt she wasn't up to the school's normal high standards

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

dooneyousmugelf · 08/12/2022 20:05

Omg 🤣 good one, OP.

SD1978 · 08/12/2022 20:05

Extremely petty. Most kids are taught to cough into their elbows. He had a cough and still sounds sick- she didn't exclude him from the class. She had a coat on- so flipping what. She's a supply teacher, maybe she didn't have the lesson plan if dumped into the classroom last minute as an emergency. Maybe didn't have time/ know about the extended garden play. You really do sound like THAT parent based on a half day of nothingness.........

ConnieTucker · 08/12/2022 20:08

She didn't take her coat off the whole time she was there. I know it's cold but the school is really warm. This one might be petty but it just doesn't sit right with me

😂😂😂

Lovageandrose · 08/12/2022 20:15

She sounds like a nightmare. It’s her job not to
make your child say things that will raise alarm bells with you. She failed.

LibbyL92 · 08/12/2022 20:25

With all due respect but do you know how stretched schools are at the moment?
they are on their knees.

please don’t email the school. If this was an issue that has continued over a few days then yes maybe drop an email. but it’s been an afternoon.

Sherrystrull · 08/12/2022 20:34

Lovageandrose · 08/12/2022 20:15

She sounds like a nightmare. It’s her job not to
make your child say things that will raise alarm bells with you. She failed.

What?

HappyAxolotl · 08/12/2022 20:36

It has been bitterly cold today, your child has a cough and you said everyone is coughing at the moment. It makes sense to cancel free-flow outdoor play and keep everyone warm in the classroom with the door shut.

Teaching children to cough into their elbows is sensible advice and the teacher has explained to your child why to do this. Kids with coughs having to troop out of class to wash their hands after every cough would disrupt the lesson, and not washing their coughed-on hands spreads the germs to the rest of the class.

The talk on appropriate behaviour in school - perhaps there has been a lot of horseplay in the last couple of days your child wasn't there. It's coming up to Christmas and 4-year-olds do get a bit hyped up in the last few weeks of term! Or maybe this teacher just likes to explain to a new class what is expected of them. Either way, doesn't strike me as a problem.

Watching Hey Duggee - I'd bet they didn't watch it all afternoon. It could have been a fun activity to make up for the lost playtime, or had somethin in the episode relevant to the day's lessons, or even an end-of-day reward for behaving as they'd been asked to! If your child keeps coming home saying they've watched kids' TV all day/morning/afternoon I'd be concerned and ask the school, but not for a one off.

Teacher wearing a coat indoors - was the classroom cold and the children not allowed to keep their coats on? If not, what is the problem?

saraclara · 08/12/2022 20:41

christmaslover88 · 08/12/2022 14:10

Just to clarify, I know he should cough into his elbow. It wasn't about her telling him to cough into his elbow not his hand. It was the stuff about "spreading germs" I felt wasn't necessary. I don't want him thinking it's his fault if one of his friends gets sick or something

It's a teacher's job to explain things. When we remind children of rules, we explain WHY it's a rule. There is no reason for a teacher to overthink mentioning germs. Because they ARE the reason we don't cough or sneeze into our hands.

My class of autistic children watched an episode of Hey Duggee every afternoon. My school didn't have an afternoon break. The children needed a mental break, and we had to clear up after one lesson and put out what was needed for the next. The episodes are around six minutes. allowing for sitting the children around the TV etc, it was ten minute break.
If the children could't go out (and it might have been a decision based on the cold and slippery conditions) it's fair to give the kids a little inside break of a suitable TV programme.

There's not a single thing I'd take issue with in your son's account. As others have pointed out, the carpet reminder of classroom behaviour is a GOOD thing.
And maybe she had her coat on because the heating wasn't working (that would also explain not going out, if the children wouldn't be able to warm up afterwards)

Seriously, chill.

pictish · 08/12/2022 20:45

Yes you’re being irrational, I’m glad you can see that…buuuut that is still quite some list of petty gripes. You’re approaching school as though you’ve paid for a bespoke service. You haven’t.

DNAshelicase · 08/12/2022 20:48

Tbf I was the one that called OP a fucking nutter and my comment got deleted by MNHQ, I do stand by it though. I wonder whether the mods deleting comments ever secretly agree with the commenters, it is fucking nutter-like behaviour trying to complain about some poor teacher wearing a coat 😂

I did read the whole thread though OP and I see you’ve just had a baby. My baby is 15 weeks old and i’m sure I had my moments a couple of months back. Don’t send the email and enjoy your little baby ✌️

QueenAstrid · 08/12/2022 21:05

Lovageandrose · 08/12/2022 20:15

She sounds like a nightmare. It’s her job not to
make your child say things that will raise alarm bells with you. She failed.

Good one 🤣🤣

KindergartenKop · 08/12/2022 21:14

My kids' school can't afford cover anymore so the class are split into 2s and 3s and sent to sit at the back of all the other classes in the school and do sheets.

inthewest · 12/12/2022 11:13

OP have you seen how much it costs to heat a building these days? I'm stopping short of wearing mittens in my reception classroom at the moment. Perhaps supply teacher didn't want yet another sickness bug? It's all good and well when it's just your own child coughing and sneezing on you, it's another when it's 30 children from 30 different homes constantly bringing bugs in.

lanthanum · 12/12/2022 15:04

Is there a TA in the class? If so, they'll raise any concerns if the supply teacher really wasn't adequate.

Sometimes things will be a bit different with a supply. Not using the outside area if the supply teacher doesn't know the risk assessments is sensible (it won't harm them to stay in for one day), and if they need to have a look through the planning to see what they need to do, putting a video on while they do that is also a good idea. If they were called in partway through the day they've had no prep time.

TizerorFizz · 12/12/2022 15:09

Many schools have their own supply teachers on call. Or they swap around and another class gets the TA!

I probably wouldn’t be happy for 2 weeks plus with the unknown supply but a day or two won’t matter. She did come with Hey Duggie after all and got the tv working! Free flow outside play isn’t necessary. All that time wasted changing clothes for cold weather. I’m sure it won’t dent his chances for Oxbridge!

BakedBear · 12/12/2022 19:45

Don't forget that if supply teachers get sick they don't have an income so of course they don't want 30 different children coughing all over them every day.

BeanieTeen · 12/12/2022 20:30

Your 4 year old has gone into wonderful detail about their day. When I ask mine he generally just mentions what he had for lunch (usually not what was on the dinner menu so I suspect he’s making it up) and how he’s still the fastest and strongest in his class (I’m not sure how he measures this). I asked him recently to check with his teacher when I didn’t know the answer to an animal related question he asked me and he was convinced she wouldn’t know because all she knows about is how to sing Christmas songs, she doesn’t know anything else… fuck knows then who’s been teaching him to read and write so far.
Why anyone would take their four year old’s word as gospel is beyond me. Or is only my child full of shit?? 😂

larkstar · 12/12/2022 21:33

@BeanieTeen My DD said a visitor had brought a giant tortoise in to school and that they had fed it lettuce - I thought it must just have been an ordinary tortoise not a Giant tortoise - but she insisted it was a Giant tortoise - with a huge shell - anyway it turned out it wasn't a tortoise at all but a Giant African Land snail - she was only about 5!

TizerorFizz · 12/12/2022 23:01

Actually my DD was remarkably accurate at YR. Very observant and articulate. What she said was pretty much spot on. Still is all these years later. Some DC are very observant, notice details, and can express themselves. I would have believed DD. Not that I would have worried about what she said about the teacher.

Teachers teach children. They don’t come with sanitized wrapping. If they don’t think they are resilient to illness, don’t accept work in the winter. 4 year olds are not 14 year olds. Poor things have so much to remember. Let them be DC.

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