When do you meet your DC's teacher?

[mamaM0]

My DC started Y4 this week and we've not had any interactions with her teacher outside of chaotic pick up which is still done covid style - Parents waiting outside the school while teacher stands behind fence sending out each child.
Apart from an A4 piece of paper with new class teacher, class name and a few paragraphs, given out at the end of Y3 when they had a meet the teacher morning, which we subsequently lost over summer, woops! Nothing...
Is this normal?

My expectations of school experiences is getting lower and lower!!

We've had no letters or other communication from the school so far.
Been told by my DC when pe is but that's all.
Just wondering what other schools are doing to get a gauge of what's normal!
Feeling a bit in the dark so far!

Interesting that you see it as "their teacher, their space".

I see school as a triangular relationship with parents and teachers supporting the child to achieve their maximum potential.

Primary school is the foundation of education, where concepts and facts are introduced and learnt, studies have shown it affects the way a child approaches their learning throughout their life.

Also, Children benefit greatly from parental input in school life, whether that's at home, school or otherwise.

I see school as a triangular relationship with parents and teachers supporting the child to achieve their maximum potential.

Primary school is the foundation of education, where concepts and facts are introduced and learnt, studies have shown it affects the way a child approaches their learning throughout their life.

Also, Children benefit greatly from parental input in school life, whether that's at home, school or otherwise.

Every engaged parent thinks this. Regarding the classroom as the teacher's space does not negate that! Just recognises the role of teacher and the role of parent as different, whilst being complementary.

No-one is disagreeing that supportive parents (and indeed there is a huge correlation with the education levels of the mother and the child's developmental levels and educational success) are the biggest influence on a child's progress at school, but you seem to be describing some sort of '3 children and a Governess' type relationship here.

The school obviously have communicated with you - you said they haven't then confirmed you knew about the curriculum evening because it was on the newsletter.

The teacher will have 30 dc in their class. A considerable minority of those will have significant needs. It is likely that others will have medical, pastoral, and / or social needs. The teacher will need to prioritise their energy where it is most needed. I suspect that isn't going to be spending 5 hours a week having 'just a quick chat' with a parent of every child.

@RoseslnTheHospital Was not implying it does.

@CupOfCoffeePlease Clearly said ;

"It's your childs school, their teacher, their space. They will contact you if they need you.

"Imagine 30 "little 5 min conversations". Even at 1 a week that's 3 hours a week..."

@RoseslnTheHospital I'm gonna say this is not how a triangular approach works. That sounds like a one way school led approach to me which is not the same thing but if that's how you interpret it - OK then.

We've just got to do the best we can with what we've got.

@UsingChangeofName Hahaha you are funny! I suspect you read/consume a lot of fiction books/dramas 😆

On your "supportive parents.. child progress" post I read an article recently about fathers having a slightly more significant effect on a child's academic success than mothers input.. which is just typical isn't it! 🙄
Will post here if I can dig it up.

What do you actually want?

Teachers are under a huge workload pressure, so whilst having time to chat to parents might be a nice thing to do, in reality will be far down the list of urgent things to do.

You also mention SATS and 11+ prep, are you already putting pressure on your child in respect of these?

@mamaM0 don’t think it is necessarily the mother’s input to the child, but there does seem to be a direct correlation with the mother’s academic success. Another important factor is seeing dads read and being involved with bedtime reading.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/sep/20/fathers-have-unique-effect-on-childrens-educational-outcomes-study-finds?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Here's the article;

So you are getting correspondence from the school.

Surely newsletters is all you really need? Everything important should be there, like the curriculum meeting you mention.

You are coming across as though you want almost daily feedback on your child, even though you haven't actually said it in as many words. Just wait for parents' evening.

I wish that the only communication we had from my kids' primary school had been a newsletter. It was normally all that was needed but no, they bombarded us with correspondence all the time.

There won't be any "Whoops!! My child has missed out on a huge chunk of their essential education" moments. Pay attention to the newsletters and to any emails/other messages you get and you'll be fine.

There's no need for this regular correspondence in most cases.

@UsingChangeofName Hahaha you are funny! I suspect you read/consume a lot of fiction books/dramas

Eh ?
Funny in what way ?
I mean, not sure that it is relevant, but, if it helps, no, I rarely read fiction or drama.

When I was a teacher (year 4), I only met the parents at parents evening. I was there every evening sending them off to their parents on the playground so I knew them by sight but rarely spoke to them unless they had a particular issue to discuss.

chaotic pick up which is still done covid style-Parents waiting outside the school while teacher stands behind fence sending out each child.

We’ve always done pick ups like that! What were you hoping for instead?