Help from primary school teachers please

[scandalito]

My DD is extremely well behaved and tends towards being anxious, she is in Year 3, aged 8. She is probably ND and is being assessed for this.

Next year she could have one of 3 teachers. 2 she knows and loves and 1 she is frightened of (she has a reputation for being very strict but also not fun).

I have never asked for a specific teacher because I can imagine how annoying it is for the school when parents try and get involved in teacher allocation. But still, I really want to ask for one of the two teachers my DD knows and likes.

I’d really appreciate some advice on this as I don’t want to annoy the school who’ve been so great with DD.

Do they mix the classes? Yes it is annoying when parents get involved, but you never know, it might make a difference! The key thing would be to ask once, incredibly politely, and don't tell any other parents you've done so. If there's one 'strict not fun' teacher then that would probably open the floodgates and realistically there are probably many more anxious possibly ND children in a 3 form entry school. Hope it goes your way though!

Maybe you need to wait and see. One of my teacher colleagues is not that popular with kids as she is v strict. However she is a phenomenal teacher and the kids make tons of progress. If I had to choose I would choose her over other more fun teachers. Your dd may thrive in a secure and v structured classroom.

I would wait. If she does end up with that teacher, alert the school then and say your child is worried. I’m sure the teacher could then spend a bit of time in the summer term chatting with her so she can see she’s not scary.

On reflection I actually completely agree with the previous two, very wise posters.

ND kids often thrive in a calm quiet class with no behavioural issues which this teacher may well provide.

Strict but fun is the ideal though!

You could ask for a sensible meeting with her current teacher to discuss your concerns about her transition to next year. DO NOT set out a load of reasons (that you only know due to gossip) as to why you don’t want one particular teacher.
You can set out the reasons why you think a teacher she is familiar with would be in her interests. Strict can often be a good thing for many reasons - a calmer classroom, clear expectations etc.
They should listen to you if you approach it right but there would be no guarantee that you’d get what you want.

From my experience, DC almost invariably end up liking the ‘scary’ teacher, especially if this is Y6. There are always exceptions of course, and if it does end up being a problem then you may want to express your concerns at that point. Some DC really struggle with the more ‘fun’ and jovial teachers.

Wow a lot of food for thought. Interestingly DD is actually quite happy with strict rules and prefers to follow clear instructions and have a calm environment rather than a more chaotic style. I’m actually persuaded to wait and let the school decide. They have so far been brilliant with her.

No way should the teacher be expected to do that during the summer.

During the summer term - why not? I’m a headteacher and we do quite a bit off transition work towards the end of the summer term to help the children become familiar with their new teacher. Pretty standard.

In the previous years she has spent time with her next year teacher in summer term to ease transition. It really helps.

How kind of you to let the school decide how it's run, based on the expertise of its staff. Totally not your choice regardless of what you your daughter thinks she prefers or is just more familiar with

Gosh @Liliol how unnecessarily rude and aggressive. I do hope you have no role in a school yourself as you seem to have significant issues with basic politeness and consideration.

School staff don't exist pander to parents, especially on a forum. It's total nonsense to decide that a teacher won't be effective because you don't already know them, and even to think they they're there to be 'liked'.

I'm that grumpy old bag teacher. I'd leave it - you might find that your ND child thrives in an environment where standards are set and stuck to. You might also find that the grumpy teacher is in fact far from that and once standards for behaviour are set, learning is in fact a lot of fun. Shhhh!

Do the school never move teachers around? There are no guarantees yet who will teach Year 4 next year. Even if they don't tend to swap teachers around, one of the teachers could leave/take secondment/fall pregnant/go on long term sick etc (hopefully not the latter). We don't usually find out where we are next year until May at the earliest, and parents/children don't find out about any changes to staffing until July, when new class lists are released ready for transfer day.

I'm pleased to hear you trust the school to make the right decision for her. It sounds like they have a good transition program in place to ensure she has plenty of time to get to know the new teacher before September. I can only echo the above though. Often the teachers who appear scary, to those who don't know them, end up being some of the most fondly remembered. Most kids like firm boundaries. They like to know where they stand and what to expect. Once they get to know them, that scary/stern looking teacher usually becomes someone they really respect and thrive under. Not always, obviously, but I wouldn't automatically rule out the possibility of her being happy in that teacher's class, should that be the outcome.