Parents as helpers in junior school? Do you have them? What do they do?

[miljee]

Just wondering, really, how common it is. Parents are encouraged and asked to help out in the infants school- even as far as listening to DCs read etc and commenting in their reading diaries but once they go to the juniors, they do still ask for parental help, but only in washing paint pots out in the corridor etc, thus they seem to get a lot less help! I don't have a problem with this per se except I witnessed a tiny slice of Y4 life in a school open afternoon recently, and I felt a VAST amount of 'teaching/learning/experiencing' time was wasted in getting the DCs (all 30 of them with ONE teacher) to hunt for the glue stick with a missing lid, for example. The DCs were drawing out a template for a box, decorating it, cutting it out and sticking it, as in Art/DT. But I was a bit surprised at the inevitability of there being table groups who had ground to a halt not really knowing what to do next, running out of ideas, waiting for the correct colour felt pen to become available etc who were really achieving nothing in the absence of adult guidance, and the only teacher was of course supervising the other tables, one by one. Then there was a great flurry of 'Hurry up! Get that glued! Pick UP!' and I felt several DCs wouldn't have got much of a sense of achievement out of the exercise, whilst the DCs who DID finish had to sit 'Quietly!" on the carpet for -oh, 15 minutes whilst the rest 'caught up' and the chaos was sorted.

Naturally I fully understand the importance of DCs learning self direction/motivation and the need to organise a clean and tidy work area but I witnessed at least 1/3 of the time being dedicated to these tasks over and above the actual production of the box!And this was in a parental access session where they presumably endeavour to show themselves in the best light.

Would you say this was a common experience? SHOULD I be taking it up with the head? It's rated as a good school with some outstanding features so obviously its doing OK but how much better might it do with additional help in these sorts of classes, moving the group along, helping and suggesting?

I don't necessarily want to see any old parent helping in maths and literacy at this stage (y4) but those are lessons that surely require less ongoing material organisation in that the DCs sit there and are taught.

Or am I being a classic interfering Middle Class Mommie?!

I help in Year 3. I really enjoy it. I listen to reading for those who need it. I help in IT lessons (really helpful for poor teacher when 32 kids computers go wrong all at the same time!). I do sewing with them and art stuff. I do feel really valued.

Yes, I'd imagine an IT savvy parent would be an enormous help in IT. What you've said is exactly what the problem is: 32 kids, one teacher, several 'frozen' PCs... I'm sort of surprised that the nature of the requested 'parental help' changes so much from Y2 (infant school) to Y3 (associated junior school).

There are hundreds of them at my DCs' school. And I am hugely grateful to them. They are contributing to my DCs' education when I can't

You are assuming that the lack of organisation you witnessed was because they were 'any old parents' I presume. I suspect that a teacher plus a handful of qualified TAs might have been just as disorganised on any given day.

I help out with Year 5 once a week in their numeracy lesson - my dd1 is in Reception and I help there too at a different time. I have a table I will be sitting with, sometimes I watch two (so up to 12 pupils) and help - the teacher then works with the remaining 3 tables. She sets all the work, briefs me on what they are doing before we starts so I am there to guide, hint or nudge but not giving answers and help keep them focussed on the task.

I have come into this very specifically as the first step into hopefully teaching secondary Mathematics, and I have a Mathematics degree so my subject knowledge is good (although I am learning a lot about current methods of teaching numeracy, which was the whole idea!).

I help out at DD's school one day a week. I help out in a morning in the Y3 class, and then the afternoon in the Y1 and Y2 classes.

In Y3 I listen to hildren read, discuss books with them (to check comprehension), help with small group work, help individual children with specific pieces of work, do displays in class, tidy things up, getting materials out before/during the lesson, etc. It is Maths and Science in the morning mainly.

In Y1/2 I help in the classroom with specific tasks/children, do display work, help with general classroom tasks, run errands, assist the teacher, etc. Similar to Y3 TBH. Tends to be more practical or humanties type subjects in an afternoon.

Oh, and it isn't that common. I volunteered to gain experience of working in a priary school - I am a qualified secondary school teacher. School were very happy to have be come in. But I am only one volunteering in this way.

OrmIrian- I too would be grateful for help at my DSs junior school! It's just that the school doesn't seem to encourage the sort of help that I think would be of greatest benefit- ie those who do help wash dirty paintpots in a hallway rather than assist DCs with ideas and direction in art, for example. I didn't witness ANY parents helping at all on the school's open afternoon- parents just aren't 'allowed' to help IN class. My remarks re 'any old parent' reflect my belief that, in the social demographic in which the school operates (working/lower middle class), I seriously believe Y4 maths could well be beyond the remit of many parents- it'd be FINE if the school ensured helper parents in say maths were up to speed in modern maths methodology via an interview and perhaps some practical testing, but the scope to confuse a DC with maths the way it is taught now is SO huge, it's a risk I'd rather not have my DS subjected to- nor would I expect to be allowed to subject anyone else's DC to MY interpretation of maths as I only have an O level! What I'm saying is I wish the school used or encouraged its willing parents in stuff like art, DT, possibly sport, and, if able, ICT rather than banish them to hallways whilst 1/3 to 1/2 of a practical subject's lesson time is spent arsing around 'tidying up' when a parent could facilitate that much more effectively and the teacher could get on with teaching.

I help out, too, doing much the same kind of thing: freeing up teacher time and helping the children who are a little slower at tasks to keep up with the others. There's a lot pencil sharpening and paint pot washing, too. I also do more specialist literacy stuff with five children who need extra reading.

I'm thinking I need to approach the head with a suggestion of 2! Whilst I'm happy to wash paint pots, I'd feel I was contributing something more worthwhile helping slower DCs IN class- and I would also not demand being placed in my own DSs class! It'd be a bonus BUT really only so I could see what exactly they're doing, where they're at; I'd be very mindful of not showing any favouritism towards my own DS!

Our school encourages parent helpers in the juniors, but it tends to be more ad hoc. The school asks for willing adults to do 2 or 3 sessions a week with a few children who need extra reading support. Apart from that, help is requested for art and cooking. We also have a non-curriculum day every Friday in KS2 and lots of parents come and give workshops in eg music, pottery, jewellery-making. Next week is Arts Week and each class is focusing on a particular country. I'm going to go and do a Russian lesson with Y5; last year a mother did Spanish cooking and so on.