New teachers for September

[lovecheese]

My Dcs school has a two-form system. DD will be moving into yr2 in September and has, obviously, a 50/50 chance of having a teacher that I really dont want her to have; I have had dealings with this teacher regarding dd whilst in yr1 and have found her very rude and I can not see us having a good teacher/parent relationship in yr2. On the one hand DD might be put with her because she knows some of the background behind problems that we have had this last term, but then again the teacher may not wish to associate with me! The other class teacher is lovely and someone who i regard very highly as DD1 has had her in the past. If you were in my situation would you say anything towards requesting the other teacher? And who would I approach? Its getting a bit late in the day as all classes go to their new teachers in two weeks time for visits. Help!

I'm sorry, but there are many, many contributing reasons for allocating classes to teachers, and your dislike of one of them might not be very high on the list!
If you were to approach the Head to state your preference and s/he agreed, then how would you feel if they just removed your daughter from her friendship group and switched her to the other class and (preferred) teacher?
Do other parents agree with you? In which case, the Head couldn't accommodate everyone's wishes.

AFAIK no-one else is in my position. The problem is that I think the dis-like is mutual.

But I guess there will be other over-riding factors.
For instance, I teach in a 2-form entry school. Decisions are being made at the moment about which class is going to which teacher (although they've yet to finalise which teachers are going in which yeargroup too) but I'm pretty certain which class I'm going to get landed with teach, as there are a few behavioural challenges in one class, plus some other issues that they won't give to the NQT next door. And if there are any parents who don't like me (or vice versa ) then I'm just going to have to get over it.

Our school would, of course, listen to your reasons for wanting your child to be in a specific class.
On the grounds you have given, it would then be dismissed. There are 400 children in our school, and to allow reshuffling on the grounds of a parents dislike for a teacher would open the door to chaos. The SMT would expect the teacher to have a civil and professional relationship with you, and offer you a copy of the complaints policy and procedure in case of future problems.
We're not allowed to pick who goes into our classes either, however horrible the parents.

I think you'll sound crazy if you speak to the school. The teacher willbe professional and won't treat your child any differently to other children, even IF she does dislike you.

Who stole my apostrophe?

I agree, can you imagine the chaos if teachers were allowed to pick and choose which children we taught in case there are parents we don't like

But this is the opposite case, the OP wanting to pick the teacher.

We understand that clam, but in neither situation is it a good enough reason for a school to change a policy and open the door to 400+ parents having the right to select according to likes and dislikes.
There are reasons to consider moving a child, and I've known it happen on several occasions.
Never because one adult didn't like another adult much..

I know! That was exactly my point earlier.

Sorry OP, but agree with others - I don't think you really have any say in the matter. The school couldn't take one parents preferences (or a teachers) into account and not take others preferences into account.
We just split up and re-mixed 2 year groups, and these were the things that we considerednot necessarily in this order!)

1. children that should be separated due to bad influence on each other
2. boy/ girl ratio
3. low/middle/high ability ratio
4. SEN needs equally divided
5. children who should be separated due to over dependence on each other
6. girls who would create too much difficult girly dynamic
7. newly established friendships that were helpful and needed to be kept together for support It is very difficult, and teacher's or parental desires didn't get a look in!

Don't know why that sad face sneaked in there - maybe the missing apostrophes!

Before you panic, do you even know for certain that the teachers are all staying in their current year groups? At my school (2-f-e) the Reception, Y1, one Y2 and one Y3 teachers are the only ones staying put. The rest of us are being moved.

I think you're just going to have to be adult about this and, if the unwanted teacher does end up having your DD, either arrange to meet and talk through how best the two of you can work together to support your DD or don't have chat but bite your tongue. Others have already talked about the things schools bear in mind when allocating classes to teachers and I think you may need to accept that 'mum doesn't like teacher' doesn't feature on that list. Luckily for you, it won't be you that is in the classroom for hours every day and the teacher is likely to make an extra special effort to start the year positively if she has had run-ins with your DD this year.

FWIW I already know which year group I'll be in and which class are being lined up for me. I'm sure there will be parents who will be unhappy about that but I know that for every one who is unhappy there is at least one who will be thrilled that their child will be taught by a strict, firm but fair, experienced teacher under whom children make lots of progress and have a happy time.

Don't go to the Head and ask for the entire school's class allocations to be based upon one parent's relationship with a single teacher - it's unlikely to achieve anything positive.

FWIW I am a primary Headteacher and if a parents ask me sensibly and honestly (and discreetly) about why they think a certain class teacher would be better, I do try and accommodate them. I also always say "if all your friends turn up also requesting a certain teacher then it will be No to all of you, so be discreet". In the end it saves hassle all round if parents feel confident with the teacher (it's better for the teachers too).

OP - it's worth talking to the HT, you never know it might be me!! (No, it won't really we aren't two form entry)

The head teacher of my Dcs school would note it down in his little book, and I would not get a teacher I knew and knew I had an issue with. (He won't go on hear say). But then again if I had a worry I would have mentioned it at least as soon as I knew which teacher's were in which years, if not before.

Most head teachers wouldn't. (Although I would hope any primary school would listen when I described how DD2 talked about one teacher as "That horrible woman" and was scared of her. DD 2 is very forthright and did not pick the label up from us.)

OP - meant to say - get a move on though - it might already be decided if they are meeting new teachers next week. Go in tomorrow.

Thanks judytzuke, I will go in tomorrow, the Head is approachable, and like you say I would not feel confident with this particular teacher.

Surely the issue here is not whether you feel confident with this particular teacher, but your DD.

She will be having the other one