Calling all Reception teachers - what makes you hate parents?

[spiralqueen]

A friend who has not long retired from teaching at a primary school recently warned us that our DD knowing too much on arrival at Reception would make the staff hate us. Is this true - honest opinions and not the PC line?

(We have a horror of small children being dragged to "mandarin for toddlers" and the like but she does go to nursery part time. She has picked up a great deal but that has not been because we have been pushing her)

'3 weeks after DD started reception the same teacher came to me and said "I now see what you meant about your DD, she's really really bright." DD went on to do the literary SAT tests in reception'

Did you insist she was put in for them.I am struggling to see why any school would want to put a reception child in for SATS ? Why?
How would it benefit the child or the school?How does it fit in with the idea of learning through play?

You can't 'put a child in for SATs'. You mean that she completed the same test that the Year 2s completed that year.

Her results wouldn't have counted towards the whole school's Y2 teacher assessments that year (although I bet they wish they had!)

I actually agree with katiestar - they should be more confident in their teacher assessment procedures than to give her a very narrowly focused test.

feenie - mrz gave me links to helping-my-child-through-reception type things, thanks

Oh good, glad she could help.

bit of a late response regarding schools excluding children who are not toilet trained- they are legally not allowed to do this anymore. Uder EYFS, any provision (school, childminder, nursery, whatever) for under 5s must cater for all their needs if necesary. Schools seem to be having a hard time grasping this.
I'd posted about parents that annoy me & parents I love, can I just say any teacher worthy of their job should welcome any communciation, I'm always happy to chat to parents about their child, teachers should be willing to hear your worries, concerns etc
Sorry, can't remember who commented about checking ds's bag for reading book- that's fine!(I do that with my own kids) no problems with that...unless you wave it above your head & suddenly develop a booming voice to announce the book level! That's when I start muttering & getting annoyed!

I have read the entire thread and it is all quite fascinating. I am a teacher and, in the past decade have taught all year groups from Reception to Year 7.

I can't recall ANY parents that I hated in that time. I can recall parents who, on occasion, made my life harder in many of the ways already listed, such as: not supporting school rules, times, processes etc.

Then there are the parents who, on being asked to come in to see me, get defensive and that may lead to anger. I feel I am a very calm person and the only parent I did have to stop myself from 'debating' with was fairly recently when she asked me how I expected her to get her son's (Y6) homework done and why do teachers have such unreasonable expectations of single parents (her words) and obviously teachers don't have children and housework and other stuff to do or they would not set (a 20 minute) task once a week!

Now, though, I get to see it all from the other side of the fence. DD1 is 3.10 so has another year of pre-school still to do before starting Reception. She already knows her alphabet and most single sounds, can use her fingers for simple addition and subtraction and has lots of sight words (so can 'spot' PLAY in any context because she sees it so much on the cbeebies website!)

Where she has picked all these - and other - bits of knowledge up I don't know! Obviously she learns through play and does it a lot. She is fascinated with the world around her and is generally a chatty, friendly little girl. I get called in to speak to her keyworker once a term, as with all other parents, and although it is nice to look at the pictures and browse through her observations and stuff, I simply send her there because she loves going and is happy there! That's what I write in my feedback box too.

We spend our time at the beach, or watching ants or bees or beetles, sharing books, tipping toys all over the floor and having fun.

The big thing that I think links to parents wanting to speak to the teacher all the time and ask how their DC is doing is because, until the child starts school I think you get to know what they do all day - as soon as they start school it quickly moves to the:

Parent: How was school today?
DC: Fine.
Parent: What did you do?
DC: Nothing

and that can be hard for us parents!

2shoes - not sure what you're getting at? Yes, I do get paid - but not to teach basic stuff that I think every child should know before they come to school at 4 years old.

Eek - I think I've really trodden on a few toes.
Ok - firstly, thanks for the support BigGreenBin.
secondly, I am a parent, I have 2 SEN children - no, I didn't choose to have them that way - but I recognise that I'm their parent and if they're not in school I love spending time with them, no matter how bloody knackered I am. Yes, my kids are hard work too, that doesn't make me unique in any way, but when school is out, I'm their mum and carer. Buck stops with me and I don't moan that I have to have them for more time.