Are all schools this unorganised or is it just ours?

[BobOmb]

My dd is yr11 and my ds is in yr8. Dd is doing mocks in a two weeks, she was given list of topics to revise for each subject in early October. Suddenly, two more units have been added for the science subjects, other subjects have completely changed what topics the exams are on and added more. An exam timetable has been promised but not given out, dd keeps asking the subject teachers when their exam is so she can plan her revision, they just vaguely reply 'I think there's a timetable somewhere'. No one seems to know what's going on.

Dd is actually getting very stressed about the mocks and the not knowing what's going on is making it worse to be honest. As she's my eldest I'm not sure if this is usual for yr11, but think as mocks have been happening forever, surely, it should be this unorganised.

Last year ds's parent's eve changed with 1 weeks notice, meaning we couldn't go as we couldn't changed our booked time off (they are afternoons not evenings!). Times for after school meetings keep changing at short notice, often relayed to us by texts that don't arrive till after the meeting. To me it feels chaotic and not a well oiled machine like I expect it to be! Am I expecting to much?

[mummytime]

Its your school - sorry. (For example since the beginning of the year I have had a full set of Progress monitoring meetings for all year groups. I can also access the Mock exam timetable online.)

[TalkinPeace]

your school tbh
DSs school drives me potty at times but they are not that disorganised

[BobOmb]

So just our school then!

Thing is we do get a list of dates for progress reports, parent's eve, etc at the beginning of September so you think they're organised and you book your days off in advance, but they change the days of things all the time with such short notice.

[admission]

To be honest that just shows that the school is disorganised and actually is not considering either pupils or parents when it comes to changing things at the last minute. Obviously they think internal reasons to change things are more important that keeping to a diary.
If they are getting this so wrong, it does beg the question about what else they are getting wrong.

[Unexpected]

Your school. We get the same timetable at the beginning of the year but the dates are pretty much set in stone and it is rare for anything (and never anything important) to change. For mocks in two weeks, the timetable absolutely should be available by now as it's not just the exams but the logistics which have to be worked out e.g. the hall/canteen etc potentially not being available to the rest of the school during this time.

[ArcheryAnnie]

We got two days notice for our parents' evening, so yours is doing quite well in comparison!

[noblegiraffe]

2 days notice? I imagine plenty of teachers wouldn't be able to arrange childcare at that short notice, so that's pretty shit for everyone involved.

[ArcheryAnnie]

A lot of the teachers are barely out of puberty themselves, noblegirraffe (they are cheaper and more moldable to the school's whim), and the ones who are a bit more senior are men, so I don't think the childcare thing applies. And even if it did, the school demands so much from the teachers that I don't think they'd care.

/bitter

[Unexpected]

ArcheryAnnie that's a fairly sweeping statement! Most of the teachers at our school also look barely out of puberty, although that may be down to my age as well. However, many of them have children as do many of the more senior teachers, many of whom are female - shock. Some of the senior male teachers also have childcare responsibilities too - even more shock. I don't know if you are an embittered teacher who has had bad experiences but at our school the SLT may demand a lot from the staff but they do realise that people are human and have lives outside of teaching.

[offtoseethewizard64]

I did once have to remind Senior Management at DCs school that parents have a life outside of school and their children, after they re-arranged a meeting date not once, but twice at short notice for what I considered to be feeble reasons. In order to attend meetings I have to pre-book paid care to look after my DD who is disabled, so I was not impressed at the short notice change of date. I did receive an apology and an offer for a 1:1 meeting to be given the info that would be imparted at the main event. The meeting was being held at a time which would have meant parents leaving work early even if they worked 9-5 (which DH had to do).

[Leeds2]

Does your school have an Exam Officer, OP, or someone in overall charge of the exams? If so, I would email them and ask for a copy. Or email the Head of Year, and ask the same thing. It is not unreasonable for your DD to want to know when her exams are, given that they are in two weeks time!

I am not sure what you can do though about them changing what they are telling them to revise. I would try and persuade DD that she will have to know it all for the final exam anyway, so she won't be wasting her time.

[Toadsrevisited]

Raise it with the governors. That's really disorganised. Have worked in several schools and that would never be acceptable.

[ArcheryAnnie]

Unexpected I am totally on the teachers' side! The school employs very new teachers and then drives them into the ground. (I'm not a teacher, but a parent, looking on in horror.) I don't know where any of them would find the time to reproduce, never mind the energy.

As for the men thing - the leadership are 99% men, and the culture of the school is that I'm pretty sure they would neither be expected to, nor allowed to, put childcare responsibilities first.

I am, as you might imagine, not a fan of the prevailing culture at this school.

[BackforGood]

The Parents Evening change is shockingly bad, and I would be raising a fuss about that, and expecting some staff to meet with me or telephone me with their reports, tbh.

The 'Mocks' timetable, less so (and I speak as someone with a Yr11 dd about to do Mocks at beginning of December too). tbh though, they know all the exams are within a week, it's not crucial to know if one happens to be on a Tuesday afternoon or a Thursday morning - they all need the revision they need, and it shouldn't make a difference if one is before or after the other, as long as she knows the week before.

[BobOmb]

BackforGood - they are spread out over two weeks, dd just wanted to know so she could prioritise her revision. If the science ones were later she'd have extra time to revise the new units added for the exam.


She finally got a timetable yesterday so is much more relaxed.