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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Would you be bothered by poor punctuation in school newsletters?

49 replies

Ladymuck · 12/12/2016 11:29

This is a sort of AIBU I guess. I'm a governor at a school where the head has a poor grasp of punctuation, in particular the use of commas and apostrophes. So it isn't a one-off issue, or the odd typo. This week's examples include "the enjoyment of music in it's many forms" and "Please avoid disturbing the student's."

The school has a fabulous English department. Whilst the school has a lot of disadvantaged families, I'm fairly sure that the majority of the pupils could spot the errors. Personally I cringe when I read through the documents I'm sent and see the number of errors.

I feel incredibly petty raising it if no one else has. Equally I'm concerned that as the head is also determining the standards required from staff, then if their English isn't up to GCSE standard, there's a risk that their assessment of their colleagues might be questionable?

OP posts:

bojorojo · 12/12/2016 18:44

I don't think I would blame the English department for the lack of correct punctuation displayed in the Head's letters or emails. I would assume they had not taught him/her!

However, as a Governor, I would be concerned if I read an application from a prospective Head and it was littered with punctuation errors. They would not be shortlisted because it is not the hallmark of a well educated professional and it is likely to reflect badly on the school. Heads represent the public image of the school and repeated grammatical errors are not acceptable in this role. The Head must have possessed some amazing other skills for this to be overlooked!

Shallishanti · 12/12/2016 18:52

I appreciate it could be awkward but I would think a governor would be better placed than anyone else to address this, I'm afraid

Original poster

Ladymuck · 12/12/2016 19:55

We have some new parent governors - I might persuade one of them to raise the question...

OP posts:

WellErrr · 12/12/2016 20:10

My sons school does this. It's embarrassing. And every letter has a liberal sprinkling of exclamation points.

'Dear Parents!!
The school Christmas show is nearly upon us!!! The children and staff has been working very hard and we hope you will find it impressive!! DVDs are not available this year which we are sorry for and we ask no photography please! Hope to see lots of you there!!!!
Mrs xxxxxx'

WellErrr · 12/12/2016 20:13

*My son's school

It's rubbing off on me..!

Original poster

Ladymuck · 12/12/2016 20:17

Yes, my actual fear is that any conversation means that I have every typo in direct emails highlighted and sent back to me for the remainder of my term of office!

OP posts:

senua · 12/12/2016 20:22

Worse than that ...

Ladymuck: Can I raise the matter of written communication. I've had a few parents mention to me that they are disappointed to have received official literature which has spelling and grammar mistakes. I won't name names because I'm sure that we all make mistakes sometimes, but is there a way to introduce a system so that all communication gets proof-read before it is sent out?
Meeting: Excellent idea LM. May we assume that you are volunteering yourself for this role?

TalkinPeace · 12/12/2016 20:33

It drives me up the wall.

When I was a governor I used to make jokes about my oh so pedantic school that had grammar tests every week (which it actually did) and offer to proof read letters going out

that helped until I no longer had to deal with that school

Ericaequites · 13/12/2016 02:32

I would be very tempted to grade the newsletters and send them to the head with a civil but firm level asking how grammar is taught. If I saw grammar errors in admissions material, I would think twice about enrolling my child.

Allthebestnamesareused · 13/12/2016 12:34

My husband once called out the Head's grammar in a letter about our DS's English (in a private meeting with the Head and Director of Studies).

DH: "If you are going to send a letter to me criticising my son's English I would suggest you check it is grammatically correct first?"

(Director of Studies guffaws into his hanky and tries desperately not to giggle out loud.

Head asked what the errors were.

DH pointed out an in appropriate use of apostrophes and spelling errors.

Head tries to blame secretary.

DH says if you are putting your name on it I expect you to have read it.

Draylon · 13/12/2016 17:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Shallishanti · 13/12/2016 18:43

The thing is, how on earth can you persuade children that it's important to make sure your writing is correctly spelt and punctuated when they see adults in authority not bothering? It seems very simple to me.

IlPorcupinoNilSodomyEst · 13/12/2016 19:03

I'm a school administrator and regularly correct stuff before it's sent out - the head is very busy and tends to rattle things off quickly and possibly imperfectly. (I have a silent battle on my head with her about the Oxford comma, we disagree but she doesn't know it!)

With my dd's school, I correct their newsletter with a red pen but don't send it back to them, it's only for my own satisfaction.

I would be embarrassed to send out any communication from any organisation I worked for that was not as perfect as I could make it.

OVienna · 14/12/2016 12:29

Absolutely. Yes. Previous head of my DCs primary was very prone to this and it drove me around the bend to see the same mistakes coming home in letters from the school I was actually correcting in my children's work. You really need to think of a way to address this. It made me quite angry the governors let it go.

MuseumOfCurry · 14/12/2016 15:12

Of course it bothers me. You'd have to be a bit of a slob to accept poor SPAG in school correspondence.

DodoRevival · 14/12/2016 15:26

I think errors on anything 'official' are bad form; posts on here, letters from friends that casual type of writing I couldn't bring myself to mind.

I must confess that during elections here a voting pamphlet was sent to me from a candidate which was littered with errors (including in the part about her fabulous achievements in education). I'm ashamed to say I corrected in red pen (😳) and sent it back. Moment of madness - it's the one and only time I've done something like that!!!

OatcakesandCheese · 20/12/2016 05:25

Agree poor spelling and grammar is not great in public documents. People do expect schools to get it right.

It was one small part of (lots of) reasons why I avoided a small school near us which has a 'big personality' type of Head. The Head is incredibly keen on using exclamation marks in the website and newsletters and their SPAG skills were patchy.

More importantly though, I felt the uncorrected errors were another example pointing to the Head's extremely tight personal grip on the 'front of house' role.
To me, this confirmed an impression of a dynamic amongst the Head and wider teaching staff that didn't seem very collegiate or healthy.

user789653241 · 20/12/2016 08:44

If you are a governor, I think you should raise it with school. A lot easier than regular parent to raise it, and fear being that parent.

Spottytop1 · 20/12/2016 08:48

Every school I have worked in it is admin staff that type the letters not the head or one the teaching staff - so
Why would you be concerned about the teaching standard? The admin staff won't be teaching your child!

Having said that the admin staff should be proofreading and checking for errors - so worth mentioning as the staff probably haven't even read the newsletter and so haven't identified errors.

senua · 20/12/2016 09:07

Every school I have worked in it is admin staff that type the letters not the head or one the teaching staff - so why would you be concerned about the teaching standard? The admin staff won't be teaching your child!

I disagree. It's about management. If the school / the head teacher isn't bothered about basics - like being able to write without SPaG errors - then what else are they letting slip? A few people may have genuine excuses (e.g. dyslexia) but the system should be there to overcome foreseeable problems like that.
Besides, I would expect administration staff to be able to handle SPaG, it's part of their remit. If the school is employing admin staff who can't do admin then are they also employing teachers who can't teach?

AbleMcable · 20/12/2016 16:29

Excellent idea LM. May we assume that you are volunteering yourself for this role?

LadyMuck, I'm a governor and faced a similar situation where the end of term newsletters weren't being proof-read (or at least not very well). I raised it, but also offered to do the proof-reading myself. I repeat the offer towards the end of each term to make it clear it still stands. I'm happy to support the school in that way, although if it was more frequent then I would expect a member of staff to do it (well) instead.

Original poster

Ladymuck · 20/12/2016 17:58

Out of interest AbleMcable, was this at a secondary school?

The text is definitely from the head. I'm not sure why the PA doesn't proofread or correct. Perhaps for the same reason that I feel unwilling - I would actually be rewriting most of it.

I have managed to get some targets around communication introduced into this year's appraisal. It will allow a conversation. Of course if this was the only challenge that I saw in an otherwise excellent school, I might have already raised it. I'll see if I can talk to some current parents to see if they notice it or are bothered. Clearly once MN parents notice it, then they do appear to be bothered.

OP posts:

OhTheRoses · 27/12/2016 10:34

DC's outstanding primary was like this. I raised it with chair of govs who live in my road. Was told it was a after of priorities and it was more important that the head wrote newsletters than not. My DC changed schools. It is unacceptable.

LockedOutOfMN · 29/12/2016 21:54

Ladymuck Please raise this. I'm a parent and am appalled by it. Not that I feel it affects my child's education, but because I teach my children that it's important to present themselves with care and to check things for accuracy. As a parent at the school you describe, OP, I'd assume the typos were made by admin. staff rather than by the Head himself. I am sure you won't be the first person to point out the errors and ask that the newsletter be proofread.

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