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Secondary education

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

Original poster

Absent Teacher

46 replies

Charliesunnysky10 · 22/08/2023 13:56

My daughter is about to go into Y11 in Sept, and her English (Lit & lang) teacher last year in Y10 was off sick for several months. As a result, my daughter says they have not covered as much as the classes taught by teachers who were present throughout the year, as she has compared notes with her friends in other classes.

3 of her friends in her own English class are having tutors to bring them up to speed, though it's unclear if they would have needed this anyway, quite apart from the teacher absence.

Prior to going on summer break, the other classes were set assignments, and given hard copies as well as the option to go online. My daughters class didn't receive hard copies, as it was a cover teacher taking them before they broke up and he said the work would be made available online by their absent teacher.

This hasn't been made available, despite several requests over the summer. In addition, the year group took end of year exams in Lit & Lang and her class haven't had the results & feedback, like all the others because the teacher was off sick, and the cover teachers were not asked, or couldn't do this.

My daughter is upset that she doesn't know how to improve if she needs to, and isn't being given the material to help. She's been visiting the library and using resources online and I'm doing my best to help support her, but both myself and husband are not equipped to mark her exams or set work - we would love to be able to pay for a tutor, but are struggling financially already - I work 2 jobs and my husband covers 60 hrs a week. We need to be here for our children in between those times too.

I really want the school to step up, but they say nobody is available until September, when they return to school and she will have to wait till then. My daughter is upset that she's trying so hard, and the school don't seem to care, and that she has time to do concentrate on English these remaining 2 weeks of the summer, if they can give her the work or some exam feedback, but in September she will be coping with 8 other subjects.

I'm also worried that she will be going into Y11 with the same absentee teacher, at such an important time in her education.

I'm wary of making a nuisance of myself, as I've emailed several times and been reminded that enquiries will be answered in term time only. What can I do to help her right now? It's so hard to see her struggle because she isn't getting the support from school.

OP posts:
Bobbybobbins · 22/08/2023 13:58

Does she know which texts she is studying? Study guides are pretty useful for a bit of self study.

StopStartStop · 22/08/2023 14:03

The syllabus and past papers will be online -ask the school for the details. They'll resist but persist. There's nothing about an English GCSE that a willing pupil and parent can't deal with themselves.

mnahmnah · 22/08/2023 14:10

I’m a head of department for a different subject and I’m the is situation it would have been my job to ensure that all classes received the same summer work, for their results etc. There is no excuse for that.

In terms of who is teaching her, I’m afraid it is a sign of the times that it is incredibly hard to get decent supply teachers. However, yr 11 should have been made a priority for the new school year staffing and so she absolutely should have one of the departmental staff teaching her. A plan also should have been made by the head of department on catching that class up.

mnahmnah · 22/08/2023 14:11

*in this situation. iPhone autocorrect!!

lanthanum · 22/08/2023 14:15

It's very poor that they didn't make the summer work materials available to them - it ought to be easy enough for the teacher of one of the other classes to do that. They should also have made sure the exams were marked and returned, even if that meant divvying them up between other members of the department to achieve that.

If the school is any good, they will be making sure that that class have the best English teacher when they go back (even if that means the group who currently have that teacher have to have a change of teacher).

It's always difficult to get anything done during the summer holidays - teachers cannot be directed to work then, so unfortunately you probably have to wait for September to see what they will put in place to support this group.

For now, get the study guides, ask friends in other classes about what they've been given, or concentrate on other subjects so that English can be a priority in September.

Original poster
Charliesunnysky10 · 22/08/2023 14:16

@mnahmnah Thank you for this. At least I know what's reasonable to expect.

@StopStartStop This is really heartening to hear. I'm a waitress and struggled to pass English Lang - she seems to be already operating at a much higher level than I achieved, but I really want to support her when she's so keen to do well.

@Bobbybobbins Yes, she does, it's just that she's really like some feedback on her current status quo so she knows where to improve and if there are gaps she can work on. The other classes had all of this and have targeted work set to bring them up to speed. She is frustrated and worried that she's not had this, and is in the dark.

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HollyGolightly4 · 22/08/2023 14:18

@Charliesunnysky10 what literature texts is she studying? Which exam board is it?

Original poster
Charliesunnysky10 · 22/08/2023 14:18

@lanthanum This is really helpful, thank you.

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HollyGolightly4 · 22/08/2023 14:19

@Charliesunnysky10 what literature texts is she studying? Which exam board is it?

DanceMumTaxi · 22/08/2023 14:19

Also a head of department (again, different subject). When we’ve been in similar situations I’ve made sure cover classes have the same access to resources, so that should have happened so I would speak to school about that. In terms of help now, there probably isn’t any because everyone is still on holiday. As said above, year 11 should be given priority so hopefully things will be better when she returns to school. In the past I’ve covered exam classes and given my ks3 classes the supply teacher where possible (ks3 parents might complain, but sometimes you just have to do it). However this will depend on the timetable, it isn’t always possible. Hopefully your DD’s usually teacher will be back in September.

IMustDoMoreExercise · 22/08/2023 14:21

Could all the parents work together to get a private tutor to give zoom classes to everyone?

Original poster
Charliesunnysky10 · 22/08/2023 14:21

@HollyGolightly4 AQA and they are doing An Inspector calls and Macbeth.

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Original poster
Charliesunnysky10 · 22/08/2023 14:27

@dancemum Thank you. I do hope they prioritise Y11. The absent English teacher is also Y7 head, School council Co Ordinator and the mental health lead - she is pulled in many different directions, and while she's such a lovely person and and a great teacher, she is not dedicated solely to the subject even when she is not off sick. My daughter was a bit disappointed when she found she was having her for GCSE as she knows Miss G is pulled out, and often not in class because she is visiting junior schools doing talks for Y7 integration, and busy with setting up the schools mental health unit & promoting it.

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Original poster
Charliesunnysky10 · 22/08/2023 14:29

@IMustDoMoreExercise It's a great idea, but I only have 1 other parents details in that English class - the other parents I do know are not affected.

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Fotophrame · 22/08/2023 14:38

I'm sure your DD will receive the bespoke feedback and will have the opportunity to act on it in September. Normally assessment like this is used to inform planning, not just to set pupils off on certain tasks independently.

It's hard to say what will happen with staffing, but if the usually teacher isn't ready to return, it's likely another subject specialist will be used and supply will cover other lessons.

Obviously, as the HoD wasn't approached while school was open, no assurances are going to be made to you now (although I'm certain the organisation will be going on).

The best things your DD can do for Lit. are toe-read the texts (there will also be a 19th century novel and a cluster of poetry in additions to the ones you've mentioned) and earn key quotations which fit different themes across the texts and create effects for the readers.

Language is all unseen, and depending on what she's been taught so far, the questions might be unfamiliar to her. Reading a wide range of fiction and non fiction is a must (19th, 20th and 21st, and extracts can be found online) and thinking about the viewpoints and perspectives, including the methods used by writers. She'll also have to write fiction and non fiction pieces, so could create plans for different past paper topics or start having a go.

Fotophrame · 22/08/2023 14:43

Sorry, I mean re-read the texts and learn key quotations

Original poster
Charliesunnysky10 · 22/08/2023 14:54

@Fotophrame Thank you SO much for this. I showed it to her and she burst into tears that you care enough to help.

And the other replies when I showed them to her. I think it's helped massively today that she's able to do something constructive about the situation, not just focus on the fact she's fallen behind from the other classes in the year, and doesn't have her exam marks and feedback to help reassure her.

OP posts:
IMustDoMoreExercise · 22/08/2023 15:04

Charliesunnysky10 · 22/08/2023 14:29

@IMustDoMoreExercise It's a great idea, but I only have 1 other parents details in that English class - the other parents I do know are not affected.

Could your daughter discuss it with her friends? Perhaps the ones who already have tutors might prefer to share the cost and therefore they could all have more lessons.

EducatingArti · 22/08/2023 15:16

I'd recommend getting the cgp revision books and workbooks for the syllabus your dd is doing. They are not perfect but the revision book should give a summary of everything that needs to be covered and your dd should be able to use it to work out what parts she needs to focus on right now. (eg parts other classes have covered more thoroughly)
I'd recommend she learns a chunk from the CGP book, including quotes etc, makes notes, mind maps or whatever to summarise it and then tries the corresponding questions from the work book. They give a detailed mark scheme so she should be able to mark her own work and see what she has missed out on. The. I would recommend she tries the same questions again, trying to improve on her answers based on what she learned from marking the first time.
I am a tutor but not in this subject.
Please tell her I think it is fantastic that she wants to spend some of her holiday improving her understanding and learning. It shows a mature attitude and I am impressed by it.

Original poster
Charliesunnysky10 · 22/08/2023 15:29

@EducatingArti We have some older ones, I'll need to check and see that they cover the current syllabus and that we have workbooks - thank you - that's really helpful!

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Soontobe60 · 22/08/2023 15:32

School is closed - so you wont get much of a response unfortunately. The teacher who is off isn't responsible for dealing with this - but it does sound like there wasn’t a great plan put in place by the school to address their absence.
The vast majority of students wont be doing anything over the holidays!

Fotophrame · 22/08/2023 15:41

With her work ethic, I'm sure she's applied herself all year even without her teacher and that will make a big difference. Going in to year 11, lots of pupils just start putting the effort in, so she'll be ahead in some respects!

Remember, her year will be the priority going forward (there will probably be a class who missed out on the same teacher and needed the focus because they are collecting results this week!) and and doesn't need to do this all herself.

If there are areas that don't make sense or she's struggling with, encourage her to ask.

clary · 22/08/2023 15:52

I have supported students with Eng lit and lang before tho it’s not my special subject and the advice here is great.

I would add, @Charliesunnysky10 do you know what kind of grade she is aiming for? She may not have had feedback, but what are her general targets?

Is she is a high achiever with targets in this and other subjects at 7-9? Or is she less academic and aiming for 4-5?

I ask bc it might inform the focus of her revision if that makes sense. If for example a 5 would be a great grade for her (nothing wrong with that obvs) then she could focus on the structure of the texts, main themes, a few key quotes, and Eng lang practice focusing on simpler answers.

Does she know her 19c text? Bet it’s a Christmas carol. If so, would be a good idea to read it and make some basic notes/mind map or whatever helps her. Hth

HollyGolightly4 · 22/08/2023 16:05

@Charliesunnysky10 Great, they're the most popular texts, on the most popular exam board so that makes it easier. (I'm going to guess she's also doing A Christmas Carol!)

Revision books are great as people have previously in the thread.

There are loads of revision videos on YouTube.

The best thing she can do is re-read the texts (audio books are good). Also, for English Language, reading anything and everything is good!

There is also a website called massolit. It's not hugely expensive, but it is subscription and it's top quality videos. There will be loads of stuff on there.

If in doubt, Google it

Hope that helps!

Original poster
Charliesunnysky10 · 22/08/2023 16:12

@HollyGolightly4 You're spot on...Christmas Carol is in there too. That's incredibly helpful. Thank you so very much!

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