Would it bother you if a school's website has mistakes in the English?

[lilythesheep]

Decision time for secondary preferences for DD. We've visited the local catchment school - there are good things about it for sure, and less good things too.

But when I've been looking at their website, the number of grammar and punctuation mistakes is really bugging me. I wouldn't mind if it was just the odd typo, but lots of the web pages I've browsed through have problems with punctuation, e.g. commas in completely random places that make no sense. There are also grammatical problems like the noun and verb not agreeing (e.g. 'our results ... has shown'). This is primary school level English, right?

Am I being a massive pedant to feel that if the school can't get its English correct on its public facing website, it's not a great sign about how rigorous they are internally?

Yes it would

Yes, definitely, that’s really sloppy.

And I would be contacting them to let them know!

Yes definitely.

Yes it would but sadly, standards are slipping.

Our HT used to pass all her outgoing correspondence to two of us more mature teachers to check her spelling and grammar before it went out.

Yes, and I'd tell them about it.

Yes it would bother me and it would make me wonder what else was sloppy. There should be a hierarchy of proofreading to ensure accuracy.

Thank you for all making me feel like I'm not a raging grammar fascist!

I'm reluctant to contact the school, in case DD does end up going there and they have me down as 'that parent' before we even start. I feel like I need to keep my powder dry for stuff that might directly affect her (though if there were errors in her own homework I'd certainly be letting them know).

Yes of course! Very slack of them.

It's a huge red flag. They're meant to be teaching your child - and this is clearly what they believe to be the acceptable standard. It's not even just one rogue teacher, as this will surely have gone through two or three people to check over and comment on/amend first - even if chiefly for the content.

Worse than that, depending on how deep it goes, your child could actually be told that their own correct use of English is 'wrong' and that they need to learn how to write (wrongly) like the teacher instructs them! Is there even such a thing as an 'unteacher'?!

This is like the equivalent of booking a driving lesson and the instructor bumbling and crashing into your fence the very first time you meet them! Would you trust them to teach you?!

On the one hand, that was wise; but on the other, surely a headteacher in a (presumably) English-medium school should automatically have a confident grip on the basics of the English language herself?!

YES

@SprayWhiteDung the headteacher may be a maths specialist, or dyslexic. Could still be a great head - and better for being aware of their own blind spots.

And in answer to the OP - yes, I would be suspicious of such a school.

Fair enough, I do take the point about dyslexia; and knowing and acknowledging their own areas where they struggle is a positive.

However, surely being a maths specialist wouldn't automatically mean that you can't reach a basic level in other core subjects too? You may be a maths genius who has no idea whatsoever what an iambic pentameter is, or what litotes means; but that's a million miles away from being able to write simple correct sentences in your own native language.

Yes.

I'm afraid on one occasion I marked my son's school report (in red 😁) correcting all the grammatical and spelling mistakes before the parents' evening. His head of year was very apologetic and to be fair the following year the report was far higher quality.

This was basic spelling and grammar. When I qualified every teacher could spell and construct sentences correctly.
Now we have very few NQTs who are remotely near that standard.

I've had teachers ask me the correct use of apostrophes.
My son's Englisb teacher even said "I've WROTE that in his report"

I once sat through a school presentation by a teacher on a trip to the Isle of White!

It would bother me, yes.

But if poor grammar was enough to put me off a school, we wouldn’t have been able to send DD to any of the primary schools we visited.

If you have staff writing reports or newsletters or website content, you’d either ask someone who doesn’t have dyslexia to do it, or, if a member of staff with dyslexia hs written the content, you’d check and check again.

No, I'm a commercial marketer and it happens all the time. I'd volunteer for the PTA, proofread the web site, send them the list of corrections for their HTML developer, and get it fixed.

The person who wrote the text is almost certainly not the person teaching your DC maths or science.

@lilythesheep i think there is a middle ground between “raging grammar fascist” and not being comfortable to voice a valid concern.

I am sure there is a way to give the feedback neutrally?

As well as annoying you, they are embarrassing themselves. It is an institution set up for education.

Maybe it was a random mistake but they need to be told so it doesn’t happen again. 4-eyes review is easy to implement.

Is there no one at the school who can proofread? Why is proofreading not part of the process as a starting point?

Why should parents manage HTML developers (who are getting paid)?

No it wouldn't bother me. Most of the website has probably been produced by support staff not teachers (they have in the high schools I've worked in). So it's not like these staff would be teaching your child.

I would probably point it out to the school though so they can sort it out. TBH wait till your child starts high school, the level of communication can be shockingly bad at times. I have experience on multiple schools and they all seem just as incapable.

@MigGirl

I dont think it matters who produced the content. I think support staff are perfectly capable of producing professional
content.

A review process is needed before content is posted on the school website because it is an information tool for current parents and a marketing tool for future parents.

Websites and webpage management can be tricky. Especially when there are imbedded and graphic links.
I presume most of that is outsourced.
Web mistakes wouldn’t phase me for state schools (budget) but independent and universities should be mistake free.
like your thread title, which should be in English not “the” English or their English either way, on MN, you can’t fix errors in thread titles.