Teaching your own child.

[mrsmilesmatheson]

For various reasons I am considering pulling my child out of her current school.

I've been to look at a local private school which is lovely and offers scholarships. We could only send dd there if she got the full scholarship and even then it would be tight. But she only has two years left at primary so it is doable with reduced fees.

The other option is that she comes to my school. If she did then there is a strong possibility that I'd end up teaching her for at least one of these years.

I'm torn between wanting her to come to my lovely caring school, and wondering if it would be a really bad idea!

Any advice on teaching your own children very welcome .... please.

I teach my DD. I teach secondary so only teach her twice a week. We have not encountered any problems so far. It is a little strange writing her report though!

Lol I hadn't even thought about reports! Parents evenings must be fun too!

I'm only part time so wouldn't teach her all the time. I can't help thinking if I don't move her now I'm going to regret it and whilst my school may not be the perfect solution it may well be a better choice than the current school!

Plus it would not cost us £££££.

I guess we see about the scholarship and go from there.

We very seriously considered it when I knew my son was going into year 6 with an NQT in a school which didn't have a HT at the time. I taught year 6 in a 2 form entry school so he could have been in my colleague's class but I would probably still have ended up teaching him for either English or Maths.

In the end we decided not to as a) he had a really good group of friends at his existing school and b) I was worried about how he'd make friends at the new school if the other children in his class all knew he was my son. I would have felt very uncomfortable inviting new friends back for tea etc (all the things you do when you're helping your child to settle into a new school) when they were children in my class. I was also uncomfortable about crossing boundaries with parents - that shift from professional to friend. However, if he had started at the school in Reception/KS1 so he was well established by the time he got to my class we may well have made a different decision.

At that school quite a few teachers and TAs had children at the school. They mostly sent their husbands to parents evening!

We considered moving ds to my wife's school, she wouldn't have taught him but being deputy and one form entry would have had plenty of contact. The only reason we didn't was my wife was seriously looking at headship and location wise if she'd moved on (she did) transport would have been a nightmare.

On a separate note, I think as teachers (I'm not, wife is) you know when things are not right so don't hesitate if you think your child isn't in the correct school for them.

In the end we moved ds to another local primary which as it turned out was only slightly better than the first but I still think it was the right move for ds.

My dad taught me at secondary school.

It was fine but he was a very popular teacher so it was actually 'cool' to be his kid.

I always called him dad in class. I just couldn't manage to call him anything else.

On my report he used to write joke stuff like 'the genes will out' since it was just him and mum reading it.

Thank you everyone, I'm interested to see most messages are erring towards the positive. I did wonder if I was a bit deluded to even consider it.

My main concern is that I'm almost entirely sure I don't want dd left where she is.

My mum taught at my school and it was very very damaging to our relationship. It was at secondary and I was at the school first, so different to your scenario but I would still think very carefully about whether it would work for you both.

My issues were that there was no privacy for me, my mother knew all my friends and everything that I got up to got back to her in a way that just wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Also when she became friendly with other teachers it changed the relationship between me and those teachers too. For example my family use a short form of my name which otherwise only my good friends used. One day a teacher who was my mum's friend called me it in class. I really disliked the teacher and was very angry that she thought she had the right to use that name.

On the name theme when my mother taught me I was supposed to call her by her teacher name (ie Mrs x) but that felt very wrong to me because she was my mother, so I refused. My class mates weren't very pleased. Oh and then it was really annoying that they liked her (she was I think a very good teacher) so I could never complain about her in the usual teenage way.

All very space invading really. The other issue that I didn't really pick up at the time so much is that it meant we couldn't really talk to each other about our days at school. My mother was very ethical and never wanted to talk staff room stuff and she often had opinions on what I wanted to moan about too.

There were two other children in my class with parents as teachers. One I'd say had a fairly similar experience to me. The other got the inside scoop on everything, which I think was also wrong. Plus she was always being patted on the head by older pupils who really liked her mum (little teacher's name).

I'd say do it. Because you are part time even if you are her teacher she will still have another one, so she doesn't lose that 'having a grown up to talk to that's not your mum and dad' thing.

It's one thing managing to afford a couple of years of private school. But my friend did this for her primary child and now reckons he wouldn't/couldn't cope at state secondary and is looking at private secondaries which of course are massively expensive for a long time. As your main concern is leaving current school, rather than actually choosing the private school, it sounds like going to your school could be best all round.

Good luck.

In my DDs mixed R/Yr1 class is the teacher's child, so in there for 2 years! As far as I'm aware it has been absolutely fine. Quite amusing if the child has to be reprimanded though. The other parent goes to parents evenings.

I teach secondary and loads of my colleagues have dc at our school. We are quite rural though so there isn't a massive amount of options. As long as the parent isn't 'hated' by the pupils it generally turns out fine. I actually think it's one sign of a good school if parents are happy to send their own dc there, and also that those dc cope fine.

I did it for a year, tiny rural school, child with SEN (subsequently statemented). It nearly broke me. Never again (with that child). With a less complex child & a larger more professional school, if I couldn't see any other options I'd try, with significant apprehension.

I teach in my DC school, currently DD is in YR and I'm KS2 but there is a possibility I may teach her as she moves up the school unless I change jobs.

Well I have now viewed the prep school and it really was lovely. Just the kind of atmosphere I think dd would be happy in.

They were a little cagey about scholarships and said we could discuss in more detail once she's been for a taster day. I guess they want to check her out before they decide whether she can even apply for the scholarship exams. It's going to be a very long few weeks I suspect!

I think I'm also going to take her for a look see at my school, as she's only ever seen it when it's empty in the holidays. And talk to her seriously about how it might feel being at my school.

She seems very keen to take an exam to go to the prep or to just come to my school. She was delighted at the prospect of a new school and told me she wants to leave her current one. I can't believe I've left it this long I've been so wrapped up in my own job to notice how unhappy she must have been to be so ready to leave. This is a child who dislikes change!

Parents evenings must be fun too!
Oh yes! Send your DH, and you can play at teacher and sexy dad