User wrote:

DavidNewman wrote:*sip*

Read it again.

"Unless you're willing to move schools, or you're lucky and the teacher gets shown the door".
Your inability to see them does not correlate to me having not said them.

Yes and I'm arguing that you can do more than just move schools or get lucky...

Are you incapable of following a train of thought?

When I was in grade 5 I was reading adult novels. I read The War of the Worlds when I was 6 and never looked back. Anyway, my grade 5 teacher gave out children's books for us to read and I didn't read mine because I thought they were too young for me. This resulted in being placed in the lowest reading group.

My mother went down to the classroom with my private collection of novels and gave them to the teacher and told him to get me to read one of those to him. Worked like a charm. You might just need to go down there and "force" her teacher into looking at what your daughter can already do even if it's beyond what the teacher is teaching.

Durro, I hope this gets sorted.

We had a much lower degree of concern after our six year old started school back in AUS. His teacher was not giving him any attention (as far as we could tell), he was reciprocating, and things were spiralling. Happily, we were able to turn it around after some meetings with the teacher. It sounds in this case as though Claire's teacher doesn't want to be there, and should be given 'the opportunity to explore other options'.

There's nothing you can do. it's up to the students. this year we had an completely incompetent and lousy Physics teacher. it took us a while to realise that he's not very fluent in his profession and well after first term exam that was a major failure for us, we started to push him out of the class and we finally achieved it and made him leave the class by a traumatic accident of throwing a milk box to the window. it was totally worth it.

In this case Aurlito, the kids are 7 years old.

So how's it going Durro?

Good luck.

Made of Stars wrote:In this case Aurlito, the kids are 7 years old.

I knew, just wanted to share experience.

It appears that we've had significant improvement.

The Junior School Principal apparently had a long and frank talk with the teacher in question towards the end of last term. Coincidentally, she was subsequently off for a week. Apparently it was for some "training" but we're not sure on the details.

The teacher came back and we had our end-of term parent/teacher interview and there were 3 teachers there - the bad one, the good one that co-teaches in the class, and the Head of Curriculum boss lady teacher that we originally brought our concerns to. The bad teacher was very nervous - she spoke quickly, her voice was croaky, her pupils were dilated and she was shaking, pale and sweaty. My wife and I took a firm but fair approach and stuck mostly to talking about our daughter's progress. When the issue of "is our daughter having any issues" came up, we simply said that Claire had trouble adjusting to a new teaching style and that we've already addressed our issues with the H.O.C, but left it at that so we didn't kick the teacher while she was down and gave her some face saving space in front of her peers.

Fast forward a few weeks, and our daughter had reported that since the start of the 2nd term, the teacher is much more calm and relaxed, only yells at the bad kids and not the good kids, has started giving positive feedback and stickers as rewards (but not anywhere near as many as other teachers do) and the atmosphere within the class is generally more positive.

My wife and I actually volunteered to give talks yesterday about health care and we noticed the class mood was more positive and we heard the bad teacher conduct herself much more appropriately, empathetically and even made a light joke or two.

So, it seems that by going to the school admin, they took action and things have improved. Claire says that he teacher still isn't as nice as any of her other teachers, but that she's doing a lot better and Claire is no longer hating school.

Durro, that's fantastic!!! I'm glad to hear that everything has worked out.

Hey, that's pretty neat that you and your wife made some presentations on health care. I wish we had that sort of thing growing up.

Good to hear that things have improved.

Of course, one has to feel slightly bad at the teacher being so unnerved. But, sometimes one has to be made aware of their negative behaviours. Maybe she will learn from this experience, and eventually become a better teacher for it. Nothing really to be embarrassed of - because everyone needs a little shake every now and then. And it helps that the upper management is now on guard for this specific teacher - in that, she will hopefully keep on her toes and be more aware of her behaviour.

Again, glad to hear that things worked out. So, Claire is still the president of the class then? (I think you mentioned that Claire was something of this nature).

Also, all in all, this whole debacle has probably proved to be a good learning experience for your daughter.

Great to hear that things improved Durro. I hope it continues.

Durro wrote:It appears that we've had significant improvement.

The Junior School Principal apparently had a long and frank talk with the teacher in question towards the end of last term. Coincidentally, she was subsequently off for a week. Apparently it was for some "training" but we're not sure on the details.

The teacher came back and we had our end-of term parent/teacher interview and there were 3 teachers there - the bad one, the good one that co-teaches in the class, and the Head of Curriculum boss lady teacher that we originally brought our concerns to. The bad teacher was very nervous - she spoke quickly, her voice was croaky, her pupils were dilated and she was shaking, pale and sweaty. My wife and I took a firm but fair approach and stuck mostly to talking about our daughter's progress. When the issue of "is our daughter having any issues" came up, we simply said that Claire had trouble adjusting to a new teaching style and that we've already addressed our issues with the H.O.C, but left it at that so we didn't kick the teacher while she was down and gave her some face saving space in front of her peers.

Fast forward a few weeks, and our daughter had reported that since the start of the 2nd term, the teacher is much more calm and relaxed, only yells at the bad kids and not the good kids, has started giving positive feedback and stickers as rewards (but not anywhere near as many as other teachers do) and the atmosphere within the class is generally more positive.

My wife and I actually volunteered to give talks yesterday about health care and we noticed the class mood was more positive and we heard the bad teacher conduct herself much more appropriately, empathetically and even made a light joke or two.

So, it seems that by going to the school admin, they took action and things have improved. Claire says that he teacher still isn't as nice as any of her other teachers, but that she's doing a lot better and Claire is no longer hating school.

Fantastic!

I have some similar concerns for my daughter, who at six is bright enough to worry me. Her school is the best in our area and took a fair few shenanigans to get her into. We rack up 62 miles a week going to school and back, and until a new head teacher and a new deputy came in last September to replace the retiring team all was very well.
Quality has fallen terribly and several key staff are on sick leave, and now she is repeating last years work for the benefit of those children who weren't up to standard, with the result that she is bored and for the first time unenthusiastic about school.
I had a meeting with the new headmistress, but she dismissed my concerns as she has ' great deal of experience in these matters and has the confidence of the Local Education Authority'.

Oh dear, sorry to hear that Binky. I wonder how that vain headmistress would respond to a few parents approaching her with 'concerns about the school's reputation if parents start taking children elsewhere'?

Binky wrote:I have some similar concerns for my daughter, who at six is bright enough to worry me. Her school is the best in our area and took a fair few shenanigans to get her into. We rack up 62 miles a week going to school and back, and until a new head teacher and a new deputy came in last September to replace the retiring team all was very well.
Quality has fallen terribly and several key staff are on sick leave, and now she is repeating last years work for the benefit of those children who weren't up to standard, with the result that she is bored and for the first time unenthusiastic about school.
I had a meeting with the new headmistress, but she dismissed my concerns as she has ' great deal of experience in these matters and has the confidence of the Local Education Authority'.

I wouldn't take that as an answer to your concerns about your daughter being bored and repeating work she's already done. The new headteacher may well have what it takes to improve the school but you want something done about your daughter's education now. I'd go back again and ask what specifically is being done to address your concerns.

Is it just me, or does there appear to be a high concentration of clever little bastards around these parts? And I find it very heartwarming the real concern shown by folk, particularly the parents, of course, over kids potentially underachieving or losing interest in learning.

I actually pretty much stopped working in school when I was 7, because I considered that the work was boring and I didn't need to do it. By the time I was 8, it had evolved into a bit of active defiance, and I spent most of the time separate from the class, sitting at a desk beside the teacher, twiddling my thumbs and daydreaming most of the time. I still passed all the national tests with the rest of the top tier of the class - and so was left just coasting…

A few months back my five-year-old nephew, in his first year of school, was complaining that school was boring, and he was being taught things he already knew. I wasn't sure how seriously to take these comments, and decided just to bear them in mind, have a word with my brother about it and play it by ear. He hasn't complained recently, and made some innocent remarks about a "reading club" he's in with another boy, where he reads slightly harder books than with the rest of the class - and at his recent parents' night, the teachers (there are two teaching the class) said that he is currently reading at the level of someone at the end of their second year of school, and one of the hardest things to do is keeping him challenged.

That was encouraging, that they acknowledged his potential and had it well on their agenda. I'd have fretted like hell if he had the sort of arsepiece of a teacher as mentioned in the OP. Honestly, I'd have sat brooding and wringing my hands over it for ages - and in my case it's actually a bit worse because I'm just an auntie and can't have much direct influence. It's dreadful that any kid should have their potential stunted in any way by some git or other - and as has already been said, there are some teachers out there who clearly haven't selected the proper career path for themselves…

So along with my relief over my nephew, you have my empathy and best wishes for your daughter, Durro. Glad to hear that things have improved, and that the teacher seems to have made some conscious effort to improve. She may have been having some unseen emotional difficulties herself that were making her teaching style especially bad - but that's not your job to speculate on or just put up with. You did well to spare her the showing up in front of her seniors, and the important thing is that she has improved, at least to the point of adequacy.

Well, first of all, Hi Durro, long time no see!

Second, I honestly don't know what to suggest after reading what you see as your options here. Those who are familiar with my posting history and my general over-aggressiveness will expect me to say to have the teacher fired, which, if successful, would solve the problem completely and maybe your daughter would get a better teacher.

But, it's also interesting how you yourself note, that in this present situation, your daughter will experience, perhaps a bit earlier on, that there are people who are not so nice and would get a dose of the other side, learn how different people can be in the same school, social setting...etc.

However, as you say, it's already discouraging your daughter, and if that hag won't get the boot or you will have your girl stay, this is just going to get worse and be hell for her.

I think your best option is to have your daughter change classes, and to have a different, quite possibly more nice, teacher. I suppose she is already familiar with many members of the faculty, and they could keep on helping and encouraging her.

Durro wrote:It appears that we've had significant improvement.

The Junior School Principal apparently had a long and frank talk with the teacher in question towards the end of last term. Coincidentally, she was subsequently off for a week. Apparently it was for some "training" but we're not sure on the details.

The teacher came back and we had our end-of term parent/teacher interview and there were 3 teachers there - the bad one, the good one that co-teaches in the class, and the Head of Curriculum boss lady teacher that we originally brought our concerns to. The bad teacher was very nervous - she spoke quickly, her voice was croaky, her pupils were dilated and she was shaking, pale and sweaty. My wife and I took a firm but fair approach and stuck mostly to talking about our daughter's progress. When the issue of "is our daughter having any issues" came up, we simply said that Claire had trouble adjusting to a new teaching style and that we've already addressed our issues with the H.O.C, but left it at that so we didn't kick the teacher while she was down and gave her some face saving space in front of her peers.

Fast forward a few weeks, and our daughter had reported that since the start of the 2nd term, the teacher is much more calm and relaxed, only yells at the bad kids and not the good kids, has started giving positive feedback and stickers as rewards (but not anywhere near as many as other teachers do) and the atmosphere within the class is generally more positive.

My wife and I actually volunteered to give talks yesterday about health care and we noticed the class mood was more positive and we heard the bad teacher conduct herself much more appropriately, empathetically and even made a light joke or two.

So, it seems that by going to the school admin, they took action and things have improved. Claire says that he teacher still isn't as nice as any of her other teachers, but that she's doing a lot better and Claire is no longer hating school.

Sorry, just responded to your OP. Didn't see the results. Good on you!