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Gah - school rant!

G only started school 2.5 weeks ago and i am already annoyed!

She has trashed 2 polo shirts already - one with a tomato sauce that wouldnt come out and one with paint that isnt washable even with Ace bleach. Why cant schools use washable paint or get her to wear the apron they asked me to provide?!

G has lost a cardigan and flask (both named but disappeared).

She has school dinners on a Friday and 2 weeks in a row all she has had is 1 fishfinger and cake?! Last week she said she asked for chips and didnt get any. Is nobody keeping an eye on the little ones?! As a result today they sent her home "sick" with tummy ache but she is totally fine and had belly ache from eating cake!!

Yesterday all she ate was half a sandwich as she wanted to go and play. I thought people would be making sure they are eating or does that just not happen?

Last week, 3 times she told me she had been crying in the playground because the big kids were running round her and scaring her and no teachers came to help?! She had been in school 5 days (part time) and is only 4!!

AIBU?!

Not impressed!

Replies

  • Sorry to say this but I hate it when teachers get blamed for stuff like this.

    A) They can't force your child to eat

    B) Your child could be misleading you with the truth (i.e. when they say they've asked for XYZ when they haven't, and so on)

    C) Teachers don't have eyes in the back of their heads and a single child cannot be their main point of focus

    D) Children mislead teachers too.... i.e. they could say they've eaten XYZ and thats why there is only that left on their plate, and the teacher is none the wiser

    I'm sorry if this seems really harsh, I really don't mean it to be.

    I'd suggest you speak to your child's teacher, but be open to what they say.

    I'm responding to this on the worst possible day as a lot of people have been complaining about teachers and the upcoming strike, so I'm very protective of the role today!

    Teachers are not super human beings :-(  

  • Not unreasonable at all.  I would speak to the teacher on Monday about your concerns about her crying in the yard and what she is eating. 

    I'm worried as J starts staying for dinners from Monday and he is quite fussy, so I am fully expecting him to come home saying he's had only a sandwich all day. 

    Thankfully he hasn't lost anything yet.  Does the school have a lost property box?  They do in J's school so I would go and check that to see if you can find the cardigan. 

     

  • Pepperoni she's 4 she's just started school this ia ll new to her and to MM I think you are being a tad harsh.

    MM - the whole ruining uniform sadly is part and parcel of having a child at school. I've given up on worrying about it. If stains don't come out and the tees are logo epensive ones I wash them and the girls wear them with the stains (paint over food really here) If they are cheap supermarket jobs I bin and buy more. Again lost property loosing things etc get used to it it doesn't get any easier as they get older just more expensive.

    But for her to be upset in the playground is sad and you need to speak to her tacher and make them aware.

  • Pepperoni that isn't the resonce I'd like a teacher to give me after my child's first ever week in school. I understand you may be having a hard time if it but this is her 4 year old child and really at that age anyone looking after then does need eyes in the back of their head.

    Mm, your not over reacting at all, but you do need to have a friendly talk with her teachers. If she gets upset at break, even buddying up with an older child can work magic like in my sons school.  Maybe the lunch supervisors are going softly softly with the new starters this week and not pushing them to eat, but again I'd say you need to ask to find out.

  • Sorry MM, I did overreact!

    It just gets my back up when teachers are blamed for things that are equally out of their control.

  • Que - I'm not a teacher :) I just feel passionate about the slating they get unduly sometimes, that is all.

  • What about the ones that are due? Laugh

  • Depends why they are due I guess! :)

  • Oh god sorry i didnt mean to upset anyone. I just feel that G is only 4 and this is all very new to her and she needs a little help/guudance. I agree Belle - the spills on school uniform are something i will have to live with i think!! And yes to be fair they are £2.50 for two! Laugh

    I tried to call the school but they werent there so i will give them a call to discuss things on Monday. 

    I think its just been lots of things in a short space of time.

    It broke my heart when G said she was crying in the playground and nobody came to help. She is friends with the boy from next door who is a year older - maybe she could buddy up with him - really good idea.

    X

  • I don't think you're BU MaisieMoo, have you spoken to the school about your concerns?

    I don't think she was blaming the teachers Pepperoni, it's her first experience with having a child at primary and not all parents are clued up on the way systems operate.

    I agree with what the others have said. I buy Asda polo shirts so I don't feel bad when I have to bin ruined shirts. If the stains aren't that bad then they continue to wear them - they're only going to get more paint and muck on.

    In my kids school they have lunchtime supervisors checking that the kids are eating but they haven't got the time to police it all. They also don't let the kids bin anything from the lunch box so parents know what they are or aren't eating at home. E was a terror for not eating her lunch or drinking her water because she was too busy chatting to her mates. In the end she got toys taken off of her plus treats removed from lunch and it was only when the lunchbox came back empty then she started getting treats and toys back.

    It's really sad about her crying, definitely take that up with her teacher if you haven't already - email them and ask them to call you on Monday.

  • It is not unreasonable to want your child to be happy, fed and in possession of all their things so I think your reaction is pretty normal. As others have said you just need to accept the uniform thing and it may be that the missing stuff still turns up.

    I do agree with pepperoni that there is a chance things may have got lost in translation and it might sound worse than it is but you definitely should have a word to ask what happens at lunchtime and who is on hand to help her. Crying in the playground is sad and again definitely worth a chat with the teacher.

    I found it really frustrating the first couple of weeks not having a clue what went on but then there was an evening for mums and dads a week or two ago that told us what happened in a typical day and we had the chance to ask any questions.

  • I also have a school starter, it is safe to say that I have quickly learned that what Zoe tells me isn't always quite how things have happened.  

    Maybe it is different at different schools but for Zoe's school dinners the reception children are given a sticker as to what they are meant to be having and it is put on their plate for them, she was only given 1 sausage the other day which she commented on and a few of the parents had also been told similar so it sounds as though that is pretty much the portion they are given.   She did tell me that she hadn't had pudding and eventually it turned out she didn't know how she was meant to get it (they get it when getting main course but at home we don't talk about pudding 'til after you have eaten mains so she was doing that but then didn't know how to get pudding) so I asked the teacher if she could just check what was happening.  All solved.

    As for stains on the uniform, Zoe has green pen on the collar of one of her polo shirts.  Tough.  She will still be wearing it for the rest of the year.  Ditto for the one that has black pen on the sleeve.  I'm not replacing them just because they have a mark on them. 


    The whole point of all this rambling was to say, just ask the school.  You don't need to go in all guns blazing just mention it to the teacher at drop off on Monday.

  • Having worked in early years for many years, I have learnt through ruining my own clothes that many paints we buy that  profess to be washable actually aren't. Especially green ready mix paint for some reason,  that one always gets me!

    My two go with paint stains, or I replace them. At £1 a polo shirt from the supermarket it probably costs less to replace than spending loads on decent stain removers.

  • Important to remember too that dinner time and playground time are probably the two times that the teacher is not there - they wil be having their breaks and the children are looked after by the dinner ladies. That's how it is in my kids' school anyway.

  • Talk to the teacher re your concerns. In my experience the reception school teacher would have looked into the things like seeing whether they are eating and also kept an eye out for the playground play.

    In my daughter's school they will also help you look for things like water bottles, etc. They may actually be inside the classroom. A name has come off or something. Again, speak to the teacher.

    As for the uniform, ignore it. My 6 year old has come home with pen on three of her shirts this term already. On Frinday it was on the back of her shirt. I can only assume that another child was waving a pen around as I really can't see how she can have actually got it on herself. I won't replace even though they are cheap as its just not worth it.

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