Schools

[souxi]

To say I,m disgusted with my sons school is an understatement. Almost 3 weeks ago I sent an email to the headteacher. This started because my son, who is only 9, said that when he handed in his work, a picture he had done, to his teacher, she pulled a face at it and sneered. My email said about the attitude of some teachers, and how they dont seem to think how their words and actions, can be seriously demorilising to the child. I also said that sometimes I think it,s too easy an option for the teacher to shout. It isn,t always necessary, but I think they do it out of habit or maybe just because they are plain nasty, I don,t know. Anyway, then there was another incident where a little girl wanted his football, (this was lunchtime) so she pushed him over and kicked him in the ribs. Prior to this the week before, she had kneed him in the stomach. I had to take him to the doctors who said he had bruising to the muscles in his tummy. So I sent another mail to the headteacher about this little girl, expressing my concerns and with BOTH mails I ended with: "I look forward to hearing from you". Well last week I sent another email asking if he could reply to me. To date I have heard NOTHING from him atall. Not ONE thing. So I have got hold of our edcuational welfare officer, whose primary concern is the welfare of the child, not the teacher, the child. I,ve sent her a long email with copies of the mails I sent to the headteacher, to see if she can do something. I realise that teachers and headteachers are always incredibly busy,and that whenever you need to speak to one they are always in some important meeting. They will probably deny all knowledge and try and blame everything on him, and say that he is disruptive in some way, and that this is somehow all his fault. What I do know for a fact is, that if nothing is resolved, I am taking him out of school and home schooling him. More often than not he cries at night because he doesn,t want to get up and go to school. When he first started he was full of enthusiasm. Now he,s certainly not. Why do these teachers have to be so damn nasty? I really do think that they need to think about how they talk to the children, and about how their sarcastic remarks make them feel. I won,t stand for any of this atall. I,ll let you know how it all goes.

[Shasta542]

Are there any different schools that you can enroll him in for the rest of the year? If he initially liked school, he might be okay if he changed schools. Home-schooling is fine--just not much socialization unless you get in a co-op. Maybe there's a co-op where you live.

Anyway -- hope it gets resolved so he can stay if that's what's best.

[forsythia12]

head teachers?  are you talking about a private school, or public?  sorry, i'm just not familiar with the terms.  anyways, i'm currently very new at the school system, as my eldest daughter is only in kindergarden....and from what i've seen so far, the teachers are amazing, nice, nurturing, positive,productive, and very caring people.  so far, i'm very happy with my child's school, but i'm interested in this discussion because there will be times when i might not be so happy.
my sister however, is going to home school her kids, but she's doing a thing called 'distance education' in which is a little different, and it sounds interesting.  i'm sure there's information online about it, and if i do find a website, i'll post it here.

i do agree with you, and empathize with your experiences.  i hope it turns out better once you come to a decision.
 

[forsythia12]

here is a definition of distance education, since i didn't describe it very well.  i did find lot's of sites online, but i thought i'd post this one because it explains it more thuroughly.  let me know what you think, or if it would be an option for you.  my sister isn't worried about the socialization thing because she also has her kids in activities outside of school, in which many other kids are part of, plus, she has tons of playdates and stuff set up.  her plan is to see how it goes for a couple years, as she is not opposed to the public school system, and will definately enroll them if it doesn't work out.  good luck to you...and keep us posted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distance_education

[souxi]

head teachers?  are you talking about a private school, or public?   sorry, i'm just not familiar with the terms.  anyways, i'm currently very new at the school system, as my eldest daughter is only in kindergarden....and from what i've seen so far, the teachers are amazing, nice, nurturing, positive,productive, and very caring people.  so far, i'm very happy with my child's school, but i'm interested in this discussion because there will be times when i might not be so happy.
my sister however, is going to home school her kids, but she's doing a thing called 'distance education' in which is a little different, and it sounds interesting.  i'm sure there's information online about it, and if i do find a website, i'll post it here.

i do agree with you, and empathize with your experiences.  i hope it turns out better once you come to a decision.
 

I,m assuming your from the States? Don,t you have headteachers there? There are the every day teachers who teach the kids in the classroom, and then there is the headteacher of the whole school. He,s the one in charge of the school, and they usually have a deputy head too. No it isn,t a private school, it,s just a state school, or primary school as we call them for kids from age 7 to 11, then there are secondary schools from age 11 to 16 or 18. After that it,s college if they want then university. This guy is the head of the whole school and IMO he couldn,t orgainise a piss up in a bloody brewery. Yes I will keep you posted and thanks for the link. Home schooling is something I am seriously looking into if I can,t get him into another school. Yes I understand and agree with what you said about socialising, but he does have friends who knock for him regularly so he,ll still see them and maybe make some new friends too.

[forsythia12]

I,m assuming your from the States? Don,t you have headteachers there? There are the every day teachers who teach the kids in the classroom, and then there is the headteacher of the whole school. He,s the one in charge of the school, and they usually have a deputy head too. No it isn,t a private school, it,s just a state school, or primary school as we call them for kids from age 7 to 11, then there are secondary schools from age 11 to 16 or 18. After that it,s college if they want then university. This guy is the head of the whole school and IMO he couldn,t orgainise a piss up in a bloody brewery. Yes I will keep you posted and thanks for the link. Home schooling is something I am seriously looking into if I can,t get him into another school. Yes I understand and agree with what you said about socialising, but he does have friends who knock for him regularly so he,ll still see them and maybe make some new friends too.

no, i'm canadian, and we call the 'headteacher' the principal and vice principal. 
i wouldn't worry about the socializing, it's not that hard to keep up with it if your child is  homeschooled.
did you look at the distance education thing?  it seems to have more options than regular homeschooling....but, i really don't know enough about the subject.
good luck souxi.

[Shasta542]

or to raise his/her voice EVER

Disagree. My kids love me, but I DO have to raise my voice sometimes. You don't have to say mean or nasty stuff though.

[souxi]

Well this morning, the educational welfare officer I emailed yesterday, phoned me up. She was really lovely and we had a nice long chat about it all. She said that she had lots of emails but picked mine to deal with first, as she felt it was the most urgent. Anyway, she advised me to ring the school and ask them for a copy of their anti bullying policy, which I have done, and also, to send copies of all the emails I have sent, including the one to her, to the Chair of Goveners of the school.This I have since done and I will delievering it shortly. I will get this sorted one way or the other. My husband often thinks I should just shut up and stop making a fuss, but why the hell should I? These are my kids we are talking about here. The school may soon get sick of me, well that,s just too bad isn,t it. Upset my kids and God help you from the wrath of Souxi lol.
I,ll let you know how it all goes. 

[Kelda]

Disagree. My kids love me, but I DO have to raise my voice sometimes. You don't have to say mean or nasty stuff though.

Shaasta - how did I not know you had kids? Or that you're a teacher.. which is it?

[elomelo]

To say I,m disgusted with my sons school is an understatement. Almost 3 weeks ago I sent an email to the headteacher. This started because my son, who is only 9, said that when he handed in his work, a picture he had done, to his teacher, she pulled a face at it and sneered. My email said about the attitude of some teachers, and how they dont seem to think how their words and actions, can be seriously demorilising to the child. I also said that sometimes I think it,s too easy an option for the teacher to shout. It isn,t always necessary, but I think they do it out of habit or maybe just because they are plain nasty, I don,t know. Anyway, then there was another incident where a little girl wanted his football, (this was lunchtime) so she pushed him over and kicked him in the ribs. Prior to this the week before, she had kneed him in the stomach. I had to take him to the doctors who said he had bruising to the muscles in his tummy. So I sent another mail to the headteacher about this little girl, expressing my concerns and with BOTH mails I ended with: "I look forward to hearing from you". Well last week I sent another email asking if he could reply to me. To date I have heard NOTHING from him atall. Not ONE thing. So I have got hold of our edcuational welfare officer, whose primary concern is the welfare of the child, not the teacher, the child. I,ve sent her a long email with copies of the mails I sent to the headteacher, to see if she can do something. I realise that teachers and headteachers are always incredibly busy,and that whenever you need to speak to one they are always in some important meeting. They will probably deny all knowledge and try and blame everything on him, and say that he is disruptive in some way, and that this is somehow all his fault. What I do know for a fact is, that if nothing is resolved, I am taking him out of school and home schooling him. More often than not he cries at night because he doesn,t want to get up and go to school. When he first started he was full of enthusiasm. Now he,s certainly not. Why do these teachers have to be so damn nasty? I really do think that they need to think about how they talk to the children, and about how their sarcastic remarks make them feel. I won,t stand for any of this atall. I,ll let you know how it all goes.

That is absoloutely horrible! Is this a private or public school? I know a lot of this stuff happens in public schools from past experience but to this extent is unbelieavable. I'm not sure of the school conditions and boards and how schools run where you live, but have you tried talking to the board members for the school or the district it's in?

I'm in highschool now so this doesn't happen often now unless people get into fights knowing what they're in for but I have siblings in younger, elementary grades and things like that happening in their school are unheard of.

Teachers can be brutally sarcastic though, regardless of the grade, and I really don't see why. What kind of sick pleasure do they take in crushing someone like that, especially someone much younger? I don't say this is the case with all teachers just more than a healthy amount.

I hope everything works out for the best and your son is alright. Best wishes!