school again

[thereyougothen]

I got a phone call this evening. It was N's teacher, wanting to know how he got on at football. She said she had taken him there herself, and spoken to the coach, explained that he didn't speak spanish (after school sports teachers often only have basic english conversation skills) and that he was pretty sensitive, so could they look after him.

I found that interesting, becasue what I didn't mention in the email to the principal et al was that N told me he had tried to tell the teacher that he needed the toilet but the teacher didn't understand him, so he in his words "had to wet his pants".

Pretty crap, eh? And even crapper now that I know his teacher had spoken to the coach before they started. my poor little boy.

so anyway, i told Miss A all about the picking up fuckup, and she told me that she's been at the school "forever" and the procedure has always been that kids get picked up in the international park (green space in the centre of school campus)

I wonder how long it will take to get a response to my email? and I can't help but wonder if the reason teacher phoned was becasue she was asked to by principal?

but still, my poor kid. they won't be going back to football, which is a shame becasue N is really good, and could get a lot better, playing with local kids. ah well.

we'll see how tomorrow's lessons go. the school won't know what hit them if even the tiniest thing goes wrong. my patience is exhausted.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

ok, you know who. my guess based on my experience last week. elem principal had her call you, since he prefers that the teacher and parent work directly to resolve issues. Hell-O! that of course from his wife, who i had the issue with! ok, me too, ready to pounce.

[thereyougothen.livejournal.com]

yeah, but, in this instance, it's not an issue with A, it's an issue with whole school communication, and in particular with after school activities.

I should probably ask for an appt to see Mr M... To be honest, I don't think seeing Miss M is going to be worth a damn, she's there to soothe, not solve problems.

[eastofedin.livejournal.com]

On a note of balance, remember kids don't always tell you 100% of the story. It might be that N decided he would rather wet himself than try to deal with a non-english speaking teacher? And try to sort out his own daily routine rather than try to explain that he wasn't sure what to do. D used to make up some terrible fibs to avoid situations he didn't like or which made him uncomfortable.

How's his Spanish going? Can he say "I need to go to the toilet please"? Or you can give him a small laminated card with a key phrase like this on it, plus a list every day of exactly where he needs to be with times so that he can show it to his teacher? It's very important he doesn't get into the habit of improvising.

I would send them back to football myself. I'd go and sit around somewhere handy after school for a week, just to make sure they get into the routine rather than have them in a room with their lego all the time. But of course it has to be done safely. Might be worth a visit to the head plus teacher in the same room, with an itemised list of points and discussion what to do about each bottleneck. The boys are going to be at that school for a few years yet, after all.

[thereyougothen.livejournal.com]

I can imagine that he might not have asked very loudly. But after his teacher had especially asked the coach to look after him closely, I'm not happy.

And no, he's not given the opportunity to sort out his own daily routine. if he had been on monday, he would have found thomas and ended up at choir, instead of being lost and confused by being told that he wasn't doing an after school club, his mother was coming to get him. and when his mother didn't come to get him, he got confused and thought he was meant to get the bus.

he knows how to say "necesito bano" (imagine the tilde on the N there, please) but he probably didn't remember it in the heat of the moment. he can't read well enough yet that a card would help. and he doesn't always have pockets!

nah, in both these instances, the school fucked up. I'm waiting to see what happens next.

[eastofedin.livejournal.com]

No, I didn't mean for him to take responsibility for his routine, quite the opposite. Not to think "Oh, I'll go to the bus then" when he'd been told to stay in a particular spot with an adult, that sort of thing.

The card would be to show the coach if he couldn't remember the words, not as a memory jog.

[blottedcopybook.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh Alison, I have no suggestions just huge amounts of sympathy. I hope this all gets resolved quickly x

[bloody-nora.livejournal.com]

What a nightmare

[diarytypething.livejournal.com]

You have every right to be pretty damn angry about this. I've worked in childcare, summer camps, and even got part of the way through primary teacher training, and in every single place this would have unacceptable. One of the first procedures for any activity is to make sure you've got the right number of kids, and that they're the right kids - it's a basic safety requirement. Any adult who thinks a five year old can be trusted to take responsibility for their own schedule and assert their needs in every situation is expecting too much, because very few children can manage it at that age, especially when they're surrounded by strange adults. Asking them to *try* is pretty much normal, but you always need to have someone watching to see who didn't understand/didn't want to do it/left their raincoat on the bus.

You should definitely ask to speak to the principal, or whoever is in charge of the after school programme. No school should be putting kids into those situations, and especially not one that charges fees.