How To Get On With Your Child's Teacher
How To Get On With Your Child's Teacher: Developing a good relationship with your child's teacher can help you make sure your child is getting the best from their schooling. Head teacher Jeff Smith gave VideoJug this advice on getting on with your child's teacher.
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Step 1:
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Start as you mean to go on
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Different schools will have different strategies for getting parents to meet teachers. These might include:
- Open days prior to the start of term
- An introductory morning on the day your child starts school
- A staggered entry system whereby the school take four children at a time, giving the parents and children an opportunity to meet the teacher and other parents before commencing term proper.
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Step 2:
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Make an appointment
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The are several avenues for communication with the teacher:
- Formal appointments at parents' evening
- Informal conversation in the playground before school starts in the mornings
- You can always phone and request an appointment with the teacher yourself
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Step 3:
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Work together
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By choosing to send your child to a particular school, there's a level to which you're buying into the ethos of that school.
Ask to see a copy of the school's behaviour policy. It's important that you support this policy and are willing to uphold it in the home, so the child receives the same messages from school and home. If you take issue with anything in the policy, speak to the head.
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Step 4:
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Deal with issues quickly
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If an issue arises at school, it's better to speak to the teacher as soon as possible. It's much easier to resolve issues early, before they have the chance to escalate into anything bigger.
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Step 5:
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When a big issue arises
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Speak to the class teacher first. If you're dissatisfied you can then speak to someone in management, or to the head. Ask the teacher or the school who you should speak to next.
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Step 6:
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Parents' Evenings
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Prepare well for parents' evenings. They are an opportunity to get feedback, but also to plan for the next few months.
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Step 7:
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Expect feedback
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Feedback might come as a formal report or parents' evening; however, particularly with younger children there may be opportunities to speak regularly with the teacher (in the playground before the start of the day, for example) to get feedback on a more regular basis.
