11 Plus Exams Forum

Our children's schools seem rife with it now, and the primary children especially definitely get treated differently...
what are your experiences??

We had lots in primary and even more at secondary.

It has not been my experience at all that they have any special treatment.

We were in a bigger school for both so the school was able to make sure that none of the students were actually taught by their parent. DG

My niece will be starting at the same secondary my sister teaches at in September. My sister will be making sure she doesn’t end up teaching my niece at any time.

Given the area they live in and the other schools locally, they didn’t really have many other options. However knowing my sister, my niece will definitely not get any special treatment.

This was discussed briefly in our house when I was offered a job at a school where one of my children was a pupil. (I had not applied for the job). All of the children thought it was utterly awful that I would even consider it and to be honest, I would have been massively uncomfortable at inflicting that on my child.

I don't like the idea, not because I would worry about special treatment, but that the child would be somehow reined in, stifled etc by my presence, or that other teachers would not feel free to treat them as they would others. I know of someone working in a school near here who approaches her child's teachers for information on test scores, grade predictions etc before the child knows of them, and also 'has a quiet word' about things she doesn't like (other children, other teachers etc). I think that is just wrong, and does no favours to the child either.

Was never a problem when I was at school with classmates in that position. Yes, there was the inevitable joking and mickey-taking for a few weeks after finding out then we all got bored with it and grew up.

Hasn't been a problem for my daughter who's had a couple of friends in the same position.

Isn't a problem at the school where I'm a governor or the school where my relative teaches.

It isn't a problem for my teacher friend who has both of her children at her school. She does occasionally have to teach them.
It was much more of an issue when my very attraction and cool former babysitter turned up as a cover teacher at my school. I was torn between relishing the fact that I had known him for years and every other girl wanted to vs the fact that he had seen me in my nightie!!!

To bbe honest it never used to be a problem in DCs primary but has gradually got worse, and the numbers have increased massively..
the standing joke now is that you only know who isn't going to be a team captain (like houses) if there aren't enough teachers children to fill all the spaces. it is absolutley true that everyone of them will get a main part In any school play etc...

I just wondered how others worked..

My sister has ended up teaching the children of friends over the years. One of them was really worried that after years of calling her by her first name, now would have to call her by her last name and was terrified she would get it wrong. And of course, that my sister would report everything back to her parents.

She has also ended up teaching the son of a former student, who is also now a friend too (several years after they had both left the school) . That makes her feel old.

It’s not an ideal, but they live in a rural area so don’t have a lot of options. My niece was unlikely to get into other schools she could just about get to (oversubscribed) and the only other option my sister refused to contemplate.

Tinkers wrote:My sister has ended up teaching the children of friends over the years. One of them was really worried that after years of calling her by her first name, now would have to call her by her last name and was terrified she would get it wrong. And of course, that my sister would report everything back to her parents.

She has also ended up teaching the son of a former student, who is also now a friend too (several years after they had both left the school) . That makes her feel old.

It’s not an ideal, but they live in a rural area so don’t have a lot of options. My niece was unlikely to get into other schools she could just about get to (oversubscribed) and the only other option my sister refused to contemplate.

Amazingly we have the crazy situation where teachers children have appealed to get into the (already heavily oversubscribed) school from 12 miles away.. understandable isn't it that if you need to be in one place you would want the children at the same place for ease of commute... but they get dropped off and picked up seperafely by dad...

My niece could get a school bus should they so wish. There are days when my sister works late and DN could then get home under her own steam. She is pretty free ranging and independent anyway. She already sometimes takes the bus to primary school as it’s in the next village.

The school has children of teachers as a category in their admissions criteria so it wouldn’t have been an issue getting her in.
There are already a number of children of teachers at the school (for much the same reasons) and they’ve established some unwritten ground rules I believe.