Home-School communications book

[bikemad]

Thanks to j'smum who mentioned it in one of my threads the school have agreed to do this...the head is totally on board tho the sen teacher n my lads teacher are more skeptical but they are also the ones who say he is angelic and I spoil him so I pay no heed to what they spout to be honest. Would have been great if the afternoon teacher had bothered to fill it in cos it was the afternoon he got told off umpteen times!!!!! A wel at least it is a start n fingers crossed the more my lad shoves the book in their faces the more they will remember it.

[Shaunsmum]

I have this for Shaun at nursery, although they tend not to put in whether or not he's been good or been put into timeout. They mostly say what activities he's been doing which gives me something to talk to shaun about. It was the nursery's idea to have the book, I would ask Shaun what he had done at nursery, I would say were you painting today and he'd say yes when he hadn'tetc. Definatley a good thing to have. Good Luck with it.

[something_different]

they are great tho if u want them to write in how the day has gone good and bad then make sure they are aware of this, as they may try to make it more positive than negative.

[bikemad]

I rung them this morning n asked if they could make sure all the teachers know to fill it in as they change midday and if possible a few words be it bot something good or something bad would help too n fair doos the afternoon teacher did just that so fingers crossed.

[KarenT]

I can't help it, but it always makes me shake my head in disbelief when I see or hear people talking about home school communication books. I'm often pleasantly surprised that so many LEAs are happy to be open with parents, but it puts my own experiences (and those of other parents in this area) under the microscope and concerns me that other authorities can be so reluctant to engage with parents for the benefit of the child.

 

I spent the best part of four years repeatedly asking for a communications book for J, at two schools, and had a catalogue of responses as to why I couldn't have it, all of which translated as "Well, the teachers can't really be bothered to fill them in". Essentially, in J's first school once he was across their doorway he was none of my business (not just him but the majority of children who attended there), and most of what went on there I learned several weeks after the fact, and never from official sources, by which time it would be too late to do anything about it because most of those involved had forgotten about it. It was even frowned upon for me to speak to teachers in the yard in the morning - I was told I should 'make an appointment' (impractical for urgent matters) or 'write a note' but that wasn't always possible if what I wanted to report had happened whilst trying to get him to leave the house in the morning, or something whilst walking to school. A few hastily grabbed words on the way in rarely did justice to the scale of the problem anyway, so everything was trivialised. On the other hand, it was always Ok for the teachers to approach me at these times, on their terms. Realisticallly, neither of the schools J has attended wanted much contact with parents at all, and 'working in partnership' was no more than something to look good on paper. I was even lied to on many occasions about incidents he'd been involved in, rather than discuss them with me openly and find a solution. It was easier for them just to despair of J and continue to dole out ineffective punishments.

 

Lack of communication between school and home is one of the main reasons J is now home educated. You can't resolve problems if you don't know they're there, or if you choose not to admit to them, both of which were rife in his situation. At least now we have consistency and I know exactly what his problems are and can deal with them as and when they arise.

 

Really pleased to hear that some of you have cooperative schools who are willing to use this clearly beneficial method of supporting your children. Believe me, you are very lucky to have it.

 

Karen

x

[bikemad]

Omg that school sounds disgustingly run!!!!!

 

It has taken me 2 1/2 years of nagging with this new head mind to get anywere but now she is seeing him getting worse n worse n she has realised n said to me that she sees why I pushed now n thank god they are finally on board.

 

edited to change awful spelling mistakes.

Edited January 29, 2009 by bikemad

[Kazzen161]

Just to add a word in defence of the teachers - last year I was an LSA working 1:1 with a child with challenging behaviour. It took me 10-15 minutes (which usually ended up being after I was supposed to have gone home) just to write about the morning session in a worthwhile fashion. It is not the writing time, it is having to stop and think - what did we do this morning? how did it go? (I found the visual timetable very useful!), and that is before any classroom or playtime behaviour issues. It was very difficult for the teacher to fill in the sheets, as she never had any time "spare" until the children had all gone home.

 

I did do it however, as I know how helpful it is (as a parent of a similar child). It was very helpful for us to know if he had had a late night or if his favourite rugby team had lost a game! It did help us to turn his behaviour around.

 

Our sheets were written for the parents eyes only (not for the child). He knew we wrote on them, but it was up to the parent which bits she shared with him. We might have to tell her about a playground incident, but if it was dealt with at school, there was no need for him to dwell on it. If he did something well, they could share that with him. We did photocopy bits of his work for him to take home and show his parents, which he enjoyed doing.

[JsMum]

 

 

Hi Bikemad, and KarenT,

 

I suggested it because we used it, in one school J went to they wrote stupid sentences like J was good today or J did something but we are resolving it without any clues or anything worth knowing, other times it was because the Teachers could not be bothered or too busy, another school that did it was good as it gave us both an oportunity to share Js behaviour and by then he did have an LSA and a statement because when the failed communications booklet occured it was evidence that J needed more attention, extra provisions and the Communications Booklet that worked went towards evidence for a Special school, so basically if it fails or is a success it is evidence towards SEN provisions/statements/assessments.

 

J has a daily score sheet in his School now and so you get a day by day account of his week and its also good to spot problem areas or success areas.

 

JsMum

 

[bikemad]

So far it seems to be going well...the teachers seem to be on board and wil write be it good or bad.