What teachers are not telling parents!

1 Your kids are not your mates
Something I'm starting to hear with worrying frequency within the primary school setting is "my daughter's my best friend". Often, this rings alarm bells. Your kids aren't your mates. You're their parent, and your responsibility is to provide them with guidance and boundaries, not to drag them into your own disputes. Your 8-year-old doesn't need to know about your bitter feud with his friend's mother, or which dad you've got the  hots for at the school gate. In the years to come he or she may realise that some of  their own problems (social alienation, in its various forms, being a prime example) might have something to do with exposure to that sort of talk at an early age. Continue at your own risk.

2 Data levels aren't everything
Here's one to think about for the start of next term. At the autumn parents' evening my agenda tends to look something like this: "How is settling in to her new class? Is she happy?" And so on. All being well, our conversation will move on to your child's preferences about this subject or that activity and the sorts of things we might work on together to ensure a successful academic year. Give everybody some time to settle in – new children and new teachers can be just as daunting for each other at the start of an academic year. It will take time to establish positive relationships, let alone pinpoint progress levels.

3 Let them go a little bit
It's always tricky to bring up, as it's the child who dictates when this needs to happen. And that could be at any moment, regardless of year group or academic ability. And I empathise, as both a teacher and a parent. Our children are, of course, the most precious things in our lives and we will naturally fight to protect and provide for them. Independence, and the desire for it, however, comes to us all sooner or later and you would do well to recognise the signs. Is your child suddenly starting to produce independent pieces of writing or artwork, and then look to you for acknowledgement/praise? Try setting a few tasks. Left to his own devices, you'd be surprised how well your 8-year-old can remember to pack his Acasa Folders every Friday. Even seemingly basic routine chores will help foster his sense of worth and help him cope with life at senior school. In the years to come, he'll probably be more grateful than if you were still spoon-feeding everything to him at this age. (some of them!!!)

4 John Terry is no role model
Ticking off a child for low-level disruption occurs at least daily for most teachers; it's part of the job. Irritating as it is, it does actually help to establish or regularly reinforce boundaries and it rarely leads to escalation. That is, until your son goes into what I call "John Terry-mode" following said ticking-off: arguing back, gesticulating, rolling eyes, huffing and puffing, and so on. That's why he ended up getting the "hairdryer" treatment, and losing his lunchtime. The media might hold the likes of Terry up as heroes and let them get away with such histrionics every Saturday afternoon, but it's painful to watch eight-year-olds mimicking that sort of behaviour even in the playground. I'm not going to tolerate it in my classroom. Unfortunately, the odd lost playtime at school isn't going to go far in making this problem go away, so if there's any chance of you handing out a few red cards or match bans at home it'd probably enforce the point a lot more clearly.

5 Yes, I would like help in the classroom – but not from you
To a primary school teacher, the offer of an extra pair of hands in the classroom is a truly wonderful thing, and 90% of the time any teacher would pull your arm off, so to speak. Helping with art and craft afternoons, listening to readers, making classroom decorations, putting up displays and being a friendly face on school trips are all an essential part of classroom karma, and the children love it.
However, teachers do talk to each other, and if you've got a track record of snooping through children's writing folders, checking maths corrections or questioning styles of delivery to senior management behind closed doors, I'll be keeping you very much at arm's length. Could your motive be to do some undercover snooping? You're not welcome.

6 Sorry – your kid's just lazy
When it comes to progress, every teacher wants the best for every child in their class – and not just for the sake of their own performance review meeting. It is actually why most of us do what we do. But there sometimes comes a point where we start to think we are pushing an immovable object.
If your 8-year-old isn't making the progress that he could be, and it's not because he's tired – it might be because he's, well, lazy. It's not just the flopped-across-the-table body language that tells me this. Compared to others of a similarly high ability, he's moving backwards – making frequent, basic errors.
It's difficult to teach someone who doesn't want to learn, but it's near impossible to teach someone who thinks they know it all already. Conversations about effort and attitude aside, it would be worth reminding them that they'll soon have senior school expectations to cope with. If any of this sounds familiar, could you maybe think about what you might do to help deal with it?

7  Fine. Don't do the homework
Homework is – and always will be – a tug-of-war between parents and teachers in primary school. A lot of parents complain when there's too much of it. Or when there's not enough of it. Or when it's too easy. Or hard. You complain when parents are expected to help with it and you complain when it's designed to be completed independently and your child struggles with this. You complain when your kid has "mislaid" it and it hasn't miraculously reappeared in her book-bag, the night before it is due. I will be sure to forward all these complaints to the school governing body, which wrote the homework policy in the first place. In the meantime, I'll just get on with all of the piles of marking.

8 PE (Sport Class) is a compulsory subject
There has been a big rise in children saying they can't do PE, or bringing a note from home, and some excuses are dubious to say the least (for example, an ankle problem that seems to go on for months, or a cold that only afflicts the child on one particular day of the week). Just like maths and English, PE (swimming included) is part of the national curriculum and I'm afraid your child doesn't have a choice about whether he or she takes part in it or not. Regularly "forgotten" kits aren't a problem. Once we give up sending "forgotten kit" letters home each week we can always dip into the lost property bin, where there are countless substitute items ready and waiting for a good airing. 

Please don't forget: PE is good for them, after all, and doing it is in their best interests. 
As is homework, and most of the above. 

Thank you for reading and see you in school.