Guest Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 Hi, I work in a small school- just four teachers. I have been to so many staff meetings where I have to sit and listen to how the other year groups plan and assess for learning and I'm afraid my colleagues are not interested in what we do in reception as they are too busy worrying about their own needs! We also have advisors coming in and again it is not relevant to me- I wish it was. To a certain extent I need to know what happens later on but we have a series of meetings with advisors coming up and I just think of all the work I have to do! Does anyone else have this problem and have they found a solution ie a way to persuade the head time could be better spent? Anne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 Hi and welcome. I have been in the same position and have felt like you that it was not relevant to me, until I was in the position to be offered a permanent contract at a school I loved but in year 1. All those meetings became valuable and as you say i think you do need to be aware of what is going on in the rest of the school as sometines that impacts on you in FS later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marion Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 I have to agree with Susan finding myself in Y2 having not attended all those staff meetings that didn't seem relevant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queline Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 Hi, I too have been in the same position as you, 4 teachers in a small school and completely agree with the other two posts that it is good to keep your eye on the ball so you know what is going on in KS1/2. However I had a very understanding Head and if she knew something was going to be completely irrelevant she would let me have Profile time. She also made sure that I conducted a staff meeting so that the other members of staff knew what went on in Reception (altough I fear as you mentioned, they'd rather have been doing their own work!). I was also involved in a partnership group with other small schools and FS teachers would meet once or twce a term as part of this, therefore my head knew that I was being supported if staff meetings/advisors weren't relevant to me - do you have anything like this? It might be worth speaking to your Head if you feel that some meetings really aren't appropriate. Q x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 Hi Anne and welcome! We are not a small school but I know our YR often felt that our Y1 and Y2 discussion was not relevant so they started to bring things from YR to show how they were doing it so for example when we were levelling writing in our agreement trialling they would bring their best, their middle and their lowest ability examples, when we discuss assessment they make sure they show us the profiles and their learning journals and now we all expect them to give us an example of what they do in whatever we are discussing. It has really made everyone else understand how it works in YR and also how we are building on this. An excellent examples wa a science activity we were discussing for a science topic and our YR teacher was amazed at how little we were expecting of the children with bulbs, buzzers and batteries as she had had these our in her work area and all of the children had soon learned how to make the bulb light up and some had actually used the crocodile clips!! We had to rethink our expectations for the children! So as others have said keep at it and also don't sit there quietly tell them what you are doing! Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tinkerbell Posted January 8, 2010 Share Posted January 8, 2010 Hi Anne welcome to the forum I am in a 4 teacher school too! I teach a mixed R/Yr1 and am also the assistant head so I do like to know what is going on.I have also taught all the children so I know what they were like in reception and I stick my 'ten penny worth in' if necessary. We do all moderate work and we start with Reception working up to-yr6. Our staff meetings are more of a general nature ,daily running of the school,diary dates,courses /feedback from courses,segments from SEF to discuss,policies ,health and safety,concerns about individual children etc I do attend EYFS courses and twilights run by the authority and I feed back to staff (brief 5-10 mins) When the EYFS came out I asked to have session in a staff meeting to talk about it to staff ,powepoint.I also talked to the governors and the HT let me have an hour with all TA's (who are dinner ladies) to talk to them about EYFS. I feel we all have equal voice in my school and I hope we are all informed about all the children.Ask your head teacher or line manager if you can have more of a say in the meetings. Tinkerbell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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