I’m a school receptionist & there are clues which show what teachers REALLY think of your kids
YOU may not pay them much thought but the school receptionist has seen it all when it comes to your kids.
As part of Fabulous’ new back to school series, our secret school receptionist is revealing what teachers REALLY think about you and your little darlings.
And according to our insider not everything the teachers say should be taken at face value.
This week the receptionist, who works in a primary school in Yorkshire, reveals the code words that teachers use and what they REALLY mean - and being ‘confident’ isn’t necessarily a good thing…
“As always, it takes a couple of weeks for children to settle down into the new school year; new classes, new friends, and new routines take time to get used to, but it doesn’t take long at all for teachers to get a handle on what your kids are really like.
Obviously, teachers can’t just tell parents what they honestly think about their little darlings, so here are the subtleties you need to listen out for!
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Confidence is not key
Whenever a teacher describes a child as ‘able to express themselves well’ it simply means they never shut up.
Add this to them being ‘very confident’ and it means that they will not let anyone else have an opinion and think they are always right.
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These are the children who are no doubt going to be our next generation of politicians.
Live wires
In the same vein, children who have lots of ‘energy’ and who are ‘lively’ are the wanderers of the classroom, never able to sit still for long or concentrate for more than five minutes.
Unless they try to control the ants in their pants, they are destined to haunt the corridors until they leave education with one PE GCSE and an encyclopaedic knowledge of the blueprint of their secondary school.
Creative criticism
If your child has ‘wonderful ideas’ they are normally not about what they should be writing, and chances are they also like sharing them with the rest of the class – very loudly.
These are normally the same children who can be described as ‘chatty’; the worry for parents should be what their child is chatting about – trust me, children will tell school staff anything and everything, from what they had for breakfast, to Uncle Jim’s special plants that need to be kept in a cupboard wrapped in tinfoil...
Children who have lots of ‘energy’ and who are ‘lively’ are the wanderers of the classroom, never able to sit still for long or concentrate for more than five minutes
Secret School Secretary
When to worry
It is always wise to be a little bit cautionary if a teacher speaks well of your child – in a generic manner only - and you know that they can be little so and so’s at home; in all probability they will be exhibiting the same behaviours at school, but teachers always have a soft spot for at least one troublemaker in their class.
Unless you are asked into school specifically to be hauled over the coals regarding their behaviour, then it’s probably nothing to be worried about, just be aware that your child is the one that will be openly discussed in the staff room EVERY day.
If your child’s teacher actively seeks you out at the end of the school day (and they are not noticeably brandishing a bumped head note or similar) it means your child has been an absolute beast during the day.
The teacher may murmur coded missives such as, ‘it hasn’t been her best day’, or ‘we’ve had to have words today, haven’t we Johnny?’ which roughly translates as the day has been a complete write-off in terms of learning – for both Johnny and the rest of the class most likely.
Polite is not perfect
‘Polite’ children and those who are commented on as ‘well-behaved’ in parent-teacher interactions probably do possess those qualities, but if these are the go-to descriptions then your child is not setting the classroom alight.
Teachers always have a soft spot for at least one troublemaker in their class
Secret School Secretary
A big indication of this is when a teacher praises handwriting but doesn’t mention content; your child can write well, but what they write is absolute twaddle.
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Of course, it is always easy to speak well of those children who are calm and collected, especially if the class includes a few energetic children and those with ‘big personalities’.
In other words, children whose voices can be heard from across the playground and whose futures will include some form of reality show programming.
