I am growing to hate my daughter’s school

I started writing this post, two years ago! Then I thought, no, I’m being harsh. Two years on though, I still feel the same. I am actually growing to loathe my daughter’s school.

You may have seen my recent post about whether or not to change my daughter to a new school, since moving house. I think that decision has thoroughly been set in my mind this week. I want to move her. (Thank you to every one who also offered advice – I found it hugely helpful). A friend moved her son out of Bunny’s school, due to a total lack of support at a time when he was grieving and now he has moved schools, he is thriving.

There are many things they have done to thoroughly get my goat, some I used to fear were intentional, as they seemed to have some sort of vendetta against me for not living in the posh part of town. That got better for a while, but today, I was spoken to in a sickeningly patronising tone, by a teacher, who made a snap judgement about me. I was livid and I loudly exclaimed “What a stupid comment to make”, back at her, in response. But I wish I’d said more. I went home feeling angry for the next few hours. This isn’t the first time this has happened. I once got tutted at, by a teacher, because I asked Bunny to walk down the steps to me, instead of trying to get the twins and their pushchair up four steps!

I used to have a lot of issues with a certain member of staff at the school, but after a two way shouting confrontation in front of an audience last year, and a formal complaint, that person is now possibly my favourite member of staff in that school.

You may have read my school lunch expose, or heard me moaning on Twitter about them promising her house points for certain tasks, and then not giving them to her when she has completed them. Two years ago, I also talked about how they moved my daughter into a different class for Year 1 and took her away from all of her friends. She had nightmares for weeks and cried about going to school, but they refused point blank to put her back with her friends. She had done nothing wrong, yet felt she was being punished.

You may have heard me ranting about them tipping Bunny’s drink down the sink and leaving her to dehydrate because they don’t approve of her having a tiny bit of squash in her water (on her doctors orders). Bunny had been suffering with tummy cramps for months, which caused absences from school. They turned out to be caused by dehydration because the teachers were tipping her drink down the sink and she wont drink water. It took me three trips to a doctor, one trip to the hospital, a letter from her doctor and an argument with the school secretary to get it sorted!

We often find out about things happening at school, with very little notice and if we don’t get the reply slips in by 9am the next day, our child has to miss out.

Sometimes we get “invited to make a VOLUNTARY contribution” to certain things… then get bombarded with letters, texts and emails asking why we haven’t paid it yet.

We’ve also had a lot of issues with bullying and my daughter has recently announced she wants to quit the choir, because someone bullies her and the teacher is mean.

There are also the parents evenings, which are so early in the year, that they barely know my daughter and sound like they are reading from a very vague script!

Then there are school plays and nativities, which we love watching (yes I’m one of those proud mummies that gets all teary). Bunny takes school plays seriously and practices at home, yet they often enforce a STRICTLY NO BABIES OR TODDLERS policy for the shows. This “policy” excludes probably around half of the parents in the school, who have toddlers or infants. I am absolutely disgusted by this. Those infants they are banning – are the future pupils of the school. It doesn’t fill you with confidence when the staff at your child’s school are instilling policies that are not child friendly!

We sent Bunny to this school because it was reported to be one of the best in the area. The schools more local to us at the time were renowned for the 5 year old’s being connoisseurs of verbal diarrhoea, disrespect and swearing, and the ten year old’s being regular smokers. A lot of the children from Bunny’s school go on to Grammar school, but it quite frankly sucks how much nonsense we have to take from them during the journey.

Yes it is a rather snobby school, but then I’m a little bit of a snob myself. But snobs aside, the parents I’ve met are nice, caring parents, with well behaved and thoughtful children. Bunny has many friends, but I resent the school for it’s policies and I hate how condescending and self righteous some of the staff are. Bunny WANTS to move schools!

I am now going to hurry up with my applications for her new school. In addition to me hoping that a local community school will be a happier place for Bunny, there will be numerous other benefits for our family, including losing the two hour school run and all the petrol costs.