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AIBU

School checking out home before 4 yr old starts school

(279 Posts)
dogsdinner Sat 23-Aug-14 09:09:26

A local young mum whose child starts school in September told me that the school sends someone round to her home prior to child starting to look at child's bedroom and the home to get an idea of what the child likes and dislikes. I have never heard of this and my GC starts school next Sep and I am not happy about someone from school checking out my house. Is this the normal these days? The young mum was happy about this but I find it smacks of big brother. What do others feel and have you had experience of this?

Ana Mon 25-Aug-14 17:35:44

Just been reading an old (2010) similar thread on Mumsnet, and it's amazing how their responses mirror those given on here, albeit using rather more colourful language! grin

whitewave Mon 25-Aug-14 17:57:00

No I don't think it has anything to do with being nosy but I am not remotely convinced of the argument so far.

Having read the document posted by aka I am even less convinced - the wording was cliched and unprofessional and even alarming.

Do the parents get to see the documents produced by the teachers after their summing up of the home, medical records etc.

Marmark1 Mon 25-Aug-14 19:18:26

Well,I've checked with young mums I know,and no,doesn't happen here.Never heard of it.

harrigran Mon 25-Aug-14 19:42:13

Don't think it happens at GC's school but they do have to write a précis of the child's likes and capabilities, eating and sleeping habits and what they get up to on a weekend.

Aka Mon 25-Aug-14 19:54:49

Whitewave without wishing to be pedantic, but if you must use it as a verb then please at least use the accent in clichéd. Personally I refute there is a verb 'to cliché'. I find that truly unprofessional.

Aka Mon 25-Aug-14 20:05:25

Incidentally, there is something called the Freedom of Infirnation Act Whitewave.

whitewave Mon 25-Aug-14 20:05:45

aka Lesson 1 taken on board and tucked away!!

Be interested in your answer to my points thought.

Don't get too high handed this is only a lively debate.

rosequartz Mon 25-Aug-14 20:08:28

Well, I often type without the accents on here as I am not able to find them - I do use them when typing in Word, but not when posting on GN. So I think that is a bit unfair to Whitewave, Aka. Perhaps you could advise please.

So if you find me posting without an aigu, a grave, a circumflex, a cedilla, an umlaut, tilde etc please make allowances. Thank you.

Ana Mon 25-Aug-14 20:12:53

Adjective, surely...? hmm

NfkDumpling Mon 25-Aug-14 20:16:35

Can you do accents on an iPad?

If so how please? (And should there be an accent in words like cliche which have been absorbed into the English language which doesn't use them)

Aka Mon 25-Aug-14 20:32:26

whitewave didn't mean it to sound like that. That's the problem with the written word it comes out harsher than meant. Sorry!
Yes Nfk you can, I'm using an iPad.

whitewave Mon 25-Aug-14 20:34:18

No problem!! I'm off to watch creepy Salmond. Have a good evening.

Aka Mon 25-Aug-14 20:36:36

Answer to your points Whitewave ...how? Your points were subjective and didn't give any examples of what you consider to be a cliché and what was unprofessional or even alarming. Unless you give such examples how can I respond to generalisations?

absent Mon 25-Aug-14 20:36:53

Children here start school on the first Monday after their fifth birthday. Before that they make a number of arranged visits to what will be their classroom, meeting the person who will be their teacher and the other children who will be their classmates, ending with a full day in school. A similar arrangement exists with what are called preschools - in effect, nursery schools - which take children from the age of two. I would suggest that this plan helps the children settle into a different place with different people - big and small - more readily than a single home visit which cannot possibly indicate to a small child what is in store. It must also be easier for teachers not to have a large intake of nervous little ones all on the same day.

I had never heard of this home visit plan before reading this thread. My daughter started nursery school - a part of the local primary which she later attended - for half days when she was three in 1985. No teachers suggested visiting her at home at any time. Far more traumatic than starting school was the transition to secondary school, the teaching style and ethos of which is so very different from earlier education.

Aka Mon 25-Aug-14 20:37:43

hmm

Aka Mon 25-Aug-14 20:39:38

That hmm was to the previous remark that Salmond was 'creepy' ....not directed at you Absent.

grannyactivist Mon 25-Aug-14 21:38:33

One of my children was a completely different person at home and at school. At home my child was articulate, confident and relaxed; the same child at school was reticent, anxious and barely spoke. It took four years and a privately commissioned Ed-Psych report for the school to agree with me that something was wrong at school. If my child's first teacher had been able to observe us in the home I think my child would have received much needed help sooner than was the case.

thatbags Mon 25-Aug-14 21:45:57

Salmond is creepy. He gives me the creeps anyhow. Or do I mean crêpes?

To get accents on an iPad hold your finger on the letter needing an accent and the accents associated with that letter should appear.

thatbags Mon 25-Aug-14 21:46:46

Then you slide your finger over the one you want.

Lilygran Mon 25-Aug-14 22:03:29

Creepy and evasive.

Elegran Mon 25-Aug-14 22:19:47

Never mind an Ipad, how do you get an accent on an ordinary laptop with Firefox?

Ana Mon 25-Aug-14 22:37:43

Try holding down the AltGr key and then the 'e' to get an acute accent. Can't work out how to get any of the others, though...

Elegran Mon 25-Aug-14 22:39:41

é Yes, that works. Thanks, Ana

Elegran Mon 25-Aug-14 22:46:35

I found this for other accents symbolcodes.tlt.psu.edu/accents/codealt.html

You use the alt key followed by a 3 digit number from the keys on the right-hand side of the keyboard. It has a method for if you don't have those keys too.

Aka Mon 25-Aug-14 22:55:10

I love the way this thread has meandered wink