I got a phone call on Friday during the day, asking us to stop by after school – it would only be me, as C was working, but that was fine.
I entered the classroom, Mr M fluttered about clearing children and his TA etc before finally sitting and meeting my eye.
He was… apologetic. Humble. Embarrassed. Angry with himself. Full of promises to do better.
Apparently, the head who had been so politic with us had gone straight to Mr M and spent nearly 2 hours going through every homework folder, examining homework policy, quizzing and taking it all very seriously.
‘Oddly’ Boy’s was the only folder to have ‘somehow fallen through the cracks’, and that had no work unmarked. He freely admitted he does not mark every piece of homework, and certainly not in the depth he examines school work. He takes the folders home once every two weeks / twice every half term (his story changed), and marks them, somehow Boy’s was consistently missed. Ahem. Yuh.
Anyhoo, he has promised to do better, to communicate to the children that he really does care about the homework, and that he will look again at his work schedule pre-SATS as he obviously got the balance so wrong this year.
So all in all, both have gone up in my estimation – the head was utterly professional, presenting a united school front to the parents, but quietly tearing a strip off his deputy head, and the teacher was big enough to apologise and hold his hands up.
I left him with the fact that Jolly would be with him in two years time, and we’d be watching him… ;)