School 'contract'

Tefal · 18 Oct 2018 at 15:20

Angilion said:
The OP is over 18 though. So if they had already signed the contract then this thread would have put them in breach of contract. What penalties would the school impose for breach of contract? It's suspicious that they don't mention that.

I suspect that it's just meaningless twaddle, but contracts are, well, contracts. They're binding if agreed to by a legally competent adult.

Presumably grounds for expulsion?

I'm sure the point of this thing is purely so if there's an incredibly problematic family they can point to it and go look you agreed to this

RetiredGreyFox · 18 Oct 2018 at 16:33

MikeTheNative said:
OCUK is more intellectual than your average social media though. To be fair you need a lot higher IQ than your average facebook group to understand.

Not compared to my Friends on Facebook, you need better friends.

Avenged7Fold · 18 Oct 2018 at 16:34

Certainly a lot more frothing and as many soundbites on GD as there is on my facebook feed

Angilion · 18 Oct 2018 at 16:41

MikeTheNative said:
OP better watch out or he might be sued for breach of contract for not making his child do homework.

The contract covers a lot more than that, so your "point" is invalid. As I pointed out in the post you just "replied" to, the existence of this thread would breach that contract. It explicitly forbids signatories from expressing any concerns in any way other than face to face speech.

Tefal said:
Presumably grounds for expulsion?

I'm sure the point of this thing is purely so if there's an incredibly problematic family they can point to it and go look you agreed to this

Even if that was the initial intention, function creep is common and especially so with vague, broad, undefined clauses.

MikeTheNative · 18 Oct 2018 at 16:45

How did people not get my OCUK is intellectual post was sarcastic?

Diagro · 18 Oct 2018 at 18:06

terley said:
I swear if teachers just stopped coming up with a load of waffle like the contract OP has shown us, perhaps our kids would actually learn something..

The teachers don't come up with this.

It's the non teaching leadership teams.

If you don't know, don't post.

RetiredGreyFox · 18 Oct 2018 at 19:14

MikeTheNative said:
How did people not get my OCUK is intellectual post was sarcastic?

Probably because from facebook posts we have on here, many posters do think they are intellectually above Facebook when it is their fault for the friends they had.

16-bit · 18 Oct 2018 at 19:21

Woogie said:
It strikes me as just a fancy way or getting the parents and kids to ACTUALLY read the School rules and requirements so that when something happens later on and the parent or child goes "I didn't know about that" I.E School uniform or none attendance, then the School have literal signed proof that you were told and read it.

That and to make the child feel included by doing something that the people they look up too and learn from, are doing.

That's what it looks like to me too. The way it has been interpreted here is entertaining.

shadow_boxer · 18 Oct 2018 at 19:37

^Agreed. Seems quite a few people here are getting worked up over something very minor.

MookJong · 18 Oct 2018 at 19:54

Some of that is incredibly patronising.

RetiredGreyFox · 18 Oct 2018 at 20:32

MookJong said:
Some of that is incredibly patronising.

Any teacher will tell you it is necessary with a lot of parents.
People will sign it and still not read it anyway.

Rroff · 18 Oct 2018 at 20:47

16-bit said:
That's what it looks like to me too. The way it has been interpreted here is entertaining.

If that was the intention then it would probably be a good idea not to have stuff in the child section that even many parents would struggle to explain to their child... let alone kids <10 comprehending what it is actually about.

As I deal with the general public from time to time professionally I get where they are coming from with the rest of it but it seems to me they could have done with running it past some parent and kids first and actually being prepared to deal with honest and open feedback - seems to be a strange trend these days of being scared ******** of real feedback in organisations, etc.

16-bit · 18 Oct 2018 at 22:59

Rroff said:
If that was the intention then it would probably be a good idea not to have stuff in the child section that even many parents would struggle to explain to their child... let alone kids <10 comprehending what it is actually about.

As I deal with the general public from time to time professionally I get where they are coming from with the rest of it but it seems to me they could have done with running it past some parent and kids first and actually being prepared to deal with honest and open feedback - seems to be a strange trend these days of being scared ******** of real feedback in organisations, etc.

That's true about feedback but it could just be something they were advised on doing or someone that worked at the school got it from somewhere else. I've found a similar version of the 'Home-School Agreement' that doesn't contain some points like the Growth Mind-Set which could just be one of the schools KPI's* (*can't think of the correct term) and they just wedged it in there.

Probably needs reviewing but not a big deal overall.

Lakeland · 18 Oct 2018 at 23:53

As previously mentioned it’s a commitment rather than a contract. I can see why it would possibly annoy parents who always do right by their kids but remember it’s not really intended for you..

It’s not perfect but it has only been created to get everyone to engage more with education. Schools that have positive parental engagement do better than those who don’t. I first saw this kind of thing as an ICT acceptable usage policy and it’s just developed from there. It’s 100% senior leaders who write this kind of thing. The posts on the first page saying the points should be built in to lessons; they definitely will be regardless of what’s in the ‘contract’. I can imagine in many schools the teachers probably don’t even know that the contract exist.

It’s one of them things that will be ignored unless you have a meeting with the head and your child because you’re letting them stay up until 3am on the PS4 and they’re falling asleep in class.

I would sign it and stop worrying about it as it’s not worth the paper it’s written on.

Nitefly · 19 Oct 2018 at 00:25

It’s intended to be a set of guiding principles... not a significant and enforceable contract!

Ugley_Matt · 19 Oct 2018 at 00:59

Setting expectations from each party. Seems pretty sensible

dowie · 19 Oct 2018 at 01:05

Well a code of conduct etc.. would be reasonable, some of the items listed on that "contract" are potentially unreasonable, badly written or ambiguous.

RetiredGreyFox · 19 Oct 2018 at 08:13

dowie said:
Well a code of conduct etc.. would be reasonable, some of the items listed on that "contract" are potentially unreasonable, badly written or ambiguous.

Out of interest what would you call unreasonable?

dowie · 25 Oct 2018 at 21:57

SexyGreyFox said:
Out of interest what would you call unreasonable?

Forgot to answer this, I did give examples earlier in the thread but I wouldn't agree to always going to the school first before say discussing something with other parents on Facebook, WhatsApp etc..

The below story is perhaps relevant:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...adteacher-threatens-parent-defamation-posted/