My son is currently in Grade 2. He has been in the same school since Gr R and has received excellent results. His end of year results for Gr1 were a majority of 5's (based on 1-5 measurement). Based on his abilities AT HOME he seems to find no difficulty with the Gr2 work either, his homework is done with ease, his numeracy is excellent and he completes the sums his 11 year cousin gets for homework. His reading is also more fluent than that of children of a higher age. Al of this considered I was shocked that his 2nd term report were all 2's and 3's with 2 being poor. He even received a 2 for PE (he plays after school soccer/rugby/cricket/swimming and loves his sport)

The problem however is that his Gr2 teacher seems to have a problem with ME personally. I am a working mother and do not have time for the after-school social club or the pre-school car park chats, I have also never had words with her so I would have to assume it is due to my lack of socialising.

Would I now be correct to tell her that I find my son's 2nd term report to be an evaluation of her abilities, rather than my son's ? Do I tell het that I am of the opinion that this is all due to her personal feelings towards me ?

Discussing his grades will be pointless as she will simply remain by her measurement, although EVERYTHING ELSE indicates otherwise.

Please help - what do I do

The problem lies with the teacher. If your child can perform well outside of her classroom, but not in it, the problem lies with her. It might not be purely that she is deliberately marking him down, he might be distracted in her class, due to someone bullying him or doing something else to draw his attention away. But even if that is the case, she needs to take control of her class and make sure it is an environment that is conducive to every child performing optimally. We as parents are asked to take responsibility for a lot these days, and obviously you are, but we cannot be held responsible for what happens in the classroom, she needs to sort it out.

Having said that, if she is playing favourites and picking on your child for whatever reason, she needs to be set straight. If you do not have confidence that she will treat your child fairly, ask to have him transferred to a different class. Teacher have a big influence on how children see themselves, and if she keeps picking on him, or his marks do not improve, he might start viewing himself as a student who only has the ability to achieve 2's and 3's. She can really impact his self confidence and that might take years to correct...