Maz honey - I have to tell you a little story.

I have a Surname that can have a double letter in the middle or not. Almost everyone puts in the double letter even though I have only ever come across one person who actually spells it that way.

Anyway, at the start of Year 3 we had to write our full names for some reason and mine came back with a big red line through it and a double letter where I had (correctly) put a single. I went home that night and was apparently really quiet. What I remember was when I went to bed crying my heart out and when Dad came to tuck me in I through my tears said "you never told me it was wrong" apparently it was all I could say was over and over and it went on for ages until I finally went to sleep exhausted. Once I was asleep Mum in a desperate attempt to work out what could possible be wrong went through my school bag. She found the paper with my name crossed out and put two and two together.

She was so mad she drove us to school the next morning and went and spoke directly to the Head Mistress and the Head Mistress then came and got the teacher out of class. She was well and truly told off for what she did.

My Head Mistress was the most wonderful old nun who at assembly that week gave quite a speech on the importance of identity and how important a name is as it is the one thing that we come into this world with and leave this world with and always have inbetween. And it is something that no one can take away from us. I know that in a school of hundreds of kiddies that whole speech was just for me and I still think warmly of that old Nun.

I suppose the moral to my story is that to me my name was hugely important and not only could someone not get it right but they made me think that I had got it wrong. So, I know how your DS feels. And I think that it is hugely important that the teacher is given a little encouragement to get it right. It isn't like it is that hard to get right - specially if she has been teaching him for years.

Take a leaf out of my Mum's book and go kick some but!

for Niklaus from me.