To ask how much support your KS2 children are getting from school?

[concernedforthefuture]

DCs are yrs 3 & 5 (age 8 & 10). Since the beginning of lockdown, work has been sent weekly from school in the format of a series of links to where we can download various worksheets and watch online videos (all of which are available to the public such as Twinkl / White Rose Maths / BBC Bitesize, rather than something the teacher has produced). These are not to be returned for marking, there is no supplementary online teaching by their class teachers (either live or pre-recorded videos) and no real contact from the school apart from a weekly email to remind us to visit the class pages on the school website to see this week's recommended learning links.
I was more than happy with this for the first few weeks but with a real chance that they might not return to school this term, I'm really feeling that our children are being let down by not really getting an education at the moment. They're bored of the work - each day is quite different to the day before in terms of content and there's no obvious progression from one week to the next. Not having any feedback is leaving them wondering why they should bother at all and it's getting difficult to motivate them. We do other stuff too, but I do worry for the children whose parents aren't able to offer anything extra.
I wonder how this compares to others' experiences? Are all families just being left to get on with it ? I see a lot of posts about online teaching and class zoom meetings (with the teacher). I just don't understand what the teachers are doing. It's a big school (450+ pupils) and most days they only have around 10-15 key worker children so they can't all be in school everyday. To be clear, I'm not expecting online school from 9-3 for 5 days a week, but a few lessons a week tailored to the class would be welcome, together with some kind of interaction between the teachers and pupils to see how they're doing.
If it makes a difference, the (state) school is currently rated Outstandjng by Ofsted.

[Lostalot]

same, agree. I am a HUGE supporter of the the very demanding job they do usually

[worldsworststepfordwife]

I’ve read loads of threads like this and I think they’re doing what the guidelines they received at the beginning of lockdown advised them to do, no teaching, no marking, no individual communication. but do provide revision materials

So you’re school is doing nothing wrong except there’s a ton of teachers and parents on here making it clear to people like us that there are children getting far more than the guidelines and as the weeks as weeks are passing by the more of a concern this is

I accepted the guidelines for the first two weeks then after Easter I did what the teachers on here recommend, I emailed the school and they have since improved but nowhere near enough for my child but I’m fully aware that the majority of teenagers are doing nothing so the more the school provides the bigger the problem they’re creating for themselves if only some children are doing the work

[CallmeAngelina]

Oh God, not another thread on this that will descend almost immediately into a teacher-bashing frenzy. I'm reporting it.

In the meantime, if YOU have an issue with what YOUR school has provided for YOUR children, then get on the bloody phone to them and ask about it. DON'T use Mumsnet as an opportunity to slag off the whole profession.

HTH.

[onemouseplace]

Fucking tonnes of work set each day and none of it being marked, so if they are to get anything from it, we have to mark and go through it. So no actual teaching whatsoever. I’m pretty pissed off today about this.

[Shutityoujamtart]

My year 3 gets maths and English sent daily. French and music weekly. Forest school and art also weekly. We have to send the maths and English back daily for marking. His school teacher has given him several merits for good work that really boosts him.
His teacher also sends lovely messages of how she misses them all and how proud she is of them. I can also contact her if required for any questions.
I also have a reception child and he gets sent ‘work’ which is mostly fun stuff and very optional.

[Chrisinthemorning]

Independent school but very small.
Work uploaded daily to class dojo. English and maths 4 days per week. Weekly we get music, spellings, PE, games, topic, Science, French, reasoning, PHSCE and art.
Weekly zoom sessions for maths and english. The rest of the lessons tend to be set using a video of the teacher. Maths and English are differentiated too - she sets 3 levels of the same thing and we choose the appropriate level for our child.
We upload all work to the class dojo and the teacher marks/ comments on it every day.
I have been very impressed with the provision but we are still paying full fees so they had to step up!

[Chrisinthemorning]

Oh and daily zoom form time too- often quizzes etc.

[Maybelatte]

Mine are year 3, 4 and 5. The teachers send a weekly timetable out which is a rough guide really, includes some maths and English ideas as well as extras such as history, geography, art, RE etc. It’s similar to yours really, the maths is mostly just ‘use white rose maths/BBC bitesize/Twinkl sheet’. I think they’re trying to keep it simple for parents who perhaps aren’t overly academic.

[Maybelatte]

Definitely no zoom and they don’t mark the work or even expect you to send them examples of their work but I do anyway, I add it once a week to their Dojo portfolios.

I don’t mind though, I’m a teacher so I’ve coped fine with it.

[myself2020]

I wonder why so many teachers are offended when parents criticise clearly shitty school provsion? Good teachers who work their butts off (like teachers at my son’s school) should be really annoyed at their colleagues, not at the parents flagging it!

[RHTawneyonabus]

Ours is largely the same - we get a newsletter with links once a week and we are working through the extremely dull English and Maths workbooks given to us before Easter. The school is normally brilliant so I’m very disappointed in the very minimal effort they’ve put in. appreciate they will have other stuff going on though so I’m trying to develop my own resources.

[FourEyesGood]

I wonder why so many teachers are offended when parents criticise clearly shitty school provsion? Good teachers who work their butts off (like teachers at my son’s school) should be really annoyed at their colleagues, not at the parents flagging it!

I get annoyed because it’s being flagged in the wrong place. It should be raised with the individual school, not on a social media site where others just use it as a reason to criticise teachers in general.

The KS2 provision my DD has had is great. Her teachers set work daily, but are understanding if it’s not all completed. They offer feedback on the work if we submit it, and they’re quick to answer any questions we have about the work.

[Shutityoujamtart]

Our school won’t use Zoom due to safeguarding reasons?

[toastedcrumpetsforme]

I think we've had a good balance from our school...

Project books with ideas for written work provided on the last day in school.

Log ons for subscription sites for maths skills.

Various pieces of work set through Purple Mash & Google classroom. New tasks added on a regular basis, but no deadlines, you just do what you want in whatever order. Online work is reviewed by the teacher and pupils get a comment back.

We get weekly news emails from the headteacher and have had one phone call to check that we're ok. Emails, twitter etc regularly remind parents to get in touch if they want support.

Honestly, I can't fault them. Some days DD does loads of work, others none at all and spends all day playing. I love the flexibility.

I wouldn't want to start getting involved in zoom classes etc as we only have one laptop and I also need to use it for work, so schooling needs to be flexible.

[Dontcoughnearme]

We must be very lucky.

We get daily lesson plans the night before. YouTube videos from class teachers reading those end of the day stories. We are encouraged to send photos of work and the teachers respond and give pointers on their work. Teachers are using some online resources though to back up work for teaching methods. Sometimes it feels like too much work but we get it done.

[Dontcoughnearme]

Oh and we had packs brought home on the last day of school full of revision books, topic/subject books.

Secondary have lent us a laptop

[ProseccoBubbleFantasies]

[Ilovetea09]

My son is in yr4 and we have had the exact same experience. I don't really mind as he hates school so it is giving him a good break, in fact he doesn't want to go back.
But... By it being done this way is not showing any personal connection between the teachers and kids. The parents are feeling like we've just been left to it. We started out really trying to motivate the kids to work hard etc but what's the point when there's no marking, some kids are doing zero, and the teachers are at home and cannot communicate from home due to safe guarding. We live next door to the school and are next to the staff carpark. They have between 8 and 15 children in each day and 4 teachers on weekly rotation. The rest are at home

[FirmlyRooted]

No support whatsoever. I'm both disappointed and angry that the school has left the children to effectively fend for themselves for what will be months. We had 1 five minute phone call so far but no online lessons, marking, videos or any kind of teaching. Just a lot of links and powerpoint slides and other self learning materials. The rest of us are having to figure out how to work remotely, I strongly feel schools should be doing a better job.

Of course I have raised it with the school and my kids teachers directly, I can still discuss the issue publicly.

[Taswama]

We get similar but maths is tailored to my son as he is very behind. I know there are several other kids with additional needs in his class so I expect they are all getting tailored work too.
I don’t mind them using bbc Bitesize / twinkl / white rose. No point reinventing the wheel when there is so much good material already out there. I know they don’t like zoom for safeguarding reasons.

[fishfingerface]

Yet another teacher bashing thread

[Inmyownlittlecorner]

I have DCs in yr 2 & yr 6. They get a learning booklet every week. You can print it off at home or go into school to get it. The yr 2 teacher is great. She puts up little teaching videos etc a few times a week, but the yr 6 teachers just put notes on the class pages reminding them to do the work. Lots of parents have emailed & rang the school to ask for help/guidance but we’ve all been told that they’re doing exactly what they need to do. One parent asked for an answer sheet so they could mark the maths & was told that if they watch the videos on the class pages that they would be able to mark it themselves. Our school isn’t great at communication at the best of times though. I’m finding using Bitesize & twinkl better for my DC, they seem to engage more than with the worksheets from school.

[Hereward1332]

It's not bashing all teachers to say that the senior leadership teams in charge are not demanding proper educational resources for their pupils. Particularly those whose parents may not be able to fill the gaps. I feel that they should be doing more; DP and I are working full time from home while trying to teach our children. The educational framework decided by the school does not appear to require the same level of commitment from the class teachers.

If that is teacher bashing, then it is deserved. Being a teacher does not exclude you from criticism if you are passing your obligations on to parents. Not all schools are doing this, but it appears some are.

[StrawberryBlondeStar]

What is wrong with MN that a parent can’t ask if what her school is doing is ok? The whole point of this website is meant to be so people can ask questions and queries and how to approach things. I’m sure if people had come on and said, “OP that’s what our school is doing. That’s in accordance with guidance” she would think “ok then”. This is a site for parents. A lot of questions/queries will be about teachers and schools.

This you can not query anything about schools or teachers without getting demands threads are removed is ridiculous.

Yes remove offensive posters, but let’s not stop a concerned parent asking a questions

[ginsparkles]

My DD is in year 3. We are been set 7-8 things each day. We upload any work she does and I get either a note back, with some praise and hints of things to try again, or a little voice recording from them. Each activity flows through to the next, there's a great link through the different subjects.

School are very understanding that we won't do everything, so ask us to do what we can. There are also familiar things for them to do that they would do at school too, like spelling shed, timetables websites.