Have the cohort starting 2020 been writen off by schools?

I regret not sending DS to school straight after Easter, he was home too long alone. If he had been year 7 or 8 I'd have sent him for sure. So I agree it is hard not to think of what you could have done differently. When I did send him, posters on here were going on about teens not needing 'babysitting' when all he needed was company. Those first six weeks of lockdown was so damaging to him.

My year 9 missed the end of primary and only had the Leavers hoodie.
His sister chose a prom dress in February and there was no prom. She was the cohort that had the TAGs and then people said it was unfair/inflated/ the opposite of inflated. She did A levels last year, not having done public exams before.

It was shit all round.

Y8?
Interesting.
Anecdotal again, but out y8 is a very tricky cohort.
Many behaviour issues, post covid anxiety and much higher send %
I'd be contacting the head of year and asking how long a reply will be...?
However, schools are haemorrhaging support staff, so it could be lack of admin/office manager/PA slowing things down.

I hear you. I guess on those days you get so desperate you feel like, surely there must be someone else feeling like this. It's so difficult when your child is struggling, especially when everyone else seems to love the school. If it makes it any easier, my DD is in Y10 and we're moving her in Sept. She's retaking the year as this year was so bad. The school couldn't have done any more. They were wonderful and she went on a residential this year. They arranged work experience, counselling, CAMHS referrals, the whole lot. But it didn't work. With the best school in the world, some kids will have struggles. I guess it could be COVID for DD, but easily it might not have been. I guess my point is, don't blame the school too much because by extension you're then blaming yourself. Why did I send them to this school. It's my fault. If I had sent them elsewhere it would've been better. The reality is, it might not have been.
Hang in there OP. If you have an inkling that a change of school might help, I suggest you at least put them on a waiting list and make the decision once a place is available.

I've been told the current yr1, yr3 and yr9 have been worst affected with the kids who were doing their a levels and gsces during COVID also badly screwed.

Are they doing things like foreign language exchange/trips this year or next? They would also be organising residentials for year 7 and 8 in one year already? It's disappointing to be the year that misses out but I can also guess their reasoning around the residential.

Of course you can. It just seemed like you were quoting me to disagree with me experience. You're welcome, as other parents in this year group have done, to post a separate reply.
I was mainly quoting to reply to the other parts of your post that it was halfway through the year and dark, as that wasn't true.

It sounds like the school is trying to make up for missed experiences with the current year 8s but see year 9 as too late to do these things. Assuming summer school had barriers to normal participation like distancing and masks and was in place of a year 7 residential? So residential and meeting teacher event were delayed by a year. But year 9 were now in their third year at school so perhaps it seemed pointless to do these things. You wouldn't have summer school before starting year 8 because they have been in school together for a year minus the second lockdown. I understand that it seems you have missed out but it doesn't sound intentional.

I'm sorry Op :( I can see why you're frustrated to be honest. It sounds like the school isn't doing a great job. Have you spoken to them?

Of course you can. It just seemed like you were quoting me to disagree with me experience. You're welcome, as other parents in this year group have done, to post a separate reply.
I think for girls it tends to be trickier as they don't really have the online gaming that boys do, especially if the secondary school they've moved don't have a main feeder so they're not all that close. My DD did settle well, even though she has and EHCP. She even went on the ski trip as the only Y7. Lockdown just seemed to regress a lot of them back to childhood. It was lovely at the time as she went back to playing with LPS and going on her bike all day, but her and her friends definitely didn't seem like Y8s upon their return. I see the same now. They seem like Y9s, it Y10s if that makes sense. I still don't think they're the worst effected hear though. For us, anecdotally, the first lockdown was a blessing.

Just anecdotal, obviously, but this year our "summer school" probably won't run as not enough families have signed their y6 and y7s up 🤷‍♀️

Which year groups is this school "prioritising" in your view?
Y11s due to gcses?
Y10s due to mocks?
Y6s coming up from Primary?
Is there a particular year group who has a lot of send/pp/da/lac/eal pupils?
Perhaps your views would be better shared with the SLT and Chair of Governors?

My dd was in that year.

She wouldn’t go back after lockdown. We eventually got her back and she has become a self harming EBSA in y12. Hasn’t been to school since Easter and cites lockdown as the starting point.

Meanwhile the battle for an EHCP ongoing and exhausting…

It affected ALL children at any school.

I have a child in Year 9 and one in Year 11. From reading threads on here and talking to friends everyone thinks their child’s year had it worse. Everyone calls their child’s year group ‘the Covid cohort’.

They all missed out on education and other formative experiences. But in my opinion the young people graduating from university this year have had the worst impact. A-levels pulled from under them, leaving home and half of their uni life under lockdown and now some of them not having their final exams marked.
I agree with this and another poster up thread who said some parents seem to say "they're a COVID baby/COVID child" for anything and everything.

Coming out of the pandemic schools have got different priorities and will be doing what they can with the budgets they have. It's not in their interests to write off a whole cohort.
No school I've worked at has done a Year 7 getting to know you residential, so I'd hardly say not having a trip is a sign that a cohort aren't cared about.

The people I know who teach secondary are working so incredibly hard, especially as there are fewer and fewer teachers left in their departments. They simply don't have enough money and are trying to do more with less

I agree. Primary, too.

9 - 2022/2023 Support Thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4617872-year-9-20222023-support-thread Yr9