Re-sit whole school year?

[Gardenwoe]

Understandably many teachers have concerns about school starting back this side of the summer holidays, and whilst I'm not entirely convinced things will be much different in September - how feasible would it be for some years to resist the whole year? I'm primarily thinking Years 10 and 12, but I guess there may be reasons why other years should also redo the whole year - maybe Reception.

I know logistically it may cause headaches when it comes to exam time - possibly double the number sitting GCSE's and A levels, but surely it's not fair for these students to potentially miss 6 months of the curriculum and still be expected to attain grades to get them into 6th Form/FE settings and Universities. Not to mention when it comes to jobs and they are competing against applicants from different years who's have not faced such educational disruption?

Yes - I know students are being set work to do at home, but I don't think anyone can dismiss the importance of face to face teaching, and that's assuming you can get them to do the bloody work that's been set and a 'couple of weeks face to face with their teachers' really is t going to cut it, is it?

So - people with experience in schools, is this viable? Can students resit a whole year? What are the implications? (One glaring one is that we will have 19 year old adults learning in schools, is that an issue?) If it is viable - why aren't we lobbying for that, rather than teachers needing PPE, or Head teachers using SM to ask parents not to send their kids in on June 1st?

In short NO.

What happens to the children needing to start school in September?

Where is the space for year 7?

Schools are at maximum capacity, there are no spare classrooms or teachers.

No one's lobbying for it because its a stupid idea. Sorry OP.

In theory it’s a good idea except for where are you going to put the new intake?

Duh! Stupid cow..... how obvious is that
If I pay for Premium can I delete my own threads

Ds is currently in year 11, he gets his gcse results on the 20th August. He can't retake year 11.

(One glaring one is that we will have 19 year old adults learning in schools, is that an issue?)

To be fair that already happens in lots of school sixth forms and sixth form colleges. Many have a year 14 for those who don't do so well in the y12 exams and/or those who change subject midway, although in smaller numbers than whole year groups.

But realistically schools can't house an additional year group of year 10s. There just isn't the space.

I can’t understand why we would. The children haven’t missed a whole academic year. They’ve missed a term plus a few weeks only. In England it won’t even be that if schools return in June.

No - not a whole academic year but just short of half the year, ours were stopped a week before lockdown due to staff shielding etc.

Anyway yes the space thing is impossible isn't it.

So how about year 12, would they be able to if they thought it necessary?

Year 10 aren’t returning this year. So they’ll have missed 20% of their GCSE courses. Something will need to be done. But my yr10 ds would be horrified to have to do another year!

Garden I think that maybe a small handful of year 12s could repeat as that is something that can and does happen normally. The whole year group couldn't though as you would have no room for the new year 12s.

The other issue, even if you could find space for the extra year in schools, is what happens next year when there are no yr13s moving up to uni. A whole year of no fees would break a lot of unis wouldn’t it?

Year 12a are a funny year anyway, a lot of their learning can be in small groups which is possible remotely. Plus a lot of the time they get through the subjects/ topics quite quickly and then spend time revising or I think it depends on subjects though a lot.
My DD is year 12 and I am concerned but seeing as the disruption is the same for everyone then the grades will be adjusted I am sure to make it fair for them all. It's not like it's just a certain region or small group of kids.
There will be some who are missing the interaction and teaching though for sure. Especially for some subjects!

There’s no space and no teachers available for an extra year. There’s shortages of both in normal times, let alone now.

Dear god no, everyone will catch up and exams will be adjusted to suit. I am a lecturer and I can see absolutely no benefit to those who are developmentally ready to move on with life being held back in school because they missed a few months of regular teaching. I’d rather my students carry on and we’ll adjust to meet them where they’re at. They’ll all catch up in time.

Its not workable OP but I heard people ask it several times so its not that daft a question!

If were not able to jump headfirst into full time "normal" teaching in September I think something will have to change with year 10s GCSEs. No idea what, though.

It might be OK for kids like my youngest who is already a bit behind in his schooling. Not for my eldest who is miles ahead

I am so concerned about my year 10 dc. I know people say the grade boundaries will change to reflect the disruption but that is not true as some schools are keeping to the gcse content much better than others.
I asked a staff member at my dc school if they could provide a list of the exam boards for each gcse subject so I could get more work online for my dc (as the 2 hours a day provided by the school is not enough in my opinion) and I was told they didn’t know what exam boards each subject would be with or even if the exams would take place!
Right now I would be happy for my dc to repeat the year!!

Year 12 is a definite possibility. Depends upon your local provision. Sixth form colleges can be under subscribed so capacity may be there.

GCSEs are marked on a curve so grade boundaries will de facto be adjusted.

What might be a good thing to happen is for the 'best 3 out of 4 topics to count' type of thing for things like English Lit. This would go a little way towards reducing disadvantage for pupils whose school / home lives meant they did little work during this term. However that would only be possible in some subjects, eg wouldn't work for maths.

It isnt a stupid idea, its my dd plan b if she doesnt get her grades to move onto 6th form. However, it does depend on intake numbers..we are fortunate that there will be enough 'room' the year to accommodate this, however, dds school has grew in popularity so if this school year and covid had fallen 3yrs down the line it wouldnt be a feasible option...

It's not a stupid question,because well these are unprecedented times and no one knows how it will.pan out ,logistically however it would be a nightmare.

Penguins that's fine but there are parents who have planned for free childcare from 3. Suddenly raising that to 4 causes all sorts of problems let alone the space for it.

One of the problems with resitting the whole year is not only tear 6 to year 7.

But how would colleges and universities cope a year without an intake of students.