Surely, repeating this school year is the only way?

[YardleyX]

In what world would it ever have been thought an option to just finish school for the year in March, and then carry on to the next year as though nothing’s happened?!??

Some schools have worked exceptionally hard to continue educating during the pandemic, but official line from the government is that the “curriculum is suspended”.

Therefore, unless the entire curriculum is being re-written, all the way up to and including A level, how can there possibly be an expectation for every child in the country to just ‘move on’ in September?

Year 11 and Year 13 could move on. Impact would therefore be no schools have a Year 11 this year, and some provision needs to be made in order to accommodate this years Reception intake.

Hardly ideal, but better than an entire generation of children falling so far behind, and in lots of cases probably never catching up.

It's *not bloody hard

Well I like the idea. I'd have the new school year start in January tho, so four months late, yes there will be problems at the reception end but the majority of the school years will benefit. (University is going to struggle in September anyway, most of my friends U13s are deferring as don't want to pay for accommodation if home learning)
Exams would then be in November. Yes it's radically differently but it would help the kids who need it most.

I agree that this is the only option. Regarding reception and ending up with a double year, maybe they could split the year that's due to start in September. Those born before Feb could start in September with last year's intake retaking the reception year (making the year 1.5 times its usual size) and those born from Feb to August could defer to next year, so the 2021 would also be 1.5 times its usual size. Then back to normal from 2022 entry.

I also don't understand why we don't just move the summer holidays for English and Welsh schools this year. We could finish next week and have a 6-8 week summer holiday early and start again in August, when the situation would be better.

Of course they shouldn't repeat the year. This will cause a huge issue for those about to start their schooling experience in reception and have a massive knock on effect for nursery. For those about to leave this term with the exception of exams and the associated revision for those exams much of their intellectual academic learning should have been completed and consolidated. Plans are already ongoing to ensure they are not disadvantaged by not being able to sit those exams. For all the other year groups they will have time and opportunity to go back to school when safe to do so. If they need further adjustments there is no reason to think they won't get them based on what has happened thus far with adjustments for school leavers. Beyond that I suggest we leave the teachers to do their job without being hounded at every opportunity on every media outlet and public forum and have more faith in our children's ability to be resilient. We are incredibly fortunate to be able to even have the option for our children to learn at home. If some parents don't step up to support their kids then those children's disadvantages will be far more wide reaching than what they miss during a half school year.

Some on this in the papers today, including that some private school parents are pushing for this and willing to pay for it, www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/coronavirus-700-000-children-doing-no-school-work-qprsc9z23

Hmm. Unfair I think, on the others.

I don’t think that, on paper, the 3 months ago will be an issue in primary. They have time to recover from that gap.
I’ve seen that happening with ds who arrive in Y1 way way behind and had recovered by the time he started Y2. But yes the school was very good and there was some special measures in place. Similar schemes might be needed.
I have more issues with my Y10. Because missing those 3 months will have a big issue on his results for GCSE. I’m not sure how the school is going to close the gap. And this is with a good school and him being independent. A child who has little or no input from parents, is already struggling with school etc... will have had a very different experience. I can see how this will have devastating effects for them.

There is already a lot of talks about how this will have affected lower socio economical backgrounds the most. And that it’s usually also the children that struggle more. There is a major issue of those 3 months have been widening the gap even more. What will be the measures in place to support those children?

Making everyone miss a year is impossible. The impact wood be felt at every level, including on companies years down the line when they suddenly find themselves without graduates. Or when universities find themselves without students. A few with no intake (that’s what holding Y12 back would mean) Would decimate universities.

I like the way most people who are confident their children have received a decent education during lockdown don’t seem bothered about what happens to the ones that haven’t.

So many personal and individual examples.

"Many parents are said to be asking schools if their children can repeat a year. One head teacher has invited his lower sixth form to do just that.

Education lawyers, meanwhile, have advised independent schools they could be besieged by parents wanting their children to start the academic year again. Parents would have to pay for the extra year but it raises questions about who would fund state school pupils if they repeated a year.

Fulham Boys School models itself on traditional private schools. More than one in seven of its boys qualifies for free school meals. Alun Ebenezer, the head teacher, said Year 12 pupils would suffer from missing six months of A-level studies. More than half of teenagers have accepted his offer and will start again in September, or restart some of their A levels.

“It shouldn’t take a crystal ball to see the significant impact this lockdown will have in amplifying inequalities,”

just finish school for the year in March, and then carry on to the next year as though nothing’s happened?!??

WHERE did you see that schools had "finished" in March?
What the fuck have we all been doing for the last 3 months?

Apart from all the practical, economical and obvious reasons above why it's a ridiculous idea, are you going to tell all the kids and teenagers who have been working their ass off for hours every single day that it was for nothing and it doesn't count?

I am bored of this race to the bottom.

The disparity between home schooling provision is huge. What else is new, the disparity between schools, between parental involvement in state schools IS huge. Why else would parents pay a fortune to go in the catchment of oversubscribed schools.

If we cancel this year (which we won't), at least tell the kids so they start their summer break now instead of working and studying all day.

I assume they are never going to bring back those draconian rules and fines for parents wanting to take their children out of school for a day or two. If the government theory that missing a single day of education would irrevocably damage your progress was true then there are an awful lot of fucked generations now.

If some parents don't step up to support their kids then those children's disadvantages will be far more wide reaching than what they miss during a half school year.
The problem is that some parents are not able to step up.
Because they are at work (working in a supermarket etc...). Because they dint have the knowledge (harder to teach your child to read or do column addition or division if you don’t have a good handle on it yourself). Because they feel unsure of themselves. Because they don’t know how to do it so the way they support the child is actually detrimental.

I’d be very careful of implying that it’s a choice in the parent side if they are not there to support homeschooling.

I dont know if this is overly simplistic but a lot of exams are about information recall and there are usually (with geography/english etc) a range of texts, case studies or examples to read and study because any might come upon an exam paper. Could the papers not be adapted somehow so the level of work is the same but the quantity you must recall or write is less (so, for instance, instead of a 1.5 or 2 hr exam you might have a 1 hr one...?...and only have to give examples of one book/case study instead of 2?)

I am of the impression that school finished in March for my child, who hasn’t been into school since, nor spoken to a teacher, and for whom the work set was so basic that she was utterly bored by it.

What part of that has been a continuation of school for my child?

Homemade - they have been told. THE GOVERNMENT SUSPENDED THE CURRICULUM.

I can completely agree OP.

The thought originally would have been obscene but the more I think about it, the more I think it seems like the best way forward.

Some will be ok and catch up but others won’t and they’ll fall further behind and become disengaged with school. They’ll feel ‘stupid’ and that will knock their confidence.

Its not fair to let them miss so much school and then start back at the level they ‘should’ be at before this carry on

concernedforthefuture there just aren’t enough school places to have 1.5 times the normal children in Reception. Our village school has a PAN of 20. They took 24 children last year, and they have 26 children due to start in September, as all local school are oversubscribed this year and they have been forced to take more children that they normally would (this already has a knock-on effect and means classes are terribly mixed - yrR/1,Yr1/2, Yr2/3, yr 3/4 to accommodate and ensure no KS1 children are in classes of more than 30. They already know next year is a bulge year, so even working on this years statistics, that would mean a Reception class of around 37 this year and 26+ next year. The school just wouldn’t have capacity!

My two would be fed up going over the same work again

A good curriculum is designed to build on skills as you move throughout it whilst learning different topics.
So come September, teachers will be rewriting their curriculum plans to accommodate that some topics are lost/missed but that the skills they will be developing are still in place to support learning at the next stages.

There are 4 year groups who I worry for at this stage only - year 12 into 13 and 10 going into y11 who have lost some key exam content time, y9 into 10 who will need to do some skill gap analysis to ensure its there before hitting 2 year gcse slog and y5 who have to be sats ready.

I was disappointed to hear exams will go ahead next year, I think there was scope there to adapt them somewhat to meet the current situation (maybe content, exam date etc).

If you really want to help our kids, we need a push on removal of performance tables and ofsted inspections for the next year at least so that teachers can do their thing and focus on rebuilding the kids ethos, skills and emotional stability without worrying about results.

Don't worry about curriculum and lost skills - teachers are miracle workers and can sort that but they need to pressure to do all the other stuff for the sake of it to be removed to let them teach....you know trust them to do their job!

So yes I think they should repeat a year

Children don’t need to repeat the year if you think about it a lot of the school day is actually not learning especially in primary

I agree with this. I don't think our DS (8) has actually learnt very much per se at school - he's had a lot of new ideas introduced and new interests sparked in a helpfully regimented way, but I see primary school (for him at least) as mainly a way of getting used to routine and socialising with his peers.

Some schools round here have also had bulge years of 3 classes, 90 in reception in recent years. Not sure why this was not realised at the times as some small schools closed just before this but there we go. One of these is now a nursery, the other a sure start (?) centre so not sure if could be brought back in to use either.

I am concerned about my Yr 10, but not about my year 6 as I know first year secondary goes over a lot, and they mainly do end of term stuff now anyway

i think we are over estimating the amount of work that is being done at home, a friend of mine with two at secondary school tells me that in each of their classes only two children are working/handing in work.

I don't think repeating the year would be practical for all of the reasons already mentioned. I do think the next year (probably the next two years) will need to be more 'intense' though, with probably more focus on academic stuff in schools and less 'fun things' like outings and activity days, and less things like assemblies which aren't essential, in order to allow kids to catch up a bit (although obviously still let kids have play time / lunch breaks etc). There will also probably have to be some more focus on home learning for both primary and secondary school age kids to help with catching up (e,g, make sure we spend a bit longer reading with our kids each day if primary school age etc, as I think it's unrealistic to think teachers alone will be able to help 30 kids all catch up in one year). In an ideal world I think it would be good if each school made the school day slightly longer for the next year (e.g do 9 - 4 instead of 9 - 3.15 each day) as that would also add in quite a bit of 'catch up' time each week, but I appreciate that could be difficult practically.

assume they are never going to bring back those draconian rules and fines for parents wanting to take their children out of school for a day or two.

so the kids can miss schooling given to their classmates and fall behind? Yeah, great idea.