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.

[quote Adirondack]*@Theonlylivingboyinnewcross

I am a teacher and my students have been continuing with the courses throughout lockdown. They are more or less where they should be at the moment. They and their parents would be furious if they were compelled to repeat the whole year, I would think.

Similarly, DS has continued with his lessons throughout, as have all the children in his school.*

Well, jolly good for you.

Meanwhile, let’s just let the rest of the children who haven’t been so lucky scrabble in the gutter shall we? Maybe they could shine your kids shoes whilst they’re down there?[/quote]
This is my concern

Whilst I have two children with a PC (allbeit an old clunky one) and we have broadband, I know we are lucky. There are whole areas where I am where poverty is rife. To just assume that "everyone" has access to a PC, an internet connection and parents who are able to help where necessary is really blind. We know many families were already living on the poverty line, this will have pushed many way over the edge.

Not to mention kids like my teen who were already struggling with work and social skills. We are sending her in or I worry she will refuse to go back at all.
And what of kids who were already school refusers? We've spent ages telling them school is important only to lock them away for months.

LadyofTheManners

yes, might
not full time

there's no directive that it will be January. It won't take until January to see what the effects of going back to near "normal" are. Most people seem to think the virus is pretty safe anyway, and the idea of a second wave is nonsensical. We shall see.

@MurrayTheDemonicTalkingSkull sorry spelt your username wrong in the last post. I left school at 18 years old in Scotland and was a "normal" age so even I would have been 19 upon leaving school come to think of it. Crazy to think there are plenty 20 year olds in England who have undergraduate degrees but our children will be expected to stay at home and attend full time education in their uniforms whilst coming up to the same age.

Meanwhile, let’s just let the rest of the children who haven’t been so lucky scrabble in the gutter shall we? Maybe they could shine your kids shoes whilst they’re down there?

out of curiosity, what exactly are your concerns in normal circumstances? Are you suddenly waking up because you have experienced some mild inconvenience yourself?

What have you done about overcrowding of the class rooms, the lack of resources and staff, the inequalities among state schools and so on?

I think a lot of people who bought into the facebook memes about not worrying about doing the work sent by school and just all snuggling up together with a hot chocolate and baking cakes have the wind up them.

In fact missing a few months of school will make no difference to the education of any child who still has 4 or more years of schooling ahead of them, though it will bugger things up for exam and pre exam years.

Children from deprived homes who are not getting properly fed or cared for and don't have an adult who makes conversation with them in full sentences and shows an interest in their wellbeing will suffer. Repeating a year isn't the solution to that - they're missing out now.

My son has asd he would literally lose his shit if he had to do an extra year at school, it’s not practical, non of this is... so a whole generation of school kids reception to year 11 will miss out, unfortuntley it cant be helped, my kids have been doing okay I wouldn’t say they have thrived, I’m going Back to work Next week so my mum (who we live with) will be taking over, luckily she’s got more patience than me. I know for a fact half of DS year haven’t done any work during this what so ever. I’d rather not as I’m not academically inclined and just about passed high school myself but I’ve done it to keep thier minds refreshed every day so it’s not so hard when they go back.

I would start the next school year in January 2021 and have all school years from now on running Jan to Dec. Use Sept to Dec to do intense catch up for those that need it. Then use this fantastic opportunity to rejig the school year with more regular holidays and shorten the 6 week break.

I don’t know what the answer is op.
My eldest is leaving year 6 this year, they are frankly, not emotionally ready and ill prepared (although academically ready) so I’d love them to stay.
But god knows what the right thing to do is. It’s a mess a complete mess and I’ve no idea how the schools are going to re-engage with the kids and routine.

All I keep thinking is the poor kids who are off the vulnerable list but who are living a hellish life at home.

How about all students are assessed when they return in Sept.
The ones that are not working at age expected standards get extra help in the form of extra tuition after school (not by the usual teachers though - supply teachers) to catch up.
The ones that are on track or ahead don't need the extra help.

Therefore the ones most disadvantaged and fallen behind can be given targeted help. Obviously/Perhaps could'nt apply to every subject but core subjects English, maths, science at least? Primary literacy, numeracy, reading etc

@KingscoteStaff - so just a bunch of stuff to keep Y11s busy for a year then? Pretty much like they will have already spent March-September doing?
How will that work for those that are disaffected with education anyway? And for those who are not planning to go on and do A Levels?

Pick for Britain won't take you until you're 18.

DoingMyOwnThing the children who need that most won't stay after school. Interventions like taht only help kids who'd be fine anyway, unless it's very specifically targetted at exam candidates who've fallen behind but are motivated to catch up.

My y10 finally got some feedback on an English assignment.

We had parents evening in March, she was working with predicted grade of levels 8/9 across the board.

She is now working at level 6 in English. She’s almost 15 and she’s very good at English, to the extent that she was on the ‘gifted and talented’ thing at primary school, which afforded her things like access to extra curricular things offered between schools.

I’m educated to degree level in languages, dad is a doctor. I’ve worked from home throughout.
Sobering isn’t it?

(And she has her own study and computer).

Around the era of the national curriculum/ key stages coming in, my LEA standardised school intakes to match the rest of the country with transition at 7 & 11 not 8 & 12.
It took a couple of years of planning and many portacabins to be able to accommodate a double intake of y7s and y8s in the same year.

As angry as I am about the denial of access to appropriate, accessible education, we need education (and safeguarding) now, not catching up year groups where the split will still be polarised. Bored children begin to misbehave. The children who are behind still don't catch up.

Moving on is more practical and not significantly worse than trying to match up to the disparity since March. I say this as a mother and trained (experienced) teacher with a child with various SENs who does not get on with home learning at all.

@CountessFrog I may have offered before, I can't remember exactly, but I have an A Level in English Language (B) and have been English Curriculum Lead at several primary schools. If there's a way I can help, just message me. I'm part-time so have time to look into the KS4 curriculum and I'm happy to help.

And I'm sorry your daughter's school has been so rubbish.

Well, jolly good for you.

Meanwhile, let’s just let the rest of the children who haven’t been so lucky scrabble in the gutter shall we? Maybe they could shine your kids shoes whilst they’re down there?

Nice selective quoting of my post to suit your strop, Adirondacks? I am perfectly aware that the provision of education has been massively variable across the country. The point I was making was that it's not as simple as having the entire cohort repeat the year because of the variation. But do feel free to point out where in my original post I said that those students who hadn't been taught should be left to scrabble in the gutter?

CountessFrog when you say she's now working at a level 6 - you mean she has written one poor (for her) assignement? That does not mean she is now working universally 2-3 levels lower. It means she wrote one lazy assignment (or misunderstood the task).

I agree that teachers should have been marking. Our secondary school teachers have been marking. Without feedback it is impossible for children to know where they stand and whether they are approaching tasks the right way, which is very demotivating and starts a vicious cycle.

When my children started getting feedback after easter their motivation and understanding increased dramatically. For primary the teacher sends answer sheets and has the children submit a learning standards test in maths and language every two weeks. This is also invaluable.

If children are being set work it's worse than useless without feedback.

We aren’t just going to skip what kids should have learnt and start them on something brand new because the skills will be missing, we will adapt what we teach instead. So they might cover less content but will still have the skills they need for life. People need to have some trust that teachers actually know the best methods for teaching and those that haven’t stepped foot into a school in 15 years don’t.

@YerAWizardHarry - Ah, I see! That makes sense. I was 18 when I left too, but I don't think my parents would have been allowed to defer me?

I'm almost certain we won't be repeating a year in Scotland. CfE levels are designed to be achieved when children are ready, rather than in a specific year group, for the most part. In senior phase, the course levels are dependent on pupil performance/ability anyway, not tied to the year group - you can have S4-S6 all in the same class doing the same level (or different levels, but that's a whole other problem!)

@YardleyX

So we can just ‘suspend the curriculum’ to no impact, then?

Makes a mockery of the entire education system and of the teaching profession.

I suspect that what will happen is simply that next year's curriculum will be adjusted, as will exam requirements, and that process will continue over time till we're back to where we were last year. Or, of course, we could use the advantage of having to revamp to think really creatively and come up with a new curriculum, school timetable etc which address this particular problem and also the very evident problems we had with the old one anyway.

We have nothing to lose but our fronted adverbials.

Two thirds of the year had been done. The six missing months contain 9 weeks + of school holidays. Summer term often has tests, residential, spots days etc.

Many children will have kept up with their word at home (neither of my kids are behind).

There's no need to repeat a year. Pay tutors to go into schools and help small groups catch up.

with more regular holidays and shorten the 6 week break.

Oh FFS, not that again. If nothing else, the lockdown has shown how much we ALL miss out being locked in at home OR AT SCHOOL. Kids need a childhood, they need a life, and they need at least 1 proper long break. Not being stuck into a robotic routine.

The very first thing my children need now is a proper holiday, and catching up with friends. 6 weeks (if most things are opened) will nowhere be enough.

The oldest would lose out on work experience and earning their pocket money with summer jobs.

That shouldn't stop us from finding solutions to help out kids in disadvantaged and dangerous situations, but schools is not the answers, or not the only one.

Repeating the year would be a real kick in the teeth to every child who's worked hard the last few months and every parent who's on their knees trying to cope with work and schooling.

Oh but screw the kids whose parents have been UNABLE to help them - working full time from home on the only computer. Or those kids who don't even have access to a computer?!

Typical middle class answer. Screw the disadvantaged kids. I might add your type of parent is able to afford tuition as well to catch up should they find out their home schooling hasn't been up to scratch.

They SHOULD all be repeating the year. Kids SHOULD start school later. Sort the issue at the bottom of the chain.

The move to a Jan-Dec school year seems like a good opportunity.

Sorry haven't read the full thread so someone might have said it already but wouldn't changing the school year to January - December instead of September - August. There would be a group of children disadvantaged, the ones who are 5 between September - December but it would be easier to deal with than all children redoing a year.