Teachers - what's it been like catching kids back since the schools went back?

[Lovingmylife]

I suppose it might differ from primary to secondary. Are the kids all massively behind? Did you just pick up the normal curriculum for the new academic year and then just plug the gaps? What will the impact be if the schools close again as obviously many parents can't provide the education because of work, child refusal, poor skills etc. I've not seen much said about it apart from year 11&13. Nothing about primaries.

I teach upper primary in Scotland. We missed 2 weeks of Term 3 and Term 4.

Our catchment area are generally working families who are making ends meet but aren't hugely wealthy. Most engaged with online learning. Concentration has dipped as they were out of the routine of school, but academically, it's really been fine. Most children in my class are where I'd like them to be at this point in the year.

Academic secondary - for my subject (science), we are on track in all year groups.
Small gaps needed plugging for kids that didnt engage with remote learning, majority did.
1st lockdown - work scheduled for every lesson, normal topics completed, practical work conveyed by video (recording our own or using you tube). Assessments done remotely. Marking done on screen (taking infinitely longer than normal). Lessons recorded rather than live to avoid interruptions from other inhabitants of my house (kids and dogs) but mainly to enable students to study when it suited them as long as deadlines were met (this got us round sharing of tech and workspaces). Live drop in sessions for problem solving.
Weekly questionnaire to all kids checking how they were getting on.
No input needed from parents other than checking they are engaging-parents were emailed if they weren't.
My own kids worked independently (primary and secondary) out of necessity as I was teaching my school kids.
I realise the picture in less academic schools / more pupil premium etc may be quite different.

I work in a private school where all kids had access to a device and we set work roughly in line with our normal timetable. Our start of year assessments showed those in y4-6 weren’t too badly affected, but y3 and below are lower than we’d expect based on last years data. No surprise really.
As a maths teacher it’s timetables i noticed took the hit, particularly y4 (now y5) who would normally have had a big focus in class on those in summer of y4. The English teachers report stamina for writing and handwriting being affected as most work was typed.

Times tables. Not reading timetables 😂

I'm not surprised at handwriting actually as my kids both full on refused to write. It was so stressful. Though I'm hoping the fact they are young (yr2&4) means they have plenty of time to catch up. It's interesting to know. Thanks for taking the time to share.

Social skills were the biggest deficit for incoming y7s having missed out on a vital part of their Y6 year with all the events that help them mature, become more confident/resilient and prepared for coping at secondary.

I work at a very improvised school. Most children don’t have pen and paper at home. We sent endless packs of stationary home. I had on average 3 children doing the work.
I teach year 5. They are are working at a spring year 3 level. It’s relentless trying to catch up. Thankfully they are a very willing and keen class. If we lose them again I can’t imagine them every catching up. They will have massive gaps.

The spring lockdown caused the majority of UK children to fall a term behind with their learning. www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/education-53947982

Thank you.

@RosieLemonade that's so sad if they won't ever catch up 🥺