My child’s primary school is not doing any online teaching

[Yandle]

My dd is in year 6. There are no online lessons with her teachers. We are sent links to the Oak National Academy website with tasks put on a very old fashioned database called “purple mash”.
After all my friends who have children at other local schools in my area, told me about their children having online lessons daily, I contacted the head at my dd’s school and asked if they would be doing online teaching.
The answer was a firm no.
The reason given was that the school has a large number of children who do not speak English as a first language.
I don’t think this is an acceptable excuse and I feel very annoyed that the school is using this as a reason. Surely the school should be doing MORE for these children?
My dd has been watching the videos & doing the very small amount of work set but I feel she is missing out (along with her peers) when my friends children are having live interactive teaching on Microsoft teams.
Is there anything I can do? I know I can’t make them teach online lessons but I can’t help thinking that other schools in my area who also have pupils who do not have English as a first language, manage to teach online. They obviously care more about their pupils.

Mine isn’t either but I am delighted. We have a pack of reading books, links to Oak and a maths book. I leave him to it as I am teaching live all day. He will read more books, make more things and will be fine. Our primary has lots of kids in so sensibly isn’t doing both. I am not sure I see the benefit in replicating school - actually I rather the relish the opportunity for us to look at better content for children. The curriculum and teaching has been so distorted to suit govt/ofsted we have forgotten what it could be. Year 6 is a year that could kill the live of learning in the most academic child. Missing the monotony of Sats prep is all good!

We’re not doing live lessons in our primary. It is completely impractical for a lots of our families who have multiple children and parents working from home. We are doing pre recorded inputs and set tasks. My dc’s school is doing the same and I’m really pleased with it all so far.

No live lessons for us either and I'm glad. It was a decision based on the school community after a parent survey. Very few wanted live lessons, mainly due to a combination of lack of devices and multiple siblings. The teachers record lessons the day before and we can access them whenever suits.

My kids school can't do love lessons because there's so many "keyworker" kids in the teacher can't.

Poor sod can't teach in a class room and on a computer all day simultaneously, unless of course you can clone them.

Teachers are doing their best. For every one of you there's s nother bloody thread saying they just want worksheets and no live lessons.

Teachers are HUMAN BEINGS doing their best. Just stop this, you ungrateful, nasty, selfish brats of people.

I care about my children’s education.

But you've admitted that what you really care about is being able to park your kid in front of a laptop for an hour so you can get some work done.

Your kid is in Y6. Why on earth can't they be parked in front of Teen Titans for an hour a day to give you time to work? And if they can't be, then why would a live lesson be more successful?

There's no evidence that a live lesson is better for teaching your child than a pre-recorded one, and there's no requirement for schools to teach live lessons.

Ours isn’t but then how could they when they are in school teaching all the many “keyworker” kids that are in? It’s fucking with every child kept at home and makes me furious, at the parents not the teachers.

There's no live teaching from DD's school, which suits us fine - at times both DH and I are on calls, so we schedule home schooling around that. We're also getting a good bit more work than last time.

What's frustrating is that none of it is marked - we might get a one line comment, but no constructive feedback. With the maths, that's fine, both DH and I can more than cover it. But with the English, it's hard to know how much is expected for, e.g., write a recipe.

I also can't imagine leaving a KS1 child in front of a live lesson - we're in a childcare bubble, so sometimes have a Y1 child in the mix. She's great, but needs support to access the work (and I don't know Y1 children who wouldn't; this isn't a SEND issue). If she was online as one of 30, she'd get stuck, get bored, and wander off before the teacher got to her. She's only with us on days I'm not working, but I can't imagine putting her in front of a live lesson while I was on a call....

@GuyFawkesDay

My kids school can't do love lessons because there's so many "keyworker" kids in the teacher can't.

Poor sod can't teach in a class room and on a computer all day simultaneously, unless of course you can clone them.

Teachers are doing their best. For every one of you there's s nother bloody thread saying they just want worksheets and no live lessons.

Teachers are HUMAN BEINGS doing their best. Just stop this, you ungrateful, nasty, selfish brats of people.

Woah, step away from the keyboard 😂😂😂

The lessons take longer to prep than normal ones as it all needs breaking down, putting onto system etc.

Can't do all that, teach all day and mark too

Our school isn't either OP.

Typical damned if they do etc style conversation. I’m a teacher and my school is providing 2/3 recorded lesson inputs a day with supplementary resources. Does everyone want this? No! Can I cater for everyone? No!

Live lessons come with much more baggage than people realise. Limited devices, lesson clashes with other siblings, technical problems. May not be practical for teachers also depending on their home situation.

Oak Academy, White Rose and BBC are great and are made my teachers/educational experts. It does beg the question of what is the need to reinvent the wheel if a great resource exactly the same as the video you are about to record already exists? I record myself because I teach 5 year olds and they need to see my face. An 11 year old could cope with that not being the case....

Is your problem that there’s no live lessons, in which case best speak to your school again and understand more fully the reasons. Teachers might just need to be in class and you might just need to accept that, they can’t be in two places at once or work two days worth in one. It’s a difficult situation for all but believe me when I say children WILL be fine. This is happening to the whole country and schools will make allowances even if the government does. So try not to worry and take the pressure off yourself :)

I suspect however, and I hope I’m wrong, that it may also be a case of “well what are the teachers actually doing” though, in which case I despair.

Same here; Seesaw rather than any live lessons.

@Fembot123

Nah, thanks. I'm pulling 14hr days trying to educate people's children and am so sick of the constant bile and criticism from people who seem to think they know better.

Ours aren't. And I understand totally why.

Teams and Classroom are PITA.

Teachers are manning bubbles, how on earth would teaching live work for the child at home? How do they tune out any distraction, ask questions?

What happens if they have 1 laptop and 3 kids? What about parents who are shift workers? Or with a toddler kicking off in the background?

We have recorded segments for some stuff that can be watched whenever. The rest is in a timetable with a mixture mediums.

What specifically about live teaching is it that you like the sound of?

[quote GuyFawkesDay]@Fembot123

Nah, thanks. I'm pulling 14hr days trying to educate people's children and am so sick of the constant bile and criticism from people who seem to think they know better.[/quote]
You're a fine one to talk about bile when you're spitting this out.

Many of us are on our fucking knees. I have sympathy for teachers but maybe it's misplaced if this is how they feel about parents.

My dc are getting a mix - live lessons, pre recorded or oak academy type and some worksheet or parent led. It is a good balance and I'm very impressed so definitely not complaining but the live lessons are probably the least effective for my dc. The teacher spends most of her time firefighting children's queries that are mostly around internet connection problems (though the children don't realise this). Then there are some children that just want to talk and dominate it taking it off topic (I love the mute all option) or posting incessantly in the chat function!! I find the pre recorded stuff is much less stressful probably for all concerned!

We don't get any pre recorded lessons either.

No, it's not all parents. Don't be daft. Most are supportive and doing their best too

It's these constant "my kids school isn't...." Threads.

It's exasperation. That's all.

Mine aren't getting any, just a few bits posted on the website. To be honest we've ignored most of that anyway and we're finding our own things to do that DC are interested in. Education isn't just about classroom teaching.

Live lessons for KS1 hopeless - they don’t concentrate at all. Even Y3/Y4 it’s hard. By Y5/y6 they should be able to get on by themselves anyway although a check in once a week for 30
Mins with the call would be nice. No need at all for live lessons - I think it’s very much to keep the parents happy rather than the best way for most of the kids.

@GuyFawkesDay

No, it's not all parents. Don't be daft. Most are supportive and doing their best too

It's these constant "my kids school isn't...." Threads.

It's exasperation. That's all.

I get it. It's rubbish for everyone like I said.

None here either, doesn't bother me as it means DD can do the tasks as and when.
Small village primary (no foreign language needs) and they have at least 2 classes of children in school.
Work is set on Google classroom with one task to be handed in each day plus options of other ones depending on level. Pkus reading.

Supposed to be 3 hours a day and seems about right so far.

@Stompythedinosaur

I think your reason for wanting live lessons is unfair - the school isn't there to babysit.

Being honest, if your dc are old enough to attend live lessons on their own they should be old enough to understand they must leave you along for periods of time to work.

Agreed and nor are teachers there to protect the mental health of parents.

Many of us are on our fucking knees. I have sympathy for teachers but maybe it's misplaced if this is how they feel about parents.

No not parents in general but teachers on Mumsnet have had hundreds and hundreds of these posts for nearly a year where posters over and over again are either telling them live lessons are awful why aren’t you just setting worksheets/ONAcademy versus why aren’t you doing live lessons you lazy bastards?

I’d have expected a few more to crack by now to be honest, not just GuyFawkes.

Ours neither. I

n Scotland there's no requirement for live or recorded teaching at all.

We just get worksheets emailed.

It's shit v