Y10 - the forgotten Covid year?

[kittybloom]

Any Y10 parents out there? I really feel this year group is forgotten about in terms of the impact of schools shutting and COVID. A friend mentioned to me once that Y6 and Y7 are very important transitional years and we can't underestimate the importance that our children missed out on that. Compared to my younger child who is now in Y7 - it is stark. Older child holds back and hasn't thrown themself into much. Younger child is trying lots of different things and exploring life more. From general chatter amongst my friend group (so I appreciate non-scientific) this seems to be the pattern; the Y10 haven't engaged in secondary school / life experience as much. I feel quite sad about it, I suppose. I've tried prompting to go out more etc but ultimately they are of an age now where a lot of those choices are for them to make rather than us be helicopter parents.

Yep I've got one in yr7 too now and they got to throw themselves into school life, do the fun drama club, play sports.

Yr 10chikd is all "oh that's so like yr 7s. Yr 7s are like that" but they're at the look done on yr 7 stage without ever having the chance to do these things. And they won't join those clubs or do that now as that's "so yr 7"....

Similarly at parents eve last week we had a tutor say she'd got a couple fo classes that just don't talk. Don't interact don't ask her questions and in all her years of teaching she hasn't had that in her subject. Tbf most of her classes are fine but it's that lack of socialisation that meant when they mixed the classes up lots didn't know what to do.

And seeing my youngest do the yr 6 camp and disco and transition day and all the transition "things" made me so sad at the time.

And yes going into yr 7 in covid kind of set themselves up for a pattern of not mixing.

Our Y10s at school are absolutely lovely and get involved in loads. Y7/8 are struggling a bit more, especially with focus/writing. My feeling is that things will even out in the long run.

Yes I am wondering this. My year 10 DS is like this but he's dyslexic and finds school difficult too. Hes not the best socially and lacks confidence. I do think some of it is just him, think maybe he has very mild sensory issues but covid has probably contributed to this as well.

In my experience it is the current year 7s that are showing signs of missing out due to covid, not the year 10s. We've never, in many combined decades of teaching, had a year group so immature, and with such a poor grasp of what normal acceptable behaviour looks like - possibly due to over indulgence and over compensation, I don't know - anyway, that is across several MATs in several different areas of the UK

I think all were affected in different ways tbh. I don't think there is a worst year. They all lost important years of their lives and were impacted in different ways. For some the academic impact is more obvious and for others the social.
I've got a current year 12, 10 and 7.

Year 12 missed out on so much of the foundation years before the GCSE course and then other stuff compounded that like all the teacher strikes. Then they also had more of the COVID exam allowances in my terms of advance knowledge of topics, formula sheets etc taken away.

My year 10 like yours missed that important transitional time.

My year 7 lost those years where they really start to learn social skills and conflict resolution. The behaviour of his cohort is deplorable and it really affects him. His confidence going in to secondary isn not at all what I expected it to be, he's stressed and dispirited.

Mine are also at one of the worst affected schools by RAAC so still missing practical science. My year 7 has had online learning, a rota for coming in to main site combined with online learning, being taught off site and now in temp accommodation. He's had a constant parade of different teachers. My year 10 has missed a whole year of practical science yet will be graded alongside kids who had no disruption and their performance will be measured according to the same criteria. My year 12 has also experienced disruption and had only recently regained access to the specialist classrooms required for their practical subjects.

There are, and will always be, things that impact their education. I feel far more answer towards RAAC than I do COVID tbh. At least with COVID all kids in all schools were being treated equally.

My current Y11 seems to have been impacted more than those I know with dc a year younger ime.

Everything shut down for them in the Spring term of Y7. They'd barely got their feet under the table and they were home.

There are several 'big' trips and experiences in Y's 7-9...a Y7 residential, the big Y9 ski trip etc. All missed. By comparison, those a year younger, current Y10's, got to go on their Y9 abroad trip.

I don't think there's one 'forgotten year'. It was shit for a lot of kids in different ways with very little attempted to make up for the misses.

This.

Our Y10s are lovely and mature, even in the bottom sets. Yes, there's truancy, but there is an issue with that across the board for all year groups.

Y7, however, are by far the worst year group I've ever had to teach when it comes to focus, manners and social interaction.

It's not about playing covid top trumps. Op didn't say yr10 had it worst just recognising that they all. Had different experiences and that some of the difficulties yr 10have had become apparent when you have a younger one go thru.

I suspect this thread may complete the full range of which school year missed out most due to covid.

From what I've seen, everyone who wants to post on the topic thinks their dc's years had it worst.

All year groups ,and staff have been affected. Our current y7 are the least socially adept y7 I have ever seen.

Margaret I do think she said they had it the worst?

Its just acknowledging each year was affected and in different ways depending on stage.

There's definitely a huge gap in social skills between our years 7s and every preceding year group, and colleagues in a number of other schools report the same.

Our year 10s are fine, a normal mix of behaviour, dedication to their studies and engagement in school and out of school activities. Year 7s are definitely incredibly immature and poorly behaved. In fact, they're the reason a number of colleagues and I are considering leaving teaching.

But I don't think it's Covid related. I think it's having grown up with phones and their concentration and real life interaction are non-existent.

Don't don't don't. Compeltely changes the meaning of that sentence 🤦

All were affected.
My year 13 I feel was the most disadvantaged- they missed both their GCSE years, quite how they were expected to take GCSEs considering how little they were actually taught is beyond me.
My year 12 missed his first GCSE year but was taught in the second.
My year 9 missed her last years of primary including her residential and leavers do, I feel she has lots of chances to catch up as it was her primary schooling that was affected.

Yep. I could argue for my Y9 child (no Y6 trip) and my Y4 child (missed out on reception phonics basics). It was a shit show for all children and young people

None of mine have ever done practical science due to lack of science teachers. It’s fine actually. They don’t do any practicals in the exams. Watching the practical science experiments was actually better - there are some very good, clear, instructive videos online that can be better than anything done in the middle of a chaotic classroom.

Were the schools in the UK closed then? How did education work?

It's not top trumps, kids were affected across the board. Adults were affected too.

How much they were impacted is partly down to location, upbringing, parental involvement, and probably crucially, what happened since. It's not a case of year 7 or year 9 because some are doing fine, others are struggling far more because their parents and/or school haven't made up the difference for what they lost out on. Alas as so often, the lower income groups are more affected but even that isn't a given.

My dc were negatively affected too, especially dsd but in reality life goes on and we as much as possible are mitigating against the consequences

My Y10 seems ok, apart from an obsession with handwashing.
His school were excellent at handling his transition into Y7 from Primary and while he did get sent home regularly due to outbreaks his school provided a full online timetable.
His peers seem all pretty well adjusted and happy

I agree with this. Moving up to a new and much bigger school with somany differences to then be whipped out inside 6 months. Then followed by in/out not having a clue

I feel as though my Y10 has been disproportionately (when compared to the other year groups at their school) affected by the lack of extracurricular opportunities due to covid. Things like a complete lack of transition support vs the current Y9s that had summer schools and opportunities to meet others starting at the same school. No clubs on offer until part way through Y8, taught in a form group in a single room for the whole of the first year so no chance to meet others in the year. No day trip to France, no Y7 or Y8 residential, no Y9 transition trip to Europe, no music tour to Europe, no visits at all that exceeded a 15 minute walking distance from the school until March in Y10. No opportunity to have their Y6 teachers visit (traditional for the school and Y9 had it restarted). No workshops or visits from external agencies until Y10 and even one of those was cancelled. No opportunity to do DofE although that's been offered to the current Y9s.

Compared to my older DC who attended the same school, I feel as though the Y10s have missed out on lots of the opportunities that are usually held up as being important for getting to know the wider cohort. I understand that covid made some of those difficult but am disappointed the school seems to have focused on making things work for Y9 without making any effort to find a way for Y10 to catch up on some of those missed experiences.

It may be a coincidence but my Y10's friends are possibly the least independent group of teenagers I have ever met. They do not catch buses or trains by themselves, are not allowed to go into London (my username tells you how close we are) and seem to be very limited in their outlook. That may not be an impact of covid but coupled with the lack of being socially stretched at school, I do wonder. It's taken a while but my DC has now accepted that if they want to do things outside of school, they are best off planning to do them alone. As a result, DC2 will go to the cinema, go shopping or into London alone.

I know not every school has overlooked the social development of its Y10s in this way but the disparity between Y10 and every other year group at DC2's school is stark.

Yup the lack of trips is a huge thing and the lack of mixing.

My dc stayed in school throughout covid and seem to be doing very well in their year groups as opposed to being middle or bottom pre covid (currently year 10 and 8)
However both were summer babies so it may be just correcting itself.

One thing I have noticed though is how much my year 10 doesn't socialise outside or in town they just see friends at each others houses. Where as my year 8 child will spend more time outdoors with her friends

Thanks for the later correction re ‘don’t’. Yes, your summary is exactly what I meant by my post. I’m not trying to play covid ‘which year had it the worst’ top trumps. It is just more an observation that it is a year group which may have been forgotten in terms of impact and the loss of Y7/Y8.

I think they all missed out on some things. My DD is now in Year 12 and needed a tetanus injection for something she wanted to do. We had to go independently to the GP nurse and get that sorted for her.
Apparently this is normally done in schools? But it was never done for her year which to me seems odd, that they didn't get something like that caught up and done when the kids returned to school.