Is primary school more demanding than in the 80/90s??

[RessicaJabbit]

My child is 6 and is UTTERLY EXHAUSTED from school since starting Reception.
My mum says she doesn't remember us 3 being like this after school... hungry, tired overwhelmed etc
Is it because school is more intense? Or maybe life around it is the cause, kids doing too many clubs etc?

My does football, swimming and rainbows.

The curriculum is massive now, standards/expectations are much higher and play, music and art are squeezed out.
I remember infant school involving a lot of junk modelling and playing in the home corner. Now it's mostly sitting at desks.

I remember school as the opposite... sitting down at desks all the time, lunchtime and break time running around, special treat being the TV on wheels for Look, Learn, Read. We were ready for the walk home (hardly anyone drove).
And once home... maybe one club a week. Otherwise just at home, in the garden etc.

Yeah I think it’s changed drastically over the years. A lot more pressure on primary age when it used to be a lot more arts and play.

I think it is life around it. When i was a primary I did Brownies and that was all. You worked very hard at school but then went home and relaxed all evening watching TV - but not ITV! That was the norm. No other clubs or activities.

I have some primary school teacher friends and they all seem quite critical of the curriculum they are expected to deliver to children of that age.

I think it's because they do so many activities after school now whereas we just used to go home and play/relax for the rest of the day. I feel sorry for some kids who have an activity everyday. It must be exhausting never being able to just rest

Yes it's crazy.

It’s the after school stuff. I did very little post-4pm and on weekends. There was no rushing about - just come home, have an early tea and then play.

the Curriculum has changed so much now and there is much more demand on pupils, many more tick boxes to reach and assessments to go through. I have worked in a primary school and have seen the expectations on teachers, which then puts higher expectations on pupils.

I think in the past there was a lot of emphasis on the three Rs and that gave us a very solid foundation, but was probably easier in some ways as we spent hours copying and writing. It definitely wasn’t so intense as primary schools are now and I agree with a PP that the only “club” was Brownies!

Yes. I work in an infant school and a lot of the older teachers say the expectations on the children went up massively. I think under gove. Things like the writing expetations were shifted a year ahead.

Yes, Gove made the curriculum much more academic for tiny children. We certainly weren't learning about fronted adverbials and expanded noun phrases at age 5 or 6. It's completely unnecessary. I believe there's also a lot more testing instead of them just getting on with learning.

Year 1 or 2? The curriculum is quite demanding and some of the year 2 curriculum is quite hard for that age range. I work in schools and feel there is a lot to get through and so the class as a whole is quite rushed with some getting left behind and never finishing anything.

As someone who was teaching in the 80s and 90s I can tell you categorically that the demands on children and teachers are much higher now. As an Early Years teacher I resisted it longer than most but it reached Reception in the end. I'm very happy to be retired and out of it now,

Y1

It’s the afterschool activities that really have changed. At 6 most children went straight home or perhaps to the park on a nice day, mums didn’t work full time mostly (and grandmothers picked up any slack there, not wraparound care until 6pm

No it's really not just that.

My son was doing maths and English in primary school that I didn’t do till senior school. In fact, in terms of grammar, he did stuff at primary I never did at school at all. ( At school in 70s/80s). I never did any afterschool clubs either. I’m not sure they even existed other than brownies. You went home, watched kid’s tv, ate biscuits and played in the street/ garden with friends. Happy days!

The other side to this is that literacy and numeracy skills amongst my generation were poor. I’d be interested in seeing stats on reading and mathematical skills.

There's a lot of grammar in primary that is still never done in secondary 😂

Interesting those saying they did fewer activities at that age. I don't know if my parents were exceptional, but I did piano, dance, Brownies, swimming & Sunday school at that age. I saw my friends there, so assuming they did the same (late 70s born).

I think children must vary a lot.

My kids are (sadly) not at all exhausted by school. In reception they were doing breakfast and after school club 3-4 days a week and they still weren't really tired!

But I see other posters saying their children were exhausted by school so it's not just yours.

Yes, me too

Part of the issue here will be memories. Our parents not remembering our childhoods fully, and us not remembering them. I don't remember doing ballet for example... but I know I did. I have vague memories of a drama class. I know my mum helped with Rainbows. Can't remember any actual details of it all.

My children are only at Secondary but have no memory of the dance class they did for a couple of years in preschool- Yr1.

Ditto. I did loads of activities. I did piano,ballet, brownies, badminton, school play etc. In secondary I did something every lunchtime and afterschool.