Year R and Year 1 back to school

[Justajot]

I know there aren't any details. But if you are a year R or year 1 parent, will you be sending them back?

YANBU - Yes, sending back
YABU - No, staying at home

I'm divided. I have 4 DC. 2 in school one in nursery. One a baby still. One is in reception. So we will all have to go to school twice a day for reception child...which seems to defeat the object of stay home stay safe. Especially when the spend most of their time playing and doing phonics and simple maths. Ofcourse it is important. But not difficult to catch up from. Surely reception kids can't social distance so again seems a bit silly that they are one of the group's to go back

I'm a SAHM so I'm at home already. I'm hoping it's voluntary and that they ask that if you can and want to keep them home, then do.

My y1 DD is a ball of crazy, hugging, affectionate loveliness. There's no way she's able to maintain social distancing, and going by my friend who's a member of support staff at the school looking after keyworker children, neither are many others.

I doubt their going back just the government can blame the unions if they don’t!

I think people are binge very naive if they think all yr/1/6 will be back in full time on June 1st.

We are an infant school-that would be 2/3 of our school and even if we used every classroom, we wouldn’t have enough space to have 10 to a class. We also wouldn’t have enough staff.

They might be in a few days a week/fortnight and It’s unlikely there will be a breakfast or after school club either.

To all the reception/y1/y6 parents rubbing their hands in glee-it probably won’t be what you are imagining.

How do parents manage childcare/home schooling if you need to go to work but not key workers?

It’s not ignorant at all, it’s an excellent question.

It’s a fucking nightmare and many people I know are close to breaking point.

There also seems to be more and more noise from employers that they can’t make allowances long term and when it comes to reducing staff they’ll prioritise those without caring responsibilities.

You’ll get a sense of how worried/stressed people are here

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3902119-is-it-just-me-or-is-this-working-from-home-with-children-completely-unsustainable

Is there any kind of information so far from the children of key workers still in school and the teachers who have been with them every day, in terms of infection rates and transmission? I would have thought that would be a good start to a risk assessment.

I'm struggling to understand the logic of the reception and year 1 as a choice aswell.

First question dd2 asked when she heard this is "will they be able to hug their friends at playtime?" As she is in year 3 she's not one of the chosen but as posters above have said, imagine how it's going to be for those children sent back to something so familiar and so different.

My y6 won’t be going back. Would be happy for him to go to high school in a small group to get a feel of it. Not happy for him to go back into a classroom with 29 other children at Primary though.

@EasyPleasey that’s a reflection on those schools. I work in a Primary School. Yes we are on a rota to look after key worker children and vulnerable children. Another day is in school calling every family in my class and checking how they are (safeguarding tool as well) then collating information so that food parcels and work can be sent in the afternoon to those with no internet and are struggling. We also use seesaw for every year group. Maths, writing, reading and project tasks are uploaded each morning (phonics for ks1 instead of reading) children then upload their work and we comment on each piece of work sent in online. My children go to the same school as me so try to fit in doing their tasks around everything else. I don’t have a spare second tbh But I’m not moaning I’m glad that the school in that I’m working are helping the families as much as we can. Not sure why it’s any different else where.

@sunshineandalltherainbows I appreciate you are doing all that, but I'm pretty sure the teachers at my kids school aren't. My friends who are teachers are telling me they want lockdown as long as possible as they are having a great time, minimal work and full pay.

Tbh all the phone calls and uploads arent a worthy substitute for actual lessons in school I wouldnt have thought. It just makes teachers glorified social workers.

I would like my kids to get an education, I dont think education is being taken seriously though, kids are missing out.

EasyPleasey
Being furloughed may make them more willing to provide education instead of hiding behind unions whilst on full pay.

After weeks of listening to the bullshit, bashing, goading and baiting from the willfully ignorant, most of us would be quite happy to be furloughed.

But then you would still find something to moan at teachers for.

Sooo wrong if they do nothing and pointless if they’re calling and providing uploads and videos online. OK what do you suggest???

The work that is uploaded should be carefully planned, though, to ensure that it is possible to complete without a teacher’s input. That’s not as easy as you think.

Just wanted to say my dcs school has been really good. Kept in regular touch, set imaginative work, provided videos explaining key concepts, shared messages between children.

To all the parents saying no and that the earliest they will send theirs back in September, what is this thing about September

Other people's reasons might be different but these are mine:

• going back on 1st June (presuming it goes ahead) is a bit of an experiment, there is no clear indicator of what it will do to the numbers. Three weeks from now is also when there will potentially be a rise in numbers due to VE day, the relaxing of some restrictions from day, people returning to work from this week, etc. I'm not willing for my children to be part of that experiment and I think that going back on the 1st of June without waiting to see what impact the other things have had is too much, too soon

• added to the above, if numbers do go up and another lockdown has to be instigated then potentially I could send DC in then after a week or two pull them out again for lockdown. Chop and change isn't good for their mental wellbeing. They really struggled at the start of lockdown but are now more settled, I'd be upsetting them by sending them back in then upsetting them again by taking them back out

• it's not going to be school as they know it. It will be the familiar buildings but, as discussed upthread, they won't necessarily be with their actual teacher or their friends or at their usual desk. The school day went have the usual activities or structure to it, trying to socially distance is hard for a child and stressful, it's going to be utterly alien. My year one and my year six children are autistic and school is difficult and tiring enough without sending them off to some topsy-turvy version of it that won't be at all what they are expecting

• by September there will (hopefully) be a working track and trace system in place, numbers might be lower, our understanding of the disease will have progressed further and we will potentially have more knowledge of effective treatment measures, we may even have a vaccine or be closer to having one but that part isn't essential in my decision

• due to year one and year six DC both being autistic it takes them most of an entire half term to settle back into being at school after any sort of break. It is usually a very rough half term too with increased meltdowns, disturbed sleep (which causes even more meltdowns), sensory seeking/avoiding, avoidance behaviours, and so on. Presuming schools didn't close again after only a week or two due to infection rates, it is pointless sending them in for several weeks of settling in stress only for them to break up the summer six weeks later

• I'm understanding of the fact that the government are working in difficult circumstances but I think this decision is wrong and that they're sacrificing lives in favour of the economy. I don't think it's been thought through properly as to how schools are going to carry this out, how staff will be protected, and how it will work day to day.

To all the reception/y1/y6 parents rubbing their hands in glee-it probably won’t be what you are imagining.

You're on every thread about schools, last week you were adamant that schools wouldn't be going back until September.

Who is rubbing their hands in glee? Fgs you come across horribly.

I'm not 'imagining' anything. I KNOW that school won't be the same as it was before, I'm not fucking stupid.

Have you thought that maybe she’s terrified for her own health and that of the family she may have at home? Staff working in schools will still be at risk! 🤦🏽‍♀️

The fact that a year 1 teacher is "terrified" terrifies me more, given that, as EatsShoots has pointed out, the risk to small children is basically zero. If you are high risk, or sheilding someone at home-fine, keep them off, but otherwise, imo, those years are the ones that definitely be going back, for all the very valid reasons mentioned.

My response was in response to the above comment. First time replying to a comment!

Yes mine will be going but is at a private school, only 10 kids in her class and it's a big classroom. I do appreciate we are very privileged to be in this situation, I don't know how I'd feel if it was 30 kids cooped up in a small space.

:09Wildlingyoumakemyheartsing

The earliest years of education are the most important in terms of closing the disadvantaged/non disadvantaged gap. The long term effects of them missing these months of school will be considerable in comparison to other year groups.

Absolute tosh. The countries that do better are the ones where the children start school later,some at 7 heard old. They thrive starting later and better mental health. This country is so ridiculous and it's not surprising mental health is the absolute worst in Europe for children.

They should send the eldest first.

I will send mine back because I believe he is suffering far more from the lockdown than he is likely to do if he catches the virus.

I have sympathy with teaching and other school staff who fear for their own health. I work in a MH setting and have continued to attend work throughout the lockdown period so am well aware that there are some groups who just cannot reliably 'socially distance'. That said, my sympathy is a little limited- if my colleagues and I can work and run these risks, so can they.

And if people are going to be returned to work, then like it nor not, schools and childcare settings will need to be open.

Of course there is risk. But we cannot remain as we are indefinitely, and soon enough, the risks taken by those of us who have had to go to work and care for people who cannot reliably socially distance throughout this crisis will be risks that others will also have to take.

I am afraid our schools x 2 - one primary and one secondary are doing the bare minimum when schools around us are managing either proper learning packs with a little maths, comprehension, spelling etc each week ( year 2 primary) . Or they have just carried on full time table using Tech.

We have had wishy washy pointing at millions of websites, nothing concrete to go on at all.

We get a phone call but there is nothing of substance in it to actually educationally help my child.
My older child has had lots of HW to do and power points but no contact with the teacher.
How can some schools manage so much more than others? It perplexes me.

Absolute tosh. The countries that do better are the ones where the children start school later,some at 7 heard old. They thrive starting later and better mental health. This country is so ridiculous and it's not surprising mental health is the absolute worst in Europe for children.

I come from one of these countries, my nieces and nephews are still there, and seeing this perpetually trotted out as truth on MN makes me
Yes, they don't start school until 7. But before that, they are at high quality state nurseries, very often full time, where they do a lot of play and also a lot of learning through play. By the time they start 'school' at 7, many speak multiple languages and almost all already have the basics of reading, writing and maths taught at nursery. The biggest differences are state funding and teacher pay and status which attracts some of the best graduates and keeps them motivated.

This is also why I feel a bit about my children's school and teachers, where we get one class email a week, a link to Oak Tree Academy lessons, zero direct contact or Zooms lessons 'on advice from the union', while my family overseas have had full slates of lessons, lots of work marked and returns, calls at home. It's not enough to say that 'all the children will be in the same place', children from disadvantaged families or 2 parents WFH (like us) will be far behind not only more privileged kids but their international counterparts. I'm fine with a September restart but would like my dcs to have had some actual fecking schooling between April and then.

This is also why I feel a bit hmm about my children's school and teachers, where we get one class email a week, a link to Oak Tree Academy lessons, zero direct contact or Zooms lessons 'on advice from the union'

This has been my experience too and I haven’t been impressed by it.