to be annoyed BJ was so vague about year 10s and 12s

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What did he mean when he said they may at least get some times with their teachers before schools break up? TBH it was so wishy washy I missed it the first time I listened to his plan. What do you think he meant?

The unions are not 'digging their heels in'. They are protecting their staff from dangerous working conditions. Jesus Christ. I love how people criticise teachers when there's not a chance they could do the job themselves

Exactly.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-protective-measures-in-education-and-childcare-settings/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-protective-measures-in-education-and-childcare-settings

This is the actual document guidance for settings. It suggests there will be some face to face time for y10.and y12 to supplement remote learning. My take is that this is worded this way to enable schools to have smaller groups in at a time to enable social distancing ie smaller class sizes and so on. So possibly one week in and one week home for group A and then vice versa for Group B.

To be fair if schools are trying to plan what they need to do, the guidance needs to be clearer. It is not necessarily all about the parents!

The guidance given specifically in respect of Secondary Schools/Colleges was very wooly. Bearing in mind schools were told they would be given 3 weeks to prepare for reopening, the couple of sentences in the guidance specifically relating to Y10 and Y12s do not really give enough information for schools to plan.

The main guidance talks about pupils always being in the same group with the same adult all day, every day. So if anyone tests positive for COVID the the whole group can self isolate. That doesn't really work for Secondary does it. Different subjects, different sets.

My Y10 DS is at the moment getting full live timetable, with live classes with his normal teacher, work is being marked, given feedback etc. Not the same as being in school when everything was normal, but better than going to school with all the effort of social distancing both in getting there and being in school, being in a group that might not be his usual group and some random teacher who will have to cover all subjects.

People conveniently forget when it comes to politics that their are usually bigger things in play - like the unions - Boris cant say for certain when schools will Be back and which year groups because the Unions are digging their heels in. But it's easier to criticise the government.

That's hilarious! Have you been to Britain in the last decade?

It would just be good to know what the broad govt thinking might be, particularly for the Year 12s because as soon as schools reopen they will be walking into exams. Should they be revising for June or September? These exams determine predicted grades and therefore the unis they can apply to next term. It’s an important and decisive time for them and there’s virtually no mention of secondary schools or sixth forms on the news.

I’ve had a message outlining how social distancing will happen and a phone call asking is my year 10 will attend. The proposal is very part time, 2 mornings a week, kids to remain in classroom and teachers come to them. 8 kids per classroom and a maximum number of kids in school at any one time. No idea how they will progress raising the numbers for everyone though by September. However school buses aren’t running.

Agree, year 12 need to plan for mock exams.

I think he meant sitting down with teachers to discuss their online learning rather than some actual lessons. Why on earth are they not a priority?

I know that schools and exam boards have the more important job of sorting out y11 and y13 grades but some consideration for y10 and 12 is also needed.

We are currently working on this now. We can only have a max if 15 in a class (provided we have rooms big enough.) We are trying to work out how we teach the curriculum. They cant stay in form groups as they each have a different timetable/different options/different sets so how do we group them? How do we get the kids in front of their own teachers doing meaningful lessons in specialist classrooms? Do we reduce teaching to just core? What about options subjects? How do we teach GCSE PE, Drama and ADT? Do we have all kids in or just have them in on different days? How do we get them in? Do we keep kids in the classrooms and rotate teachers? How do we stagger breaks? Do we keep pupils inside for breaks? It is logistically very tricky before we even get to staffing. We are aiming to have a plan by Friday. My school is choosing to provide some PPE for staff too.

@Whatsernae177 are you planning to be open fully then for Y10 and Y12 (if you have them)? I didn't think that was the plan. I thought one of the reasons they weren't thinking about opening secondary schools yet was because the risk of virus transmission might be higher in teenagers than under 10s.

Just Yr 10 (as no Yr12s). Currently, we arent sure how we are opening up for them or what it might look like. I doubt they will all be in at once. But it's tough to know how to group them to bring them in. If my drama class were bought in, they wouldn't be the same kids as my colleagues English class. The guidance was vague and woolly, so we are trying to figure it out.

This what Gavin Williamson said in the House of Commons today about Secondary Schools, it still doesn't look like they are expecting them to have lessons:

'My hon. Friend is absolutely right on the importance of supporting youngsters and children who are going to be facing GCSEs next year, as well as A-levels, BTECs and other qualifications in years 10 and 12. We are working with the sector, because we want all children in those year groups to have the opportunity to go into school and to speak with their teachers. We want their teachers to be able to make an assessment of the learning and support they will need over the following weeks as we approach the summer holidays, and to set the work at the right level so that children can benefit from learning through the six weeks of the summer holidays as well as in the weeks approaching the summer holidays. It is important to get those transition years back into schools, even if not for a full timetable, as that will be a first step in the right direction'

It looks more like they want a schedule of work for the students over the summer holidays.

I have DC in years 10 and 12. Online learning has been patchy to say the least. Some teachers doing online lessons, others sending worksheets once a fortnight. Not good enough IMO.
My year 12 is due to finish in mid June anyway!

My DDS in a 6th form college doing an extended diploma.The year 13s will have finished so if year 12 go in it would be for just 3 weeks(break up June 25).
They have all been given their summer asignments so apart from reassurance about this year's grades and discussions about next year's project there isn't much point.
Apart that is from reconnecting with her friends and seeing what they have been doing.Sometimes working in a vacuum means they work but loose the edge that seeing fresh ideas from others can give them.
The tutors have been good though and available.Sadly she will have different ones next year and feels nervous about that(it takes her a while to 'get'people and or them to understand her.

Gavin William's shifted the goal posts again today, he did yesterday too. Our SLT sent an email about an hour ago (after we had been on zoon in meeting for hours today) to say that we are still trying to disseminate what they actually want. There was also the suggestion in the commons today of getting volunteers and graduates to teach pupils to fill in the gaps. This just goes to show that they know nothing at all about how education actually works. It is a shitshow

Also - we have already spent considerable time making 'an assessment of learning' through the work they've done at home. We sent reports out to parents last friday, along with an email to every pupil in the school with guidance and feedback.

DS's school has been great. He is Y10. I would rather he stuck with his full timetable remote learning, than faffing about going into school for a few hours here and there, when he could have a virtual face to face with his tutors. As he normally gets a school bus I assume I would have to take him as I assume they won't lay on coaches for one year group.

If my drama class were bought in, they wouldn't be the same kids as my colleagues English class. The guidance was vague and woolly, so we are trying to figure it out

I think that's the crux of it. Full specialist subject teaching, lots of moving parts - you can't just halve classes as you do in primaries (where they're in with their form teacher all the time) , because the subject choices are different as are the etc.

So t think the guidance is 'get them in and do something positive, whatever you can manage'

@Whatsername177 the suggestion about using volunteers and graduates came from the Chair of the Education Select Committee and it was specifically in relation to summer schools. It sounded like a pretty good idea to me.

As for what the Government wants of schools - I suspect that it wants every school to do its best. What that means in practice will be different for every school, just as what they have been able to provide during lockdown has been different for every school.

There's no point in setting out detailed instructions of exactly what they want because some schools (rightly or wrongly) will say 'not realistic, can't do it'.

It's clear from the many threads on this subject that provision between schools is very patchy. I would hope that some schools not currently providing much by way if support to pupils are looking at what other schools are doing to see where they can improve their offer. I accept that it genuinely might not be possible in some cases, but I suspect there are a number of schools that could and should be doing more.

The summer school will not bridge the gap - it will be another way of providing childcare. But, in order to bridge the gap in a meaningful way there needs to be a clear understanding of what they have missed - this will vary from school to school. Graduates and volunteers arent going to continue teaching the school curriculum so it will be of little educational value. For ks4, it will be even harder. My year 10s are currently being taught theory and set text - I can do this from home and run catch up sessions next year for those who haven't engaged. What they need is to start their practical NEA. They can't do that without their teacher. Summer school might help parents with childcare, in which case yes, it's a good idea. But let's not pretend it will catch kids up. Catching up is something we are preparing for, the younger the pupil the easier it will be as we have more time. The pressure is on for Yr 10 and 12 though. Social distancing is the thing that will stymie my subject. Like I said, I've taught the theory via home learning. But practical work requires kids to physically engage.

Do you think the idea of summer school and the possible schedule of work over the summer holidays for Y10s hinted at by Gavin is so that they don’t need to make any adjustments to GCSEs next year?

Too much reliance on remote learning also brings up the tech issues mentioned frequently. Whilst it's more likely that y10 and 12 will have their own phones and school email addresses, we can't assume that all do, or that they have credit / data etc. Some sort of rota of going in seems likely in order to manage SD as best as possible. Y12s might manage it but I suspect y10 will 'forget' and do 'hilarious' sneezing pranks 🙄. It's going to be different for every school and there are advantages in allowing that flexibility but it does make it difficult to give a levelbplaying field for external exams... Though that's no different to usual in one sense.

I am assuming Y10s who haven’t engaged because they can’t be bothered, rather than for lack of tech or other reasons, won’t bother to come into school for these sessions and certainly won’t bother with summer school if that is offered.

Year 12s dont need to go back, theyve finished. They have no more work to do. What is the point in putting them at risk now.

Or year 10s...what would be the point? Unless to start a level work.