To ask how much support your KS2 children are getting from school?

[concernedforthefuture]

DCs are yrs 3 & 5 (age 8 & 10). Since the beginning of lockdown, work has been sent weekly from school in the format of a series of links to where we can download various worksheets and watch online videos (all of which are available to the public such as Twinkl / White Rose Maths / BBC Bitesize, rather than something the teacher has produced). These are not to be returned for marking, there is no supplementary online teaching by their class teachers (either live or pre-recorded videos) and no real contact from the school apart from a weekly email to remind us to visit the class pages on the school website to see this week's recommended learning links.
I was more than happy with this for the first few weeks but with a real chance that they might not return to school this term, I'm really feeling that our children are being let down by not really getting an education at the moment. They're bored of the work - each day is quite different to the day before in terms of content and there's no obvious progression from one week to the next. Not having any feedback is leaving them wondering why they should bother at all and it's getting difficult to motivate them. We do other stuff too, but I do worry for the children whose parents aren't able to offer anything extra.

I wonder how this compares to others' experiences? Are all families just being left to get on with it ? I see a lot of posts about online teaching and class zoom meetings (with the teacher). I just don't understand what the teachers are doing. It's a big school (450+ pupils) and most days they only have around 10-15 key worker children so they can't all be in school everyday. To be clear, I'm not expecting online school from 9-3 for 5 days a week, but a few lessons a week tailored to the class would be welcome, together with some kind of interaction between the teachers and pupils to see how they're doing.
If it makes a difference, the (state) school is currently rated Outstandjng by Ofsted.

We get a phone call weekly, they also do a home learning page on their website which has a time table you can work from.
They have different topics every two weeks and the work is changed weekly.
Also they do videos of the teachers talking about subjects and what they need to do.
If the work is to hard or easy then the teachers are happy to send out work
which is more suitable.
And they do a whole school project most weeks which you send pictures of and then they put it in a video so all the children can see each other.
No complaints here.

Nowt .
We are however getting a phone call from dd’s teacher next week but that’s the first time they’ve done it.
Tbh , I’m glad they aren’t constantly checking up /in .
We’re doing what we can and that’s hood enough for me

Yes remove offensive posters, but let’s not stop a concerned parent asking a questions
Unfortunately, there have been an awful lot of threads begun with ill-intent, that aren't from "concerned parents" at all, but goady people looking to stir up trouble. and succeeding.

We've had the same - a weekly letter pointing us towards bbc bitesize and twinkle. No marking or feedback, no other contact. One of my children has special needs and we've had nothing whatsoever from the SENCO. I'm very disappointed.

My son is in Y3. His school uses seesaw as an online platform. Every morning 4 tasks are added across the curriculum. You do them and then submit them for the teacher and TA to mark. No zoom or real life lessons as such but the marking and feedback brings them a sense of connection to their teachers. Works well for Y3.
There is a huge range of recourses out there for children that want to extend their learning. I wish we could do more but with a full time job and a toddler as well we only manage to do the core tasks and non of the “extras”. It will have to do, it is what it is.

Exactly what my school is doing. One email. Links to white Rose, twinkle and bite size. I have said on another thread that this would take 10 minutes for a teacher to put together and that didn't go down well. However it's the truth. I haven't had a single contact from my children's school about any of the 3 of them or my nursery age child. Quite frankly anything could have happened to us and they'd be none the wiser thankfully we don't need the support but you'd be screwed if you were a vulnerable child living through this. And no, the vulnerable don't all go to the school provision before someone points it out.

My school is doing the bare minimum and that is not teacher bashing it's the truth one email a week in place of what over 25 hours of school?

@CallmeAngelina, please refrain from derailing this thread just because you are disappointed in other threads. Not fair on the OP

My 9yo gets spelling weekly, roughly 4 pieces of work a day by links etc. Everything gets uploaded via seesaw and sent back to the teacher for, mostly positive, feedback. I think feedback is important to keep them motivated. Projects to make and then the whole class gets a montage of photos of everyone's work.

My school called and offered me a loan of an ipad plus dongle if it would help. State school.

I think our school have done what they can. I know that they are also working behind the scenes supporting vulnerable children and their families and this is way more important at the moment than zoom lessons. At primary level I’m most definitely not stressing about learning gaps.

We get the same op. One email a day with some tasks.I am able to provide extra back up myself but feel for those working full time. Dd done the work by around 10.30 we do extra stuff together. Nothing is submitted or marked.

I have been abit surprised tbh that we don’t get more support.

Not another bloody thread!! Some of you have no idea how hard it is working in schools at the moment!!!

Our school is doing an amazing job. State primary school using Google classrooms. 4 pieces of work a day. Set by the teachers with clear instructions and YouTube videos made by the teachers. One of the pieces of work will get marked each day. The answers are provided for the others. Children can ask the teachers questions through Google classrooms and get a pretty much immediate response.
We have also had a call from the teacher.
I am so grateful to the teachers. They have been working really hard.

My secondary son gets a lot more work set but not so much interaction with the teachers but he is older so happy to just get on with it.

DC's in Y3 and Y6, live online lessons all day, every day, starting with 8.30am assembly and including live, online PE. They also have small, individual tutor groups weekly with 3-4 children and their form tutor, so they can discuss any issues or concerns.

They have been absolutely fantastic and I can't fault them. I've been able to complete a full WFH day every day, other than the odd bit of IT support. Private school however and we are still paying 80% fees which I suppose they feel they need to justify.

@Aliiiii its hard for some - no question. Problem is, some don’t do anything, and to know how good/bad your school is, you need to compare.
ours does multiple online lessons daily, with detailed feedback. a friend’s kids school does nothing at all. What is “normal”? without asking, i don’t know!

Not another bloody thread!! Some of you have no idea how hard it is working in schools at the moment!!!

No, but I have a very good idea how hard it is working full time and trying to teach two children with minimal support. I also know how much support other schools are giving, and how this compares. This is the point of the thread. Teachers are not above reproach by virtue of their profession.

I've been quite impressed by our school.

DD is year 4. A weekly timetable is published on the website each Sunday and all the videos put onto the school's YouTube channel.

DD's teacher does a daily maths video, 15 - 20 mins long. We were given textbooks before lockdown and they do some independent work based on the lesson.

The other class teacher does weekly videos for their writing task and reading comprehension. Lots of resources on the website prepared by the school to help with these.

We mark the maths, reading and grammar work but we email the writing in each week and have feedback emailed back.

Have had 2 phone calls so far to see how she's getting on too. Everything feels organised and supportive.

One of myy DGC school has been amazing.

Lots of work! Mixture of project and other. Mixture of online and paper.

Very quick response to any queries/problems. Very supportive and understanding of difficulties.

Very small rural school but cannot fault them.

Other one, also rural but slightly larger. Also been good but not quite as good as the other one.

Parents of both very happy.

DD is in Y4 and we've had a very similar experience. Nothing for the first two weeks but they've been much more organised this term. Work for the full half term was added to the school website at the beginning of the term but most of it is links to White Rose etc. There's no option to upload and most importantly, no feedback.

It's fine for us as between me, DH, my DM and auntie, DD is getting 121 support and we can find additional (more interesting) tasks to supplement this. However she would love some contact with her school and I am concerned that not every child will be getting the same support at home.

As a teacher it is disappointing to hear and read of schools failing in their duty to provide remote learning, well in my opinion anyway.
It gives the profession a bad name and more importantly, is letting children down. After all, parents can choose how much or little they do.
My school are setting a full day's worth of work across the full range of subjects and are looking after key worker children at the same time. Makes me feel frustrated to think we're working so hard whilst others are not. They're basically not doing their job! We're not on furlough; we're still working but seems only some of us are. Though I think the majority are working.

@Aliiiii I'm sure it is hard but as a previous poster pointed out, it's hard for everyone. The teachers at DD's school are generally excellent, as are the leadership team which is why I / DD could do with some guidance from experienced teachers. If some state schools are managing to have contact and are marking some work, why can't most of them manage to do a little more.

You made an agreement when you signed for your child to attend school that they would take over YOUR job to educate your child WHEN they’re in school.

They are not in school, YOU are responsible for their education, if they’re not learning anything then it’s YOUR responsibility to actively teach them.

Year 5 child. We get a list of things to do with attachments to White Rose etc once a week. We make our own timetable and try to do maths and writing every day with a bit of topic work. There are so many links and attachments it is very difficult to prioritise and cover what is actually important. I would love more of a structure. We have had barely any contact from the teacher. There was a message on Dojo saying another phone call would be made. I queried this as we haven’t heard anything. Teacher replied he tried once to call and didn’t get an answer but he’s not worried about my DD so didn’t bother again. We have been uploading work to Dojo and there was 13 days with no comment back. I asked for some more feedback but only had ‘good job’, ‘well done’, ‘nice work’ on the day I asked. Been waiting for weeks for a password reset on TT Rockstars. I have asked one question about a maths problem with no response. PP suggested phoning the school if we are having problems but I don’t know who I would call.

Year 7 DD on the other hand has had fantastic support. She has ASD and the SENCO and TA have been in regular contact.

You made an agreement when you signed for your child to attend school that they would take over YOUR job to educate your child WHEN they’re in school.

Can you give me a link to this agreement please. I don't remember agreeing to anything of the sort.

If I am responsible for educating my children, then presumably all the teachers are on furlough?

What nonsense.

Private school (open for keyworkers children). We have a full online timetable with love video lessons from 8.30 registration until 4pm. We are paying 80% of fees though which is substantial so I they had to do this to justify the fees.

Sorry should have said y3 and 5 hear too.