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.

@DefConOne Because it might be that the teacher has been ill or had a bereavement or is caring for a child or parent or is not mentally healthy with everything that is going on right now or is following SLT advice and actually the ones going above and beyond are ignoring their directives. (I have personal experience of this, the ones doing extra were told to stop rather than everyone else being asked to step up.)

I completely understand your frustrations and there will be teachers out there not doing all they could be and that may be the situation in your case. But actually most of us really love this job and will try and do our best even when things are challenging.

Sally; another helpful post on framing concerns. I have noted that and will use that style.

I think you have also shown me that it is the SLT shaping what goes on. I can see that clearly now. I see where you are coming from with government guidelines. However, at the SLT level, I would expect independent decision making irrespective of government edict. Clearly some school senior leaders are demonstrating the strong level of leadership I’d expect commensurate with their pay grade, and others aren’t. I will try recontacting the school Head and adopting the constructive tone you suggest.

Of course we all have "own time," teacher or not
not in the moment! working parents have no own time, i had to cut sleep to 5.5 hours. i DO NOT have own time, just like all of my colleagues with kids

so we are KEY ST 1 - and we have only been pointed to some bite size etc but nothing actually specific - ie - mooch around ourselves...no guidance , no weekly work.

Just vague ideas....certainly no work handed in or marked but TBH I wouldn't expect that - just a rough ticking over - work handed out weekly is what I do expect.

If any child is working behind in an area, their needs should have been discussed at consultation or in reports with targets given and strategies for support suggested. If that hasn't been done, then yes, the teacher/school has dropped the ball and I am aware that does happen sometimes and you would be thoroughly justified in asking for more in that case

I have been asking and have nothing but being batted off - " oh well I think by then better idea - nothing yet etc. "

I got the impression they are doing nothing so no child is disadvantaged but mine is because shes on SEN Register. We have been given nothing even when I asked for some feedback because we didn't have PE.

I agree its probably not the teachers but the SLT.

What this situation has really shown me - is that there is NO consistency across the board...how can one school get away with providing the absolute bare minimum and yet another can furnish the dc with basic weekly activities spelling, maths, and support those with SEN?

Who holds them to account - who knows whats going on in these places?

My DD’s are year 2 and year 6. They get their usual work set and marked via google classroom, and the teachers are making and uploading videos for the kids to watch at a time that works for them, then complete the attached sheets sort of thing. They do zoom registration at 8.50 with their class, and form time at 3. School is understanding if they can’t complete the work. We are focusing on maths and English, plus he things they could feasibly get ‘behind’ in, like science abs humanities. The other stuff we are not bothering with. The content is engaging and the school is very responsive to emails and the teachers are available for calls and zoom meetings throughout the day. I think they are absolutely brilliant and can’t say enough how well they are handling this crisis, the teaching and leadership is all great.

It is a small independent and I’m really so glad that we send them there. I’ve often wondered if we were getting value for money, and whether they would be better off at state school but I’m not wondering any more.

@PuttingoutthefirewithGasoline

Normally Ofsted hold schools to the nationally established standards.

The standards set for schools in this time are:

1. Provide childcare for key worker and EHCP children
2. Facilitate the FSM scheme
3. Work with local authority to safeguard vulnerable children

That's it. If your school is doing that, they are meeting government requirements and anything else is 'extra'.

If you're not happy with the way that extra provision is being delivered, blame the government for lack of guidance, contact the school directly with specific requests and follow up with a formal complaint following the complaints procedure if you feel it is necessary.

Sally that is very interesting that is all our school is doing. Why is the bar so low I wonder? I am loathe to say anything to the teachers as they are very diligent and are great teachers I don’t want to spur relations. I see now they just following orders. Always been a state school supporter but can now understand why people go private!

What an absolute shambles.

The kids who are not getting an education throughout this (for whatever reason) will never recover.

Our school has gone with some bullshit ‘prioritising health & wellbeing’ approach, and this is dished out as an excuse to not provide an education.

“We don’t want to add more pressure to families by doing work!!!”

Absolute bollocks.

I’ve often wondered if we were getting value for money, and whether they would be better off at state school but I’m not wondering any more me neither. I feel exactly the same. Having been a bit grudging about paying the fees for the last couple of years I will never moan again!

I think it has helped wellbeing considerably having a routine and things to do from school. We could easily have stopped getting up and dressed and gone into holiday mode but we haven’t because we have a timetable and things to do from school. It’s all optional so if parents are busy WFH they can opt out, but DS doesn’t know that!

we (private school) also got a mail today from the SLT of our school. they have no problem having all kids in at the same time AND follow the current DfE guidelines (15 per class etc). they have enough teachers, TAs and rooms to easily facilitate that. they did apologise that face to face music lessons wouldn’t be available, and science etc wouldn’t be taught by specialist teachers, but by a class teacher.
I suspect face to face music lessons are not the main worry for many state schools, so the gap will widen even more once the schools are open again...

That is certainly a low bar. Sally sounds like a sensible teacher who knows what she is talking about but isn’t there a more general obligation for a school/local authority to educate a child? I think we are in a grey area here.

Anyhow, I intend to write to the school tonight so thank you all who have contributed. I’m now sure I’m not a crazed tiger mom.

@MsTSwift

I imagine partly because everything was done in a rush. Perhaps when we watched other countries closing schools in February and early March that would have been the time for the government to consult education professionals about what provision could be realistically made and how they could ensure consistency.

In the end, they had to set the bar low because they hadn't put in the prep work to set it any higher.

I'm not saying it's good enough by the way, I really dont think it is good enough, but this is what happens when you fill cabinet positions with people who have limited understanding of the real world practicalities in their area of responsibility.

@lozster

Thank you. It's been good to have a conversation that hopefully has been useful for us all. Best of luck with writing to your school, I really hope you have a positive outcome!

Notwithstanding the damage to children it also hangs teachers out to dry. It’s the lowest common denominator thinking I find so depressing.

Fortunately dds 1 (state) girls school has a very different ethos. Dd1 if anything has too much work and teachers are all over it. So very school specific it seems

I want to assure you that CPD is not about my CV or Ofsted, but about learning to be a better teacher.

Are you kidding me? Do you really think that now is the time to be doing this?

On the other hand, all the parents I know in the UK (I am not there) have said that they are very impressed with the work their schools have been doing.

We've suddenly got a lot more evenings at home to fill, just like the rest of the country.

That's funny. Most people I know (including most of the teachers I've communicated with) are spending the evenings wading through housework and life admin after spending all day trying to work AND supervise/homeschool small children at the same time. I don't think it's usual to have all these extra hours to fill right now.

@Kokeshi123

I probably should have clarified that I don't have my own children. I'm very aware that this makes a huge difference in this time. Many of my friends, and many others on mumsnet have talked about extra spare time (there was a thread earlier sharing new skills that people have learnt during lockdown. So I'm not the only one).

Obviously I should have appreciated that this is not everyone's experience. I know how hard some of the parents of children I teach are finding it and have asked if there is anything I can do to help. Not one of them has asked for me to work more just because they are. We all have different experiences through this crisis and are just trying to manage the best we can.

And if parents are happy with what has been supplied, why shouldn't I be doing CPD? I sure as hell won't have time for it next year, as I will be working all the hours I can to catch children up.

My DD's school have been brilliant. We've had phone calls home every few weeks so that the children and the parents can speak to their class teacher and any queries, concerns etc can be raised then.

They provide weekly planning for literacy and numeracy with very detailed plans for each day so that the parent understands what the aim of the lesson is, what questions to ask, what examples to use, and what the end result should be. They have put on topic planning with a list of fun activities that the children can do. All these ideas for the topic, numeracy and literacy use items easily found in all homes, or easily sourced. They have subscribed to a number of apps that the children all have an account (providing they have internet access).

The headteacher films a short video everyday and sets the children a daily challenge (which is accessed via the school Facebook page). There are also reading challenges, times tables challenges etc. The teachers upload videos everyday of them reading stories/talking about a specific subject/demonstrating something which is linked to each numeracy and literacy lesson, and some of the topic work. I could go on. What I've mentioned is the tip of the iceberg.

I also know that the school are working hard to provide support to vulnerable children and their families to try and lessen the gap between them and their peers, as well as being a hub school for key worker children. This is not an outstanding school, in fact it was downgraded to Requires Improvement last year, and whilst I had a few issues with the school prior to Covid 19, I cannot fault them in how they have embraced this crisis.

This isn't the exception, but rather the norm in our local schools, with the exception of one of the upper schools which has provided virtually nothing for my nephew. I have not heard of a single other school in our area which has done nothing, and most seem to be providing a similar level to what my DD's school have.

The more I read about the wonderful provision that some schools are offering, the more pissed off I am with the zero input from our local primary.

I haven’t complained to the school though, as I know they will close ranks and go on the defensive whatever I say. I’m not sure it’s worth the grief and so I am wearing myself into the ground lesson planning, teaching, and working full time all by myself.

Meanwhile I see teachers from the school making social media posts about how v they are enjoying their break and drinking gin in their gardens.

Ds (8) is at a small independent and I wish some of the parents could read this thread to see how well the school are doing (and to pay the sodding fees!)

We have a full timetable from 8:30 - 3pm every day with lessons over interactive video link in google classrooms. First day was chaos, but now the kids all know you sign on, say hello then mute yourself whilst someone else is talking. 8:30 is reg and the class teacher checks in with each child and they all just have a chin wag and discuss the days work plans. Then each lesson starts with a group video meeting and the teacher stays on the video link and the kids log off to do the work set. If they have any problems or when they finish, then the go back into the meeting and the teacher is there on the video link. If they want to, they can keep the video link running the whole time. The teacher hears them reading twice a week over video link too.

Ds normal school day is 8-6, 6 day’s a week (Saturday school) so parents have been complaining about the comparison in the school day not being worth the fees. I would genuinely consider this as a full time schooling option if someone was to offer me a virtual school at this level of interaction.

@flippinfurloughed

I am salivating
Please tell your mum chums to get a grip
I am extremely dissatisfied with our offering, just not good enough at all

@Flippinfurloughed very similar to our (small private) schools provision (ours us 8:45 to 3:45).
ours don’t have saturday school
normally though (and the core school day is 8-4)

I believe the clamour to send kids back to school ASAP is being caused by the patchy provision from schools. It’s the school which are performing poorly during this crisis which will force all of the kids back before its safe. Instead of good teachers trying to defend poor schools and teachers, they should be criticising their sub-par colleagues as it’s them who will cause all teachers to have to go back into the classroom before it’s safe in order for the majority of the kids to be educated.

Alternatively or in parallel, it’s the government who set the curriculum so why can’t central government create a standardised online and offline package for every school year? This can be accessed via the government site by parents (the offline pack can be sent to parents who request it). That way every child in every school in every year will have the same access to the same materials. It should cover at least 3 hours of the day and the teachers wouldn’t have to create any lesson plans just mark and provide feedback.

If parents could access a standardised system that was a tailored form each school year that the kids could get on with so the parents could work for at least half the day then the growing clamour for kids to go back in 2 weeks would calm down.

Schools can’t not offer a decent distance programme and also refuse to go back to work. If kids receive the former, most parents would be on board with the latter.

As it stands, we’re happy with how our DCs school are performing (google classroom and daily marking, video assembly’s, video help guides for the glasswork, motivational postcards, phone calls) during the crisis but I’ve heard from other friends that their schools and teachers have pretty much gone missing. I don’t believe there will be proper opportunities for those kids to catch up and the government know this too which is why they’re are trying to reopen schools. This is both risky and unfair for the kids.