DC are going to have to repeat a school year

[bigbananafeet12]

They finished school in March, there’s more chance teachers (and frightened parents) might be willing to get back into schools by next March. I know some dc are getting full school days on zoom, but for most their home learning is no substitute. Universities are planning on doing online learning for the first term too so loads will defer potentially causing problems for the current year 12.
You might say you’re dc are fine now but if things carry on like this in September, October, November and so on enthusiasm for home learning is going to decrease massively. It’s just unfair on dc. They need a chance to learn properly in the normal way. I honestly see no other satisfactory solution.

Ridiculous. The only kids who will be disadvantaged are those of hysterical parents refusing to send their children back to school.

@Bigbanana

The government can prop up universities for the year ( they’re chucking money at everything else). What difference would it make to the education system? They start school later in other countries.

Universities would never need to repeat...apart from anything like medicine, the degrees that have 6-9 hours contact a week just need to do a few more hours!!

I suspect unis will refuse at least some deferrals this year. They’ll need to have students this year as well as next to spread the teaching load and the finances.

Ffs.
Every decent school is rammed to the rafters all the time. If a local authority makes room for just one extra class at a school for one year group it impacts that school for 7 years.
So every year gets repeated. Everyone stays in situ for another school year. So no reception and no year 13s. So every child for the rest of time starts school a year late? Because of missing a term of education?
I have told my dd that if, for example, she had an accident and missed a term of school she would catch up. And she will.

I don't mean freshers week I mean a whole third of their fee paying population. Current students are pissed off and racking up debt, they'll want to graduate and get out, not repeat a year. Unis would collapse and the gov are going to have bigger priorities like UC for all the newly unemployed there will be the longer this goes on. Parents of small children can't stay off work for another year and / or can't afford a year more of childcare. You'd be asking for a fundamental, permanent shift of school starting age which is not on the agenda in this country.

My y13 wouldn’t want to do a gap year because travelling can’t happen. It’s sad that they won’t get freshers week, but that alone isn’t a reason to defer for a whole year. Starting university in whatever weird way they have to is the least worst of the options for many of them.

God no. I have spent hours every day doing targeted work with my children. I have covered the work set by the school, other bits of the curriculum and further work in areas they needed. I have discovered fundamental issues in their understanding of things, that they were fine with according to school (grammar, how to answer comprehension questions, fractions and in the case of younger DC bloody number lines). They have come on so well! It would be cruel to make them do it all again.

I know that not all children have had this level of support, but many have. It would just be shit to make them do it all again; mine, certainly, would completely disengage with school - I want them to keep enjoying and wanting to learn. Repeating the year is a solution only suited to some aswell as a logistical impossibility.

Only way I can see it working is if they do 2 intakes a year, that might work for primary but cant see how that would work for secondary.
The only other way I can see it going is you have to "pass" the year before you can go up to the next year. Again no idea if it could work in principle.

I can’t see parents who have been paying childcare and waiting for this year for their dc to start school being too happy at being expected to pay for a whole extra year of childcare just to accommodate your idea. Especially when the vast majority of children will have no need to repeat a year anyway.

Right, and where would all the nursery/childminder places come from to accommodate those who suddenly aren't starting school? And the money for a whole additional year group of early years funding? Not to mention the financial impact on parents who suddenly have to stump up for another year of childcare

Why would they need to repeat a whole year!

I agree about the scaremongering I want nothing more than for schools to open in June but watch the news. Teachers are not going back until it’s ‘safe’ and unions are now saying they will sue. I can’t see them being satisfied for a very long time- certainly not this year, probably into next. That’s too long out of normal education for our dc. They’ll need time to settle back into school mode again after being out for so long.

but if things carry on like this in September, October, November and so on

That's a massive "if" which practically nobody has said will happen.

Universities can't just take limited students in Sept and a much larger cohort the following year. Financially that would cause many to fail. Also, that would mean stretching staff and resources to breaking point if year group sizes suddenly increase. They won't suddenly have extra labs, rooms, staff and equipment. The government isn't propping them up financially, and as a result many courses and some unis will probably close.

If they don’t want to go to university right now they can (try to) defer their places and take a gap year. Why would they need to be back in school?

This situation is crap for everyone. It’s annoying that people are so determined to select a single group of people and claim they’ve got it the worstest of all. It’s crap for people in care homes who are at greater risk of catching Covid and desperately lonely. It’s crap for people working in supermarkets and having to deal with the public all day. It’s crap for kids who aren’t able to see their friends. It’s crap for single people who’ve been on their own for bloody weeks on end now. It’s just crap all round.

The current Y13s can just make the best choice for them from the currently crappy available options. Like everyone else.

They've already done over half the year. It was 2 weeks before Easter when most schools closed. No need to repeat a whole year for a term and 2 weeks surely.

What you're forgetting is that exams only test what has been taught. So when setting exam papers, questions will be based on the parts of the curriculum schools have been able to deliver. Students will have missed 1/3 of a school year in effect, andnany formal exams set will reflect this. Students can't start the academic year again September as this would require a change in the law to the school leaving age.

but if things carry on like this in September, October, November and so on enthusiasm for home learning is going to decrease massively

I'm not sure that this is a given. Yes there will be some children that struggle and fail to progress (as there are in any system of education) it may well be though that if this is longer term distanced learning actually becomes more established and better. Children will become more used to responding to a screen teacher rather than a physical person and, essentially in my opinion, schools and teachers will become experts in setting and guiding virtual learning. I'm an old fart and a self confessed slow learner when it comes to tech. But in the last two weeks I have become proficient enough to use a platform to deliver a virtual lesson including sharing powerpoints and videos live. If we're not going back in June then this will HAVE to be our plan B.

The government can prop up universities for the year
@bigbananafeet12

Do you think so? Edinburgh uni has running costs of £90 million per month!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-52666042
There are hundreds of other universities with similar running costs
Where will the government find that money considering they aren't offering unis any support to cope with the anticipated fee drop for this year?, why would they fund ALL UK universities for a year? It's nonsensical

They will be fine. Even if they didn’t have school work set you can keep their learning going with other activities it’s natural that children are learning all the time they just need a bit of help sometimes. Nothing bad will happen they will be fine and catch up when back.
I had 3 years off when I was at school years 8,9,10. Did minimal work. Managed to do GCSEs and pass and did well. So much time in school isn’t learning in fact the learning part is the easiest bit to keep up with. The social aspect is harder but luckily we have zoom/FaceTime etc now so it can be done

@AJPTaylor it’s not going to be a term, it’s going to have a massive impact on next term too (read the schools reopening September thread). Teachers and scared parents are not suddenly going to be happy in September.
@SockYarn schools will still be part time at best in September according to everything I read on here.
Primary school dc will probably be ok, secondary school dc will not.

My daughter has been ill with a chronic disease for the last 2 years and will leave school with no qualifications and no support from the school what so ever. Suck it up and get on with it. Everyone else is in the same boat. You have to adapt your thinking to survive. In 15 years time no one will give a stuff for these qualifications.

Those children are not disadvantaged when they reach uni age because compared to UK children they’ve had a couple of years less schooling. So what’s the difference? Are they taught well at home when younger? Is the syllabus in some way ‘better’? Is the teaching when they are at school ‘more efficient’ so they learn more in less time?
I have read studies (years ago, admittedly) suggesting that it takes a couple of years more to become really good at reading and writing English due to the non-phonetic spelling. But basically, children are more mature when they start later, and can jump straight on to formal learning.

Why would you go to university online when you can have a gap year and go when things are back to normal?

Why would you want a gap year during a pandemic?

Personally, I'd rather be studying - at least you can still do that, whereas most gap year activities (travel, volunteering, working, etc) will be off the table.

I’m not opposed to the idea at all. I’d love my Son to repeat Y1. I’d love Y1 to meet his needs and be more play-based more, but repeating the year and putting off Y2 for a while sounds good.

What would happen to all the new starters? They would get an extra year at nursery, they would start school at an age a little more in line with the rest of the world.