School only having Reception/Foundation children back not Year 6

[Flippetydip]

Is anyone else's children's school doing this? I am having a call with the head today and want to be forearmed.

I have a year 6 child and a year 4 child and I really want my year 6 to have some sort of time in school before transferring to secondary in September. The school are offering the whole of foundation the option to come in and despite only 35 out of 60 parents in that year group being willing to send their children in and 50 out of 60 year 6s wanting to go in, they are keeping the spaces open "in case foundation parents change their minds".

AIBU to think there should be some better thinking around this and a better solution found?

YABU. The guidance on the order children should be prioritised is clear. Key worker children first. The N, R, Y1 and then Y6.

What would you rather they do send yr 6 back for a couple of days and then close it down for them as the uptake in lower years increases?

Heads can't create bigger spaces or conjure up the necessary staff. I don't know what people expect them to do.

Have a word with Johnson and the idiots who came up with the plan.

I’m sure the school aren’t saying it just to be annoying.

If it’s not safe, it’s not safe. The health of the children and school staff is more important than having a couple of extra weeks in Y6.

Like previous posters I'm not entirely sure what you think you will achieve by contacting the head teacher. Do you think they are doing it to simply inconvenience you and that when you get in touch they will change their plans to accommodate you?

Don’t give the headteacher a hard time. Teachers can’t please everyone and I’m sure are trying to do the best they can in very difficult circumstances

My youngest's school is only having the 3 Reception classes back, plus the keyworker children they've had in since March. Due to classroom size they are having 10 children per room so 1 class is taking up the 3 x Reception classrooms, 1 class having the 3 x Year 1 rooms and 1 class taking the 3 x Year 2 rooms, so Reception are using 9 of the 21 classrooms. When you also factor in the keyworker children too there probably isn't room for other years. They haven't said yet if breakfast and after school clubs will be running, and there is no Nursery at the school.

What do you expect to achieve?
The school has enough to deal with right now.

Does anyone have a link to the guidance specifying the order of priority of year groups? The guidance I have seen refers to R Y1 and Y6 with no specified order (It talked about prioritising younger children but I took that to mean that primary over secondary)
Not clear what our school is planning yet. They have sent out another key worker questionnaire as they think there are more key worker children not in school (eg with only one key worker parent) so by the time they have accounted for those, likely to be room for only one more year group, and think they will focus on y6

And not opening until 10 June at earliest

Yabu. The school will have carefully considered the government guidance and advice from the LEA. They have come up with a plan to open safely to some students.

The head will not change their mind because you don’t want Year 6 to‘ miss out’. Do you honestly think they are not aware of The issues.

Keep your child at home until the school says they can safely accommodate them. Leave the head alone. They have enough on their plate.

Each school has to look at its space and resources and come up with a plan that complies with the guidance. There will be a lot of variation both locally and nationally. Hats off to those schools who continue to prioritise children of key workers.

DD's head teacher sent the year 6 kids a kind letter explaining why they couldn't fit eveyone in. It reminded me of that infinite hotel room problem, but without the space.

Sorry if I've missed it, OP, but why would you prefer your Y6 to go in rather than your Y4? When I asked, I was told Y6 will do zero learning and, when pushed, I was told zero transition preparation to secondary as 'the secondaries are closed and they'd lead on that anyway'. Reception, Y1 and other primary years would at least begin to learn again in the school they've eventually return to? Has your school said they'll actively teach and manage transition for Y6 or is it to see Y6 class friends again?

Please don't give the headteacher a hard time/ you do not understand the stress that they've been through these last weeks.
The guidance states the younger years first- and there's still 7 weeks left and at some point they may have plans to get year 6s back.
It doesn't matter that more year 6s want to come back - it's not a competition and the most wins.
The youngest years will have to be split and use up different classrooms and teachers - they just won't have the space.
Year 6 realistically are the year group out of the ones that are chosen that don't need to go back - yes they need transition- however all in the same boat there.
There are year 2 parents who feel the same for their children transitioning to year 3 at junior school.

As others have said, YABU. Guidance is to prioritise YrR and Yr1 and if there isn’t enough space or teachers then clearly yr6 can’t go back.

My school is doing the same.

I’ve got a y2 going to get zero transition to a separate junior school, no meetings with us and the school to plan the transition for their SEN and no “end” to their infant school time.

It is an exceptionally shit situation. The pat little answers on here coming at it from an adult perspective really belittle how shit a situation it is for a child for whom so much of their life has been dominated by being a member of that school.

That’s no help to the OP but I’m sick of seeing people telling others their feelings are somewhat “wrong” or “invalid”

A year 6 child has already left to start afresh in a new school. I think sending uear 6 kids back would be confusing for them as the school they left will be different now. Yes they could say a proper goodbye to friends but not all friends will come back to school. Would it not be better for their high school to have them for few days or a week instead so kids can get to meet and spend time with their yr7 class and get a bit more familiar with the school layout before all the other years come back in September.

Although year 6 will be better at social distancing I can see why they would rather have reception or year 1 kids back. They are trying to encourage parents to get back to work which is incredibly hard to do with a very young child around. Year 6s on the whole do not need to be supervised in the same way and can largely fend for themselves whilst parents are wfh.

I would be speaking to the headteachers of your child's high school instead asking what provision is being made for settling in.

I work in a secondary school which is now designated a hub for key worker children. I'm working from home but our headteacher is doing an update every few days and, each week, the rota is dealt with for the following week. Every week the person doing the rota gets a few more teachers from it as, every week, more children are added to the 'little school' as they're terming it.

So, assuming that's the same in your school OP, as the week carries on and parents talk to each other, more reception/year 1 children may turn up for school. The head teacher can't turn them away so (s)he has to keep the places open. The guidance says reception/year 1 priority, not offer a place there then take on anyone else you can if the place isn't taken up.

Please don't make this a problem for the senior school to deal with as per a pp suggestion. They have their own, current, students, many of them are sitting exams next year and they will need to be prioritised over new year 7's.

I have always presumed that they have prioritised the younger years as they are more difficult to manage at home, especially if a parent is trying to work too. Does anyone know if this is right?

I personally don't really understand why you would want those children who are in transistionary years (Y6 and some Y2 where infant and juniors are split) to go back? Surely they are going to be subject to a lot of change in September anyway so asking them to also adapt to their current school's new ways of working seems a bit unnecessary considering they would only have half a term left. Surely it has the potential to really unsettle the children when they realise they're only with half (or less) of their normal class and they potentially have a different teacher etc.

@ceeveebee www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-educational-and-childcare-settings-to-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020/actions-for-education-and-childcare-settings-to-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020

The pat little answers on here coming at it from an adult perspective really belittle how shit a situation it is for a child for whom so much of their life has been dominated by being a member of that school.

I don’t think any answered are intended to belittle how shit a situation this is for children, It’s just that it’s shit for so many children, there isn’t any one year group that has the monopoly on having the most shit. I am as upset for my y13 as I am for the other year whose exams have been abandoned to have their grades made up by teachers, and the ones who won’t get their transition from primary or infant school, and the ones who have to take exams next year. It’s shit for everyone.

My children's school is only have key worker's children back. I have read the guidance and it's all within the advice. They have to work out a save attendance limit and stick to it. If you read the guidance here

www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers/reopening-schools-and-other-educational-settings-from-1-june

It links to this for the schools
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

The priority is listed as - primary schools - nursery (where applicable), reception and year 1

And vulnerable and key worker children are above these. So if your school is full with just reception and year 1, or like mine, full with key worker children, then not all of year R, 1 and 6 can return.

Also I have seen the classroom allocations for my children's primary. We have so many keyworkers that they are using up all the classrooms just for them. The social distancing means they are only have 10 per classroom. It's not hard to imagine that can be filled up with just key worker children. I never for a minute thought all of year R, 1 and 6 can go back.

I agree with Astarsobright is it a really awful situation, for my year 6, who had been at his lovely school since he was three had been so looking forward to it all. Of course, this pales in significance to the big picture - but it’s the perspective that is the real one for DC.

Mind you, I agree the Headteachers are absolutely cognisant of all this and are doing what they can.

My DC is going back - we hope only 15 of the 17 in the class want to go back else it will be more complicated. Virtual school has been fabulous throughout and transition events with Google meets with year 7 people whom they know and a virtual tour of the senior school have helped- as has regular events in the site over the years. There is no perfect solution to any of this.