Aibu? Returning to school

[Holymolymackerel]

For background:

My dd8 is going back to school on Monday. Me and dh have decided this because she is struggling emotionally, she is slightly behind educationally, she is struggling being with ds who has sen and will remain at home and because dh is going back to his keywork after being furloughed, it will only be me with 2 children, one has sen as mentioned.

Am I right to be miffed that my dd will have a teaching assistant in the mornings and a play worker/ dinner lady in the afternoons?

I didn't expect her to have her teacher that she has had since September and knew there would be a change around but didn't expect to have no teachers at all.

Thanks

Well... this is one of the logistical difficulties teachers have been taking about since Boris said schools would be going back... it far from ideal which is why there been such a fuss about it!

What do you expect the school to do? Class sizes have been halved, we don’t have 2x as many teachers.

If your DD is 8, she may well be in the keyworker or vulnerable children bubble? The teachers will have been redirected to nursery, reception, year 1 and year 6 children.

The school are not having y6 and y1 back yet. Only nursery and reception are open and key worker a d vulnerable children.

I hoped for at least some sessions with a teacher and the rest with teaching assistants.

Hie did you think schools were going to staff double the amount of classes, from the magic teacher tree?

No key worker children have been having lessons. It’s childcare, not school. You will still need to homeschool her in the hours she is at home.

Really it should be the same adult at all times, this is the guidance from the government.

But yes, key worker children are having childcare. This is what the government stated schools should do. Returning year groups should have education.

Children of key workers aren't being taught in schools - they are all different year groups. They are doing the same online learning as everyone else, just being supervised in the school building to do it, so they are at no advantage to the kids at home.

Yeah provision for key worker kids outside of the year groups returning at my DDs school is by the pastoral worker and not a teacher. It's childcare for that group unfortuantly

Parents (well some) have the choice to send their children to school, but it doesn't mean it's the place for them to be.

It does sound awful OP, but it will be the best the school can offer. It you can offer her more at home, then do that.

She's what? Year 4? As they're not due back yet she'll be in a mixed age/ability class. What would you expect a teacher to teach in those circumstances? How could one teacher, teach a mixed age group? And what then happens to the other year 4's still sitting at home?

The teachers are going to have to teach the groups returning to school and are, hopefully, setting work for the ones staying at home.

If only someone had pointed out that this is what would happen. (sarcasm)

I didn't expect her to taught the curriculum but thought she would have a mix of teachers/teaching assistants to help if she was stuck on the Google classroom work she will be doing.

YABU, do you know the logistical nightmare that schools have been going through to staff and organise things?

Have you spoken to the school about your concerns? My nephews are in school and have had no input at all, keyworker children are being looked after not educated.

It's been made really clear from the start that the keyworker provision is childcare only.

If your school are providing homelearning, then the staff will just be supervising completion of that.

I'm sure a TA is more than able to answer a clarifying question from an 8yo.

Staff will only be able to help from a 2m distance anyway - won't be close enough to look at written work or a computer screen.

As pp have said, it's all hands on deck now they've got to look after bubbles of 15 with the same number of teachers (maybe less due to shielding).

Teachers are not meant to move between bubbles. If Sam in bubble A gets ill and the teacher catches it, she could pass it to bubble A she teaches in the morning and bubble B in the afternoon. Also I think schools are needing to keep some teachers for online work, as TAs can't be expected to do that in the same way, so some bubbles will have to have TAs in charge.

And, having been into school to see the new classrooms all set up, I'm laughing drily at anyone sending their child back for mental health reasons.

Pupils can't have a mix. They have to have the same staff all week at the very least. The teachers will be with the Reception / yr 1 children.

YABU - the school will be doing the best it can. The teachers will be doled out as best they can - especially with the advice on schools opening. Even if a teacher was there, they couldn't go near your child.

I think your expectations are unrealistic, sorry.

It is recommended that the same adult stays with each bubble but only as far as is practical. For example in the case of job shares/part time staff or PPA cover there will be some mixing of staff unfortunately.

You should be more annoyed that she’s having 2 different members of staff, putting her and them in double the amount of danger each day. It’s unrealistic to expect a teacher anyway, it’s childcare for vunerable and key worker kids, this has been made clear from the start. It doesn’t mean your daughter won’t get anything positive out of it.

"You should be more annoyed that she’s having 2 different members of staff, putting her and them in double the amount of danger each day."

Unavoidable with part time staff, though.

Throughout the past 10 weeks all kids in have been on a Rota system of staff 🤷‍♀️

I think a TA will be more than capable of helping with year 4 work, but my understanding is that school for key worker kids is just child care. In fact I’m surprised she’s got a place, given that you’re at home. A key worker friend of mine had to fight tooth and nail to get her kids in, when they could have stayed with her ex (their dad) . They don’t like him and cried all day, but even then the school were quite resistant .