School not interested in year 6?

[FlyingLoo]

Hi, I would love to hear some totally unbiased opinions please. So I’ve received an email from our primary school that they will b partially opening in 2 weeks. They will b opening for years 6, 5 and 4 Initially however year 6 will only attend school for 1 week and years 5 &4 will b attending through till July.....I feel this is because years 4&5 will obviously reflect the schools SAT scores in coming years and because year 6 are basically no use to them ?? They’re being forgotten about. I need other people’s opinion please?? They will also b opening to year 1 the week after opening the school to the other years ....

Forgot to add, I have a child in year 6

There isn't much point for yesr 6 actually being in other than to end their primary years and to prepare for secondary. A week to finish off sounds ideal.

That’s really odd, I thought schools were opening to R, 1 and 6 to start with.
DS (Y6) goes back 4 days a week from 15th with Y1 and R going back in stages from last Monday. Y 4 and 5 not going back at all

Is the school in England? I’d be contacting them to ask why they aren’t following government guidelines.

I can see the reasoning behind it. Had this been a normal year the year 6s would be going on residential, having fun days, practicing for the end of year show, transition visits to secondary school etc. Very little work would be done. The last half term is mostly a winding down / finishing off and saying goodbye to their classmates.

It would be nicer to have longer than a week, but the other year groups are likely to benefit more from going back than the yr 6s.

YABU I think. Schools are trying their best to manage through a pandemic and need to put measures in place to keep people safe. My DD is in Y5 and her teacher is going to have to go to teach a small group of y6 so we look like we are home for the forseeable. They have to manage as best they can, and y6 are usually doing all the fun stuff plus transitioning to high school with visits, etc, at this point.

If the school is in England I would contact them to ask if their insurance is valid for the year groups that have not been told to go back by the government as many insurers will not cover them.

YANBU, that is completely against the government guidelines.
The whole point of Year 6 going back is to prepare them for secondary school - not just emotionally, but to try and get them to a reasonable standard for starting new schools.
Primary schools will have ample opportunity to level things out with years 4 and 5 in the next few months, but year 6 should not be cut adrift.
I would complain about this.

I suppose it’s just because I want my child to have a nicer finish to their days in primary school. From year 4 they concentrate on sats work sooo much and then they enjoy the end of the year and now the children have put in all the hard work and are getting only a week of enjoying their last days together

There isn't much point for yesr 6 actually being in other than to end their primary years and to prepare for secondary. A week to finish off sounds ideal.

There isn't much point for year 5 actually being in other than to end year five and prepare for year 6. A week to finish off sounds ideal.

To me, the year 6 transition is a much bigger deal, the change is bigger, the loss is not something that they'll get back in September, it'll be a completely different environment.

I have 3 children. A Yr 10 who as of the 15th June will be going in for half days only, he will be doing all English one week, the next will be all maths then the following will be all science, then repeat. All his other subjects will continue online. My other 2 children are in yrs5 & 6. Their primary school is only opening to rec, yr1 & Yr 6, I thought this is what was happening everywhere to be honest. I think it's really important yr6 goes back so they get some sort of experience finishing primary school and help to transition to high school. I don't my yr5 will be going back till Sept, it's a big school, there's no way they can accommodate everyone whilst socially distancing

It is In England and sorry I didn’t mention it’s a very small school so only one class from every year.

But they can’t do most of the “nice” things due to social distancing. Having them in for the sake of it seems ridiculous. I have a year six and a year four. Our school will open one day a week to year six’s in a few weeks time.

Our school is the sane size xx

My y6 dd went back on Monday and is there Monday- Thursday for three weeks then every other week still Monday - Thursday until term ends

The school will continue to set work from home for the Fridays and the home weeks

The other two at the same school in years 5 & 3 will hopefully go back on June 22 Monday - Thursday every other week

The eldest in y7 is being set work at home but no signs of going in

Both schools have been excellent at adapting to the current situation

Also a one form entry school in England.
Y1 started back today and Reception on then 15th

I can see the reasoning but as others have said, it completely goes against government guidelines. You could ask them why they aren't following it but even with the guidelines I think the younger years are prioritised so going on what you've said, they still may have only taken the younger classes and year 6 for the last week.

The small primary I know of has Reception, Y1 and key worker children in. The last is the government’s first priority, and our school has a high proportion and so Y6 cannot be invited (perfectly in line with guidelines) as there aren’t sufficient staff or rooms.

To be honest though, speaking to most of the parents, the Y6 have mentally moved on anyway, and to send them back to primary would be a retrograde step academically. The secondary schools in the area are having group zoom sessions, individual zooms with Y7 teachers and virtual tours of their new schools etc, I don’t honestly know of any that would choose to go back when they are meeting up at the parks and beach anyway.

My daughter, who's now in year 8, said the other day that her final weeks in year 6 were some of the best of her life, she loved the fact they got so much chill out time between tests in the sun, she enjoyed the residential trip and the leavers assembly and disco, basically everything that gives the kids closure to the last several years of their lives. I've got a year 5 ds and im glad he still has the final year to go so that he isn't in this predicament that lots of year 6 children now are in. I understand you and your dc must feel as though you are being fobbed off op.

Bad advise for them to do this and not follow govt guidelines. Insurance companies have made it clear they do not cover anything outside of govt advise so if something happens to one of those children in year 4 or 5 the school is not covered!

Or advice 😁

I really feel for my y6 dd she watched her older sister get all the y6 fun last year and will see her younger sister do it all next year.
Luckily they do their residential in September

Since when are yr 4 and 5 going back in 2 weeks time?

Our (also one form entry) school has had R, 1, 6 and KW children in since Monday.

I have no clue what the rationale is behind choosing these groups, but from an entirely personal POV I am happy.

My son is yr6 and it's been hard with me working full time as a single parent.

For him, he's accepted none of the end of year stuff will happen, it's just the routine and 'normality' he needs. He has been SO much happier this week. And so have I.

What country are you in?