AIBU to be fed up that all the education focus is on primary schools and no mention whatsoever of secondary pupils, especially those in Years 10 and 12?

[enougha1ready]

If I have to see another news article showing the spacing of primary school desks, children washing their hands and parents on school gates stating the obvious about social distancing, I think I’m going to go demented.

Yes It is very challenging educating primary school children at home. I know this. I have 4 DC. Every parent knows this. It is also obvious that some children / families are in more difficult circumstances than others, for all sorts of reasons.

But the same applies to secondary aged children. Hello!!! Where is the mention of them??

I have DC in Years 7, 8, 10 and 12. What I want to know is -

How likely is it that schools will be going back as normal in Sept?

I can’t see how it will be any different then and I think this needs to be discussed now - ie a plan needs to be made for part-time remote learning with some time in school, if it’s still the case they can only take 25% in at any time.

What is the thinking around exams for next summer, given the inequalities around remote teaching and the fact that Years 10 and 12 will have missed at least a term and most probably more of normal school?

Is there any thinking at all about anything? I’m sorry, but could Gavin Williamson appear my more dopey if he tried? I can’t believe the uselessness.

AIBU - the govt need to get off the back foot and start some serious contingency planning. Some pupils have mock exams and GCSE / A-levels in a matter of months.

My secondary has a Plan A (back in Sep, thought unlikely) where its business as usual, and a Plan B where different combinations of year groups have alternate weeks. Obviously online teaching and assessment would continue.
At my school, every class has been set work every week (checked by line managers) , differentiated for lower, middle and highest ability, and assessments have been set. We have had slightly less than 20% of students completing work. It's partly large families having just one screen at home, partly having lots of parents who don't speak English, partly kids slipping into depression and poor routines, partly some parents not wanting to be "bad cop* and force their child to work. It's all a massive worry.
The EEF now think that the attainment gap between the most disadvantaged and the most supported students in our country could be as much as 75% in terms of final GCSE results.

We need to return to normality. Unless infection rates drop, I think we will be looking at alternate weeks in Sep. Its better than nothing and we have to work with what we have got.

HoldMyLobster - can I ask what country you are in? That sounds like the kind of contingency planning they need to be doing here.

I'm in the US, in Maine, where the plans are made at a school district level, based on guidance from the state education board and state CDC. I don't know if this is typical of schools generally in the state but I'd imagine most of them are doing something similar.

The other factor that has really helped throughout this whole Covid situation is that my state has a policy of providing laptops or ipads to all students from age 12 (I think) via the school, on which they are expected to do a lot of their homework, and the schools also tend to have a lot of spare devices, so there have been enough for most children to have their own device at home.

Completely agree secondary school children are ignored in most of the media and probably the government too. It may well be economic pressures to get primary school kids back sooner but secondary school kids need an education too, they have less time to make up for lost education and as teenagers become easily disaffected. I am really struggling with my year 8 child who doesn't want to do any work and seems depressed and very low. I'm working full time from home and it's hard because employers can be less sympathetic of homeschooling / supporting teenagers. School have said its unlikely things will back to normal in September but dont know what that really means.

Even today, it was BJ doing the briefing and there was little to no mention of secondary schools - beyond “We are fully intending for all schools to open in September.”

Apart from this, it was all about primary schools, including some vague statement about plans for children to do catching up over the summer? But whether this means online or not, he didn’t say.

I should also say, I think my kids have been among the more fortunate through this online school period as they all have iPads from their schools and are used to doing online homework etc anyway. Lessons have been delivered in real-time and it’s been quite intense for them really. But still, I’m very aware that this is the exception rather than the norm. The government need to tackle this head on and stop making empty statements.

As I understand it, Scotland schools go back in mid-August and they are hoping this will be the case for all, yet they’ve still devised a national online education platform to support pupils in the event that social distancing means they can only go in part-time.

I realise Scotland is a fraction of the population, but why aren’t they taking about something similar in England? The policy just seems to be to bluster along and if schools can’t fully reopen in September, they'll cross that bridge when they come to it.

Boris just spouts bollocks and lands everyone in it at these briefings. Williamson now has a week to come up with a "catch up" programme before next week. I imagine they won't consult teachers and it will all fall apart before the weekend. Useless wankers, the lot of them.

^I am referring to the our current government as useless, not the teachers above.

Agree OP.
Schools are open for the little ones to free up parents to go back to work. I’m sorry but senior school students (especially the later years) need Something sorted ASAP. I can’t believe where all the focus has been directed. It’s appalling.
I say this as a shielding household too. Year 10 and 12...where’s the support?

Yes, I have also wondered why we are getting updates on shops, markets, zoos, restaurants, theatres and everything else opening. But secondary schools and higher education and the millions of students being left adrift? Not a mention. It's maddening.

I do agree it's not the teachers or schools who are at fault but the bloody government (although I don't think any other party would have done any better).
It's obviously not going to be sorted this term but I'm desperate to hear something, anything about September. Even if it's bad news I'd rather know and I'd like to know what the plan is.
We've heard nothing from the school about reopening so I assume they are waiting to hear from the government but seems they might be waiting a,long time.

Teachers - do you have an idea of what percentage of pupils have:

• done virtually no work
• tried to do everything set
• started off well but lacked motivation as weeks went on

My DD is highly motivated normally and extremely hard working. She seems to have slowed down these past couple of weeks and is dreading the return. She became unusually upset. She might find it reassuring to know there will be a mixed bag of pupils with some having worked hard and others doing very little.