To think all 6 years don't really want to face-time their teachers?

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I work in a school and I'm being bombarded with requests by parents of 6 year old children who apparently are desperate to have zoom/online chats with their teachers who they really, really miss. My children (now teenagers) at that age really wouldn't have wanted to do that at all.

Please can parents of 6 year olds tell me honestly if this is true? I'm inclined to think that the parents really want this and think their child has more of a relationship with the teacher than they really do. At least half of the children in the class won't speak to you face-to-face, why would doing it online be any different?

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Would it really be so hard to do it though? Email all parents, make it an opt in thing, ask the parents for a couple of prompts (have you been riding your bike etc) and just do it. We are always told to emphasise to our kids how important school is, maybe it's sunk in and they do miss you?

DD1 would have loved to FaceTime her teacher during lockdown in any of her school years from reception to year 4.
DD2 is 6 (in year 2) She would not want to FaceTime her current teacher. She might have if it was still last years teacher or her reception teacher.

Depending on her mood, my Yr2 would either run off saying she was busy, or talk her teachers ear off for half an hour on whatever subject she had chosen, such as Allosauruses or the correct procedure for watering a plant.

A group chat with a few of her friends plus teacher she would love.

My Yr4 doesn't really like video calling, or phone calls.

My 7 year old has a zoom with her class/ teacher twice each day, once at 8.45 and once at 2.45pm. It’s her favourite part of the day.

We will do it as that is what they have asked for. Not sure how to fit it in as we are teaching full time, but we'll manage. I am interested in feedback as to whether it is this group of parents or a wider need. Thank you for you comments.

My year R, 3 and 5 girls would LOVE to FaceTime their teacher. Especially the youngest. It depends whether they like you though!! Mine are really missing their teachers.

My toddler would be the only one happy with this but that’s because she likes to show you stuff. Like her nose and the cat.

My year 6 And year 3 are horrified at the idea of even a phone call.

There are previous teachers they wouldn’t have wanted to see though!!

My niece’s school did this and she was super excited.

My dd loves her teacher and really looks up to her, I know she’d like a five/ten minute session maybe with a fun quiz or something so it wasn’t awkward. She’d probably be quite shy but she’d be buzzing deep down lol.

Sorry - my 6 year old is like this - I desperately have to beg her not to!

A quiz would be good. We will ask them to bring any work/drawings etc they want to show us too.

No I can safely say my 6 year old wouldn't want to do this, and he really likes his teacher. He won't even zoom with his friends.

I have a 7 year old. She would absolutely love it. The poor kids are so disconnected from school at the moment. A video call would be amazing. Sorry OP.

My year old daughter is doing zoom for ballet and drama classes etc and also doing zoom lessons with outschool so no she wouldn't find it at all strange. I think she finds it hard that she can't interact with her teacher.at all.

Is it year 1 or year 2? Odd that half of the class won't speak to the teacher face to face . But yes, for many they will be excited, and for those that aren't they don't have to do it. The school here has set aside an afternoon to do this every week, parents can just drop in a timeslot if they want, and it's earmarked as a sports afternoon other than that for everyone else. Everyone has taken up the chance, but not weekly.

My DS would hate this, he doesn't even like talking on the phone. A zoom call with 6 year olds would be chaotic they would either all want to talk or say nothing!

My 7yo and 10yo haven’t chatted to their school teachers but have recently started meeting up with their Sunday school leaders and class. They love it.

My 7 year old really misses school and teacher. We have had 1 pre recorded video since leaving school. He would love to speak to her and actually think it would be really good for him as is struggling and v unmotivated. We haven't had much from school and he is losing that connection.

My 6 year old would not want to do this at all, but my 9 year old has really valued weekly phone calls with his teacher.

If you currently aren't contacting the kids in your class at all then I think you should be doing something.

If ypu go ahead please structure it well. Some children will be fine but others will be like a rabbit in headlights.

My reception 5 year old would hate this. We tried a class zoom catch up and it was pretty evenly split between the kids wanting to talk without stopping, the mute kids, the ones that wanted to show their random stuff off and those that wanted to pull faces at the camera. Certainly no meaningful interaction.

My dd, year 2 age 7, would love it. It wouldn't need to be long. She'd be delighted with 45 to 90 seconds talking about the school book she has read or just a feedback about the work she has sent off. Her teachers have been really good at giving written responses on the things we upload but it's not the same as the verbal praise and feedback she thrives on at school. She was delighted when one of the deputy heads said hello and congratulated her on one of her peices of work when she phoned to talk about youngest's transition to nursery.

It doesn't help that ds is getting video calls a couple of times a week from his nursery key worker as part of the ongoing support for his needs.

My 6yr old asks about her teachers although she wouldn't be interested in speaking to them over video as she can be quite shy and quickly looses interest even with family.
I do think her school should be contacting parents though on a regular basis just to check on families welfare. Our school haven't contacted anyone that's not on their radar and I fear that's a big safeguarding risk as many families who would normally be ok will most definitely be struggling.

My six year old would have no interest in this - can’t imagine he’d have much to say either!
I saw someone on Facebook post about how pleased one of his classmates was that teacher had phoned to speak to him. I thought it was a bit weird and there must be a particular reason!!

I'm a year 1 teacher OP and have zoom chats with my class if they want it...it's entirely 'opt in' though and most have opted in. They have loved it. I have a story time session each day and I have a 'show and tell' which we used to do in class on a Friday...so I've continued this, it's hilarious, I love it 😂

I've also been hearing individual readers which the parents have to book in for. I have a sign up sheet for this and it's working well. About two thirds of my class sign up (even the ones who are going into school...I'm not in school as asthmatic 😢).

I think you'd be surprised at how many would love to speak to you.