AIBU to think this is a potential way for primary school kids to catch up?

[Crunchymum]

Current teachers move up with their year group?

So mine will be going into Y3 and Y1, their current teachers remain with them. In effect teaching them for 4.5 terms as opposed to 3.

These teachers will be best placed to know where the children are lacking, how best to support them. They know where the are at with their home schooling. They know where they could / should be.

Obvious issues are teachers tend to remain within their KS. So a KS1 teachers may not be equipped to move to KS2? Same with EY moving to KS1 But they can be trained over the summer?

New teachers for reception class

Year 6 teachers provide extra support for SATs years

Our school is a double intake (so 2 classes for each year) and there is always movement with the teachers. Mainly EY moving to KS1 from what I've seen.

Is this idea feasible at all?

The government have thrown money at most other sectors, let them bloody well financially support our kids catching up

I doubt they will agree to spend any money on getting schools back to ‘normal’.

We have never had any ‘floating‘ teachers to help other year groups-in fact we can’t even afford teachers in every class and our part time teachers jobshare with HLTAs.

I don’t think the government will ever agree to fund anything like this.

Good point @TW and same goes for teachers who didn't gel with their class.

How about the teachers just pass on class information to the child’s next class teacher.... like they do anyway?

In our school Year 6 teachers are staying put. All the others are moving up, 1 year 5 teacher is leaving the other is going into Year 3 with a new teacher.

Year 2 teachers 1 moving into Year 1 the other into Reception as one of the Reception teachers is the head of Early Years so has to stay either there or Nursery and Nursery teacher is staying where she is.

I think we should be a little careful about assuming that all kids will need to catch up.
If (and I do acknowledge it's an "if") schools have been run efficiently, they will have been sending out meaningful and accessible work for their kids (knowing the format that is best suited to their catchment). If (and it's another big "if") children have been attempting to do even some of it, then they will not be far "behind." Some will have been very well-supported at home; others not so much. T'was ever thus.
Bear in mind, also, that by Year 6, there is a 7 year gap in attainment between the most and least able. Teachers are very well-used to catering for children of many abilities and experiences and will continue to do so, once we're all back in school "properly."
(And I'm gutted to lose my current class - they're the nicest lot I've had in years. Would be quite nice to have them again).

@minielise

As already explained there is also a psychological aspect to it.

Kids are adaptable but kids have been affected by this. Anxiety, stress, uncertainty and fear will mean that kids could benefit emotionally (as well as academically) to keeping the same teacher.

It's also not a usual handover. It is 60 children in each year group with varying degrees of emotional and academic needs.

That's what our small indie is doing and we're all delighted! Year 6 teacher is pregnant, so going on mat leave in October. They have got a mat leave cover for reception instead

I'm sure SLT all over the country are considering moving teaching staff around to best meet the needs of the children.

Like they do in May/June every year then.

I completely disagree with this as a parent and as a teacher - kids need to move on and move up. Even kids who have done nothing over lockdown, learning-wise, will have continued to develop and grow. A y4 moving into y5 needs to get their head around that and have the normal fresh start. Also bear in mind not every school is a one-form entry situation anyway - small schools for instance would have children going back to the same class/teacher but in a new year group anyway.

@CallmeAngelina

Sadly my kids will need to catch up.

I work from home, DP works out of the house, I have one laptop between us all, bo printer. I have also have a disabled toddler.

We are doing what we can.

Most people I know are in a similar boat. Multiple kids / still working / other caring responsibilities. Maybe we'll all be at the same disadvantage?? Who knows.

I am not a teacher. I couldn't (can't) do it. Utmost respect to the amazing teachers I know and have had for my kids.

We are keeping as ,any children with their teacher as is possible. But it doesn’t work for every class. We will have new probationers, some staff will be shielding, some have already taught their class for two years and others will leave. We regularly move year group so Y6 to Reception isn’t unexpected for us. It works well as far as it can go but unfortunately won’t be possible for every class.

After 6 months out of school the teacher will need to reassess each child’s baseline and rebuild relationships anyway. I can’t see how this would actually help.

@SachaStark

Oh, I DO enjoy these threads every couple of days, when a poster who has clearly never worked in education reckons they’ve got the answer to the entire mess.

It’s like having Boris and Co on the forum with us!

I am not a teacher but thought the same thing .

I agree @Coffeekisses it will help draw a line under it and produce a fresh start. I’m a teacher too and I am aware that some kids won’t have dealt with it as well as others but they need normality now and moving up through school provides that.

Haven’t rtft but I thought it might be nice to keep the kids in their current classrooms just for a month or two to ease them back in, then move up after Oct half term. The new foundation could start at this point too (in our school foundation don’t start until mid sep so only 5 weeks late for them). I know this probably isn’t feasible but I do feel for the children who have no idea what’s happening. I’ve had to tell my yr2 daughter that she’ll be in yr3 when she goes back and she was upset she won’t be with her current teacher again. Probably also upsetting for the teachers to have such an abrupt end to the year.

@sleepydragons yes, exactly this re May/June but I'm not sure that it's always evident to those not in the teaching profession.

I personally think every child should go back to their current year group and teacher and classrooms until October half term and then transition then. Slight delay for new reception kids but not horrendously so.

What is the point to doing this, it has no benefit what so ever and a dozen downsides. Its just making teachers/schools jobs ten times harder for no reason.

My DD is due to start reception in September, she turns 5 at the very start of September.

Delaying her start to reception wouldn't be fair in any way. She's more than ready to move up and has grown out of nursery.
She's excited to start school.

Besides, even if keeping her in nursery was feasible, they have already filled the 3/4 year old funded spaces for September when her age group is meant to move up.

Two problems with recruiting new teachers:

• financial cost (obviously, you've mentioned this but then sort of waved it away)
• what do you do with them afterwards? There aren't a huge number of teachers who would be prepared to take a contract for only half the year, knowing full well there would be no permanent job at the end of it. And where do you get them from in the first place? Recruitment is currently very tough, I don't think there are enough trained teachers just hanging around looking for a job that you could increase the workforce significantly without notice - it takes TIME and TRAINING to become a teacher.

14.000 teacher vacancies before C-19. 14,000 VACANCIES. How on Earth are they going to get enough teachers?

Start with treating them like valued professionals capable of doing their job without being constantly micromanaged and observed?

Vulnerable children and those that struggle to learn have been abandoned for years by the education system in this country. Not, I hasten to add, by the individuals who work with them and are trying to do their best, but by the system as a whole. Yes, they will be affected by the school closures but if they weren't meeting expectations before, the chances are they never would, so in terms of life chances it really won't make a substantial difference (and it breaks my heart to say it).

Things that would really help those children:

• more support in school (I don't think many people realise how important TAs are for this)
• proper assessment for issues such as dyslexia/ADHD/ASD that can cause barriers to learning
• enough funding so that once assessed the children can be effectively supported
• smaller class sizes
• a properly funded social care system so they can actually deal with the children schools refer to them, instead of them being bounced back and schools expected to put stuff in place

What won't help is putting the pressure on those struggling children to cover extra work that they are already disengaged with, in the belief that will somehow fix the gap.

What would be really, truly, super amazing for those children would be some 121 tuition. For targeted individuals that could make an enormous difference. There are charities that provide this, so if you really care then please consider donating to them.

For children who were meeting expectations, who have had supportive parents at home making sure they at least do some work, and who will be there supporting with their work going forward, I really don't think anyone need be greatly concerned. They will catch up in time (with the exception of y10 and y12 which I think the govt really needs to do something to address).

Maybe ditch SATs next year to allow teachers the freedom to catch up on the curriculum rather than teaching how to pass a test.

This is the most sensible suggestion I've heard this year. My year 6 child has spent the first half of the (academic) year doing practice test after practice test and the second half in lockdown. We all know that months of year 6 is spent prepping for the SATS, so by ditching the SATs, primary kids could start to catch up!

So instead of teachers teaching what they know and are most experienced in, during a time of great change and catch-up, we dick about with it? No!

My Y6 has been learning about WW2. Why take a Y5 teacher who knows loads about what works well teaching about Mayans, and drop them into teaching WW2 for the first time? Teachers should be teaching the topics and level they know best, keep everything as simple as possible.

You’re just proposing to create noise and confusion for the sake of it!

As for emotional well-being... mine is Y6, but if you’d told her she was keeping her Y5 teacher, she’d have been gutted. Growing up and moving on is so important to many children. She’s been absolutely fine throughout lockdown, emotionally. It would hit her like a 10 ton truck to feel she was still a Y5 - that’s how she’d see it. And she liked her Y5 teacher! Children will not want to term that they’re still Y5, or have failed to progress.

Just move them up, and focus on intervention where needed. Stop assuming all these kids are massively behind. Many of them aren’t. Nor are they all upset and scared about going back to school. All parents of my Y6 bubble of 12 reported back on the parent WhatsApp group what fun they’d had, and no upset at all. Support the kids that need it - emotionally and academically - but don’t create needless drama. The vast majority of kids will pick up where they left off and settle back in quickly. Those that don’t: please, trust the teachers’ professionalism.

@Norabird 👏🏻