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?

I welcome any fresh thinking OP you've given it more thought than the government

^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.^

Well my DDs in yr R and 2 will have missed nearly 4 months of school which isn’t really fair either but here we are. I think a few weeks to help the others transition wouldn’t won’t harm your DD. For context mine isn’t even 5 yet and she’ll be expected to move into year 1 after less than 7 months of foundation stage schooling. I’m not saying my idea is the right one or if it’s feasible but then this whole thing is a shambles isn’t it so I think anything is possible!

I agree. My reception year child has had a really rough first year of school. Delaying the start for new starters is nothing in comparison to what children already in school have been through. It's a pandemic. It isn't fair but really my priority is those who have just been out of education for months in a major crisis.

I'm not suggesting that we delay the start for those due to go into reception. I'm suggesting that the reception teachers go up into Y1 with their current class.

Thank you @GuiltyBark

It was just a very rudimentary idea which obviously has lots of flaws and wouldn't work for all schools.

I assume that unless the 2m rule is relaxed then the kids will not be back full time in September anyway, so possibly another reason why current teacher / TA will stay with current class (they already know the kids, wont have to get to know a new class on a PT basis)

I also suspect schools are going to be told to provide a catch up plan but given very little guidance / support with regards to how they actually implement it.

I assume that unless the 2m rule is relaxed then the kids will not be back full time in September anyway

Even if it’s relaxed to 1m, it won’t make much difference. We will be able to fit half classes of 15 in rather than 8-10, but it wouldn’t look anything like normal.

We are delaying our Reception intake start in September which will simplify things a little initially.

One of the few good things out of this is that my DD will have a new teacher instead of the harridan she has had all year. Her school are doing everything as normal - remixing the classes, new teachers - 2 form entry school. No one has an issue with it. We’ve submitted their friendship forms as usual. What got us into the mess with schools reopening is applying a blanket policy to all schools. Heads need to be given guidance on reopening e.g. health and safety, but actually the day to day workings e.g. deciding which teacher goes where is up to them not some faceless DFE employee who has never stepped foot in a school. Even down to choosing the year groups, as parts of the country still have the middle school system and it would say have been better to have year 8 in who are transferring and not year 6.

@Pleasedontdrawonyoursister DD will have missed the same amount of time from early years education by the time September comes around.
She's had no interaction with her peers/teachers since the nursery closed in March (?)

Delaying her even further isn't going to help her at all.
If your DDs are moved up and the reception children are allowed to start then everyone is back - however it's arranged.

Your DDs returning to their year group then means my DDs cohort cannot start at all.
There's no room in nurseries for them to continue because the new 3/4 group are starting. So they're left in limbo between the two - awaiting a time where the previous group are at a stage (decided by who?) to move up, with no where else to go in the meantime.
Plus she's 5 by the time school starts - she legally needs an education too.

It's difficult, it's unfair all round however holding kids back who need to start school isn't the answer (in my opinion anyway.)

Anyway, this is all conjecture. We've no idea how the situation will be and whether they'll be allowed back at all.

Assume the government does have the money for the extra teachers, where are they coming from? And what happens to them at the end of the year.

This thread is actually quite a pleasant one as education threads on Mumsnet go. Well done OP

well, I think you are right to a certain extent.

But then this happens anyway within schools, at different times. The flexibility is there. Very few schools have teachers set in one year group all the time.

But it won't work for every year group because :
--of year 6 teachers going to reception;
--because EY and year 6 require specific skill sets and some training, and no, doing that over the summer is not an option
--because there is a teacher shortage so you won't be able to just employ a load of reception teachers, and anyway, a new teacher in the school takes more time to adjust than an established teacher takes to adjust to a new set of children
--because teachers have strengths and weaknesses and are better at teaching some year groups than others (I used to teach years 4-6 and would HATE to do year 1 /reception)
--because not all teachers are equal, I have 3 kids all now in secondary and I was a governor. I know that there are some teachers I would be NOT be very happy to have a second time (couldn't wait for my child to move out of their class.
--because it isn't necessary, it doesn't take long to get the measure of your class
--because many children will have been following the on-line stuff and will be OK (not amazing maybe, but OK)
--because teachers leave, retire and NQT's start their new jobs

I would say from observation that in my kids school either the TA often does move up with the class, to give some continuity.

@onemouseplace

This is going to happen at our school for a few weeks - Reception start a few weeks after the start of term anyway so they are going to try a transition period.

This is what my children's school will do too.

Although we have been warned if social distancing is still in place it may not be full time provision in school. The year 6 teachers will be looking after the key worker children group because their own classes will have moved on.

@greathat

This thread is actually quite a pleasant one as education threads on Mumsnet go. Well done OP

Why thank you @greathat

It's been a pretty reasonable thread by AIBU standards

@ActuallyItsEugene in my DD school, the new foundation don’t start until mid sep so if all classes moved up after Oct half term then the new lot will only be 6 weeks or so late. We also have a lot of spaces in local nurseries so I guess each location will have its own set of issues.

@Pleasedontdrawonyoursister See, DDs nursery is already full for September intake of 3/4yr olds. So she couldn't stay on there.

She's due to have her first day on the 4th or 7th September I believe. So reception starts a couple of days later than the rest of the school.
By October half term she'd have missed an extra month and a half of schooling on top of what she's missed from nursery. From early March till the end of October with no school type structure or learning (I've homeschooled as much as possible however her nursery barely got round to laying the foundations before lockdown), peers, teachers...

It's just too much.

I don't think it would work, purely because the best placed people to transition a year of reception children who are significantly less prepared for school than any other year, is an experienced reception teacher. Definitely not a y6 teacher. But otherwise, it would work.

I can see the merits of the idea as it does take half a term or so to get to know your class well, but as PP have said the recruitment of extra teachers at the bottom of the age range for only one year would be the issue. EYFS is quite a specific skill set and to find thousands of extras who would be willing to take on a one year only employment contract would be impossible I think.

However, I absolutely think SATS should be ditched for next year. Teacher assessment should still take place but there needs to be an adapted set of criteria for that too.

Ofsted inspections should also be ditched for next year, certainly for the first term. If they do take place they should focus on how schools are catching up on missed learning and leave all the stuff. My SLT are already pushing initiatives for next year based on the current Ofsted inspection framework when really we need to be devoting all our efforts on re-settling children and catching up on core learning.