To think my Year 10 is being let down?

[boredorboard]

My Yr 10 attends a leafy, sought after, Ofsted Outstanding state school. They have made the decision NOT to have any Yr 10s in school this term. My DD is sitting her GCSEs next year and the school apparently can see no benefit of face to face contact of any sort. Remote learning is just as good apparently. How can this be allowed to happen? Other schools locally are managing it but it seems to me that our Head just can't be bothered to make it work. And no-one - the LA, the DFE or Ofsted - have the power to make her. It's a massive school, currently empty bar about 10 keyworker children.

If the quality and quantity has been good with distance learning then there is less concern. DD is Y12 and has had very good teaching to date and have set out their plans going forward. Students will be going in once weekly at first for a progress check and for a pupil support check. Those with subjects that are easier delivered remotely and where progress is on track will be asked to continue distance to provide space for struggling students and subjects that require more face to face. DD knowing she is on track is enough motivation so she is happy to remain at home. Her friends at other colleges has not been provided work and are still working on their reopening plans. They are panicking which is not good for mental health.

@lazylinguist absolutely disagree that most year 10s won’t be going in. In my dss school 125 out of 160 will be back, same sort of numbers at my friends sons school. I appreciate it might not be a huge educational benefit but agree totally about the boost to mental health and motivation.

@lazylinguist absolutely disagree that most year 10s won’t be going in.

I was talking about my dc's school as an example. I know that not many will be in, because dh works there and has seen the questionnaire replies.

Other schools locally are managing it but it seems to me that our Head just can't be bothered to make it work.

OP, you claim not to be teacher bashing but you put the above sentence in your first post. How is that not teaching bashing?

I am criticising one person (anonymously) who happens to be a Headteacher. "Teacher bashing" implies I am criticising the whole profession which I am not. In fact I am saying that the vast majority of teachers are accepting year 10s back in school and questioning why my Headteacher isn't allowing the teachers in her school to do the same.

I really hate the rhetoric on Mumsnet now that any criticism of education in any way is "teacher bashing". What on earth has happened to debate and accepting posters all have different valid opinions to share whether you personally agree with them or not.

@heartsonacake

If she’s doing her GCSEs next year it’s a great time for her to learn independent study. It will benefit her for GCSEs, A-Levels but mostly university.

Learning to think and study for herself will give her an advantage and extra skills. If she’s struggling, help her to learn the skill.

That argument wore thin after 4 weeks...my Year 12s need to be taught A levels, the course was not designed to be self taught. Even at university you get much more support than my kids are getting now...

Our Year 12s have had no teaching for 12 weeks now - thankfully they will see their teachers starting from this week but if you've had good support from teachers up to now - your school are streets ahead of many. Motivation levels have tailed off, kids need their teachers.

My Y12 is in the same situation. School has space to have them all in and socially distanced but the government rule of 25% of the year group at a time makes it unworkable. The remote learning provision is excellent and they’ve concluded they’re better off having everyone sticking to that rather than the chaos of having different kids in on different days, which would disrupt their sets etc. I think they’ve made the right call, but I appreciate it’s difficult if your child is struggling. I just hope that by September they can be in full time.

My year 10 is going in for 1 day a week from the week after next. So 4 days in total before the holidays. They have been put into bubbles of up to 7 pupils depending on what options they are doing. I think they are going to be taught all subjects over the 4 weeks.

I am a Science teacher with a year 10 child myself. Our school will be doing one day a week in school houses to divide them into 4 easily, and then Friday for catch up with students who are behind. It is not compulsory but I have booked my DD in to show willing. I am going to be delivering some generic content in a lecture style from the front to a mixed ability group of children 2/3 of whom I don’t know. Nothing about this is to do with educational content , the educational content online will be better, no doubt about that . We are doing it to hopefully give the pupils a little morale boost, and show we are interested in how they are doing and to check on as many as we can face to face as some have really struggled. We are also doing it to push to test having more kids in , in case we aren’t back to normal next term, and to mollify some parents who have been very vocal about wanting to see us doing something more visible. Aside from everything else this is complicated by the fact that lots of staff are shielding for their own issues or issues of family members , so whatever form our yr10 lessons finally , the numbers are not pinned down yet, there are only 5 of us who can come in and deliver it from my whole dept. The same 5 teachers who are also covering a day a week for key workers. I completely understand a school who has looked at the logistics of this versus the educational pay off and decided not to go ahead. Certainly what your school hasn’t done is communicate with the parent body properly. Schools do in the vast majority of cases really want what is best for the students, really hate not being in and are doing their best.

My year 10 is going in one half day a week
Doing 1/2 maths , English and science and then a 2 hr on compute with various teachers of subjects in room
I'm grateful for anything as learning at home isn't the same and the fact he can ask for a bit of help face to face is so worth it
I can't help him with some subjects as I've never studied them to gcse level and I don't agree it's a good place for them to learn independently ready for GCSEs , they haven't even covered all the subject modules yet , so it's not the same as revising what they have learnt
Sorry Op your school isn't doing anything if I was you I would be angry
The year 10 & 12 I feel have it worse as it's all so up in the air and they have missed 3 months of school with no guarantee it might be more and it looks like they want them to sit gcse next year no matter what , talk of delaying a month ( no help and means no long break between school and college etc )
Lots of rules on going back though not my ds is looking forward to it and although he's been doing all his work he has struggled at times

If she’s doing her GCSEs next year it’s a great time for her to learn independent study. It will benefit her for GCSEs, A-Levels but mostly university.

Not this tired old bollocks again...50% of school leavers don't got to uni and lots of 16 -18 don't do A' levels. Please step out of your bubble occasionally.

Lots of kids just need to get a few GCSE passes under their belts to go onto more vocational training. My yr10 DD is one of these. She's predicted grade 4s across almost all her subjects and can't afford to let her grades slip if she's to go onto the vocational course of her choice. However she's now missed almost a term of education and will be competing for grades next summer against kids who have had a full-time table of teaching. It's shit.

Oh joy. More school teacher bashing. Can we not have one day without it?!

My year 10 child's school has made the pitiful offer of 20 minutes contact every three weeks.

I have complained to the Head, and Governors. Every other school locally is offering one day of teaching per week and I'm mystified as to how they can get away with it.

My gripe isn't against teachers - lots of my friends are teachers. One of them has been working in school right through but meanwhile her kids are at home alone without any support or education.

I'm angry because of how variable provision has been. Some schools have done loads and some have done very little. How can the exam boards possibly differentiate between these schools next summer?

I agree, OP, it is crap.

My yr10's school is offering around 30mins to an hour a week...
Have written to my MP as I feel there is no forward planning for September on this.

Yes - I've also written to my MP and the Education Secretary.

DD year 10 is struggling with her schoolwork. She has dyslexia and one of her grandparents died of Covid (which really affected her motivation). School have been next to useless work seems to be sent in dribs and drabs some has been set and sent in emails, some has been set on the correct school platform where the homework should be set (with or without links depending on the teacher, sometimes the kids have to go back looking through several long winded emails to find links and go on to one or two platforms to do the work.
Online virtual learning classes have been non existent! DD is supposed to go back to school 22/06 for one half day per week (but we have had no information about class sizes, subjects or anything else)!! I am shielding but DD is so desperate to go back to school that I have agreed she can go back. She is upset that her year group has had such a raw deal due to the school closure and the erratic way the teachers have been setting work. I also think she is quite overwhelmed with the schoolwork and quite depressed. DH and I are both WFH but both have degrees and between us we are more than capable of helping her with her schoolwork but she won’t hear of it, never discusses anything with us and we have no idea how she is doing with it. I have contacted the school twice recently and she is really behind with it but no one from the school has contacted us about this.
Judging by this thread their is clearly a massive discrepancy between the provision of schoolwork during lockdown, how involved children are letting their parents be in their learning, what provision the schools are putting in place for the next few weeks and what will happen in September. Year 10 have really been sold down the river.

I also have a son in year 11 happy as Larry, very bright, absolutely coasting, assured good results and a place is 6th form (but lucky if he does 2 hours schoolwork a day now).

I don't understand the 25% thing or why it's part time. I thought schools weren't allowed to offer part time or is that just primary school.
Luckily (for me) my daughter isn't in Y10 until September but I'm not sure what will happen as this year's Y10 and Y12 have been offered nothing. I don't think they'll be back in September (especially as this week they've changed the way they do online teaching) so who knows what will happen. I understand it's hard for schools but we can't just suspend education indefinitely (and online learning is not a substitute especially for children with additional needs.

Most of the year 10's who are being given time in school will get maybe a couple of days in school at the most. Most schools who are doing this are simply providing it to tick the box for providing some face to face contact as promised by the government. It is mostly a couple of sessions of Eng, maths and science taught by someone in the dept so not even their regular teacher. It will contribute sod all and will not make any significant difference to their overall GCSE chances. I can understand why you are upset that they are not doing like the rest but they are perhaps less willing to play the game of the tick box exercise.

I get how you feel OP

My y10 is going in for about an hour a day from tomorrow, rest is online lessons

The school have been great at providing online classes, and trying to make it work. They are supposedly on target to where they should be

What slightly breaks my heart is how excited DS is to go into school. It shows how much he has missed out on. He has always loved school.

I feel this generation of kids are getting a bad deal

Yet we are luckier than some, and some schools have really dropped the balls here

But overall, I feel all kids (esp current year 6, year 10, 11, 12, 13) are really being failed by the spineless gutless government

Closing schools with no plan of opening them again, some schools have risen to the challenge, many haven’t, it’s a national scandal really

Great. Another teacher bashing thread. Write to the school or council then. Why winge on here? What good will that do?

I am not bashing teachers (or seen that?)

I AM bashing the really crap government

It is rubbish, op, and I don't begrudge you a little moan on here.

But try not to worry. Behind the scenes, schools are starting to plan for September and excruciatingly aware of how much catching up will need to be done.

In addition, they are aware that there will need to be a transition period, and a rebuilding of relationships. Staff at our school are all undergoing training to help them best support their pupils.

This is affecting the whole country, every child. It's been over-used, but it really is an unprecedented period in history and schools will do their level best to support kids on their return.

Many countries closed their schools, to everyone, in March and won't reopen until the Autumn, whilst U.K. is at least supporting keyworkers, vulnerable children and some year groups.

As a parent I think it's really important that your kids see you being positive and hopeful, looking to the future and the return of normality, assuring them that their schools and teachers care, and that there'll be support in place when they do return.

Great. Another teacher bashing thread. Write to the school or council then. Why winge on here? What good will that do?

It's not a teacher bashing thread, it's a group of adults discussing their children's education on a parenting forum. I'm so bored of threads being hijacked with accusations of teacher bashing.

YANBU. My year 10 dd will be going back this week for half a day a week. It's not enough. They have also told them that they will have to drop one of their options next year so that they can concentrate more on the core subjects.