In September will the kids who have done homelearning have to sit bored at school while works repeated for the ones that haven't. Or will they start there new' year ' work as normal. Either way it's

[947EliseChalotte]

It's not fair either way. The bright kids who have done their homelearning will be held back while it's repeated for the ones which were unable too .....or if it's a new year start with work as normal the ones who didn't do homelearning will have missed work and won't understand. So either is unfair to either groups. So what are the plans for education for September? Repeating work missed from march or new work from sept? Which group will be disavantsged the ones who have done work or haven't ?

1. The children will be in different groups to their 'normal' ones. Why? They need existing relationships and friendships more than ever.

This won’t be an issue unless break times are different.

2. What message is it sending the students that should be in y3 to be in y2? They will know which class is which even if you don't tell them.

In small rural schools, years are often mixed. How is it different than children in mainstream who have intervention? The children might know but it is in their interests to catch up.

3. Just because they haven't done the prescribed home learning doesn't mean they will be 'behind'. How are you even measuring them as being 'behind'?

The kids who didn’t do home learning will have to catch up so they have (mostly) all completed the year’s curriculum..

1. If they are mixed and those who 'have done home learning' do different work, will they not just end up even further 'ahead'?

The alternative is the ones that did hone learning zone out while others catch up.

Yes OP this is going to be a problem. The only way to sort it out at primary level is to teach some mixed age groups in maths/english, but I doubt they will.

We’re seriously considering keeping our child out (ie home ed) for another year until all this settles down. I don’t want to, but why should he sit bored out of his mind for a year while the teacher focuses on the kids who are struggling? He’s already done too much of that.

@JoJoHasIt saying that bright kids get different work is great in theory, but in practice what I see over and over (at primary anyway) is bright kids being held back repeating work while the bottom of the class catches up. At 32 kids a class teachers simply aren’t able to teach to every level and the result is the bright kids are incredibly bored. I expect private schools manage this better but I wouldn’t know.

I expect private schools manage this better but I wouldn’t know.

For not the first time, I am so envious of those who can afford a good private school. I don't for one minute think all private schools are good. One parent I spoke to recently mentioned 20K a year for one child and that child has a home tutor before the schools shut down. Maybe I am envious of those in good schools whether state or private but I think parent's expectations are generally higher and more demanding in private schools. Since the pandemic, more than ever, I would love to be able to send my DC to a decent private school. I think DC1 in particular would thrive.

@Sittingontheveranda

I expect private schools manage this better but I wouldn’t know.

For not the first time, I am so envious of those who can afford a good private school. I don't for one minute think all private schools are good. One parent I spoke to recently mentioned 20K a year for one child and that child has a home tutor before the schools shut down. Maybe I am envious of those in good schools whether state or private but I think parent's expectations are generally higher and more demanding in private schools. Since the pandemic, more than ever, I would love to be able to send my DC to a decent private school. I think DC1 in particular would thrive.

I agree - I have never envied private schooling till the Covid crisis hit.

@Hercwasonaroll

In fairness user that school does sound spectacularly bad. Have you been in touch with them at all? I know it's a difficult stage to be overly involved.

Yes I have been in touch with the school, and they are defensive as always, HT expressed surprise - referred the issue to all the teachers, nothing changed. I have lost faith - there are a few dedicated teachers who have gone above and beyond but as a school they have been asleep at the wheel and many parents have employed tutors rather than make a fuss - it's terribly English. I'm so glad we only have another year - such a shoddy work ethic from teachers is hard to justify to my dc - I can't let the teachers attitude rub off on them.

This won’t be an issue unless break times are different.

The guidance is that break and lunches are staggered to avoid bubbles mixing. So they really would not see their friends.

In small rural schools, years are often mixed. How is it different than children in mainstream who have intervention? The children might know but it is in their interests to catch up.

Small schools have plans for this and teach like it year on year. Not as a one off knee jerk reaction. I think you don't really understand how learning and school work. The English and maths will be revisited (as it is every year anyway) and the topic stuff can be left for the sake of a term. What exactly do you think they'll be 'catching up'?

The kids who didn’t do home learning will have to catch up so they have (mostly) all completed the year’s curriculum.

See above. Plus this idea that each year group is a fixed curriculum that you teach to each year group is a fallacy. Teachers will extend the top end (if necessary) while filling the gaps of the lower attaining students.

I expect private schools manage this better but I wouldn’t know.

I hate this idea that private schools are somehow the gold standard of education. The only thing that makes it seem they are is the small class sizes. Some of the worst pedagogy I have ever seen has been in private schools. During covid the have been saluted as brilliant yet we have no actual evidence the students in private schools have learnt any more than their state counterparts. They may have had more access to work/lessons but we don't know what they have actually learnt.

Private schools are often populated by unqualified teachers and recent PGCE graduates who couldn’t cope in state schools. It’s the small class sizes and resources that make the difference, not the teachers.

@SlipperSwan

Private schools are often populated by unqualified teachers and recent PGCE graduates who couldn’t cope in state schools. It’s the small class sizes and resources that make the difference, not the teachers.

Being qualified doesn't make you a good teacher. I'm sure the extra £10k a year my neighbour is paid above what she can get in the state system encourages her to work a bit harder though.

I'm sure the extra £10k a year my neighbour is paid above what she can get in the state system encourages her to work a bit harder though

Working harder doesn't equal better results when teaching. Engaging with research, adapting your practice and being reflective helps you to improve. State teachers are often better at this because they have to be. Small classes and extra resources make private look better from the outside.

The extra £10k is unusual. Private is renowned for not paying much more. Instead the benefits come from extra holidays and reduced staff fees.

@formerbabe

please do not verify those decisions by criticising the people that have been keeping this country going

I'm only criticising the ones who are doing so whilst the other parent is at home either as a sahp or a furloughed worker. They don't need school for childcare so why are their kids there and mine aren't?

As for me being entitled? If wanting your child to be able to attend school is entitled then yes, absolutely I am.

Oh and all I wanted was my dc to get a chance to be at school at least once before the summer holidays. Hardly a big ask.

So. You are a SAHP, your partner does a job that doesn’t entitle your child to go to school. You are complaining that other people have been allowed to send their DC to school even though they don’t need to for child care. If your partner’s job meant that your DC could go to school I’m assuming you wouldn’t send her because you are a SAHP and by your standards that’s wrong. So I don’t really see what your point is.

Not all private schools have been providing full days of lessons.

My DS 14 has had a totally mixed bag in terms of what was offered by teacher and it was impossible to coordinate as all coming in via google classroom and email. Most days he was getting more than 20 emails about what he needed to do. He's not the most organised and both DH and I wfh.

I finally started complaining properly after his report - one teacher said he hadn't logged on to a subject for the term, but no-one thought to tell me until report time. At first I felt guilty and negligent, but then realised that actually no that's not acceptable on the schools behalf.

My friends DD at the local state get a list of what they are meant to be covering and notifications when they've not submitted something.

So sadly not all private schools have been that goof.

How is that different to teachers having to adjust to teaching more able kids who are at risk of being bored every single years, not because they have learnt more but because they assimilate new learning in 1/3rd of the time it takes others, so are bored throughout the day?

It's not fair
Are you 5?

Despite the whole world and his wife pitching in on MN and elsewhere to tell teachers how they should be doing their job, this thread has done more than any other I've read, to show the woeful ignorance many people have regarding how schools in the 21st century actually work.

This whole thread is based on a misconception - that the curriculum is linear. No, children constantly revise and revisit topics from previous years because children forget what they've learnt.

As an extreme example, year 4 learn times tables up to 12x12, but every year I have several year 6s that don't know them. Doesn't mean we hold back the class until these children know them.

I do understand what a pp mentioned about how bright children can feel bored and unchallenged. Thing is, they shouldn't. They do sometimes because we can't always set the exact right challenge for every child. But if they're regularly unchallenged (genuinely, not just the child thinks it's easy), this is poor teaching.

Were used to huge ability range. A typical year 6 class at my school has at least 1 child new to English, at least one child working below year 3 level, at least one child who can acheive greater depth in SATs standing on their head, and 27 others in between. So 4 months acceleration of these differences will be a relatively easy challenge, in my opinion (though I've not done it yet. I'm honest enough to come back with my tail between my legs and my head in my hands in September!)

Did the OP come back to explain why her DC have done no home schooling?

@CallmeAngelina and @solidaritea I completely agree.

Our year 7 cohort had students who were below SATS level (P level) up to students scoring 120. Guess what, we cope and did our best for every student despite their prior attainment.

this thread has done more than any other I've read, to show the woeful ignorance many people have regarding how schools in the 21st century actually work.

This! It's actually quite bizarre to read; it's almost as if most parents and non-teachers have no clue about the ins and outs of the job.

Funny that.

@Hercwasonaroll

I'm sure the extra £10k a year my neighbour is paid above what she can get in the state system encourages her to work a bit harder though

Working harder doesn't equal better results when teaching. Engaging with research, adapting your practice and being reflective helps you to improve. State teachers are often better at this because they have to be. Small classes and extra resources make private look better from the outside.

The extra £10k is unusual. Private is renowned for not paying much more. Instead the benefits come from extra holidays and reduced staff fees.

I have no reason to suspect her of lying or even embellishing - if anything she has a tendency to share the negative - her kids go to state school. The benefit is the money.

Private schools do vary, obviously, but a decent one will behead and shoulders above an average state school. I have plenty of experience of both education systems, and I say it with regret, but it’s undeniable.
It’s not just class sizes, although that helps enormously.

be head

Working harder doesn't equal better results when teaching. And the teachers at our state school are certainly attempting to test this statement to the limit! 😂

That old myth that private school teachers are more poorly paid than state school teachers is doing the rounds again on this thread I see! This is usually perpetuated by a small number of state school teachers.

@SeasonFinale

That old myth that private school teachers are more poorly paid than state school teachers is doing the rounds again on this thread I see! This is usually perpetuated by a small number of state school teachers.

Before I left teaching I worked in both state and private. Private started me off on the equivalent I would have been on on main scale in state - but no annual increments and then the head vanished with the pension fund (which is another story) as the school folded. So yes, started off fairly equal - but fell behind rather rapidly.

It's things like free staff meals that are actually decent, fee reduction, use of the facilities in terms of things like school pools etc that rack up the "bonus" points rather than cold hard salaries.

I don't think private is better, I don't think private is worse - they both have strengths and weaknesses and there are areas private fails badly in - kids with mild SN in particular who'd benefit and hold their own academically in smaller classes but who the privates don't want to touch (round here it's particularly an issue - even with the "inclusive" privates).