school is going to be very boring for our teens

[Sarah510]

So the school are arranging the desks with everyone facing forward, like I had in school 40 years ago, with the teacher stood up the front. No moving around. No science experiments. None of the 'fun' stuff. Just 6 hours of teachers talking "at" them. I loved ds' secondary school when I saw how the tables were set up in groups, and how they taught with a little bit of the teacher talking, and then group work, and children free to walk about (within reason), and he loved going to all the different rooms. I'm worried he is going to not like school - being a boy of 12 he has boundless energy. I know there's nothing we can do, it has to be like this, but I hope he is ok. If it's all "book work" he's going to be very bored, I hope he doesn't just switch off. I know I will probably get slated here, but I don't think this kind of teaching suits a lot of kids.

Millions of us have been taught this way and If your DS can't cope, I suggest you home educate him which will give him carte blanche to run round the room as he wishes to use up all that boundless energy.

@Crankley

Millions of us have been taught this way and If your DS can't cope, I suggest you home educate him which will give him carte blanche to run round the room as he wishes to use up all that boundless energy.

Yeah I was taught that way and it was shite. And I got good results before you think it's just that I'm stupid.

Our school is mainly taught that way anyway pandemic or not

Our school got the kids back before the summer break specifically to do the more hands on work like science experiments and art. They had to space them out and alternate times bit they figured a way.
I'm sure there are lots of things your son will enjoy about school - sitting facing the front does not preempt lively discussion and debate.

It is not ideal but is a lot better than no school at all.

Yup as I have just said on another thread. I'm a secondary teacher. My subject will be unrecognizable to its normal state. Very much like the education I received in the 1980s -all chalk and talk (well Powerpoints and talk). Absolutely nothing like normal.

Lots of secondaries have all desks facing forward these days anyway. Gives everyone the chance to see the board - it was always a pain f you were side on it had your back to the board.

I work in infants and we had our tables as a horseshoe but for some lessons push them together if group work was needed for art or science experiments etc. We do a Victorian day each year and the children mostly prefer all facing forward and tables separated into twos. It's why we moved to the horseshoe (and some classes rows) from groups of tables. Especially useful for English, maths and phonics where there is a lot of board work.

@D4rwin

Tere are other options that are better than state school. Home School is a significantly better option for anyone but the most lecture oriented learners right now.

For most teens being around their friends is significantly better than home school. If you take them out of school now to home school, they will not thank you (not the same as choosing to do home school secondary at all)

Why does it have to be fun? Is he 4? Will his employers have to make it fun for him? Let me give. Are you one of those who blames poor results on the teacher because they didn't make it more fun? Seriously...

I doubt very much the teacher is just going to talk 'at' them or assign 'book work'! There's a whole range of learning activities which can be done with or without desks facing forward and less movement allowed. The teacher has various ideas and resources at their disposal and will want to engage and motivate the students as much as possible.

I think most parents know this term is going to be comparitively dog shit.

No practical elements
Limited pe
Limited clubs
Limited mixing
Stress when anyone coughs
Potential closures
Shortened lunch breaks
No assemblies
No external talks
No special days e.g. first aid practice

I'm not saying mine won't cope, they will, but it does sound a bit depressing tbh.

Oh, and no carol.concert and no school.play presumably.

I am sad about the carol concert

@latticechaos

I think most parents know this term is going to be comparitively dog shit.

No practical elements
Limited pe
Limited clubs
Limited mixing
Stress when anyone coughs
Potential closures
Shortened lunch breaks
No assemblies
No external talks
No special days e.g. first aid practice

I'm not saying mine won't cope, they will, but it does sound a bit depressing tbh.

Or we could try the glass half full approach -

Back to learning in classes again
Teachers putting in an amazing amount of effort to normalize things
Being able to see their classmates
Socialising in bubbles in (if like in my school) more breaks even if slightly shorter lunches
Being able to talk through how this past 6 months has been
Children in possible abusive situations being able to be out of it/more monitoring being done
Exams being back on
Children being able to ask their teachers if work isnt understood, rather than parents, leading to....
... less wine being consumed by fraught parents

Quite a few pupils don't really enjoy assemblies and concerts.

We're still doing the Nativity at Xmas along with weekly family collective worship and class assemblies, all via zoom!

The poor wee lambs.

I'm just glad they are back. Ds2 is excited about starting secondary. He'll take anything he can get! Me too!

What are these individual desks you speak of? Rearranged my classroom yesterday, rows facing forwards but there's no way I can fit in individual desks with spaces between them. They will be crammed 3 to a desk as usual. Apparently that's fine...

I think my child would be happy to be taught face to face ANYWHERE!

Her school's plans look to be a triumph of scheduling (somebody must have had a really rotten summer figuring this out)!

Experiments, practicals, games are continuing (albeit with a few tweaks). Music and drama are probably more problematic but I think the teachers will have been planning how to address this since April. I can't imagine why group-work wouldn't continue in some form or other - the kids managed to work together to prepare presentations and pitches remotely in lockdown.

Yes the kids will be sat in the same classroom for a lot of the time, so it is a good idea to make them walk/cycle to school if they can (or at least do a bit of exercise when they wake up). I am sure professional teachers are well prepared to cope with diminished attention spans arising from lockdown. Some have been away from "structured days" for 6 months, so it is helpful to start to work back towards the new hours/day if you can.

DD has become quite accomplished at sitting motionless watching Youtube for hours on end if we let her so it isn't an onerous requirement.

We are definitely taking a "glass half full...and we can see the waiter walking towards us...." approach to coping with Autumn term.

Won't be forever though will it? Teens are more adaptable than adults I think

@BlogTheBlogger

I didn't get where I am today by looking on the positive side

Your list is true but it didn't shake my general feeling about this term.

I concur on the efforts from teachers.

I hope you're right about exams.

You survived this teaching style, what makes you think your son won't?

The reality is that it all depends on the teacher. A good teacher will make the lesson interesting however the classroom is laid out, a bad one won't.

My child with ADHD actually often chooses to sit on a desk on her own facing forward. It limits distractions.

I am sad that practical classes like food tech, chemistry etc won't be hands on like they usually are. However, I'm putting faith in the teachers to do their best and make it as good as they can in the circumstances.

Hopefully there will be some basic experiments and practical lessons that the children can do at their desks individually.

Neither of my children's schools are stopping assemblies. They will be done in classrooms or for the whole school by Zoom.

PE and normal length lunch breaks will still be happening but in an adjusted way.

There's no clubs and mixing will be limited however, I still think it's going to be better than the hash job of homeschooling that's been being achieved in our house. I need to go back to being their mum and they need to see and hear their teachers and friends.

I've been very nervous and very careful all through lockdown and even now we are still very much social distancing. My children going back to school is a huge thing for me and a worry. It has to happen though.

Spanieleyes

That's how we are running our celebration assembly. Certificate winners will be brought to the hall where they can SD. Head teacher will run the assembly and award their certificates. If this doesn't work the certificates will be taken to the classrooms - headteacher will announce and teachers will hand the award over.

All will either take place via zoom with the classes watching from class. If this doesn't work well enough it will be videoed earlier in the day and a time set for the school to watch it together later in the day.

Not sure about nativities and class assemblies yet as it will depend on what things are like by November time.

It may be that the children do them and we video them to publish in the class blogs for parents to watch.