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.

Front-facing individuals desks, standing when the teacher came in, uniform & no makeup rules. The only time we had group tables/benches were in the chem lab and they were also forward facing.

I have fond memories of slipping sneaky notes to friends. We used to make small paper airplanes & get them flying between pupils whilst the teacher's back was turned!

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

I leant NOTHING by doing school science experiments. And I have a degree in Chemistry

It will be fine. Different but fine.

I agree it's about the quality of teaching that's important.

I still remember my wonderful Maths teacher who didn't use any resources other than a piece of chalk. It was his delivery of the lesson that was everything. We all sat facing the front, lessons would fly by as we were so absorbed in his teaching. Wonderful man.

I think some children will struggle but actually I think my 2 DC with ASD and ADHD will actually do well with it. They love rules and order and find too much going on round them really difficult. So long as they are allowed to move on wobble stools, use kick bands and have movement breaks i think it is going to be a really productive environment for them.

DS is more unhappy he won't be able to run his lunchtime club or go to his others at the minute.

My daughter is hoping for forward facing desks. She hates sitting in groups because there's always someone with "boundless energy" who does low level stuff to disturb the group. Not enough to disturb the class so normally under the teacher's radar...unless someone feels brave enough to "tell" on the person.

She's looking forward to being able to learn without worrying what "Matt" is going to do next.

You make him sound like a mad Labrador
For a lot of pupils and teachers, teaching in rows will be a blessed relief.
Group work is an absolute misery for many.

If you aren’t happy take him out and home school, you can teach how you want then. If that’s a problem then you have to keep him in school and trust the teachers.

Most kids are bored rigid at school as it is, I don’t see that it could get much worse.

I leant NOTHING by doing school science experiments. And I have a degree in Chemistry
I had to do a Scottish Higher Biology at night school in one year. We had a surly uninspiring teacher and did not one experiment. He declared us useless. I got an A

It’s the best they can do for now though. It’s better than no school at all.

I agree, not sure how we are planning to inspire the next generation of scientists with no practicals at all. It is rubbish.

@Seriouslymole

I agree, not sure how we are planning to inspire the next generation of scientists with no practicals at all. It is rubbish.

It's only a few months. They have done experiments before or after Covid. Not sure they learn that much anyway - group experiments are always taken over by a certain type of pupil so everyone else just gets to watch (and tidy up).

group experiments are always taken over by a certain type of pupil So true

Ds just finished year 11.

His school had different set ups dependent on teacher /lesson.

He said neither one was any more or less enjoyable and no ether one increased /decreased his learning.

He said you just learnt whatever the set up for that teacher/lesson.

So hopefully secondary pupils who the set up is different for won't find it different and more or less conducive to learning.

It's not ideal, but we coped all facing forward, and so will today's children.

My inner old lady said "they're not there to have fun, they're there to learn!"
I'm sure they will adapt though and it is only temporary.

Group work is an absolute misery for many.

I hated it as does my 13 year old dd. She just wants to get on with it and moving around and organising into groups etc distracts her - she has autism. She loved home learning as she could rewind and fast forward at will during the recorded lessons to find the info she needed. I think this will suit her better tbh and maybe a lot of others who just want to get on with it and not have to do all the social stuff that does with it.

If no science experiments does that mean no applied catering, no DT... what about art? No team sport? How will computing work since shared keyboards... I guess drama is mostly out too. I wonder how music lessons might work.

DS loves catering. Argh. I guess he can practice at home??

My kid's school already has forward facing desks. They cause zero issue for any of the students.
I actually thought those grouped tables stopped at primary school? Obviously not.

@lljkk

If no science experiments does that mean no applied catering, no DT... what about art? No team sport? How will computing work since shared keyboards... I guess drama is mostly out too. I wonder how music lessons might work.

DS loves catering. Argh. I guess he can practice at home??

Yeah, basically none of these. It is going to be a dreary tense term.

This isn’t just for secondary- our primary school will also have everyone sat facing in rows from juniors up.
But quite frankly for me they could make them all stand and face the wall if it means that they aren’t at home!

There are some really snippy replies here - DS has been back for 2 weeks, I am grateful he is back, I am endlessly thankful for the brilliant teachers who are working so hard to educate him but there is NO doubt that spending two hours in each lesson sitting facing the front with no experiments or practical work is much, much less engaging than the creative, energised lessons our teachers normally deliver.

It's death by PowerPoint and it's rubbish. And it's ok to say that.

Facing the front is what we do all the time, but two hour lessons would be a disaster in my school (Alternative Provision).

I worked in a Y1 class before the summer holiday. Wasch child had their own front facing desk. It didn't look like a friendly classroom but the DC loved it. Children who usually had difficulty focussing were engrossed with what they were doing. It was interesting and surprising. It might be different when there are 30 in the class rather than 9, but I don't think it will be as awful as it sounds.

DD will be in a science lab on a stool all day. She won't have lunch until 1.30pm (she leaves the house at 7:30am) It's not ideal. She'll fall off the stool at least once a day but it's the beast the school can do under the circumstances.