There will be so many illiterate kids after Covid.

[Elephant4]

If we lockdown again - and even if we don't.

So many kids are getting little to no education. It's been almost a year now and looks like it could last another one.

I'm not talking about my kids. I look after them and educate them after school and during lockdowns etc as best I can.

But there's so many kids round here who have little to no parental support. We live in a deprived area with high Covid rates. Barely any of the kids had any education during lockdown. In the last term bubbles, year groups, classes have been sent home constantly. Schools have been shut due to teacher shortages. When the kids are at school they're not being taught due to supply teachers - behaviour being awful - much worse than before.

The kids at Secondary level here were already underachieving. This pandemic's school closures etc will leave thousands all over the country illiterate - or otherwise very close to it - I reckon.

If mumsnetters are in charge of educating their children then we're going to lose 'I' and end up with a generation of children saying, "Myself and my friend".

Really, the SPAG in here is unbelievably bad so if this is a representation of the (mostly English) education then we're all in trouble anyway.

If schools close, then they won't really be shut!

In my Primary school there provisions made for vulnerable children, and by vulnerable it meant children who teachers identified as having little support at home. Those with no access to online learning, those who are adopted/looked after, those on very low incomes, those with feckless parents, those on the at risk register for various reasons, those with SEN/disabilities, and also all children with a key-worker parent. All these children were encouraged to attend school, and if they didn't they were regularly monitored by the SLT.

@TheCrowsHaveEyes

You're not talking about your DCs and because of that, you have no knowledge of the support in place for the DCs that need it. I'm so tired of these bullshit pretend caring threads that suddenly pop up when Us for Them think the schools are going to close.

If you did care then you'd know that vulnerable DCs were given access to hubs. You'd know that many schools in deprived areas provided their DCs with electronics/ipads so they could access online learning. You'd know that social services identified DCs and families at risk and provided food packages. You'd know that even when the schools closed, their canteens were open and preparing food for distribution in the community, etc, etc.

But you don't know any of that because actually you don't care about those DCs and have never taken the time to work in their communities or to talk to the people who are working constantly to support them.

I don’t know what right wing propaganda you have been fed but this is categorically untrue and I know this because I have been working with the charities trying to feed vulnerable children. Schools in deprived areas don’t have sufficient laptops for school use and are not able to lend them out. Food banks, charities and churches have been feeding hungry children, not school canteens.

@noblegiraffe

I'm so tired of these bullshit pretend caring threads that suddenly pop up when Us for Them think the schools are going to close.

Yep, they only care about vulnerable kids when they think they can use them as an argument to keep their own kid in school.

Pretty despicable really.

It is despicable.

If MN isn't going to delete them then I wish they'd post disclaimers on these types of threads eg Us for Them represented less than 1% of parents. They were anti-vaxxers with links to conservatives.

Posters like the OP don't care about DCs or teachers or any of the other staff in education and social services who have actually dedicated their lives to vulnerable DCs and to improving literacy.

This is why schools need to remain open. I do what I can with my children but can not teach them everything.

one of our dc has gone from top of what was expected for their age (parents evening comments before lockdown said they were going to encourage them to reach the exceeding expectations band) to most recent zoom parents evening where we were told they were now falling in to the below expected band.
Before lockdown they had done nearly two terms of their previous year group's learning and therefore were more likely to be expected for their age. In Autumn Term they have only covered one third of the curriculum and therefore more likely to be below expectation or working towards currently.

@Elephant4

One in five children left primary school in 2018 unable to read or write properly. So yes, I think the OP is right to be concerned.

And if one in five can't read or write after primary - they're sure as hell not going to learn to read or write at Secondary. Are they?

But this was pre -Covid!

God knows how Britain produced any literate children in ww2 then.

@Tootletum

Yep. My year 1 can barely read and refuses to read with me.

Yes, we hear this a lot. Sorry but the sad fact is that children who do not read at home, refuse to read, aren't motivated or encouraged, or even bribed to read, just don't make the progress that their peers do.

@Gardenista you'll note I said 'some' and my politics are far from right-wing. Actually I come from a family of left-wing teachers and HTs who have spent their lives working in education and supporting vulnerable DCs.
DB has over 20 years experience as HT in a school in a deprived area. They rolled out IT support even before Covid. DSIL worked in a school kitchen all through lockdown providing meals to the community. Across my and DH's family, we have relatives who are teachers or/and HTs in nearly 10 different schools across a wide geographic area with DCs as pupils in over a further 20 schools. Our friend circle includes social workers and dyslexia specialists, and we have DC with dyslexia.
So spare me the threads like this 'pretending' to care about issues they know nothing about.

Is that it now, I agree.
. There are more coaster years and more critical years to get that intervention in place.

Many dc who are that far behind or have sen need specially attention really, once back in school.
I'd like to hear more about this sort of intervention from the gov... I know because my dd was one of them.

I think it will definitely widen the gap.

The reality is that a very large proportion of children get very little or no support with their education at home. The pandemic just heightened that division but it was already there.

@FreekStar

If schools close, then they won't really be shut!

In my Primary school there provisions made for vulnerable children, and by vulnerable it meant children who teachers identified as having little support at home. Those with no access to online learning, those who are adopted/looked after, those on very low incomes, those with feckless parents, those on the at risk register for various reasons, those with SEN/disabilities, and also all children with a key-worker parent. All these children were encouraged to attend school, and if they didn't they were regularly monitored by the SLT.

That's great for children at your school. However, your experience is far from universal. Many schools were completely closed and children with SEND incl. my DC with an EHCP were left without support. I don't know any families with children with SEND who were able to attend school during lockdown. 1:1 support being redeployed, risk assessments used to refuse places in mainstream. Special schools completely closed. Yet everyone keeps saying children with EHCPs will be fine as they are guaranteed a place. It's completely infuriating.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4113739-Disabled-kids-the-forgotten-Covid-victims

My other. Please add, or have sen that is undiagnosed and undetected in school... Won't make progress like their peers do

@ReadyFreddy

So what's the ultimate outcome? They don't do quite so well in life and have to drive a VW rather than a Range Rover and don't live in quite as naice a house/area? I'd still take that over living in the majority of countries in the world.

You don't really understand much about deprivation, do you?

@FreekStar

If schools close, then they won't really be shut!

In my Primary school there provisions made for vulnerable children, and by vulnerable it meant children who teachers identified as having little support at home. Those with no access to online learning, those who are adopted/looked after, those on very low incomes, those with feckless parents, those on the at risk register for various reasons, those with SEN/disabilities, and also all children with a key-worker parent. All these children were encouraged to attend school, and if they didn't they were regularly monitored by the SLT.

Yy exactly and this is what the UsForThem-ers try to gloss over. It doesn't suit their conservative agenda. And, to be blunt, as can be seen on this thread, they don't actually know what support is in place for vulnerable DCs because they don't know any; they don't work in the area; and they don't ultimately care about vulnerable DCs or literacy levels. It's pretend, paternalistic, patronising bullshit pushed by a conservative agenda that doesn't give a fig about vulnerable DCs or teachers or school staff.

Dirty I have similar experience to you, but I'm not sure if schools could get away with it again.

Now we know that so many made such a brilliant effort in lock down.

The gap will widen certainly. We are still waiting here for a laptop promised in the last lockdown.

Well the crows, where I work we have many students with various sen, sn mh issues and we managed to get on line very quickly, support students, find tech for them, keep an eye on them..

But sadly my own dc schools dropped the ball.

The anti-school closures; anti-vaxxers agenda is a minority, conservative position.

Kids don’t start school until 7 in Finland which is the most successful school system in terms of engagement and achievement. It’s preschool provision is centred on creative play.
Develop your kids reading and imagination, don’t let your kids worry about exams and tests, you worry about that. Take the stress from them .

Schools aren't closing forever. So even if a chd entered reception this September unable to read, they should have uninterrupted schooling by next September when the school will teach them to read. Yes it will put them behind their peers but unfortunately that's the reality for many school children.
If they're going into year 1 and attended reception they should be able to read somewhat already and the as hoc teaching in yeast 1 will reinforce that.

Beyond that age they should already be able to read. If they're still unable to read at 6/7 then there's obviously bigger issues going on in terms of educational needs

I'll echo what Freekstar said.
During lockdown we were open to our vulnerable children and those with EHCPs and children who were not attending were visited three times a week. We collected food for our church food bank and then delivered it to many of our families. Our head and safeguarding team did home visits to any of our children who were not in regular contact with school. SEN support packs were made bespoke to each child and hand delivered.
What we didn't do was live lessons or anything on zoom because a) we were told not to by our authority and b) our parents said they didn't want it. I suppose that doesn't count as making a 'brilliant effort' though?