Private school & MC kids are going to be away ahead at the end of this pandemic

[Norfolker]

Just that.... I know from my neighbours that the local private has a brilliant set up online. They had sent revision work to be completed over Christmas, most of the kids I know at the private have a sahp... The local outstanding primary near us was also the same with the same type of mc parents as in the private.
Aibvu to suggest kids who don't have that support are the ones who will fall behind or underachieve in the years to come.
My neighbour in the local outstanding comp has said she spent a fortune buying workbooks on amazon to supplement the online provision! I ordered some yesterday but the thought hadn't crossed my mind before talking to my neighbour...

People do try to 'do their best for their kids' however when you are on a low income or have to go to out work, you may not always have the time and money to pay for a tutor or books. Some jobs cannot be done at home, especially lower income jobs.

Many parents cannot afford money for food, hence food banks!

Where have some people been?

Just because you can and do help their kids it does not mean that all people can.

The tech/connectivity divide is huge

Yeah of course you’re right, but asking if middle class/privately educated kids have an advantage is asking if bears shit in the woods.

But yes, you are correct, and the inequality of provision between private and state during the pandemic has convinced me that I need to start saving for private education for my DS (currently a toddler).

Engaged parents (with disposable income) will make a difference but also parental availability. For example, home schooling will be hideous for us because of working but it will happen somehow but I suspect the house will be a tip and we’ll all be stressed. However, I’ve no doubt if I wasn’t working, my child would be getting a better education and be less stressed and frazzled.

Where money makes a difference is access to help and resources. This time round, I might get desperate and get an online tutor or a temp nanny. In terms of resources, I’ve got a twinkl subscription, lots of writing material, craft stuff etc. My daughter’s in reception and I’ve bought reading scheme books so we can carry on progressing regardless of how much input she gets in school.

Closures might send us insane but I’m fairly confident my daughter won’t be behind at the end of it. Others won’t be so lucky.

dingledongle
‘Don't forget this is a conservative government who, although they talk about levelling up, mainly come from wealthy and privileged backgrounds. They do not care about kids from disadvantaged backgrounds’

^This.
The Conservatives clearly do not care about anyone else or their children.
Your children are your responsibility, therefore, parents NEED to do everything possible to enable their children to reach their full potential.
Unfortunately, not every parent is able/has the tools to do so and this is where a decent Government steps in. Obviously not the current Conservative Government.

Course they are.

We're in a very MC area, kids at a high-achieving state school. Even though school provision has not been that brilliant, most of the parents are educated themselves, know where to access material, are working from home, can support their children to a reasonable level. Also can employ tutors to help children catch up. Plenty of laptops, tablets, smartphones, internet connection. A big enough house to allow children to study effectively in a quiet space.

Entirely different from a family crammed into a tiny flat or terraced house, with one old, temperamental tablet between 4 kids, parents juggling shifts in supermarkets, parents who didn't have a great excperience with their own education and can't really support their kids.

Of course it's going to be the kids from more deprived backgrounds who will suffer hugely. That's exactly what everyone has been saying since March and the first closures.

@EmmanuelleMakro

I agree which is why I as a secondary teacher want schools to stay open as the risk to children from Covid is too small to be measurable and the risk to teachers is also vanishingly small and massively outweighed by the risk to children of inequality in education. At the very least we need to ensure that schools provide detailed data on provision for the data thru are closed and that this is transparent and visible to parents/Ofsted/researchers. ( Ihave started a thread on this in the CB section and am going to be lobbying for this with my MP etc.

It’s so refreshing to hear people talk sense. So many threads on MN consist entirely of people screaming that SCHOOLS MUST CLOSE and it’s not safe for anyone (pupils or teachers) to walk within a mile of a school, as they will ALL DIE!

I’m truly shocked at how many parents will happily flush their kids’ education down to toilet for fear of a virus that they may not even have symptoms from, if they even catch it at all.

The government have shown over and again they have very little interest in truly helping those people with the most challenges, where are the laptops promised for instance? They genuinely don't care, and don't need to care as the gap widens between rich and poor.

For the same reasons there will be needless deaths of teachers and parents if the children are in school if hospitals are further overwhelmed.

I suspect if oxygen is rationed, it won't be the members of the cabinet, their families etc. who don't get it.

Private Schools put these provisions in place because they have to justify fee paying.

If they offer nothing, why would parents keep paying the fees?

bagamiyo1 I completely agree, there is now a group hysteria about schools!

The government have been so successful in driving home the message about the 'new strain' and it being 'highly transmissible' rather than identifying their own shortcomings in the test and trace etc etc that people no longer believe what Boris and his pals say!

We are destroying our own future.

As always those with money and influence will do ok and everyone else has to get on with it.

Even his own father wants out

Sorry bagamoyo1 typing on my phone

Do not educate yourself with youtube ffs.

Just watch Boris waffling on Andrew Marr now

The attainment gap from this will take generations to close, this is why it frustrates me so much that people are just shouting for schools to shut all the time. It is not simply a case of "keep kids at home".

The very poorest, with the least able parents will suffer the most. DH is a teacher in a very low-income area, he saw one of his students out and about after the last lock-down and they said to him "it's been brilliant, Sir, I've done no work since we were last in school". Brilliant at the time when you're 11, less brilliant when you're 20 and your prospects are well and truly screwed.

Email your MP, ask what they are doing about this. Keep campaigning for schools to stay open, not for your own kids but for those less well off, financially and otherwise.

I can’t argue with any of your points but as I understand it from the news the current pressure for schools to shut isn’t coming from the electorate at large, it’s coming from the teaching unions - the National Education Union has told its members it’s unsafe for them to go to work and has advised them against working in schools.

I assume that the NEU has taken the effect of school closures on children and the attainment gap into account before issuing this sort of advice to its members.

Plus it’s surely a pointless mission for us to write to our MPs if teachers are being advised not to work in school?

I also think it will massively and disproportionately affect children with SEN but no EHCP in mainstream schools.

Both of my DC appear to have SEN but no diagnosis yet; both have special measures taken at school and extra classes / attention to support them.

I could help a child who "gets it" with their reading, writing, maths etc but have no idea how to support my children who struggle to learn the typical way. Teachers would have some experience of this and different methods to call upon.

We all know early intervention is important, and I'm very worried my DC will fall through the gaps and start to struggle more than they already do (and I am MC!).

I assume that the NEU has taken the effect of school closures on children and the attainment gap into account before issuing this sort of advice to its members.

Yeah right

I am a private school parent and even I am shocked at the gap.

But I have to say not knowing you could buy workbooks (and they are often really cheap on ebay) is a bit dim!

@Norfolker

Even if that was the case, the parents would be more than likely well equipped to help out & also hire tutors online also. My neighbours dc who are sitting 7 & 11 plus have been booked in with an online tutor starting next week. That's in addition to the online learning they'll be doing with the private they attend & all the workbooks their mum bought them!

It has always been the case that some people in private supplement with a tutor. That gap has always existed.

I assume that the NEU has taken the effect of school closures on children and the attainment gap into account before issuing this sort of advice to its members.

What makes you say that?

It has always been the case that some people in private supplement with a tutor. That gap has always existed

Yes, dds friend has private tutors for all 3 A level subjects plus being at a good academic independent school.

I assume that the NEU has taken the effect of school closures on children and the attainment gap into account before issuing this sort of advice to its members

The union's job is to look after the conditions of service of those who pay membership fees.

It is the government's job to look after the interests of the pupils.

It’s not a race. Do the best you can. There are always children ahead of others. Private children are usually ahead anyway. This is not a competition. Your child is not a race horse that needs to be the best at everything. Do the best you can do. Everything is going to be ok!

I assume that the NEU has taken the effect of school closures on children and the attainment gap into account before issuing this sort of advice to its members

Locally that attainment gap is being most directly affected by forcing schools to stay open. Every school has had a constantly rolling "in out" pattern of fragmented education due to the spread of covid amongst staff and pupil families. That in and out pattern results in the most at risk children taking even more time out when they should be in school. A number of those staff, especially older staff, have been off for prolonged periods and some are classified as long covid now.

So instead of constantly bashing teachers on here perhaps write to your MPs to provide the support and equipment to enable more effective learning from home, mechanisms to help the most at risk stay in the classroom with key worker children and the school facilities to allow safe working at the level deemed "minimal" in any office block (where far fewer interactions take place). And allow use of PPE in schools - I can't think of any other workplace which actually had PPE prohibited by government, along with any discussion on the potential for rota management.

All those laptops promised to low income and vulnerable children are yet to appear around here after the first one or two handing over in a politician's PR stunt. Rather like the funding to pay for all the disruption which has come from school budgets, reducing the money they have for education.

SAGE recommended a "break" to try and stop spread back in October. The new variant has been known about since September. The government chose to ignore the science and the advice for a planned short break and keep everything open driving us into a second and potentially third major wave with no planning at all.

The attainment gap from this will take generations to close, this is why it frustrates me so much that people are just shouting for schools to shut all the time. It is not simply a case of "keep kids at home"

The attainment gap is massive anyway, and always has been, it's just that school closures have brought it into sharp relief. That gap is a big cause of structural inequality imo, and if this makes people start demanding change then at least something good will have come out of this godawful situation.

That gap is a big cause of structural inequality imo, and if this makes people start demanding change then at least something good will have come out of this godawful situation

Yes. My parents' generation suffered many years of school disruption, shifted from school to school, no online learning or money at home for books (and paper was restricted). Most had to leave school at 14 to bring money in to disrupted families still recovering from war time losses.

They elected the government which delivered the NHS and state services which enabled many to "better themselves" both educationally and financially. So it didn't take generations, just commitment and spending on public services.

and if this makes people start demanding change then at least something good will have come out of this godawful situation

But it hasn't really, and more importantly it's highlighted the lack of interest of the opposition politicians, they care no more than the current government - it's not "we need some restrictions, these are the restrictions, these are the short and long term measures we will introduce to mitigate the harm that's caused by the measures"

So no, nothing good will come from reminding those without privilege that they don't have it, and the only time there is the chance to make the necessary changes is during the time, once it's over, the will be gone.