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...

@MrsMiaWallis

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.

Is she going to have extra tutors at university too?

I’m glad this is being talked about. These kids are being hobbled for life for no good reason.

Here’s a great article from the New Yorker on the kids left behind: www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/10/05/the-students-left-behind-by-remote-learning

It’s long but worth your time. American context but lots of common elements. Teacher’s Union interviewees look so out of touch there too ...

Is she going to have extra tutors at university too?

That's what I said to dd, she said probably. Lol

so Boris is looking after the wealthy by saying schools should stay open, the very thing most are saying on here buts its labour in London who have said schools to close.

So surely if your saying schools to stay open is right thing to do then Boris is doing the right thing and Labour isn't

The funny world of mumsnetters, half threads wanting schools closed other half dont but either way government is always wrong

@Seriouslymole

Do you really think that kid who did no work from March to September is going to become a brain surgeon.

There are a subsection of parents who don’t care and don’t value education and it wouldn’t have made a jot of difference where they had been in school or not. I’ve had parents who’ve told me their child at the 11 isn’t academic and they can’t see the point of working with their child.

The hysteria around children’s life chances needs to end. The majority of parents managed to home school quite successfully last time and will manage again for the relatively short period required.

Nothing new here, massive class divide is widely acknowledged and ignored. Only difference now is that government/wealthy can blame the virus and wash their hands further of any responsibly.

[quote Maldives2006]@Seriouslymole

Do you really think that kid who did no work from March to September is going to become a brain surgeon.

There are a subsection of parents who don’t care and don’t value education and it wouldn’t have made a jot of difference where they had been in school or not. I’ve had parents who’ve told me their child at the 11 isn’t academic and they can’t see the point of working with their child.

The hysteria around children’s life chances needs to end. The majority of parents managed to home school quite successfully last time and will manage again for the relatively short period required.[/quote]
I've just checked and I didn't mention brain surgery anywhere.

It does make a "jot of difference" if they are in school, they are exposed to adults who care about their education - I find it hard to believe you value education so little.

@cheesecurdsandgravy

YABVU if you really didn’t already know that children’s life chances are more about who their parents are and what they do than anything a school/community/youth group can provide.

Sorry!

This

[quote Maldives2006]@Seriouslymole

Do you really think that kid who did no work from March to September is going to become a brain surgeon.

There are a subsection of parents who don’t care and don’t value education and it wouldn’t have made a jot of difference where they had been in school or not. I’ve had parents who’ve told me their child at the 11 isn’t academic and they can’t see the point of working with their child.

The hysteria around children’s life chances needs to end. The majority of parents managed to home school quite successfully last time and will manage again for the relatively short period required.[/quote]
Just because the parents don’t give a fuck about their child and have basically given up doesn’t mean society should.

It’s a pipeline to a lifetime of dependency 😥

From the article I linked:

It took decades more to realize truly universal education. Episodes in this country and elsewhere have shown the consequences of failing to provide that basic good. The destruction caused by the Second World War, for example, affected a generation of children. One researcher found “significant, long-lasting detrimental effects” on German children, with those in the most heavily bombed cities completing 1.2 years less of school and seeing their future earnings decrease by an average of six per cent. Other studies found similar effects among children who were evacuated from London—as the authors of one study put it, “Participants describe a whole different life they believe they could have had if they had had the opportunities they feel they lost.”

Our children will hate us for what we’ve allowed to happen.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/10/05/the-students-left-behind-by-remote-learning

In the 50s some school districts in the USA shut down in protest against desegregation. White kids accessed private education that was not open to black children. The black children dropped 6 IQ points during this period. It’s not a case of ‘catching up’ it’s about long term damage to children.

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...

So is being proactive now a class indicator?

Let’s also add that most private schools, ours included aren’t even due back for another week .... hence dodging the bullet somewhat

By the time my children are due to start there will be another U turn.... and if there’s isn’t, we have the freedom to keep them off without consequences like fines

Completely unfair IMO

@cheesecurdsandgravy

YABVU if you really didn’t already know that children’s life chances are more about who their parents are and what they do than anything a school/community/youth group can provide.

Sorry!

This. The pandemic has just exposed the truth to a wider audience.

It will just amplify a big problem that already exists op and I find it deeply sad. I am sure there are people who don't understand that plenty of families don't have the internet at home, let alone devices to work on!

At least comprehensive schools do their best by these children and the thought of the gap between private and poorly funded state schools widening even further absolutely sickens me.

Why can't the private schools run fund raisers for lap tops for local state schools, or appeal to their parents to give up second hand ones? At least that would be a small nod in the direction of their charitable status.

I have a dc at state secondary, but friends with children at various state and private day & boarding schools.

The boarding school kids seem to be the least affected. Inevitably really, because, apart from holidays, they have built-in restrictions on movement and contact with people outside school, so they have ready-made bubbles. They also have lots of space, small class sizes and well-paid teachers who don't have to deal with most of the stresses that state school teachers face on a daily basis.

Other friends' children at private day schools seem to have a better set up for online schooling than my dc's state school, along with all the other advantages that help reduce the impact of Covid.

I know lots of children in state schools who don't have a quiet space to work at home, have slow internet and shared laptops. I don't know any child at private school who has missed the 11 days so far this year that my dc has, which seems about average for other children I know at state schools in my area. And online provision seems patchy in state schools, with little or no one-to-one teaching, so it's very hard for even the most motivated students, especially if they are struggling with topics.

Given that we have a government which seems hell bent on using the pandemic to make its rich friends even richer, I can't imagine they're losing much sleep about a greater attainment gap or have any plans to do anything about it. But sadly, where I live at any rate, many voters still seem to be swallowing the line that our PM is 'doing his best'

@Newdonewhugh

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!

Well It is a competition really ! If you are one of the children left out, receiving next to no schooling and others are have full online lessons (which is what happened for many Mar - Jul) the same children are completing for jobs / university places further down the line.

I assume most people commenting on this thread have primary school children and seemingly have good online school provision otherwise more of you would be up in arms about this disparity.

I am very concerned as I have a Y13 who had next to no teaching and no feedback or marking (working from revision guide only) for one of her Subjects and needs top grades to achieve where they want to go to university.

Think about others please. Even if your children are okay, this is a disaster for many others.

The gap has always existed. I studied educational outcomes and income levels well over 25 years ago.

Approx 7% of children are privately educated, the University I last worked at had at one point 30% of its students who had been privately educated. This is one of the RG Universities deemed so desirable on MN. It’s why widening participation programmes were put in place.

I didn’t waste money on private schooling because I was confident in DS abilities and that we could tutor him ourselves if needed. Had a bit of a scrap with DH over this as he went to a very prestigious fee paying school and wanted to send DS to one. DS as we had moved by then went to a comp with poor exam results and a bit of a crap ofsted report. He ended up with three A grades at A level.

Though there are always outliers a chief indicator on educational success is the Mothers educational attainment. So DS fits this previous statement. I however do not and am an outlier. A child from a difficult background where education was not valued and bought up in poverty due to stepfathers alcoholism with zero parental help.

I’ll trll you whose kids are going to be light years ahead- those whose parents or guardians take an active interest and encourage other forms of learning instead of lazily accepting that school education is the be all and end all. Those who enrich their children’s knowledge will have vastly different outcomes than most of those who don’t. That is classless though because it comes down to the learning they have outside the daily 6 hour education window.

Of course the gap will widen. My kids are at a middle class outstanding comprehensive. I don’t know any children who don’t have unlimited WiFi or access to laptops / pc’s. They had full online provision from day 1. When children didn’t attend parents got emails asking where they were

I’ve been able to keep up their music lessons via zoom plus tutors including for my A level child. He told me last week they have finished the A level syllabus and are now on revision:

My year 10 has done a big piece of prep for an English assessment. I’ve had emails from school about how this will be administered remotely, great for her but unlikely to be similar across the state sector

That’s great for him - it’s not great for other children because it mean the gap will be huge.

Private schools have also been less impacted when they returned to school, fewer kids in the class= fewer close contact = fewer isolation periods.

I have a question for people blaming conservatives- what would a labour government do to improve this situation? Teachers unions are as left wing as they come, and they are pressuring this government to close schools. So what would happen if we had a Labour government in charge?

@MangoFeverDream

I’m glad this is being talked about. These kids are being hobbled for life for no good reason.

Here’s a great article from the New Yorker on the kids left behind: www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/10/05/the-students-left-behind-by-remote-learning

It’s long but worth your time. American context but lots of common elements. Teacher’s Union interviewees look so out of touch there too ...

Plenty of children were already ‘hobbled for life’ before the pandemic. I teach in one of the most deprived boroughs in London. We as a society can’t even guarantee the basic things a child needs such as not living in poverty. Lack of remote education is the tip of the iceberg for many.

@Almostslimjim

Private schools have also been less impacted when they returned to school, fewer kids in the class= fewer close contact = fewer isolation periods.

This is the advantage again. They have more land and huge buildings and classrooms. You're 100% correct

It's a shame that there isn't some kind of campaign to buy workbooks etc for children whose parents can't afford them. I would gladly buy a couple from a school Amazon Wishlist for them to distribute to kids who would benefit.

@pumpkinlatte201 they would be shut like they are in London which is Labour majority so your kids wouldn't be getting any education