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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Being marked absent if not on zoom.

187 replies

Whattheactual20201 · 04/01/2021 14:50

I am for school closures and we are in London so school is closed we just got an email to say DC2 school are having a zoom registration every morning at 10 am where all children must attend for a morning debris tray in and half an hour lesson dressed etc.
Rules are
Quiet room, adult present, but no one else.
You must make sure your child is attendance otherwise they will be marked as absent.
Would be impossible for us to do
So will have to accept her being marked as absent on the days we can’t do it. Can this go down as official absence like a usual one would ?

OP posts:
crazychemist · 04/01/2021 17:24

Speak to the school.

I’m a secondary teacher, and we are also having compulsory registration each day. But last lockdown I know there were children that were excused because they had a genuine reason.

JustHereWithMyPopcorn · 04/01/2021 17:25

Ours does registration at 8.45am and all they need is to hear the child not see them so does that change the safeguarding issue? I haven't been asked to be present. I have two DCs in the same school so luckily they both have devices that they can log on at the same time!

Whattheactual20201 · 04/01/2021 17:25

@Cocomarine because her attendance is a difficult subject.
At the moment she has been off for 8 months but her attendance isn’t marked as absent ( covid code or something )
I would rather not the pressure when I am trying my hardest for 8 months to keep caught up.
She has never had an attendance certificate in her life but at meetings with the local authority the school always pull out her attendance sheet.

OP posts:
TheYearOfSmallThings · 04/01/2021 17:26

I would just clock in for registration so they can see DC is alive and well and up and dressed. Don't worry who's in the room or any of that nonsense, and let DC make what they can of the lesson. Any work set can be uploaded at your convenience.

Schools are required to show that they are moving online (rather than closing), so they have to act as if they expect everyone to be sticking to a schedule. In reality they fully understand this will be impossible for many.

Frequency · 04/01/2021 17:33

I wouldn't be able to do this. I wfh from an IT service desk and must be at my desk and available to answer Skype calls and emails from users between set hours.

Emails are constant and calls are usually one or two every 30 mins.

I've told the school my child can be in the room with me if needed but the room cannot be silent as I will be taking regular work calls. They agreed to let DD "show me" to her teacher and then go and sit in a different room if needed as long as I can be there to assist with technical issues if DD needs me.

That seems to be why they need a parent which given the issues the users of the service desk I work on (all graduates, most with Masters due to the nature of their work) have with simple tasks relating to Teams and Zoom seems a bit pointless to me. A hefty chunk of the parents are not going to know how to solve any of the many issues Teams/Zoom have. A better idea would be to have an IT teacher available for the children to email if they have technical issues.

MillieVanilla · 04/01/2021 17:41

Surely that is rendered null and void because they're meant to give the option of having sound on but camera off?
I know at our school they said cameras can be off if we wish, as both mine have them turned off by choice.

ItsIgginningtolookalotlikeXmas · 04/01/2021 17:42

Parents wanted live home schooling. Here it is.

Christmasfairy2020 · 04/01/2021 17:47

It is possible. You put child on zoom alone with every thing needed. I did this with my y1 and she did phonics daily.

toocold54 · 04/01/2021 17:51

OP I would advise you try and do it as much as you can.
Not only does it give you a few minutes while she’s entertained it is also nice for them to see their peers and a friendly familiar face.

You sound really busy so she is of course going to get less attention at home so any face to face contact with her classmates and teachers can only be a good thing for her.

LoveMyKidsAndCats · 04/01/2021 17:56

Thats ridiculous of the school! Mine are at secondary school thank god they will be home alone mon-fri while I'm at work. No idea what I would have done if they were younger. Hats off to you!

CandyLeBonBon · 04/01/2021 17:58

How are you not on Mat leave with a newborn op?

donewithitalltodayandxmas · 04/01/2021 17:58

Just a suggestion maybe email the school to explain why its not possible they may be able to help

donewithitalltodayandxmas · 04/01/2021 17:59

Are you not on maternity leave if you have a newborn?

donewithitalltodayandxmas · 04/01/2021 18:04

Also who cares about attendance this year , its not going to be looked at
Even normal years I don't give a crap about attendance , mine go in unless they are ill , then they stay home. If that triggers an attendance letter I throw it in the bin

Ihatemyseleffordoingthis · 04/01/2021 18:10

@donewithitalltodayandxmas - schools are still under the kosh for attendance. Personally I am not flummoxed by the odd stroppy attendance letter (just as well had a school refuser for a couple of years) but people are being fined, it is being looked at, and schools will likely be penalised, ridiculously.

XelaM · 04/01/2021 18:14

My daughter's school gave everyone laptops, so they can access online learning. Also, they are very understanding about any absences.

CorvusPurpureus · 04/01/2021 18:29

Hi, teacher here. I'm overseas & we've been doing this since last March.

Non specific advice as obviously the OP needs adjustment for her dc's needs, but as a general thing...we are a) being zealous about safeguarding & b) covering our own arses. To be blunt.

Firstly, don't worry too much about the 'no bedroom' thing. It's safeguarding so that kids don't appear on a teacher's screen in their underwear/pyjamas or from their bed, or with their open wardrobe/personal items/dirty laundry on display - obviously you wouldn't want a non related adult having a window into their private lives. Fully dressed & in front of a reasonably neutral background is fine, so sit your dc in front of a relatively plain wall, & if it happens to be in their bedroom, whatever. We won't be popping round to check!

Secondly, devices - we have no real idea if your child is on a laptop, tablet, smartphone. Again it's a backside covering exercise so that we aren't encouraging 'OMG my child's teacher is chatting to her on her phone'. It's a not unreasonable hangover from NO PHONES school policies, because obviously you don't want your child & their teacher sharing SM etc - so for years teachers have been told categorically not to engage with students on phone apps. If a smartphone is what you have, fine - you are basically using it as an internet device. We don't know or care, but we can't officially tell you that because then we might get blamed for enabling/encouraging younger dc's phone use, & then your kid gets involved in inappropriate app use elsewhere... ('but dc's teachers say they need to have a phone for Zoom, so it's their fault he's been bullied over Snapchat/she's been up all night TikToking with randoms').

Thirdly, the tutor group sessions might actually be really good! Dd2's form tutor has been amazing throughout. Ds & dd1's, less so, but it's been a quick 'oh hi good morning' before they go about their day.

Fourthly, an adult presence is AGAIN to cover safeguarding. To be blunt, if you try to sue us because your dc got sent a rude picture by a classmate during tutor time & you decide that's our fault, our response/defence is '...but the policy says you should be supervising?' It doesn't mean you need to sit alongside your dc throughout, just ideally be in earshot. Equally the 'nobody else in the room' rule is mostly so we don't have your dp/older dc hovering in the background in their pants (Fit Dads in Swimmers was definitely a thing last Spring here - might cheer up some of the teachers; inappropriate to expose other people's teenage dc to it...)

Ultimately, teachers have been trained for years to be super cautious about contacting your dc online. We are careful. We also can't risk any loopholes which make it our fault if it goes wrong because your dc isn't fully supervised - hence the possibly overly stringent 'you need to do X,Y & Z' directives - schools have tried to imagine every dodgy scenario that could occur.

Anyway - OP - just let your dc's school know why this set up doesn't work for you. It'll be fine, honestly...

BeetleRadio · 04/01/2021 18:39

DS year 9 will be accessing lessons when I'm not in the house as I'm on call and won't be in all day. The school haven't mentioned any safeguarding issues or adults being present for live lessons. Maybe I should let them know?

WhoLettheCatOut · 04/01/2021 18:51

That's ridiculous, I thought the benefit of secondary was they could be left alone! My primary children did 2x 30 min zooms a week in the last lockdown and I could barely cope!

Littleposh · 04/01/2021 19:04

Judging by the amount of home school threads on here tonight, the reality of schools being closed is hitting home

toocold54 · 04/01/2021 19:09

Maybe I should let them know?

My DC are doing zoom calls and I will be giving them to my tutor but neither need an adult in the room. It’s usually the schools decision but it’s mainly for DCs like OPs who have severe SEND or a young age and as a PP said it’s just to protect themselves/help them if they need help with using the technology etc so I wouldn’t worry about it.

The main ones are being appropriately dressed and not showing too much of the home and as a PP said if it is in their bedroom to make sure you can’t tell it’s their bedroom for safeguarding reasons.

XelaM · 04/01/2021 20:16

If kids have no SEN and are in years 2 upwards, I don't see why they can't be left alone doing online learning. My daughter is in primary (albeit year 6) and her school doesn't ask for any adult to be present and I just leave her to get on with it.

Facelikearustytractor · 04/01/2021 20:30

I would be as disruptive as possible. Let the younger kids run riot, the dog bark and they might realise how silly it is when they can't do their lessons.

You could also say you need to be in the same room to supervise your child while on work calls and they may hear confidential information if the mic is on and they are expected to participate.

Ihatemyseleffordoingthis · 04/01/2021 22:46

If kids have no SEN and are in years 2 upwards, I don't see why they can't be left alone doing online learning. My daughter is in primary (albeit year 6) and her school doesn't ask for any adult to be present and I just leave her to get on with it.

Your daughter is a very small sample of children to base this sweeping statement on.

StripyHorse · 04/01/2021 23:41

DD1 has similar. I think it is a good chance for them to remain connected with school and for teachers to 'see' the pupils and make sure they are ok.

But, our school gives the alternative for parents to email if it isn't possible due to shared devices etc.

I think they also understand the difficulty with parent present / no one else present. What happens if parents have to work and are on calls / in meetings or not even in the same building at the time (teenagers)? More siblings than adults in the house? Shared devices?

The idea itself is good, but the school clearly haven't thought through all the logistics.