School refuse to print worksheets!

[Chessismygame]

Ok so I am homeschooling and I can't print off the worksheets as I don't have a printer. The work is put on Microsoft Teams and the children copy the questions and write the answers or print it off and write the answers in.
I have a child with ASD and has hypermobility in his hands so writing takes a lot longer than the average child. Be fair he is in mainstream and has no learning issues just an IEP which ncludes small group handwriting practice.
I am having to write everything down off the screen before it disappears onto the next thing so he can then copy the work and we often go into break and dinner time before he finishes.
Also by doing maths on paper it would lower his screen time which is making him very tired and giving him headaches.
I have asked school if they could print off the maths worksheet (one page a day) so he can just fill in the answers and they said no.
They said they can't do it for everyone and they also don't want people coming to school to collect due to Covid.
Yet they provide iPads for children with no device to use and they collect them, children with free school meals have to collect vouchers each week from school.
Obviously I will buy a printer but I am a bit disappointed in the school!

I’m another poster who doesn’t think you are being unreasonable! Printers are a pain to maintain - like Gillette razors, it’s the disposable bit, the ink, that costs. That is where the money is made.

If your kid’s school is anything like mine, more than half the class is in merrily working with their print outs. No issues there for their parents. They are dropping off and going off to work as per normal. They are not buying printers or getting up extra early to print the stuff out. Meanwhile I’m trying to hold down a full time job whilst educating my child. Fortunately my child’s school is sensible and leaves material on a table in the lobby for daily collection. The staff simply make more copies of what they are copying for the kids who are in and would have been copying for my kid if we were allowed in.

As an aside I think in the current climate schools should NOT be printing off work for parents.

A) teachers are extremely stressed as it is and already working way over their allocated work hours
B) with the exception of some SEN cases there is no need for physical paper copies (see my previous post above)
C) parents are stressed out and don’t need the hassle of going into school daily to pick up worksheets
D) even if schools wanted to distribute paper copies it is not allowed under the terms of latest risk assessments
E) schools (pre-COVID) killed enough rainforests already with excessive printing

@Chessismygame YANBU - this way of working is not inclusive to your DS, I'm guessing that if he has ASD and hyper mobility then he has an EHCP?
If so, he is entitled to each lesson being made inclusive to him - if that means the school printing worksheets off for him then it is necessary.
Did you speak to his class teacher or the SENCO or was it a member of office staff? I would say to contact the SENCO as you may find you get a completely different response

I'd ask on your local FB site if anyone has a 2nd hand laser printer to sell or to give away. Don't buy the inkjet printer as you will be forever buying cartridges which are very expensive.

Some of our local estate agents have offered to print off school work for families who don't have access to printers - that's really thoughtful of them.

Laser printer... often a bit more expensive than an inkjet but a toner cartridge lasts a lot longer and when home school is over doesn't dry out between printing sessions...

Have a look on the give away sites - my Dad died recently and I tried to give away his printers/ screens etc. as i was aware there was likely to be homeschooling need.

No one took me up on it though so while I rehomed them to friends they went to families who could well have afforded to buy a laser printer which hadn't been my original intention.

Check your local Freecycle / Olio / Other local solution for people disposing of unwanted items.
I collected a printer from someone through Freecycle, the cartridges are about £8 on amazon. I see printers being offered on our local group quite often as people upgrade.

Freecycle isn't running through lockdown to restrict unnecessary journeys and contacts.

Sounds like a reasonable adjustment needs to be made for your Ds, so that he is able to access work for home learning.

It's about inclusion, children with SEN should not be forgotten, just because they are at home.

@lavenderlou

I'm a primary school teacher. We certainly provide stuff on paper for all who need it. About half the class requests them. It takes ages to prepare every week and takes forever to photocopy but it is about providing equality of access. Not everybody can afford a printer and the resources required for using it regularly.

I’m impressed. Our school insists that nothing has to be printed out and so doesn’t provide anything but it’s extremely difficult without. V unfair on families without printers imo.

But 1Q84isHappening how is the amount of work any different to what normally happens non-COVID? Pre COVID print x30 sets. In COVID print x30 sets and stick half on a table? And let’s not dress this up as an eco opportunity to save paper as again that’s a project that only involves the kids at home. No eco saving going on in school for the kids there.

I’d be happy to accept the alternative of lessons not relying on paper print outs but that clearly isn’t the case. The documents aren’t editable that we get and the lessons are built around them.

I think my kid’s school had been smart enough to recognise that a driver behind parents sending kids back in is the quality and inconvenience of the offering at home. They have tweaked their response, including the printing, and I am grateful for that. I am full time with no option to furlough and having the print outs is helpful for me.

Could the school email.you the work in a Word document? If so you could use shape to draw circle around answer or draw s line to join things together. He could type out answers directly on to a sheet. If his work plan states to this is how he should work, school should facilitate this in school or at home.

If you read my initial post you will see that my school is printing NOTHING for children that are in it at home.

All documents are either editable online or put in OneNote where they can be digitally written on.

It has made a massive difference to the amount of paper we get through!

Ps unless I’m massively missing something can the teacher not email you the PowerPoint?

That are in or* at home

Our school prepared hard copy packs for all the children after the first lockdown in preparation for this. They also bought all the children power maths books to work in from home.

The only time my kids do anything online is if it’s easy for me to quickly set up for them or they can log in themselves without help from me. If not they do their worksheets and power maths books.

I’m not sure how big the school is or their budget but it surely isn’t that hard for them to print worksheets for parents to collect. Print them in bulk and leave them on a table in the reception area for parents to collect if need be.

@AliceMcK I’m not sure about other parts of the UK but in Scotland we have been expressively told NOT to do this as it’s an infection risk.

You said you can afford a printer give your head a wobble.

yes my dc's school is handing out packs, they're really big on equality to the point that they gave this as a reason for not supplying (much) work in lockdown 1
We are supplying paper packs so that families can access the home learning. It matches the video lessons/online learning that is sent out to everyone.

the schools have had the money for supplies

Er, no!

YANBU. This is a reasonable adjustment for disability which the school should be making. They can't assume that parents have printers, or indeed that printers will necessarily be working. Printer ink is very expensive, especially if you're a single parent on furlough. If they're worried about you coming into school, they could post the worksheets. They don't need to send one a day - even if the teacher is only preparing them one day in advance, she could give your child a few days off and then post the entire week's worksheets to be done in arrears.

To be fair 1q you say ‘this is what my school is doing’ but you do not clarify for whom. You have now confirmed it is equivalent in class and at home and that is grand. At my child’s school worksheets are used in class in school. The expectation is to do the same at home. I’d rather the lessons didn’t rely on them at all but as it is they do and the sheets are being printed anyway.

Editable documents work at home however that would present problems in ‘my child’s school as there are not sufficient devices for the children there. They would need one each and to be logged on. They are being taught live with a teacher and a TA present. Are all your pupils on a device in school if they don’t have a paper copy and you are using editable docs? Also, are they logged in to Teams or the equivalent? How does that work or are your pupils old enough to log on, find assignments, submit assignments etc by themselves?

Can you afford to buy a printer or even a second hand one?
I am amazed that schools are expected to print material off for children when sorry parents also have a responsibility to help their children?
I understand if you don't have the money but i have seen families local to me buying really expensive computer games,
console, gaming chairs etc for their kids for christmas and are now moaning their kids don't have a computer.
we chose to invest in home learning equipment i'm afraid. Yes, it did mean going without ...

I do think it sounds like the school could be doing more here.

My DC’s primary school has said that printed copies of all worksheets are available for parents to collect from the school, so that children who have limited access to the internet and / or printers can still do the work.

They are also uploading copies of worksheets and presentation materials (e.g. PowerPoint slides for the maths lesson), these can be accessed at any time - so a child who can’t write quickly would still be able to view a maths worksheet after the lesson and complete it in his own time.

Even if your DC’s school won’t print off the worksheets, it should surely be possible for them to have the worksheets uploaded somewhere so that pupils can still view them after the lesson.
Are they definitely not uploading the worksheets anywhere?

Don’t worry whattodo my child doesn’t have a printer but he doesn’t have a games console and a gaming chair either. I’m glad you have a solution that works for you. Picking up one set of sheets that have been batch printed with the sheets being prepared for the kids in school works for me and the school.

As an aside, in normal times the site I work on has 800 plus staff. There are two (very decent) laser printers available centrally. Printers are expensive to maintain and it’s inefficient having lots dotted around everywhere which is the equivalent of every parent having to buy one. At home, we have minimal print needs normally. I’ve needed a printer twice in one year and I’ve visited the library for that.

I’ve just looked up the cost of printers and they are even more than I thought. You can (panic) buy a ‘cheap’ ink printer but then the inks are expensive and inefficient. The laser printers are £££. I will continue to pick up the worksheets from school as part of my regular daily exercise.

I’m jealous of all these schools who don’t print tbh. We have to provide 2 week packs which will be at least 30 sheets/child. Maths alone is 18. We’ve got 200+ children so it’s a colossal amount of paper.