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!

[Sinful8]

Would the school/teacher be happy to accept an "answer sheet" instead?


Just plain paper with q1 q2 etc and the answers.

[Mumto3thatsme]

[quote Subordinateclause]@Mumto3thatsme No they won't necessarily be planning a week in advance. I have a plan for maths but don't physically choose/create the exact sheets or tasks until the day before as it depends how children get on with that day's work. This is what primary teaching is meant to be all about - assessment for learning. I also only get technically get 3 hours of planning time a week - I have to come up with the idea for lessons before I create them, and then have around 40 tasks to create. If each one takes on average 15 minutes to prepare that's still 10 hrs of work. Whenever I hear about these work packs schools are providing I think it must be schools who just blindly follow White Rose maths or Twinkl and aren't actually responding to the children's learning as it happens.[/quote]
On a Monday morning white rose maths worksheets are uploaded for us to access.
There’s various groups within the class so your child works through whatever maths sheets are there that week.
There’s no sheets added during the week if they’re completed.
So in this case, yes, I think they could be printed for us.
We’re managing by screen shotting and editing the screen shot which is ok but a paper copy would be much preferable.

In our instance it’s a small village primary school, there’s a few key workers kids in, around 12,but tbh the headteacher isn’t very forth coming with anything but that’s a whole other issue

[rwalker]

They should be more supportive but just seem unless you want free school meal or free laptop there not intrested .

[lozster]

Rachellow

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.

I’m surprised it is so little! I’m picking up about 7 sheets a day, so your 2 week quantity in one week. I’d say, based on looking at my child’s workbooks, that this seems pretty typical of when he was in school. It was one of the things that surprised me when he started school.

Some things are printed as source material where the expectation is that they will have 2 or 3 things to refer to at the same time. If you are screen only, the teacher can only open one thing at a time and the on screen view will flick between 1) source material 2) teacher 3) student at home speaking. Meanwhile on teacher view I can see the class working on their worksheets with the help of the TA. The teacher also does live quizzes where the number of correct answers is used as a baseline of performance. Kids in school get these on sheets. At home before I had print outs I had to explain to my 7 year old how his responses on paper should reflect the sheet being shown online. It may seem obvious to an adult to either write a list or to try to reproduce a table but it’s not to my 7 year old and he has no special needs so I am guessing the OP would have problems there. Spatially and cognitively it’s a different experience engaging with a screen and paper. Before the sheets were being shared, I was trying to write them out. This was hampered by the fact the material isn’t released early enough to give me a go at this. I’m already trying to supervise whilst on calls relating to my work. He has to muddle through as it is.

I’m amazed so many people think it’s acceptable to base a lesson on handouts, share the hand out with the kids in school already benefiting from being in school, exclude the children at home who are already missing out on so much then berate the parents. Don’t forget as well that these same parents may already have purchased the device the child is working on. It’s a real ‘let them eat cake’ moment to then expect them to get a printer too. Don’t forget as well that the expectation is that children can access the full curriculum and those who can’t due to lack of space to work or the technology to do so can request a place in school.

[lozster]

And I think in a few weeks time there may be some parents regretting that ‘cheap’ ink printer as the ink runs out/leaks/jams and it is consigned to waste.

[Losingmymind2021]

The school can absolutely print things for children to collect. They do it here if people cannot
get into google classroom or they don’t have a printer. You just ring up, ask and you go up and collect it from outside. In fact it’s being encouraged in DS’s class to go and collect a pack and a maths workbook. This is primary school.

To add, so many parents have attempted to buy a printer this week but stocks are short as everyone is buying them.

[NowTheDucksAreBarking]

I suggest rather than get a printer you get a graphics tablet, your son can download the sheet and write directly on it, save it and send it back. This is the easiest, most environmental way and would give him a lot more independence. They are about the same price as a cheap printer (£35) but don’t need any more money spent on them. Bonus is that they are a great device for drawing and art.

[Soontobe60]

Just take screenshots of the work and save to a Word document. He can then access this in his own time and write the answers out in his book.
We use Showbie and for example if there’s a page of maths questions, the children only need write the answers in their books. They then upload a photo of their answers for us to mark online.

[idontgetpaidenoughforthis]

Definitely ask the school again to provide hard copies. It shouldn't be difficult for them, your son has the right to materials he can access. Our school is sending every child a hard copy of the learning. The internet is not always reliable, tech is not always reliable. Having a paper back up is just common sense!

[Soontobe60]

@lozster

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.

I often produce a smart notebook or PowerPoint to support my teaching, sometimes running to 10 pages per lesson. In normal times, these are not printed out but used as a teaching tool. So over a week I might have 15 such SNBs. If I had to print them out to send home that would be an awful lot of paper!! So no, the amount of printing would be massively more if i did send printed copies home compared to pre Covid times.
Instead, I put the SNBs (which I have to amend for home learning) on Showbie so the children can refer to them at home. We sent home exercise books for them to complete their work in and they just upload a picture of their work for us to mark.
I have 3 families who dont have access to a computer and they get a printed pack each week. Just out of interest, it takes me around an hour on a Friday to print these packs off, put each lesson into plastic pouches and label each one. To do this for everyone would take hours!

[lozster]

I think people are, naturally, having different experiences. In my case the paper isn’t a back up or a replacement for the online lesson, it’s a necessary item to take part in the online lesson to begin with.

I am at people who have ‘freetime’ to return to lessons. Home learning plus full time work at home is like having a new born again the last 2 weeks have blurred in to one. I have no free time to ‘go back’, zero chance of getting my kid to go back. The reality of this is all totally grim.

[AHippoNamedBooBooButt]

I had the same issue in the March lockdown so bought a printer in the summer. Like you my ds is asd, though no support plan in place. We get lrc dla for him though and that is what that money is for really. I presume with an IEP you are entitled to dla for your ds as well? This is what it’s there for.

[Dearmaria]

YANBU. I'm fortunate enough to have a place for my DS at school this time around, but they are leaving paper learning packs and jotters and stationary at the main entrance every single day for parents to come by and pick up if they need them. They've also given out iPads to the older pupils and had a small number of vodafone data cards to give out for those without internet. They've been super helpful. All schools should be as accommodating as possible.

[listsandbudgets]

Can you print to pdf? Go to print screen as normal and you'll see a drop down menu arrow by the printer menu. Click in that and choose print to pdf then you should be able to save as a pdf on your own computer.

I sympathise. My DS is a slow writer too

[Hazelnutlatteplease]

You really need to get more tech savy.

If your school is sending pdf file types ask for the original word documents to be sent. As mentioned above you can do the conversion yourself but chances are they started as office docs in the first place

If your DC has hyper mobility, he should be using word/office anyway (and yes that means buying a copy). Both of my hypermobility kids download the document, mark it up on word or PowerPoint (including ticks and circles which is built in) and send it back. Both have some rudimentaries of touch typing (part school trained part home). But word has dictation software built in so you can use that too as your DC gets older and needs to type longer essays. Word also has predictive text software which is useful for my one with significant SN.

Learning how to use office is really such an important skill

[Chessismygame]

Checked with Argos and all the low cost printers are out of stock to reserve or home delivery. Will check some other stockists later.
I have had no need for a printer as I don't print anything and if I do it would be done at work (boss is fine with this) as it's only been one thing in the last few years! But with furlough/homeschooling this is not an option!
When the lesson starts I will attempt some of the methods suggested. I am new to teams so there could be a way. I do know I can't copy and paste or edit as I have tried that.

[Keratinsmooth]

I’ve just donated a printer to a school mum. Ask around to see if anyone has one to lend you, or free or cheap. Your friends, family etc? Facebook local group. Gumtree etc.

[Hazelnutlatteplease]

You need to download attached files. Ideally they will be in office (word/PowerPoint)

[2021hastobebetter]

Personally I’d email the head and quote their own Sen policy at them - they should have one on their website. I’d insist that they make the work accessible else they are discriminating against your child for Sen. I email the headteacher and say the above and that you want a simple solution of them posting you the worksheets once a week and that you will do the work and return it the next week.

I’m a teacher and finding some of my students are now a week in and getting migraines and headaches and we are advising them to take a screen day off. And we are considering setting screen free afternoon once a week with no work

My own child was on the computer from 8.30 to 7 pm yesterday she has epilepsy and had a fit. She’s having a day off today completely and my parents are taking her out for a walk locally.

In your case I would send the email and say you are raising an accessibility complaint for your Sen child outline a simple solution: printer worksheets once a week sent home and say you will escalate it to the LA or MAT if needed but they need to be flexible.

I was told my Sen children could attend as they are Sen - I said no as I’m working from home but both schools would send me anything needed by post. As would I as a teacher.

Hth

[Porridgeoat]

Go through the head. They should be providing this. Then make a formal complaint if no progress is made.

[Porridgeoat]

They are not making reasonable adjustment to meet his needs

[rc22]

Argos would probably be able to deliver you a printer within the day. However this may not be an option for you financially. In my local area a lot of businesses are offering to print stuff for home schooling. It might be worth looking on your local Facebook pages to see if anyone is doing it near you.

[Hazelnutlatteplease]

Yes you could kick off at the senco/head. Or you can up skill yourself and your kids and set both of you up better for the future.

[rc22]

Sorry OP just looked back and saw that argos are out of printers.

[Oblomov20]

2 of our local estate agents are offering to print documents for those that need.