4 weeks of extra school in the summer

[noblegiraffe]

Justine Greening (former Ed sec you’ve probably forgotten) has asked that every child get a guaranteed 4 extra weeks of schooling over the summer.

Practicalities of this aside (imagine it is a fully funded army of well-trained, eager and willing tutors, fresh and full of energy rocking up to your kids’ school), do you want this for your children? When you saw the thread title were you ‘yes!’ or ‘god no!’?

Personally I want my kids spending the summer taking advantage of lower restrictions to visit people they haven’t seen since last summer and doing outdoor, fun activities. Education isn’t the only thing they have been missing out on.

However, I know that others are very worried about the missing education and may consider the summer better spent catching up.

YABU: I want 4 weeks of extra school in the summer holidays

YANBU: I want my kids to have the summer off to do other things

Teachers are still working full time, doing online lessons is a lot harder than face to face. So if this plan comes in when will they get their holiday time in as teachers cannot take any holiday in term time.

"So who will be teaching for these extra 4 weeks over summer? Where will these thousands and thousands of tutors suddenly appear from to provide these extra 4 weeks? Or are you expecting teachers who are currently run ragged trying to teach kids in school and provide online lessons to give up their summer holidays?"
Honestly, don't worry @TooManyDinosaurs1 - it will be private companies owned by tory donors who will deliver it using unqualified, low paid help and disillusioned former teachers, for massive profit. This is nothing to do with care for young people and their development. See also the free school meals scandal.

The summer holidays is the time that schools do lots of maintenance. That can't be done if children are there

I want my children to have a summer full of being children again, playing with their friends and seeing relatives.

I will not be sending my children. They have worked very hard and have had excellent provision from their school right from March onwards. As I have been out at work full time but have the summer off they need that time with me and notspend it in school.

If I am asked to work for those 4 weeks in the summer I will refuse. I have already done 5 weeks unpaid work since March last year.

Also what I'd love is for them to be able to do an orchestral summer school if anything structured to make up for not having been able to play their instruments with anyone else for months. But mostly I want them to have their childhood back which means playing with friends.

Absolutely pointless suggestion that would only be made by someone who has no responsibility for actually seeing it carried it out. Perfect opportunity for the daily mail to berate teachers for not offering to work for free over the summer though.

@Ihatemyseleffordoingthis I think you are correct in your thinking here.

I am in 2 minds about this.

My 11 yo would benefit academically but would suffer emotionally. He dislikes school except for the social side. Homeschooling is challenging but he is doing the work. I suspect we'll need a maths tutor at some point.
My 16 yo won't need it and has worked her arse off since the pandemic started. Expected good grades whether exams are sat or not.
My 7yo won't benefit except from maybe the social aspect. Naturally bright and finds the academic work easy.

I really don’t want my children being taught by unqualified tutors - I can see them ending up being more confused and exhausted to boot. I also don’t want teachers/ regular staff being exhausted needing to work over summer. Fun, planned organised activities by qualified coaches/ specialists would be much better. I think it would have made sense to move one of the weeks of Easter to half term but maybe it’s too late now? We can’t ask current staff to work more hours tho.

Posted too soon.

Who will staff it?
Where will the extra funds come from?
Will it be mandatory?

Overall, I'm swaying against the idea.

'Justine Greening (former Ed sec you’ve probably forgotten) has asked that every child get a guaranteed 4 extra weeks of schooling over the summer.'

If it were 4 extra weeks of academic schooling, I'd imagine the only guarantee would be 1000s of children turned off education and school forever. They need down time and play.

However, I can see the benefit of providing sports or creative activities but then at my school, I'd guarantee the children attending this would not be the ones who'd need the extra catch-up stuff anyway.

Didn't someone cost this last time it was suggested in 2020 and the estimated cost for opening & maintaining schools, paying teachers and support staff ran into millions??

Who will carry the exhausted 4 and 5 year olds into school in December? Or was it only mine who were on their knees by Christmas?

May I ask, for those of you looking for family fun or days out and also those wishing for a few weeks education. I work in the museum/ arts sector and we are currently trying to plan family fun drop in sessions/ craft days/ 1hr children's workshops in topics such as art, history, drama, science for children to take part in over the holidays in the warmer months (restrictions and situation allowing).

However our sector is on it's knees, there is barely any money or funding left. We would have to charge per child or per activity for these activities to go ahead in order to recover. Would there be an appitite for this or are we wasting our time? Would you be willing to visit a museum/ art gallery/ theatre/ outdoor attraction as a family and pay for a fun children's activity. We are thinking of making some of the places bookable in advance to avoid wasted journeys but also making sure to offer just turn up on the day places too.

From personal experience I would take my own DC and in the past attended such events with BIL, SIL and DN and DN.

My dc have had enough family time to last them a lifetime thanks to lockdown. All they want is to hang out with other kids...if that's in school during summer then that's fine.

@Snazzles2020, we would definitely be interested depending on topics. In the past we always did. More so now after the lockdown and spent so much time without any interesting, stimulating things for children.

DS is working 9-5.30 most days, no idea what form his GCSEs will take this year. If it is safe to do so, he’ll be off with his mates this summer- surfing, lazing, they plan to hike between youth hostels.
His grades have steadily gone up, so he’s obviously worked throughout this time. He needs a break.
As an aside, DH and I both teach- we will not be volunteering to do this.

formerbabe I guess that depends on your definition of family.
For my two, they have had enough of each other but are missing their grandparents and cousins terribly. They are extremely close to their cousins, we don’t live close but go and stay, or have them here, or go on holiday together, six or seven times a year. And they haven’t seen them for a year.
When I say family, I mean that side of it, not just the four of us.

No, the Government will screw it up until it becomes a massive pain in the arse for everybody somehow, maybe they could just fuck off and stop messing with everyone's lives.

@Snazzles2020 my children are a bit too old, but when they were younger we would definitely do that kind of thing and would have been happy to pay. My DD works in the arts as do many of her friends and I kmow how difficult it is.

@Snazzles2020 My children are teens but when they were primary school aged I paid for sessions like the ones that you describe. I lived in London suburbs and there was plenty of demand and I found the prices extremely reasonable considering that I didn't have to clean up or come up with the idea.

Snazzles, I would happily pay for my lot if it was something they'd enjoy and not an extortionate amount.

Our local museum is free but I'd pay to visit if it was a reasonable cost.

No way! Summer is for us to have fun together as a family, I’m hoping we can get out and about like we usually do, it would feel like a punishment to me, they also need a break from all of this chaos!

No!! How awful!

Genuinely fun summer club? Yes