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

It won't happen. For most children there are enough years remaining in their school life to cover at least the most important parts of education. The point made about doing some of the non-school things that have been missed such as visiting relatives is well made.

Incidentally can you imagine holiday prices if there were only two or three weeks of school holidays? Or the arguments at workplaces about leave?

Well, as teachers aren’t paid for their holidays, if they are expected to go in then I would hope that they will receive an adequate salary and not just expected to volunteer.

For my children, no. My eldest is not behind. My youngest is, but it’s due to SEN and four weeks summer school isn’t going to sort that.

Assuming we can travel, I want to spend that time seeing my parents for the first time in over a year (we normally see them five or six times a year). I want to spend time with my sister, also for the first time in a year. She’s a teacher. If she can’t see us because she’s had to go to school I will be gutted. I want my kids to see family and go out and do things, not sit in a classroom.

So there are some kids who will not engage with online learning...

But these are also the kids who won't turn up / benefit from spending their summer holiday in a classroom. And it punishes those who have worked hard from home. Don't know what the answer is, but this isn't it.

Educational gaps have a way of getting progressively worse the longer they are left. If you are shaky on your maths, in particular, it's harder to understand the next stage and your problems get worse. Kids who have fallen behind will struggle with next year's work, disengage from learning, and fall even further behind. The gaps will grow. So many kids will NOT catch up.

I think the UK would be well advised to jump on this now and squash the learning loss quickly before it gets worse (work through a lot of the summer, extend school days a bit, trim time spent on non-core subjects for the next 18 months till the end of the next school year).

Because if you are concerned about children's mental health etc. then from a long-term point of view, it's better to grit it out, plough through the work and have one really hard year, rather than let the learning loss issues and the gaps multiply and multiply over the next several years.

The problem is that in the UK, many politicians seem to have a bit of a Disney Dad habit of kicking the can down the road...? We saw this with the handling of the pandemic, where UK politicians would keep putting off tough choices and unpleasant decisions, until things got worse and worse and extreme measures had to be taken. I'm concerned that the UK is about to do the same thing with education.

Grasp the nettle now and fill those learning gaps quickly, would be my advice. The relief that comes from knowing that the kids are back on track is huge.

And the kids here were fine with having school for much of the summer. It was an opportunity for them to socialize and play with their friends in the playground; summer days are long so there was a fair bit of time for them to play and run around after the school day was over, and families made the most of their weekends.

No I wouldn’t send mine kids and one of mine has been off completely for the whole year.

I am not one of these parents who think missing part of a year schooling especially for the primary kids is going to effect them for decades to come.
If restrictions are eased we will be enjoying our summer doing all the other things we missed.

No. I think it's been a tough year, children are still studying even if not at school, so they will need a break in the summer, and hopefully be able to get out of the house, meet friends, etc.

What I'd rather see is lots of additional support in term time over the next 2-3 years (at least). I'd like all schools to be proactive in identifying the students who have struggled the most for whatever reason and making sure they get extra tuition, one to one support, pastoral care - whatever is needed.

But, given the current level of underfunding, shortage of teachers and poor SN provision, I will be very surprised if any additional support is forthcoming, unless it's staff doing it on their own unpaid time.

@HerdyGerdy

Lovely - where will all of the trained staff come from? I'm a teacher currently working 11-12hr days to keep up with everything (including all lessons live) and rapidly struggling. I, and I imagine quite a few others, will quit if they try to extend the school term to do this (taking my decade of core subject knowledge and ability to get consistently good GCSE results with me).

It is worth noting that sites like TES have had adverts for tutors to provide additional support to schools up since September. Our local area hasn't had nearly enough applications for either primary or secondary.

And the content. Not to mention differentiation and sen provision. And as we don’t have a one size fits all curriculum across all schools how will this fit? More ill thought pie in the sky.

We are not supposed be travelling abroad

It's current January -summer is months away, god alone knows what the rules will be by then. But I seriously doubt travel will be banned over the summer.

Holidays don't have to be overseas
Kids don't have to be doing something amazing every day, just being free to see friends, go to the park, walk to the shops for an ice lolly, read under a tree...

Your child might not might their family, but many do!

Could have a voluntary element.

I would certainly volunteer my DD, we hate summer anyway so I would love her to be learning inside TBH, summer days are not our bag and we spend most of the time inside moaning about how hot we are anyway!!

My DD has always struggled a bit in learning and has essentially had no learning for a year - online is so patchy. Appreciate those of you with more able children academically wouldn't feel the need but not all kids are like that.

If I have a choice my kids won't be doing that. But considering we rely on the school for the majority of our holiday provision, if they do summer school rather than holiday club I guess they'll have to.

I really hope they don't though.

All kids need to be back in school by Easter at the latest when the weather gets warmer. We can’t make the same mistake as last year! Assess them all using the usual spring term tests first two weeks. Then run before school and after school sessions for those who need it in small groups. This is what DC school did last term and has been doing for years. Hence almost 100 pc yr6 sats at expected level and up to 40 at greater depth.

Tests should show which schools need the most funding for catch up sessions which should be provided in small groups by actual teachers. As a parent, I would love those schools who need it, to get funding for extra Corona catch up teachers. Some consistency for the kids and a boost to their learning. Some schools might need extra training for mental health issues in children etc. Catch up at secondary level will be more complicated.
Offer all teachers the vaccine and mask secondary school kids, perhaps ks2 in communal areas (so they get used to it in case required at all times by the autumn). We need to implement all safety measures that are quick and easy to do.
Promising catch up sessions in the summer is pies in the sky and not everyone needs it. Teachers know their own pupils best. But please do it soon before the kids move on to another year and new teachers. That will delay the assessment of gaps for months.

This will never happen, the unions will be up in arms! Repeat the year please! (That will never happen either!)

No - state school pupils only get 6 weeks off and cannot possibly be expected to have just two weeks of hols in summer and then back to school. Of course this would play into the government's hands nicely - wide divide between provision from private and state schools, some sort of hotch potch teaching for four weeks in summer leaving all the nice holiday spots quieter for the well off but creating no discernible differnece to the education outcomes of state school pupils.

I wouldn't send DD (6yo, Y2). The provisions from her school are excellent, they've done 1-1 sessions via zoom to encourage reading, they send anything I need urgently home, and she's progressing albeit slightly slower than she would at school.

Hell no, my kids are working at home. They need a holiday.

Absolutely yes!

1. It won't happen.

1. No I wouldn't send my kids but their school provision has been great and I am able to support their learning. They have come on further because of all the 1-1 time.

1. It won't happen.

Fr9m the personal point of view of my own children....When you saw the thread title were you ‘yes!’ or ‘god no!’?...it was more of a "Fuck No!"...but I think you get the point.

My dd1 and 2 (years 10 and 9) have worked so hard with remote learning, they have lost their much loved nan, they haven't seen any family, they haven't seen many friends, they have spent a large part of the year shielding to protect their brother. Dd1 suffered a lot of anxiety on the return to school, and dd2 has had 4 courses of antibiotics this year to keep on top of infected eczema - they are such brilliant girls, but they are tired an deserve a break. They're desperate to go camping to see family friends, to have some days out.

Ds (year 6) has complex needs and learning disabilities as the result of a rare genetic condition which makes him vulnerable to Covid, so has shielded for much of the year. He will hopefully be going to special school for secondary, and I would like to do some transition activities if they were available to him. But he does not need the anxiety of going school in the holidays - he would not understand why he had to do it, and needs a summer break with the people he loves best.

If it was proposed as an optional catch up/social stuff for kids who wanted it, then great.

If you are concerned about mental health, I don’t think this will help

work through a lot of the summer, extend school days a bit, trim time spent on non-core subjects for the next 18 months till the end of the next school year)

It needs a more imaginative solution

I want my kids to have a summer of freedom after what will be 15 months of heavy restriction, and most likely another 6 months through the winter of 21/22 (sorry)

As per a pp the idea of school all summer would probably finish off my children's mental health completely

I think there needs to be the option of resitting a year for those children that need to and a massive rethink (which is overdue anyway ) of GCSE.

No way! Ds has worked hard every day to complete his online lessons.
Making him do 4 weeks of school in the summer would be so unfair.

Maybe schools need to identify the pupils that haven't done any work so are behind, and make them attend.
I would not send ds.

@marbellamarc

4 weeks seems quite long. I would do 2.

Same

Nope, I wouldn’t send mine. I’m ok with the remote learning provision at the moment, but not happy about social isolation/boredom. Summer will be a time to visit cousins/have days out/go camping, not more school.

Hazey ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ for you and yours.

(My heart always lifts a little bit when I see you.)