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

@ineedaholidaynow

Will this be where the catch up funding will be going?

If your DC have fallen behind and schools aren’t getting anymore more money to help going forward then it would be beneficial from an education point of view, even if not great for having time with family and friends (depending on how much we will be allowed to do then)

Agree. Sounds like a neat solution for those who feel their kids have fallen behind. Probably smaller classes and more support during the 4 weeks as not all parents will send the dc in.

Summer school basically. It's a very good idea.

Too little, far too late for my year 13. The die will be cast well before then. I would like him to be able to have some enjoyment this summer if it's possible as he has missed out on so much already.
I'm a bit on the fence regarding my year 10. Whilst I can see that there's catching up to do before next year's GCSEs, he is working very hard at home and this is definitely not a holiday. I think that at most I would support extending the summer term by a week and starting the next academic year a week early. That would still leave a month break.
I don't think that even that is terribly realistic though. Obviously the teachers would have to be agree to a change in their working hours and be paid for the extra weeks, and I think there could be a lot of unintended consequences in other areas.

We'd do it!

No, mine have kept up so why should they have to do even more. Would not be sending them due to that not to mention four extra weeks to risk the virus.

If there is any chance of leaving these benighted shores to get a holiday this summer, I don't want my kids to be stuck in extra school. Also teachers have been working really hard. Can't make them do this as well.

@CuriousaboutSamphire

There are those of us who are also seeing our DC at saturation point of learning - my eldest doesn't switch off and won't be told by her Mum and Dad to take a break. She's teacher driven and I've caught her working at stupid o clock to get things right.

Yes I'm fortunate that we have the tech and the environment for my DC to learn like this, but I'm incredibly concerned for their health and well-being.

These threads make me laugh.

There’s lots of moaning about schools not being open and children getting behind. The minute there’s a suggestion of catch-up provision, no-one wants their kids to go to it.

But be realistic....it’s never going to happen....not in anyway in the format people are imagining.....of 4 weeks of the usual school experience. The funds, staffing and clearly willpower from parents isn’t there.

There might be some kind of drop-in clinics staffed by 17 year old ‘tutors’ or the schools might receive some funding to access outside providers (there is a limit to how many quality people are out there willing to work the summer hols) but we aren’t talking the kids in their usual clas with their usual teacher.

All I can say, is if you fancy setting up as a provider of catch-up tutoring....now is the time to do it and plenty of government money will be swishing around that you can tap into over the next couple of years. Quality control will have to be low, so it could be easy bucks!

@megletthesecond is that down to the school, tech issues or your DD not being motivated?

Not for 4 weeks no, I might consider it if it was 2 and they still got to have the majority of the summer holidays.

@CisMyArse then it doesn't apply to you or yours and you don't have to get on any high horse about it!

@WombatChocolate

These threads make me laugh. There’s lots of moaning about schools not being open and children getting behind. The minute there’s a suggestion of catch-up provision, no-one wants their kids to go to it.

But be realistic....it’s never going to happen....not in anyway in the format people are imagining.....of 4 weeks of the usual school experience. The funds, staffing and clearly willpower from parents isn’t there.

There might be some kind of drop-in clinics staffed by 17 year old ‘tutors’ or the schools might receive some funding to access outside providers (there is a limit to how many quality people are out there willing to work the summer hols) but we aren’t talking the kids in their usual clas with their usual teacher.

All I can say, is if you fancy setting up as a provider of catch-up tutoring....now is the time to do it and plenty of government money will be swishing around that you can tap into over the next couple of years. Quality control will have to be low, so it could be easy bucks!

Agree.

We doing a yearly summer school for 2 weeks during the summer hol for the kids most at risk. But it’s less about education and more life skills.

So the teachers would get a 6 weeks holiday? In that case, no I wouldn’t want this. I’m a parent which 2 children who are hard work and I want them in school so bad. We are struggling with any home learning but I wouldn’t want to send them. Teachers need a break and the summer holidays are for exactly that - summer holiday! We want spend the summer holiday - having fun. Even if it only in our back garden.

I'd ask my kids, but only if I felt it was safe to go. I don't want them back before Easter as it stands

@Murtaghjames

I think if they are back by Easter then they just should cancel the two weeks of Easter holidays. Obviously take Good Friday and Easter Monday of and then an extra week in the summer.

And the school staff who have mostly been working double time managing the hub plus online/live teaching they get two weeks of their holidays removed do they?

@CuriousaboutSamphire No horse here.

I was merely pointing out that the school of thought doesn't fall into your 2 categories. Don't take it so personally . Written word and all that....

I’ve always thought the summer holidays were too long and should be reduced to four weeks. My kids go private and it’s nearly nine weeks! they get bored toward the end!!

So yes I’d send them in two weeks early!

No because no guarantee we would have had a vaccine before then.
Apparently schools are not safe to be open now - so what difference will summer schooling provide to mitigate infection risk?

My concern is it would cause more spread of infection and then main schools may not be open in the autumn, putting everyone behind.

I would happily have an extra long Easter and a shorter summer holiday though.

If it was confirmed that real teachers would be in attendance then I'd send mine around our booked 2 week holiday.

I wouldn't but then my DD is 6 and academically is sound, however my cousin is 15 and he's in real trouble with his education so it'd be a very good thing for him to do.

cis sorry, yes. DD not wanting to do anything. She tends towards violent meltdowns at the best of times so I'm kind of leaving her to it and just keeping her teachers in the loop.

Haha. Lots of people seeming to fail to spot the teachers won’t be working holidays. Gov can’t just extend term into the Easter or summer holidays as some suggest.

They have contracts with specified times of work. And the children might not have been in school but they have been working all the way through — lots of teachers I know say they’ve worked longer hours and harder over these weeks, but lots of parents don’t want to accept that because their children have been at home. Those teachers WILL NOT be called on by government and told they must work the holidays.

As I said, you’ll be looking at 17 year old ‘tutors’ or schools being given extra funding to spend on outside providers (get in quick with setting yourself up as one).

I honestly can’t believe anyone is picturing their children’s class teacher in school for an extra 4 weeks, running the usual class.

The reality is, much of the lost time (where it has been lost in learning terms) is simply lost time. The disadvantaged who have lost the most are least likely to access these holiday schemes. Any provision will need to be broad brush and struggle to target specific areas lost by specific children. Really, only the children’s actual class teachers will be able to know what they have missed out on or where gaps are, and it will be hard for even them to know...but they are best placed to actually target catch up. And they can’t and won’t be providing g holiday schemes.

Sorry to sound defeatist about it all. I think I’m realistic though.

@megletthesecond that sounds hard and distressing for you all.

We get messages from parents in similar predicaments. It's such a tough situation.

I have a similar pupil. It's so hard to know what to do. We don't want parents or the pupil herself to feel that they're forgotten about, but sending them stuff sometimes adds to their distress.

I really feel for you.

They are already recruiting staff for this. But be warned before you get too excited- these are brand new tutoring companies (provenance unknown) who are actively recruiting retired teachers and NQTs. I’m not sure the quality is going to be quite the same as school provision.

The job ads are already up on TES. I’m not sure that is this is the solution parents are expecting. It won’t be your child’s normal teacher with a knowledge of their needs. It will be someone your kid has never met before who may or may not have any teaching experience and may not have taught in schools recently.

Wouldn’t this money be better pumped into schools to improve the quality of lockdown provision?

@Xerochrysum well the thing is the children arnt getting taught in the school, they are just sitting in front of a screen doing the same work as the children at home, the teachers are purely supervising, however the children will still view it as they have been t school while others are at home, so it will seem unfair to them as they are viewing it as a school day