To ask if one year on you feel like your DCs education has recovered form lockdown

[Tokoolforscool]

The first normal school year since lockdown is almost over and I wanted to ask on here how people feel like there DC are doing educationally and socially. I have my eldest in sixth form who’s about to go into her a levels and to be honest I really don’t think she’s academically ready despite previously being a high flyer. My younger DS is in year 9 and I have no concern about him academically (doing perfectly fine there) but socially I notice him and his friends are a LOT younger in terms of maturity and speaking to friends with DC also in year 9 it seems like a lot of them still have a year 6/7 mindset with a lot less resilience and also a lot more dependence on adults that pre lockdown. Do you find that educationally and socially your DC have caught up or are they still behind?

We are a year on since schools have gone back to full time. I would think everyone has moved on now. Still can't be blaming covid. Our head addressed this and said that she has not seen any significant set backs over the course of this year. Tbf our school has been excellent in providing remote learning so academically my ds has thrived instead of being held back. Socially , maybe in the first term it was a bit uncertain for all the kids but as I said it's a year on and it's like what happened was a long time ago. Speaking to other parents, friends and others with kids it seems like it hasn't been detrimental at all. Kids have moved on and so should we from that mindset of blaming a very small period of our entire lives.

My child started reception this year so coming up to her first year and what I have noticed is that children are still not as socially and emotionally mature for their age. I have a friend who teaches reception (at a different school) and she has said the same. Academically she has said they are about the same as before covid, but emotionally and socially and for being "school ready" there has been a big drop. A lot of children still have separation anxiety and they also don't know how to respond to things in play and with friends. I am comparing to when my eldest was in reception and its interesting that my friend has noticed the same.

There are huge implications. I went on a residential and they were saying they are finding children two years below where they should be and they are having to change activities.

I'm a teacher and I can see lots of children have not caught up, they are not where you would expect them to be emotionally and many not where they should be academically. Also noticing language levels are down too.

My DS is just finishing reception and to be honest I think he has made almost no progress except in reading, and that’s mostly been at home. I don’t know whether that’s down to Covid, him being ahead when he started and having to let others catch up, or the teacher just not being very good.

Reception is a leveller to get all children to approx the same level ready for the more academic work of year 1. I have a work colleague who says the same, that her child hasn't progressed but it's not just academics that they are learning. It's all the social skills of being in a class with 29 other children.

I don't think the lack of exams did DD1 - Y12 AS levels exams this year much of a favour - but obviously we are still waiting on results. I do feel maturity wise she frequently seems to have taken a step back.

DD2 - Y8 I think current lack of certain subject teachers is having more of an impact - though I think in Y6 she was worst impacted socially as her social group didn't have phones/laptops for contact.

DS - socially he rarely goes out - friends have to drag or us insist - can't say it wouldn't have happened anyway but I think lockdown made it more likely. He's also been impacted by lack of subject specialist teachers.

This last school year still wasn't "normal" for them trips/field work being cancelled lessons lost due to staff having covid - groups and trips have only come back in last month at DC secondary.

Sats results: Standards slip in Year 6 tests - over in England there the sats seem to show some impact still.

The primary school both my DSs attended set the most phenomenal amount of work. Definitely 6 hours of work a day. Academically they didn't fall behind at all, but my youngest who is just finishing year 5 is very immature as are his friends.

My younger daughter is fine moved into year 7 no academic issues. I would say maturity seems lacking across the age group - emotional and behavioural.

My eldest has just done her first uni year, results seem ok, especially after she got lowered Alevel than expected (I know everyone says they all got As but her school definitely didn’t do that approach) - she finds the online lectures etc tough and the unis are very quiet as to what year 2 will be like. She also knew quite alot of people that’s dropped out - due to online learning, course was a lot harder and some just wasn’t ready! 6 of them had a year out but only 3 are now going in September.

No concerns here but DD is only 4 and in the private sector

My DD's just finishing year 1, fine academically but majorly struggling emotionally. Now maybe she would've anyway but she had no issues pre lockdown.

Yes I can see gaps. My 4yo is "school ready" to a reasonable extent, but emotional regulation is still tricky. We've worked really hard on getting him ready for school, we could have kept him home more but felt full time pre school would be beneficial to him, and it has been. The pre school see the challenges too in that peer group.

My older kid is missing huge chunks of learning, it's hard to know where the gaps are to fill them.

My DD was yr8 during lockdown and actually it was a really well timed break from school. She found working from home pretty easy and has adjusted to being back at school well.
However, I also do voluntary work with teen girls and the younger end are much less mature than previous cohorts but on the plus side are great fun and making the most of being able to do stuff again.

My ds is also in private schooling so I'm not sure if this is a factor. Academically he did not fall behind at all. Socially the school encouraged alot online with his class, so it was just a matter of physically getting used to his class mates that he saw 5 days a week for a full school day online.

Ds is also in Primary so maybe the younger kids fared better than the older ones. I'm not sure.

I clerk at a few schools and this subject has been discussed at all of them. The consensus seems to be

Generally academically ok but some chikdren have gaps. This is more of an issue if the gap is an essential block to build on but hopefully getting spotted.

Socially and emotionally very behind.
Also schools finding they are having bigger issues than they have had to deal with before at one end of the scale , but also having to help with much smaller issues that previously children would have had the skills to deal with themselves (and parents coming in about much 'smaller' issues than before)

DD is an A level student at a grammar. No negative impact socially or educationally, but then the head has been very proactive and absolutely brilliant from the moment covid hit.

The thing is that we don't know if less maturity and independence in this cohort is due to the impact of covid or just a general societal change. Or a bit of both. Personally I think we were heading this way anyway but maybe covid has played a part. I also think that the children who already found things a struggle have been disproportionately affected - covid widened the gap.

Maturity definitely a concern. Year 6's now are in no way as mature and ready for high school as they would be normally. Year 4's in general are more like Year 2's.

My DS is Year 3 and both academically and socially seems stuck in Year 1 where he was when it all hit. He feels angry and upset that he's missed his KS1 years and definitely isn't ready at all for Year 4 in September. Neither do most of his cohort. Head teacher told me current Year 3 is worst year affected (apparently some research has been done? I have no link just what I have heard)

One of mine is year 3 and I count my lucky stars she got a full year of reception in before all this started. She had a great teacher who laid the foundations for phonics and maths before it all went to shit.

However its only in the last couple of months that reading has clicked for her, but now she is flying with it.

Swings and roundabouts I guess.

I echo what lots of people have said above, dd is coming to the end of y2 and academically flying, socially is okay but emotionally she seems to lack resilience. Hard to know whether it would always be that way though. I did notice that none of her class seem to have 'best friends' really - at least not ones that last, they use the term but it's very fluid. Whereas when I was in primary school friendships seemed cemented very early. No bad thing in my view though

Academically it actually helped DS massively. He has full time 1-1 and she worked with him every day all day via teams so he probably recieved a much higher level of education than most during that time.

socially and emotionally though it has knocked him back massively and it’s going to take a lot more work to get back where he was.

We’ve been lucky with dc but this is sad

DD current Y5 and DS current Y8. No impact I can see for DD, but she's naturally bright and generally self assured. DS and his cohort found starting secondary online challenging I think, they are both at a private all through school, so think it was easier for DS and the rest of his Junior school, who simply moved up to the Senior. It was tough for the new, incoming Y7's from other schools and the standards of behaviour in the year group has been awful, although seems to be settling down a bit now. Academically they seem on track, but like PP's they had a full, live, online timetable of lessons throughout from 8.30am - 3.30pm.

No. Its been a downward spiral for 2 out of three of my children going back, one now had to stop for the year already. The constant complaining from teachers as well that they're being lazy or need to buckle down when they literally cannot cope with the chaos and noise of the school environment anymore.

I am furious that schools went back with the attitude of "its your own fault if you're behind" and "let's triple the work" rather than building them up emotionally. It's underlined that teaching us about hoop jumping and not about students needs.

My eldest is 7, year 2. Definite, definite gaps, despite my very best efforts during lockdowns. And unfortunately it’s basic stuff so I feel at a bit of a loss.

My older DC had just started year 7 and had not made a wider circle of friends.
The lack of structure to her day, no on line lessons etc have affected her,I see that now...

She's quite solitary and plays computer games.

She wasn't taught for months, no interactive stuff because they didn't go on line.

Accadmically she's v strong.... socially I guess she's just waking up now year 9, new school.
One that got on with teaching in lock down after day 2.
Lifrle one was opposite! Again sadly her school decided not to go on line or teach.
However socially she was having a grand time on line with her Pals playing games.
Accadmically, I was forced to get into to the curriculum and this helped her because zero extra csme from the school.