Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Primary school homework ONLY available online?

139 replies

HereBeFuckery · 09/12/2022 18:56

I'll start by saying I am raging about this, but I'll try not to rant.
DDs school has started setting homework (after a bad Ofsted, but that's another thread).

Homework is ONLY posted on this fucking stupid 'Showbie' app. No other way to access. I must have missed a notification, as I don't check the shitty app daily, because, well, I have a life.

DD missed a piece that was set on Wednesday and due today, as she doesn't have her own phone (because she is eight), or her own tablet or laptop - she uses one of ours when she wants to.

As a result, she missed break time today.

The 'homework'?
"Tell me your favourite Christmas joke"

Give me a fucking break. That's not even close to homework, so lets acknowledge you're phoning it in. Fine. Do not then punish a kid for your shit system that is predicated on her having free access to technology WHICH SHE DOESN'T HAVE.

I'm considering writing to school and saying that we don't allow her to use phones or tablets and so homework will need to be set another way.

Before the pile on, I am also a teacher, but secondary. We set online homework and it is school policy to offer EVERY kid a paper copy too. Because we don't assume access to technology. If I set such a shit piece of homework with 2 days to complete and didn't offer a paper alternative to the online portal, I would be in trouble.

OP posts:
AlwaysFullOfQuestions22 · 09/12/2022 20:21

But did they just have to write the joke
Or did they have to say

My favourite joke is....
BECAUSE....

So with a little explanation

Just like if it was maths. It would maybe ask a question example
34 x 5 = 170
But they will have to show workings out too

TheYearOfSmallThings · 09/12/2022 20:22

Why is she so upset? It isn't normal to be crying about something so trivial five hours later.

I really think you need to be playing this down instead of blowing it out of proportion.

FlorettaB · 09/12/2022 20:22

Are you really a teacher?

LittleBearPad · 09/12/2022 20:25

It might be more useful to agree an approach to avoid problems in the future. Ie that you’ll check it daily (30 seconds will do it) rather than ranting.

SavingKitten · 09/12/2022 20:26

HereBeFuckery · 09/12/2022 20:18

@SavingKitten I haven't asked as we have only had this system 10 days and I hadn't realised the depths of the shittery they had inflicted on us.

I don't want to manage DDs homework. I don't want to have her check an app regularly.

I absolutely don't want her learning that she must jump through hoops or be punished.

Sounds like you are kicking off about them doing ONLY online homework, when it’s only just started and you haven’t actually even asked if it can be paper homework then… so YABU there.

But the punishment thing I totally agree with, it’s just not on, I’d absolutely say something about that, and the same if the refuse your request for printed homework. But you haven’t asked yet so you don’t no if it’s only online.

LittleBearPad · 09/12/2022 20:26

Pineconederby · 09/12/2022 20:07

@Abraxan - so your default is to assume the tech is there and available and to ‘other’ those wanting homework in a traditional format? Wow.

The vast majority of parents will have a smart phone at a minimum.

AlwaysFullOfQuestions22 · 09/12/2022 20:26

And ds seniors never offered paper copies. Often he had to print stuff for homework and our printer broke. I emailed and they said either use local library to print or go in himself to print in school library. The teachers didnt do it

Its not normal to be upset 5 hrs later

ditherydotty · 09/12/2022 20:26

I agree with you op, it's ridiculous that a primary aged child has to miss break due to non compulsory homework. Also for an 8yo losing break time can feel like the end of the world, no wonder she's upset.

BubblinTrouble · 09/12/2022 20:32

Punishment seems crazy. But is there no way to receive a notification if homework is set? I’d download it on my phone and set up to receive notifications personally. Agree that there should be the option to have paper based homework though.

Pineconederby · 09/12/2022 20:33

@LittleBearPad - not a guarantee and not in some of the schools I’ve worked in. They may also need that smartphone for work, not want to share it with their child or simply not want their child to use a device. Schools are not allowed to discriminate based on access to tech, end of. To punish because of it is despicable.

Abraxan · 09/12/2022 20:42

Pineconederby · 09/12/2022 20:07

@Abraxan - so your default is to assume the tech is there and available and to ‘other’ those wanting homework in a traditional format? Wow.

Almost every parent has a mobile phone at the very least, in my school. Infact I've not met one at my school - with a very diverse background - without a mobile phone yet.

It can be done very discretely if required. No need for anyone else to know.

Plus the home learning is entirely optional. No one is chasing it.

As I say we have a very small number who request paper copies of letters and homework across the school. These are NOT people where finances would be the issue. We know that for certain,

ditherydotty · 09/12/2022 20:43

Also all this "it's not normal to be so upset hours later" bullshit, what's that implying? Op's child is abnormal as she's still upset?

As she's a child she has to forget feeling humiliated and left out as adults think "it's not normal". My kids can hold a grudge / bad feelings for days 🤣

Abraxan · 09/12/2022 20:46

Ours isn't to be completed online either, though they can if they want. The information is simply given online, via the learning app and the website. How they complete it is their choice - online on the app, emailed typed and printed, handwritten and sent in, their choice, And they can just not do it if they don't want to.

All our children are 7 and under. Whatever format it is sent home - online, email, text, piece of paper, booklet, etc - it's the parents who will be monitoring the home learning regardless.

Parker231 · 09/12/2022 20:47

No wonder children have such poor motor skills and dreadful handwriting when primary age are doing schoolwork on phones/screens. No way would I want an eight year old using a phone.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 09/12/2022 20:48

My Gdcs, 6 and 7, do maths homework (Doodlemaths) online - using parents’ phones or laptops, they certainly don’t have their own.

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 09/12/2022 20:51

Ours is mainly in their homework book but we get the odd piece online but the instructions are written in their homework book.

When they first set up the online stuff we missed a few pieces here and there but there was no punishment!

I'd be furious too OP, moreso if my DC was upset about it. Speak to the school

Abraxan · 09/12/2022 20:51

Pineconederby · 09/12/2022 20:33

@LittleBearPad - not a guarantee and not in some of the schools I’ve worked in. They may also need that smartphone for work, not want to share it with their child or simply not want their child to use a device. Schools are not allowed to discriminate based on access to tech, end of. To punish because of it is despicable.

Firstly, we know our catchment. We know that very few, if any, don't have access to a smartphone, through our years of experience with our parents.

We also don't expect children to use the device. All our children are if a young age, so parents are the ones dealing with home learning regardless of the format it comes home in. No requirement to complete it online at all. Just for parents to read it and tell their child, IF they want to complete it, as it's optional, as I said previously.

TheYearOfSmallThings · 09/12/2022 20:55

Also all this "it's not normal to be so upset hours later" bullshit, what's that implying? Op's child is abnormal as she's still upset?

Firstly it is literally not normal for a child to be still crying 5 hours later, on a Friday night.

But then most children's parents would have rolled their eyes and said "That's a bit daft" when they found they had missed the homework and their child had done it at break instead. A child whose parent gets angry and talks about withdrawing their child from doing homework and wanting a "fucking apology" from the school may find it harder to cheer up and forget it.

BotWaterHottle · 09/12/2022 20:55

The system isn't at fault. She, or you, must check. Then the homework needs doing. Or a detention will need doing.

It's nothing to do with 'having a life'. You have a child. Who needs to learn. Homework is part of that.

Maybe it'll become more meaningful as parents actually parent their eight year olds and it consistently is done well. Otherwise, it just reinforces and widens a gap between those who are already at an educational advantage and those who are behind.

ScroogeMcDuckling · 09/12/2022 21:00

I hope your daughter has a good cry and gets a good sleep tonight. It’s horrible when you’re that age getting “told off” and losing your break time with your friends.

I fully understand you’re reasoning about phones at her age.

Perhaps the school will sort out a computer area with printers so on the required day of homework, (or when the teacher tells them theirs homework) the pupil can go to the area and get the “download”.

If it’s an app, doesn’t the app inform the app holder new stuff has gone on it? You can then say to your daughter we will check the system together later.

saraclara · 09/12/2022 21:11

In a teacher and I'd be equally furious. My DD was a quiet perfectionist, and getting a detention at that age would have really upset her. It's absolutely ridiculous to give an eight year old a detention for not typing out a joke, whatever. But even more so if she had no idea that the 'homework' was set because the school hadn't informed parents that it was being set on the wrong day.

TumbleFryer · 09/12/2022 21:25

ReadyForPumpkins · 09/12/2022 19:05

It’s been like this for many years. DC2 is year 3 and she has online only work since year R.

You are being unreasonable to say she’s not allowed a phone.

It is primary. You can opt out of doing homework. But stop being a technophobe and pass that onto your child.

She’s 8 years old! Of course she doesn’t have a phone!

LoveBluey · 09/12/2022 21:27

The main issue isn't the online format it's the detention. I think punishing children for something they have little to no control over is awful - see also rewards/punishments for attendance. In primary these are all down to parents not kids.

As an aside my Y1 DD has had every single piece of weekly home learning set online since starting school and this year they've moved to online reading which I'm really not loving. It's one thing having to print out the homework sheet but it's near on impossible practising the reading with an ebook rather than a print book.

Original poster
HereBeFuckery · 09/12/2022 21:30

@ditherydotty you've forgotten, this is MN. Others have disagreed with me, so they must not only say they disagree, they must go further and imply unpleasant things about a child they've never met so that I meekly accept I'm wrong and scuttle away.

OP posts:
Parker231 · 09/12/2022 21:32

LoveBluey · 09/12/2022 21:27

The main issue isn't the online format it's the detention. I think punishing children for something they have little to no control over is awful - see also rewards/punishments for attendance. In primary these are all down to parents not kids.

As an aside my Y1 DD has had every single piece of weekly home learning set online since starting school and this year they've moved to online reading which I'm really not loving. It's one thing having to print out the homework sheet but it's near on impossible practising the reading with an ebook rather than a print book.

Why is she doing homework in yr-1 ? Instead of an ebook - ask her school for a proper reading book. She’s going to end up with eye problems. Sounds like the teacher/school are being lazy.