Primary school homework ONLY available online?

[HereBeFuckery]

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.

I think you raise some valid points but some of what you say makes you sound a bit nuts.

I think that, if the homework schedule says it will be released on a certain day, with a certain number of days to complete it, then that should be done. You can't be expected to check the app daily.

But - setting homework via an app is fair enough, as is expecting an 8yo to do their homework or face a sanction.

I also wouldn't bother asking about the learning objective. You just sound like one of those parents who can't bear to see their child told off. There doesn't have to be an LO, or it could be 'to use our new homework app'.

Before you go in, do make sure that she didn't just miss something like a minute of playtime, or that it wasn't for something else, or a message went home saying that the homework had been set, or that she was supposed to write it into her Home-School Journal (or whatever you use).

Because I have certainly had parents ranting over the years, and then apologising when they realise they only had half a story.

And don't withdraw her from homework because, as a teacher, you must know that giving your kid the message 'I don't care what school say, mummy will sort this out' creates the worst kind of whiny kid.

Of course you should.

Head - governors - Ofsted - god. Until you get the result you want. It's unacceptable for someone to want to do things a different way than you.

At our school, if you don't have access to tech, children can do their homework one lunchtime at school instead. Would that be preferable?

And why should children be losing their lunchtime? Either the school provide the equipment or treats everyone the same - use a piece of paper and learn how to write properly

The online homework is something I hate. Primary children still need written work to perfect handwriting, calculations etc. The fact that your child was kept in for not telling a Christmas joke is a joke in itself and they should be ashamed.

Explain how the teacher is being lazy? How is it lazier to set an ebook than a physical book, assuming the school has such things giving them to students would be the work of seconds?

"And why should children be losing their lunchtime? Either the school provide the equipment or treats everyone the same - use a piece of paper and learn how to write properly"

Because they can do it in 30 mins of their own time at school or in 30 mins of their own time at home. What's the difference? Everyone else does it on Saturday afternoon or whenever, they did it on Thursday lunchtime. It also means parents don't have to think about it or provide tech. I think apps are convenient for a lot of people and save hundreds of pages of copying every week.

We have had tt rockstars when younger and mymaths now - usually done on the ipad or sometimes my laptop (I set it up so she's not accessing my bits).

Both the schools here keep you in if you've not done the work/reading/diary signed. I don't like it - but it is the norm in our area

It's also marked by the app so less worn for the teacher I guess.

Oh OP I feel on this thread I have found my people! I am utterly, utterly sick to the back teeth of the newsletters and emails home about technology based homework DS is yr 5 (age 9, coming up 10). Every week he is supposed to read 4x - 2 of which should be school set texts accessed via a phone, tablet or kindle. They are also supposed to do 10 minutes each of a spelling app, a mathematics app and a timed table app. Every. Fucking. Week. There are prizes such as extra playtime abs movie afternoons for those who consistently complete it. There are prizes for the parents of those who don't - we get the gift of explaining for the umpty millionth time to said child that they can pick up a hard copy book and I will do as much spelling and maths homework as they like with them but they're not having my iPad to (play games) do "homework." We also get the added gift of shitty letters home about lack of engagement with the learning. He's reading constitutional law books with interest at home, I doubt he's missing out on too much! And for the poster who said it was unreasonable for an 8 year old not to have a phone you can drag me through the streets there is no way in heaven or hell DS is getting a phone anywhere before age 13. It's not necessary; it panders to a must fit in society that wants to use social media escapism (and no, the irony that I am here doing the same is not lost on me!) and offers an instant access to bullying and harmful media.

I'm 100% in agreement with you OP.

I have 3 kids, 3 different schools and between them we have homework set on 9 different platforms. It's the kids responsibility to check if they have homework and they spend their evenings logging in to this and logging in to that.

We cant afford to buy a laptop and the systems wont work on our ancient tablets so they have to try and do it on a phone. Which is almost impossible.

School suggested after school clubs to use their laptops, but each schools club is a different day and as they are all in different schools that are miles away from home I have to leave work briefly to collect them. So cant go pick up 2 kids, then go 45 minutes later to pick up the 3rd kid. I asked for a loaner laptop but as we dont claim any benefits the schools wouldnt help.

As it's a new system, I do think you should speak to the school calmly about this. I'd raise the points:

1. Your DD isn't able to check the app herself, so shouldn't be punished for this.

2. You were told homework was set on X day, with a week to do it, and now it's been set on Y day.

3. You feel there should be an alternative to online homework.

And you should listen to their responses, and see if they have any reasonable comments to make about the above- hopefully they will take your feedback on board.

But I do think some of your points about e.g. you don't want DD to check an app every day sound a little bit excessive/unreasonable. And it won't be every day, because I doubt the teacher would set anything on Saturday or Sunday. Is it so terrible for her to check an app every weekday? Or ask you to?

Monster phonics by any chance?

Or he could just do the homework he’s been set and you could stop being ridiculous about it?

iPads and computers are a legitimate way to do work. Or do you think that everyone in offices is playing games?

I take the point that part of parenting is supporting children with school - we absolutely do this, we read with DD daily, help her with projects in the holidays, talk to her about the news, make sure she has PE kit etc. She is flying along at school.

My issue is twofold:

1. The assumption that an eight year old should complete homework online makes me uncomfortable because it requires her to have access to tech, not only to do the homework (which I don't mind as much, she does enjoy TTRockstars), but more to the point, they are enforcing the habit of checking an app on a phone/tablet/laptop every day. I don't like that habit. It feels too close to the addiction to checking social media that makes so many teens so unhappy (I see this daily).

1. I also feel strongly that IF - as they said when they wrote home to explain the new homework system - they are trying to introduce the idea that children must take responsibility for checking for, and completing homework, then an online system doesn't make sense, as access to it isn't up to the child, it's up to an adult. If they want to teach that responsibility (great!) they can't have it predicated on an adult checking on behalf of a child, or having to remember daily to provide access. It doesn't work.

I will be raising the unfairness of the punishment when the homework itself is so clearly just meant to be fun.

DD doesn't want to be withdrawn from homework, as she likes it (I asked her last night), so I won't do that. She's woken up happy, which is good!

What sort of homework is that? Ridiculous!
I agree that 8 year olds do not need a phone.

Urgh yes our crap app is seesaw which works fine but only for one child at a time. After the PPG raised accessibility for children questions it's been agreed for lower school P1-P4 (scotland so R-P3 equivalent) more traditional methods will be used. Learning words stuck into homework jotters etc. P5 and above are to access it online, PPG have funded IPads etc for families who found it tricky to access online and some people were given mobile dongles.

I dont think its unreasonable at primary school it's usually set online now and parents tell kids what it is when they are young, or when they're older they look it up themselves on a parents device. I'm sure if the parents told the school they had no access to any device in the house, they would consider alternative arrangements otherwise they would be discriminatory.

However I think they are unreasonable:
Not to set homework on a regular day so that everyone knows to check the app
To set with such a short deadline
To punish a kid for not doing homework when they're at an age where they need parental involvement

Most schools will only offer homework online. It's completely appropriate as appa are often used to track learning progress and offer work which increases/ decreases in difficulty in response to the child's answers. It's also marked instantly with the child then understanding their learning as it's occuring rather than later when they have forgotten. This is a good thing. Children will encounter increasingly technology rich workplaces and need the skills for this early. Many don't enter the workplace with any real coding or software skills. Facebook seems to be one of the only understood skills and that's woefully inadequate. I would expect the school to work with you to find an alternative if you could not access a computer or tablet but you can. You choose to not give her access to the technology and then the school does not need to be accommodating. Rather than deny her access, keep her in the same room while she does her homework so you have some broad supervision and then help her learn the skills needed to do her homework on her on. Talk about when the work comes out, what day she needs to go online and check, how much time she needs to plan to do it etc. These are all essential learning skills there you can model to her.

Writing a joke may also be excellent homework. A young child might be learning writing purposes and audiences and this would be a challenging task. They may simply be learning to write sentences with appropriate punctuation and this would also be great practice. This work is Christmas themed (which they will all be talking about) and is quite fun. It may well be a great piece of homework.

The only part of the schools approach which is unreasonable is to use detention. It won't help the child learn, it might damage her confidence and her attention is class will almost certainly be worse without a break.

@ilovepuppies2019 - homework in primary is optional and there is no benefit to young children in starring at a small phone screen. More time needs to be spent learning to write not to tap into a screen.

I think whether or not it is optional depends on the school. In Aus, it is often not optional and it was not optional when I was in PS. I would not recommend using a phone to access school work. Larger tablets (available quite cheaply if they are not an Apple product) or a laptop is a must. I would be very surprised if no-one in OP's family had access to either of these things but if not then they are very worth investing in. If they OP did not have access then it would something to raise with the school and plan time in a local library to use their computer every week. I'm a researcher in this space and there is a lot of benefit to children using apps to improve their reading and writing. They offer instant feedback, the difficulty changes depending on the responses, the teacher can quickly mark the output and the learning can be tracked using analytics. The largest benefits of technology are found for young children when caregivers use these devices with children to scaffold. I would assume that the OP's child spends a lot of time learning to write on paper and by hand in the classroom. It's very appropriate that she uses a small amount of learning time at home to engage with technology and improve her technological skills and writing skills at the same time. The benefits of practicing writing, structuring a narrative, using punctuation and thinking about audience do not disappear because the pen is replaced by a screen. Done correctly, homework via apps can vastly improve the learning outcomes.

It's absolutely not optional in the couple of primary schools in my area!

All dds primary school homework is online but they offer chrome books on loan to families that need them. They also have homework clubs. Is there anything like that on offer?

Online homework doesn’t bother me. I’d rather that than the ‘come dressed as a Victorian’ or ‘make a model of a pyramid’ type stuff. That’s much more divisive and relies on parental input, time and resources.

What an absolutely pointless task to set! And YANBU at all about any of it. I’d also complain about her missing break (and I’m a teacher).

Absolutely with you on the device obsessive society we've become. I would be raging and tell them you don't consent to her being given detention on the basis of electrically set homework that she cannot access and shouldn't be expected to at 8 yo. I would suggest they provide her with a device and WiFi if they are insistent.