Schools being closed

[practicallyperfectwithprosecco]

I worked out at 4am - as you do when you can't sleep - that if the schools go back after May half term, the kids will have missed 40 days of school. Not months! So people please stop panicking over your children's education.

In most schools I've worked in a few days every half term is assessment week where nothing new is taught and assessments aren't going to happen in Summer term.

Curriculum is taught on a spiral in most cases - revisit previous learning, add in next step. The children aren't going to miss out as the teachers will just go back to the point the spiral stopped.

Complaints about teachers not setting work - it's the school holidays! At my school we set enough work for 2 weeks then we have work ready for the week they go back.

Teachers not being available complaints - again it's the holidays, I will respond to parent emails during term time. I have also been providing childcare at my school for 3 days a week during the holidays, ie working. So I will spend the rest of the time with my family.

Teachers not setting new work, they have already done it. We are not expecting parents to teach, that's not your job, we want the children to be secure in the stuff they already learnt and in ks2 they need to practice things like times tables. So giving the children work to revist makes sure they don't forget everything they have been taught so we can pick up where we left off when schools reopen.

That would lead to complaints no doubt from the parents that wanted the school day replicated at home with zoom teaching etc. They would feel their child had done this so why are they doing it again etc

And if I'm on the rota to be in school 3 days a week who will be doing the live teaching on those days? I currently work 8-6 and have a 40 minute commute.

Also depending on the school - mine for example, some (most) children will not do the work. There is no point setting new learning which we can't expect parents to deliver ( I have a year 9 child so would struggle with science at that level!) when we would be teaching it eventually anyway.

Lessons in primary school aren't about listening to a teacher then doing a worksheet. History - create a time capsule. Maths - work out area and perimeter of different rooms in your house, capacity bowls of water outside and different containers, science - make parachutes. Literacy -reading and book reviews, diaries, letters to friends and family they can't see. These are some examples of work my class are expected to do.

Children spend so much time in school with pressure of targets and exams. Use this time to let children be children. Younger children learn through play but you know what older children can too. For a few weeks the pressure is not there, think about their mental well being and enjoy this time as a family - not stressing about they haven't got 6 hours of school work set today.

My children are y3 y9 and y11. Y3 school have given some suggestions of stuff he can do and I've given him suggestions ( lots of Lego building in this house)
Y9 has had work set but no live teaching and y11 has had nothing her books have been passed down to her sister.

Over the holidays they are not expected to do any work from me.

I'm in Northern Ireland school term here ends at the end of June. The First Minister here has said the kids will not be back until September. Most people I think have resigned themselves to that. I think May half term is unlikely.

May is very unlikely.

Thank you for everything you are doing and continue to do - it is really appreciated. I think my kids teacher/school management (she is 7) deserves a medal. So much has been done in such a short space of time, and the teachers - like you - are working through the holidays too.

Thank you 🥰

Oh and I defo Really don’t want zoom style lessons all day, our WiFi won’t cope (2 adults also wfh full time) and she would be bored senseless. Little and often is our approach to the tasks the school have provided online. Plus extras from you tube on my days off (on Friday we started making sugar crystals).

Keep up your great work

Same here.
If I did zoom lessons the same 5 children would show up every day. What happens to the rest who can’t?
All the children are missing the same amount of time. So we will just teach from where they are.
More worried about their mental health tbh.

I have one child in primary and one is secondary, I’m not worried about either of their educations as long as they are safe and happy. Education can be caught up on, all children will be in the same boat so it’s not as if they are going to go back to school behind their peers.

My eldest was set quite a lot of work for the first 2 weeks so is now enjoying the break as children normally would in school holidays. My youngest has been doing a few worksheets but we’ve also been doing things like chalking maths sums onto our patio to make them more fun and have been doing things like a phonics sound hunt in the garden, when they found the sound they stick it down and think of 3 words with that sound in.

You simply cannot recreate a school environment at home so I’m trying to keep things fun and lighthearted.

I am far more concerned about the potential mental health implications for children when they do return to school.