Those of you with dcs at secondary schools with good, easy to follow home schooling instructions, tell me more about it

[effingterrified]

Basically, my dc's school has provided incredibly complicated instructions, using multiple different platforms and given vast amounts of work that no child could actually do.

There's so many random and unconnected materials and organising to do it all is so complicated, my dc does barely any of it and is really put off.

From talking to other parents, they also feel the school's approach is unclear and unhelpful, so I'd like to contact the school with suggestions of how to simplify it and do it better.

So if your dc's school has given your dc really easy-to-use and engaging home learning activities/programme to do during lockdown, could you share the kind of things they do/structure of the programme, so I can make suggestions to my dc's school?

Thanks.

My secondary child just has typed up instructions to follow, a friend at another school has full online interactive classes from 9.15-3.15 everyday!

Have a look at National Oak Academy . My daughter is doing those daily as they are realky well put together, in one place, consistent etc.

Also bitesize do 20mins a day videos which we've liked.

National Oak Academy stuff I looked at today but the stuff for secondary is limited and not really very useful for my dc's year.

Anyone have teachers who lay it all out really clearly and simply?

How much do they get given per day (in terms of subjects or expected hours of work)?

Across one platform? Or no platforms, eg just an email?

Any suggestions?

We have to set work to fit in with their normal timetable; so my Year 9 and 10 are getting 6 hour of Science a week (2 of each Biol, Chem and Phys), 6 of English, 6 of maths and then the rest of their subjects. Year 7 and 8 are getting 4 hours of Science a week. My A level are getting much more, as I will not have time to catch up when we return, so they have their normal 5 hours plus a few hours worth of homework a week. For all year groups I have to stick to the National Curriculum though, so if my Year 10s need to do momentum calculations, they need to do momentum calculations.

They are getting the work set over the weekend for the following week, and they have until the following Sunday to complete it. Teachers are online for help during the timetabled hours during the week, but I'm answering emails literally between 7am and midnight as that is when they are emailing or messaging over Google Classroom.

We’re on google classroom. They are loosely sticking to the usual timetable but it’s flexible.
All work instruction is set out on classroom and is submitted on there too.
It’s working well for us (yr7)

What year are they in?

Who’s taking responsibility to make sure your children do this work? for my child’s school their website has folders for each subject but the teachers don’t communicate with the children whatsoever so it more like revision where it’s entirely up to the kids what they do

My DCs' school is adapting as earlier plans of setting work for every lesson on the day through the day left the kids with way too much to do and was very confusing. It was hard to keep up with what had to be done and what could safely be skipped.

This week a new regime: all work set on Monday for the whole week, to be handed in by Friday. Y7 and Y8 have slightly less work than they would usually be timetabled. Teachers are available by email. This seems to be working well (although DD Y9 might not have enough to do, DS Y7 definitely does) and allows the DCs to work to a timetable we've set up which suits them. The teachers have asked for feedback if too much work is being set.

They are using EduLink and a variety of websites, plus powerpoint lessons and videos.

Ours is very well laid out but it seems like they are just going over the stuff they have already learned to make sure they know it. Fine for my Y8 DS but not so great for my Y10 DD.

Our school uses Sharepoint and there is a folder for each year group then a folder called School Closure docs in that. They have set up a fortnightly schedule and a folder or document for each lesson. There are extra resources for those who work faster than others. They are also using Seneca for a lot of stuff.

Year 8 here .Our home learning is pretty poor/ variable as well. I think there is only one subject where the uploads/ instructions actually make sense/ haven't got bits missing.
Our school use itslearning .

What I'd like is:-
Step by step instructions and worksheets that flow.
Some sort of naming convention for uploads to be used - even if it is only 1, 2, 3 etc so that it's logical which comes first.
Scanned in/ uploaded documents to be orientated the right way up. Makes life so much easier.
Teachers to have been trained in the online system so that the tasks/resources are uploaded in the right place so that you dont have to go scouting for them.
Don't repeat themselves, saying the same thing with multiple announcements.
Don't use multicoloured backgrounds for worksheets etc - the amount of ink I've used is unbelievable.
Use PowerPoint properly!
Don't link sound files that need some specialised software to play them.

The actual content doesn't seem too bad, its just very disjointed and we are having to spend the first 20 minutes or so working out what is required and where to start.

We are being left to our own devices really. I'm finding it incredibly frustrating just how poor and uncordinated the resources are. I realise the teachers were somewhat dropped on and had little time to prepare. I sincerely hope that they are more professionally put together in the classroom.

Secondary down the road is using iPads and scheduled lessons with real teachers. They've had the iPads for a number of years (parents buy them over a period of time at a subsidised cost). Massively oversubscribed and classed as outstanding. The head is somewhat driven. I'm not sure what their numbers are ref key worker /vulnerable children in school but ours only has about 5 or so in a day.

Mine are both getting work set on show my homework. One is meant to follow normal timetable and work is mixture of worksheets and videos etc to watch. Other one is similar but much more (she's y10). Both different schools. Both just getting on with it with minimal help.

We are having a nightmare with one of my kids schools. The others are ok.

It is year 10 so a more important year so we have been told work is set to follow the timetable but only one subject is actually setting work for a 60 minute lesson with the date of the lesson so we know when it is meant to be done.

Others are setting work which might be for a week, an hour or a month for all I can tell. Some that looks like it is for a week turns out to have been for an hour and vice versa. One was to watch a full hour video and then do lengthy worksheet/exam questions but it turned out it was for a one hour lesson.

Some is set for 100 minutes on SMH so unsure if that is a lesson plus homework but nothing has been mentioned about homework in this time or maybe it is 2 short lessons.

Instructions for most are unbelievably complicated with maybe 20 links and downloads and printing of sheets with lots of unnecessary background on them.

Nothing submitted has been given any feedback.

The most frustrating thing is total lack of response to emails from school.

I think this time really shows the difference between schools. It didn't show so much before the pandemic. Some of my childrens regular state schools have been great.

However it sounds like children at grammar and private will be at even more of advantage now.

Google classrooms for year 9 son, told to stick to timetable so if you have English scheduled do an English lesson. They are already on Google classrooms so they are putting on future work.

Some stuff is just write it in your books, others you have to upload your work. It is step by step instuctions, we even had colour photos on the communication from school showing you exactly how to log on and find the work. The school are great.

We have already had a call from SLT checking in and making sure everything was okay work wise, checking everyone is healthy physically and mentally. Asking if there are any issues with Google classrooms etc.

Ds1 is in sixth form. There stuff is on Moodle. All work by their teachers is on there, it is always on there anyway even before lockdown. They photograph or video their work, ie video your past paper filled in. The mark schemes are loaded at the same time so you have to have marked your work to show what you got right. You can't cheat, it's maths, further maths, physics etc so there is lots to write down before you get to an answer.

DD in Y8's school is totally on it with their VLE. Teachers are setting work that should take no longer than the lessons, and it is set up so that it can be sorted by date work is due. It's very reasonable and well put together. Teachers are online and available for live chat/email help during their lesson time but it isn't compulsory to participate.

DS in Y10 (in a superselective grammar that is an oddity in the city) is by comparison a nightmare. He has 15 teachers (2 for some subjects) Clearly no-one is co-ordinating how this is structured. Work comes in via VLE and individual emails from teachers. Each subject can have 2 or 3 different platforms (Dr Frost, Seneca etc etc) that they are expected to access, each with different log ins. None of it lines up. There is an overwhelming and unfeasible amount of work on each and it would take a week and spreadsheet and a bloody mind to work your way through it and organise/prioritise. It is a disaster and consequently he is doing none of it.

My dc get all of their work for all subjects via Microsoft Teams. They log on, check what they've got for the lessons they'd normally have on that day and just get on with it tbh. It seems to work pretty smoothly.

Our school uses class charts

Every task and resource is uploaded weekly

My son is year 7. He gets lessons emailed weekly for each subject by each of his teachers. Some of the lessons are to do some research on a subject then answer some set questions (I help him with this and we do it together really so he gets more out of the lesson than if he did it himself) this is mainly for humanities. Maths is set on Mymaths online. English is an email of a lesson (today was creative writing). It's very structured so they know what they need to do.

Ours is a bit disjointed. We were told to check classcharts to see what work has been set, but the actual work is on google classrooms.

Sounds simple but the 2 dont match up so there is more work on classrooms than on classcharts. A lot of it is word documents but they've been saved in such a way that we cant edit them, even though that's what the instructions say to do. Some teachers have said to copy the work into exercise books and photograph it if we can't edit word. Only they have DS' books. And yes I know I can give him any paper (although we don't seem to have a lot of that), but he gets very stressed when he can't do what he's been told to do. Especially when it's a subject he doesn't like anyway.

But it is better than it was before the Easter break so I assume its just a learning curve for us all!

Y8 DS has all his work set on Google classroom. For most subjects he can just open a blank doc in the system and click hand in when he's done. Some subjects he works on paper, then photographs it and pastes into the classroom doc to hand it in. Google classroom shows him what he has each day, what's been handed in and what's left to do.

Work is set according to his normal timetable, with all the days assignments going up at 9 each morning with the aim that they work for their normal lesson amounts of time. No deadlines though and no expectation they'll work through the normal school day or complete the whole of every task.

His teacher is generally answering questions in the morning and we do get comments/ marking for key subjects but not every piece of work.

She's starting using the BBC lessons this week, otherwise it's been worksheet style tasks, no extra logins or other websites needed.

I need to stop reading these, this is a perfect example of when a parent could appear to be teacher bashing but when your child goes to a comp who’s offering is a pile of shit compared with what others are getting of course you’re going to vent, but my losing my shit isn’t aimed at the staff it’s aimed at the managers

Y9 here, child expected to do 3 hours per day in total of core subjects and their GCSE choices. They've been told not to do work on subjects they are not taking forward (a big relief). Show My Homework was always the platform used for homework and this still used for outlining resources/learning objective/deadline/feedback/extension opportunities . It was crazy at the beginning of lockdown, I spent two hours going through it to find what had to be done, simply everything for every class (all streamed) was landed on it. Two things helped - 1. we now use the 'To Do' list rather than the 'Calendar', which is much more streamlined 2. Parents fed back to school that it was too confusing and they changed their system over the course of two weeks. Strongly suggest you talk to the Head of Year/House and let them know, be really clear about it. Good luck.

Oh I did, I sent an email to head of year explaining that because they’re not speaking to the children at all my child is lost and disengaged, my child misses the class wide direction of ‘this is what you need to do and this is when it needs doing by’. The reply was it’s up to my child to decide what to do!! I’m sure that’ll work like a charm over the whole school cohort not!!!

We’re on google classroom. They are loosely sticking to the usual timetable but it’s flexible.
All work instruction is set out on classroom and is submitted on there too.
It’s working well for us (yr7)

Much the same here. Teachers are available in the Google Classroom at the same times that they would have lessons and will chat and answer queries. Some lessons use Google Meet so that there is a 'live' element. Everything is online and the expectation is that work is submitted every lesson so no printing of handouts etc. They've started new topics this week so it's definitely not just recapping previous learning.

I'm pretty much letting DC get on with it - whenever I pop in to see what they are up to it seems engaging and relatively interactive considering the circumstances. I know that we are lucky but I've been really impressed.

@worldsworststepfordwife That sounds like the response of someone not coping too well?! Worth trying a form/year group teacher or even someone higher up the school. Kids do need direction and you supposed to be making sure he has access to it rather than outright delivery or just watching him sign out. Good luck