Which year groups should return to school first?

[twosoups1972]

I read somewhere a few weeks ago that they would prioritise Years 10 and 12 to return to school first which seems sensible.

But then I heard later that Year 6 would be the first to return to school. Why?? I know it's sad that they haven't had their end of primary school rituals but surely older children studying for public exams next year should have priority?

The only reason my y6 needs to go back is to see his new school....

I don’t understand year 6 going back to primary school really. I was speaking to my deputy head about this and he said that there’s not a huge amount they can do to prepare the kids as they don’t know what schools they’re going to yet (I think?). It would obviously be nice to get them in to say goodbye but I think some schools have already done this.
I can’t speak for secondary, can’t even remember which years do which exams, I’ve blocked it from my mind
For me the most beneficial year would be reception. And maybe year 1. Godspeed to reception and y1 teachers in September, I think it will be tough. Reception mostly haven’t started the transition to year 1, so they’ll have gone from mostly play based learning/choosing what they do, to being at home, and then potentially right in the deep end in y1 with more discrete formal lessons and less play. The transition from EYFS to y1 is already big.
Same for y1, y2 steps up quite a bit. But I really think reception would be the best primary year to get back, if you threw social distancing out the window.

Some schools sit early GCSEs in year 10. My son in year 9 is meant to be taking one next year.
Several schools do this so

Year 5, 9, 10 and 12.

Secondaries may organise transition days for y6 but that would be one day and not sure how it would work.
But y6s don't need to return generally.

The obvious answer o to the first thing there is not to do the GCSEs in year 10. never has there been so little need.

I can’t understand why they’re not making a huge effort to get the year 10s and 12s in . The year 12’s especially as usually much smaller classes and they’re at a critical point in their curriculum and the depth of study really does require some hands on teaching. Plus their timetable is such that they have whole am’s or pm’s off . All the teachers I know are desperate to get back to school .

Yep, I see the challenge, but as with everything, it’s a balance between different risk considerations. What we’ve had up to now is ‘inconvenience’ to working parents, if it goes on until September it is unemployment.

Also, if younger children aren’t allowed into some form of formal childcare soon, people will just start sharing with friends and using grandparents, which is a different sort of risk.

I would like my year 6 son to go back for a few days to say bye to his friends at the very least other then that the ship has sailed he's lost months of prep and education.
He misses his friends so much he so sad he might not see them again.
My youngest is in year two he's always been a slow learner compared to my other sons and I worry about him and he has ADHD I reckon he's going to be lagging a lot in year 3 I'm worried.
My oldest is going into year 9 he needs to get back ASAP

I’m worried about sending my yr 6 (July born) out into the big wide world having missed the opportunity to gain some essential independence and life skills over these last few months of primary school.

He’d just started going out locally on his own when we locked down. In a few months he’s (in likelihood) going to have to navigate himself across town and to his new school on his own having been no further than the corner shop previously.

This is a very important few months for yr 6s for lots of reasons but especially for Thor personal development.

Also they’re old enough to have a better idea of the clusterfuck going on around them. They’ve had months of SATs hothousing which was stressful for them then....nothing... my ds’s school left a fairly normal world on the Monday for a weeks residential and returned to their world having turned upside down. No SATs (great) but no transition to secondary school - which is massive. He’s going from a school with 70 pupils to one with over 2000. 6 months at home, being ignored for 9 hours a day while me and his father work, before that happens won’t be good

Everyone wants what’s best for them and their kids personally (I own a nursery so encounter this attitude all the time), but it can’t happen in this situation unfortunately.

Regardless of whether it’s better for parents for little ones to go back first, in reality it’s much more likely to be older kids who are able to do what’s expected of them and will benefit most from being at school in terms of learning.

By the way, I would prefer nurseries to go back tomorrow, but I don’t think it will happen, and they will be operating at 10% capacity if it does, as the majority of parents will not risk sending their kids back. The 2% take up of key worker places is proof of that.

God knows what the solution is. The death toll in this country is so shocking I can’t imagine any government risking the carnage that could unfold as a result of sending schools back too soon. But this government is so shambolic that who knows.

So, to clarify maria, your answer to the question is all the year groups your DSs are in?!

I have a Year 5 and 6. I’d rather the Year 5 went back. He has 11+ in October then Sats next year. They should be ramping it up now.

Yr6 would have been doing SATS this week. Then my belief is they don’t do much for the remainder of the time. I’m more worried about him starting secondary in Sept and hope that can go ahead. He’s mentally checked out of primary really.

I do wish people would stop trotting out the year 12 small class size nonsense. In state schools, many year 12 classes exceed 20 and can be as big as 30.

It's not year 6 OR year 10 and 12

The article I read (in the Times) was saying Y6 would be prioritised, followed by Y10 and 12.

But not at the same time. I don't know why and why one has to wait for the other.

Y12 aren't nearly finished but my son's 6th form college finishes a good 10 days before schools do, so if they wait another month after half term, which was what the Times was saying, then it really won't be worth them going back as it will be for about a week and a half.

It really is looking like September, so they'll have missed almost a term and a half of face to face contact.

I think as well as the unions, the other reason the government is dithering on schools is because they know they can't stop people meeting family members and eg playing sport together if schools are back, it's not consistent.

I do wish people would stop trotting out the year 12 small class size nonsense. In state schools, many year 12 classes exceed 20 and can be as big as 30

None of my classes were bigger than 18 and my son says his biggest class has about 15. Both state schools/colleges.

And with lots of room in school they could split the classes still further surely.

I agree. Year 6 normally does nothing this time of the year anyway because they would have done their SATs. Year 5 should be prioritised in the same manner as Year 10 and 12, ie those who are taking national exams next year.

@Piggywaspushed not my youngest but he's going to be behind I'm not saying he should go back I think all the kids need to go back but they need to prioritise the year 10's at this point and let year 6 go back even for a few days just to say bye

cologne I am guessing you are one person who was at school a while ago!

I don't know what subjects your DS does but , I can assure you there are many classes in my school in excess of 15 which seems to be about the maximum SD wise. Next year , my three Year 12 groups are projected to be 14 for one subject and then 25 for a further two groups. We have economics classes of 22 , regularly.

But perhaps the fact that Year 6 dont do much at this stage is kind of the point. This is going to be incredibly different and learning is going to be fragmented and odd even in school. In that sense sending in the Year 6 for whom you can check and work out how it is going to work makes sense.

Primary and Secondary though I think is different - sizes of school etc. I would expect Primary to be done first

Someone on another thread linked hopsitalisations for the under 19s and the under 10s had significantly less numbers than under 5 and over 10s

They probably assume many parets wont both sending kids in to say goodbye.

I would like my reception aged child to have a few more weeks in eyfs rather than moving straight to year 1. It’s going to be a huge jump for them.

It shouldn't be a huge jump. It certainly isn't in our school. We include an awful lot of EYFS ideas into our Year 1 curriculum, and there is a fairly long transition period in our Year 1, especially in the first term, to more structured whole class teaching.

Even without this closure schools shouldn't be just making a big jump between EYFS and Year 1 imo/ime.

To me it would make most sense to prioritise years 12 and 10 as they are the ones with exams to sit this time next year. Just like Y13 and Y11 were prioritised this year - re sorting out what would happen with exams etc. we need to now focus on those who will be examined next year and ensuring they are in the best position they can be.

For primary/middle schools its trickier. We shouldn't just focus on Year 6 - in a few places in England Y6 isn't a transition year. It is sometimes Year 4. In addition some areas have separate infants and juniors, so Year 2 can also be a transition year too.

A lot will depend on whether we need to maintain social distancing in schools or not. That will determine how many children can attend school at anyone time.

I cried for Y6 when the schools closed and this thread is making me emotional again, I don’t even have a year 6 child!! Although DD is year 7 and the weeks at end of primary were her best memories. So I think Y6 need this although from an educational perspective Y5 are more important? I don’t agree with the stress and pressure around SATS but I do want to know my child is leaving primary at or above the expected level for his age. I have a Y5 child who will go back as it is deemed safe, I m not desperate to get him off my hands and home school works ok alongside my WFH.

In secondary I think Y10 and 12 but thinking about it from my own perspective my daughter is Y7, it was a massive step for her as she went to secondary without anyone from primary so her friendships are so new and I feel sad they haven’t been able to flourish as they should in this important foundation year. She’s been on FaceTime constantly to her new friends but it’s not the same.

I think all year groups are so important in their own way and must parents will probably feel their own DC year group should be the one to go back!

Looking at it being YR, Y1 and Y6 is clearly starting from a non academic perspective of getting them settled back in and/or transistioning up

It makes sense the academic side can be reinforced and added to in September the emotional side of it in those years cant be left until September

So if we're dividing up those 3 classes into (let's say...) 10 children per classroom, that means Year R, 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 Teachers will be in class teaching. Year 4 teachers can organise all the online learning for years 2,3,4 and 5!