Schools opening in the summer holidays!

[Biscuit0110]

GAVIN WILLIAMSON confirmed the Department of Education is looking into the possibility of propping up summer schools to help pupils catch up with their work after the pandemic.

It seems that after ruling out using the summer holidays to allow the children to catch up, it is now firmly back on the table!

What a positive development - will you send your child to school over the summer?

@Siriusmew

Teachers will create baseline assessments to identify gaps in learning and will adapt schemes of work to take those gaps into consideration. We do not need volunteers in during the summer, guessing what those gaps might be.

Thank you @Tonz ☺️

Not in England no but I can see there is 3 in England.

My point wasn't they 'have only missed' to minimise it. It's an expression. They haven't missed half a year, no where near it. They have lost half a term or 5 and a half weeks so far. Just trying to lower down the dramatics on here that kids have been away from school for half the school year when that isn't true.

@LaurieFairyCake apologies, you're right-
It has not been confirmed that secondary pupils are not going back this academic year, but it has been so strongly implied that I'd say it's pretty much been confirmed.

The briefings and supporting documentation have said that primary schools may return from 1 June starting with R, Y1 and Y6, plus they hope all
Primary school children will get a month of education.

They also said it is hoped all secondary children facing exams next year will get at least some time with a teacher.

So I do feel the fact that other secondary children have not been mentioned at all strongly implies that they are not part of the plan to return this academic year.

Laurie,

Best case scenario:
Y1 down + Y6 - back from June 1st (may be part or full time, depending on schools' ability to staff and accommodate isolated groups of 15)

Y10 and Y12 have some face to face contact to supplement online earning - may just be a single meeting , may not even be physical meetings - there is much less guidance on that.

c. 3 weeks later (ie a month before the end of term)
Remainder of primary returns (that will definitely be part time unless they are prepared for full class sizes for all, as it is obvious that no schools have space for double the number of half size classes, each isolated from the others)

There was absolutely no indication of any other return to school for 7-9.

@DBML Yes, that is exactly my point. Qualified teachers need to do this, not volunteers, however well meaning they are.

Apologies @Siriusmew

Absolutely agree with you.

To be honest I'd take my chances on volunteers over the teachers we have at the moment.

@peoplepleaser1

Oh dear. Have you taken this up with the school?

Off you pop and volunteer then, people pleaser. Please do.

To be honest I'd take my chances on volunteers over the teachers we have at the moment

Lol. I'd rather wait for a qualified teacher to teach my child in safety than settle for any old warm body because I got pissy with people on the internet, but to each their own I suppose!

PeoplePleaser theres a phoneline been set up to help, have a look at www.starline.org.

Apparently theyre good but no personal experience www.starline.org.uk/

My child has been working hard at home. So no, I wouldn't send her to summer school. Not because it isn't safe, I'm fine with that, but because it isn't needed.

Www.Starline.org.uk

Sorry!

@Thesispieces

The standard of teaching in the U.K. is very good. The standard of education is what is lacking.

The reasons for this are not incompetent staff (in most cases). It is due to all of the other stuff that affects how well children learn.

Things like:
Class sizes - I have nearly 40 children in a classroom made for 24 and with only twelve 2-person desks.
Admin - too much teachers time is spent completely admin for the LA or for SMT
Parental engagement - believe it or not, I’ve taught children for 7 years and never met or been able to speak to parents.
Resources and lack of funding for quality resources.
This is just to highlight a few things that make my job harder.

My year 10 has had excellent home schooling with Google classroom and his full timetable everyday except practical PE. Teachers feedback every day and answering his emails within a few hours. He goes to a very large Academy and I can't fault them. Obviously this still doesn't equal what curriculum is missed but he definitely needs his holidays as does his TA mum. Although I maybe persuaded to cover part time in the summer for OT but that's a dirty word in primary schools 😂.

@ITonyah
It is fairly straightforward to find out the syllabus and which exam board and teach things the children want to cover.

It is fairly straightforward to find out the syllabus and which exam board and teach things the children want to cover.

If it's that easy I suppose the poster will be volunteering their services. I especially love the end part "teach things the children want to cover"

What happens if they say fuck all.

@phlebasconsidered I have a FT job so can't volunteer to help

@PheasantPlucker1 thank you for the link, I'll take a look.

I'd send my year 9 a couple of days a week if it was available. I'd also love for the school to drop the one year religion GCSE next year so he had more time to focus on his other nine GCSEs considering the circumstances. His school start GCSEs officially in year 10, but with a head start on the sciences in year 9, so I am worried about the time he is losing.

@Siriusmew I've not made that comment because of something on the internet but because out school teachers do not inspire any confidence.

My son has had no English teacher since the start of the academic year. The stand ins are an art and a drama teacher. Both v nice but don't teach English curriculum. He's had 6 maths teachers since the start of term. The French teacher left and so after Christmas his language was changed to Spanish. I could go on. He is 13.

@peoplepleaser1 So sorry! I didn't read what you had posted previously. Many apologies