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?

And please rid yourself of any delusion that this is being done to benefit the children. It’s a desperate attempt to save face after the massive fuck up the government have made of this. They are hoping by chucking the hope of free childcare at people will forget other “mistakes”.

@ITonyah

I think if schools want to try it, great for them. If staff want to volunteer then that’s even better. I certainly won’t be campaigning against the initiative.
I would advise parents to check who is taking the lessons before sending their children in, for reasons I’ve already stated.

I just think that no teacher should be made to feel they have to volunteer, which I’m afraid is what sometimes happens.

I’m lucky that I’m an experienced teacher of nearly 20 years and I’m past caring what people/parents/SMT think of me. So I am more than happy to say ‘nope’ to volunteering and nope to setting any work.

It’s not because I don’t care. I simply see no benefit. And I think my son, whose worked extremely hard yet hardly sees me because I’m too busy, deserves my time.

Come next Easter though, I will say, I will be in during the holidays probably 3 days each week working with year 11 on perfecting their coursework and revising (as normal). Which is when it will actually make a difference. I do that because I want to and I know it helps the kids.

@DippyAvocado sounds like a great idea

My (non teacher) husband was listening to Gavin.
His first response "well volunteers, that's got safeguarding nightmare written all over it", soon followed by "I've heard how kids treat cover teachers they know. What would happen to one's they don't?"

On the face of it some teaching staff may sign up for paid extra work. I possibly would for a week. However volunteers and untrained graduates is not the way forward.

It won't happen as national policy anyway as Gavin won't fund it.

Is your school currently open @tessiegirl for key worker children? What is it planning to do after half term for Y10s?

Propping up summer schools. Doesn't that mean funding holiday clubs?

You know what. The schools who are in a position to offer this in some form are exactly the same schools providing high quality remote learning NOW.

If anything this would widen the gap.

If a school is not providing high quality remote learning their pupils can access NOW there will be (very good) reasons for this. Those reasons will still exist in July and August.

Any suggestion otherwise is ludicrous.

Will schools charge for this, so it would be like holiday club but with teaching rather than activities?

I can't see it working. If there are still new cases - even if they're much lower than they are now, the children will still be at risk and also, what would the point be, for a month?

Personally, I can see the whole going back to school thing is a logistical nightmare. Either they should all go back or none at all.

@AppleKatie

While that's probably true for some schools, I don't feel like I am providing high quality remote learning that my pupils can access. For many reasons, but partly because I don't know how. I know how to teach a class, and even think I'm pretty good at it, but I don't know how to teach them when I can't communicate with them frequently. I am trying, of course.

However, I would be more than willing to and capable of teaching for a couple of weeks in the summer to help children who have been struggling to plug some gaps in their learning. Because I trained for that and know how to do it.

I hope you don't still think the suggestion is ludicrous.

I would love to do that too.

But I do not believe that a half class, socially distanced experiment without PPE is going to achieve those ends.

It would be nice to think we can do what you suggest. But reality is calling.

The information from Denmark is really interesting and encouraging, rates of infection have fallen since schools reopened
That is a lie. The R rate rose from 0.6 to 0.9 within a week of schools reopening in Denmark.
You can read about it in the FT here Denmark rates rise when schools open

I can't read that link it is behind a paywall. Times today reporting the R rate rose briefly but fell back to 0.7 within a week.

Yes the school is currently open to key worker children.
After half term they are making plans for year 10 to return.

Have you had good level of engagement from the Y10s currently @tessiegirl? Will you be charging for summer school? Just looking at our school budgets there is no way that we could pay for an extra 3 weeks of staff costs

Highly doubt it’ll happen! Teachers need their 6 week summer holiday.

ITonyah

There are several things to consider about Denmark and schools opening.

The first is how.
Low numbers and social distancing
The second
They have test and trace in place
Third
It went up to 0.9 and has dropped again. Meaning that it was low enough to prevent the spike from going over one.

and as a side note
The Danish people have been sensible, had sensible leadership and were not put in trains and buses like sardines at the same time as going to work.

And the spike from going back to school will also have the spike from people going back to work.

Mixed level of engagement from year 10 currently. No the summer school will be free for students

I can't read that link it is behind a paywall. Times today reporting the R rate rose briefly but fell back to 0.7 within a week.

So had risen by 0.1 then. Not fallen.

Why is it sad for kids that teachers don't give a flying fuck about the bitching from people who don't understand anything about how education works?

Presumably nurses in A&E don't give a flying fuck about the patients that sit waiting to be triaged for 4 bloody hours even though there's only three folk in there and several nurses apparently doing little. I mean..I'm sure there's a reason for it that I've never been able to figure out every time we've been...but I presume they wouldn't be bothered what I think because I don't know how the system works. I'm not arrogant enough to assume I do.

Sadly you can't tell people how and why education works effectively. Many are arrogant enough to assume they know better without being qualified to judge.

There is not a chance mine will be going in over the summer holidays. This is not a holiday I am working 14 hours a day and my children do school work all day Monday to Friday my daughter has a full timetable of lessons from school 8.40am until 3.45pm. I work term time only (not in a school) and we will need our 6 weeks off.

This could actually be great for teachers.

I usually work 2 days a week in the holidays, obviously more at Easter.

A PP has mentioned being paid £130 a day for working in the 6 week holiday. Fabulous! About time we stopped working for free in the holidays, this might just set a precedent where we can be paid for the extra work we do.

In terms of the kids' education, a (reduced) summer schedule would be a fantastic idea. But I don't know how this could work in practice, since teachers have already been working throughout this period.

I do know that as a parent, we will be continuing to do quite a lot of work at home throughout the summer to make up for stuff that has been missed. Not a full schedule though!

tessiegirl

How many staff are coming in each day? 3 weeks at £130 each per staff member, per day is going to be unaffordable for most schools.