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?

@Biscuit0110

Meh, my negativity, your unrealistic expectation. Squares, circles and all that.

Let me just ask my year 10 what he thinks...

Me: “Hey hun! You’ll be able to go into school for a few weeks in the summer holidays. Won’t that be lovely! You can see your friends”.

Son: “I’m alright thanks.”

Me: “What do you mean, you’re alright?”.

Son: “Well, the last thing I want to do is go to into school to see my friends. I’ll just go to ___and see them. There’s going to be a massive end of lockdown party and I’m probably going to get drunk”. (Laughing)

Me: “I do not think so sunshine”.

Son: “Aw mum, you got to be a bit more laid back. I’m nearly 15. I’ve got to get drunk soon. Even Jess (his friend) gets drunk.

Disclaimer. My son has never gotten drunk, but he has got a cheeky sense of humour.

Point being - school is not fun during the summer holidays and with social distancing and focus on literacy and numeracy, it will be even less so.

So I’m going to be positive and say that we’ll have a wonderful family holiday instead and hopefully we may even get to go abroad. 🤞

To imagine the difference between recorded and live : are you more engaged when talking on skype or in looking at a video from last year's holiday ?

Sometimes it's super helpful for a difficult explanation (like a new concept in maths or physics). But no more than showing a video in class.

I hope you took such a great interest in the 1000s of children unable to access a school place due to their SEN and the huge impact on their lives biscuit0110. Some of them have been out of school for several years with very little social contact.
There are plenty of campaigns you can join. Or volunteer groups.

My eldest DD attends a sen secondary school and they are considering being open a period of time during summer (autistic children so transition to new year group more necessary) I don't have a issue with this but from a school of 150 pupils 90 of them are on Home To School transport (DD included) and they are expecting the children to travel as normal - so 7/8 children in a small minibus with driver and escort. My daughter is on the minibus a hour both ways

There was a rather wonderful suggestion by Robert Halton MP that Ofsted inspectors should be redeployed to staff summer schools.

Now this I would support 100%. Put the money where their mouth is.

Yep.
Let's see them practice what they scrutinise.

Yep.
Let's see them practice what they scrutinise.

Exactly, especially as far too many of them have never actually been teachers themselves - oh I would love to see that!

2,300 inspectors available for redeployment, should go a fair way towards staffing over the summer.

2,300 inspectors available for redeployment, should go a fair way towards staffing over the summer

Presumably they are all qualified teachers who really haven’t been working for the last half a term (unlike the teachers who have) so they really should be up for it!

I'm a school cleaner who has been in most days since schools 'closed'. They'll have to employ volunteer cleaners as there's no way I'll be going in over the summer for anything other than the annual spruce up. I very much doubt it will happen anyway.

Genius idea about ofsted inspectors. I think we would ALL finally agree that this would be...ok, what’s the word?

Which 6 months of wine drinking would that be, Biscuit? I’ve only been swanning round my garden with a bottle of Prosecco since 21st March, so I need to drink until the equinox to make your words true.

Biscuit, but the school needs 3 teachers (and 3 spaces) for every current class, assuming class sizes of 30.

So unless you know that 3x more teachers haven't been working than are actually employed (this seems unlikely), then I do think that staffing, especially DBS clearance, interviews etc for this very large number of new staff, is a challenge

I think any Head worth her generous salary will be aware of constraints around directed time.

There are a lot of supply teachers that haven’t been paid since lockdown, and can’t claim furlough. They’d probably teach through the summer.
Not me though, I’ve got too many cases to drink through.

We have had a letter from ds secondary school today saying that it is entirely parent choice as to if & when children return to school & no pressure will be put on parents to force children in to school. I hope that any staff who are in school over the summer holiday period are getting paid.

I would pay GOOD MONEY to watch OFSTED inspectors try to teach over the summer. Fabulous idea!!

Biscuit You clearly have no idea what is involved in running a school, which is fine, if you could just stop telling others how it should all be done.

Honestly I can't take some of these posts seriously! Thankfully I have a sense of humour. Have a nice evening everyone!

@HeffalumpsCantDance I really enjoyed your comment. Drink until the equinox sounds like a fantastic life goal. I will do my utmost to fit it in.

For those of you who think that their children's teachers are doing nothing, I am on a less than 0.4 contract. I am in school with the key worker children two days a week (more than my contracted hours already), planning and resourcing activities for them to do, calling parents weekly, planning extensive foundation lessons and writing reports. I am doing FAR more than my usual contracted hours. And I have my own very young child to care for.

I'm sure many parents will speculate that I'm doing nothing, because many things that we do for our children are invisible tasks, or take longer to plan and organise than they take for a child to complete.

I barely have time to swan around my garden with a shot of tequila. It is most disappointing.

I’m hurt. Especially after I took time to engage with you and your rainbow thoughts. Never mind, I’m sure you’ll be scampering back with more fab ideas later.

I am doing FAR more than my usual contracted hours. And I have my own very young child to care for.

NO NO NO, that just can't be. A teacher can't be working!!!

Don't you know schools are closed. Instead, they've all been sat at home doing fuck all, apart from getting pissed, and they're on full pay as well. Bloody ridiculous.

I am sure a great number of kind hearted teachers will help.

Hmm yes of course. Teachers being a profession with a high leve of stress, many people leaving because of that (and the workload, pay etc...). These are the idal candidates for doing even more work unpaid during their holidays....

and what @DBML said.

Even though in paper my Y10 is the ideal candidate, there is no way he will go happily back to school during the summer. I mean he is still looking forward to the hols during the lockdown (because he IS working everyday) lol

I’m a parent I’d also also pay good money!

I don't for one moment believe there is an army of willing volunteers waiting to teach summer school. Nor do I believe that getting a load of former teachers (largely if shielding age?) and assorted randoms to cobble together lessons on syllabuses they have no clue about will be of any great benefit to children's education. Current teachers can't be expected to teach through the summer unless the government pays them to do so (which they won't).

Yes the current year 10 (including my dd) and 12 will have a hard task ahead. Exam boards will probably allow for that. Everyone else will catch up over time. Yes, we'd all like our children to be (safely) back in school getting on with their education, but a half-arsed summer school programme taught by god knows whom is not a solution to that.