Are we expecting schools to be open as normal by September?

[Concerned7777]

So many threads on here about whether to send dc back in June or not....totally not the reason for the post I dont care your thoughts either way about June .
But what about September, many saying they're keeping dc off til September but are we expecting everything to be open and normal as it was before? Do we think all classes will return in September full time?

Schools are having to implement changes to open in June with many saying the changes aren't possible or not safe. Some saying it may be child care only not education, part time only and not even able to accommodate the priority nursery reception yr1 and yr6 classes at this time with the current guidelines. If we cant accommodate them now how can they accommodate the whole school a few months later. I doubt the virus will be eradicated by then although the R rate will be lower there is still going to be risk even then.
It never occurred to me until today that a September full school open may not be possible or safe? Am I the only one who thought this or am I late to the party?

Very pleased to hear year R are getting plenty of work. It’s a bit more concerning when older dc aren’t.

Who knows what to expect by September, things are changing rapidly all the time and we may well have a 2nd wave and further lockdowns. I would like to think schools will be back for all pupils in September but it’s unlikely.

Currently, if you have little to no contact from the teachers in your school then I would suggest they are not very good schools and you need to ask why!

The teachers in our school are working harder than they normally would, providing set work every week and are there to help/advise via email. Some of them reply in the evenings and weekends so they are working extra hard. I have the utmost respect for them and cannot fault the school,they have my utmost respect.

Very pleased to hear year R are getting plenty of work. It’s a bit more concerning when older dc aren’t.

The poster also mentioned their yr 6 child, who is getting enough work and is able to contact their teacher. I suspect you ignored that part of the post as it doesn't fit with the narrative you're trying to spin.

Why are teachers on full pay and doing nothing? They are in our schools anyway. Will they continue to be paid if schools don’t go back in September?

Ah another of the stupid or deliberately obtuse...

I'm in school two days a week. For the rest of the week I'm wfh. You know, like everyone else who is working from home? Why arent you accusing them of not working and get still being paid? Why do you accept that they are working yet we are not?

On top of my 2 days in school, I spend 12 hours a week (on average) phoning families; a day planning work that no more than 8 children do (that's on the parents - not me); writing reports; responding to emails etc... I'm not standing in front of a class for 6 hours but I'm still working ffs.

Besides, we are still being paid out of school budgets. If we weren't working, we'd have been furloughed and being paid out of the furlough pot instead!

BunsyGirl

There are undoubtedly going to be some teachers who are taking advantage of being at home, or at least taking advantage of being able to work at times to suit them - although phone calls have to be made between school hours, ideally (unless parents are working and don't answer when incall later), and planning has to be submitted on time.

I admit, I've found time to wash curtains and clean windows when I normally wouldn't, and I've been out for a walk at 10am when I normally wouldn't, but any notion that I'm sitting around watching TV or decorating my living room is untrue.

What we don't like are the contradictions, mixed messages and uncertainty from the government. Which, I'm guessing, is the same for most people.

I'm just not sure why other people at home on full pay; working from home when they normally wouldn't be and, therefore, able to structure their working say how they wish; or who are furloughed and genuinely sitting around doing nothing whilst on 80% of their pay aren't facing the same vitriol as teachers are when we are still working - just not in a way that is visible to parents.

I get that we are still being paid from the public purse but so is every single person who is currently furloughed and the same criticisms aren't being levelled at them. In fact, everyone is speaking on defence ofnthem and how they can't return to work until it is safe!

It's not our choice that we are not in school - in case people have missed it - there is a pandemic and the government saw fit to lock the country down!

I get that we are still being paid from the public purse but so is every single person who is currently furloughed

The furlough for other professions will end soon. If schools don't go back in September and school continues in this way - teachers will be furloughed for a long time to come.

Im happy too
Y3
We get
A comprehension a week
Grammar a week
Maths a week
A set of topic things to pick from
Mathletics
Tt rockstars
Dd is reading Horrible histories and HP

There is also BBC biteseize
So dd has learnt
Hinduism
Latitude/longitude
Noun/adje tive/adverb
Stonehenge

But i would like the answers as i dont want to tell dd wrong and the comprehensions are hard.

People need to get angry at the gov!!
Why are you so cross with primary and secondary when uni arent going to be in person until 2021? Is it because you need to look after them instead.

Tbh childcare provided like holiday and afterschool clubs in smaller bubbles say 10 would work better than school itself. As then you put siblings of different ages together.

Or let kids mix at parks so they get it and parents but not teachers or vulnerable children or parents.

So many kids live with older parents or relatives or vulnerable.

It does. But there is a reason we havent been furloughed. Have you considered that?

Those of you who are getting nothing from your child's teachers; please contact the school. They should be; I am half killing myself filming lesson clips, editing them, creating resources, marking work and replying with feedback, in addition to my weekly phonecalls to all of my form. All for Y7 - Y12. Y12 is literally taking me 20 hours a week. Two classes; an A Level biology and chemistry.

Also, I'm in school at least once a week on rota. I'm there 7.30 - 5.30. Even on the 'holidays'. Then I come home to my own children.

We get it, some teachers are being shit. It might be the teachers, it might be their management, it might be their IT resources; some of my collegues have had to go and buy a laptop when their school one died and we don't have any spare (only a elect few members of staff had been given them anyway). We've also had at least 2 saff lose a parent. Whilst their line manager should be mopping that up, systems break down. We are human. Tell us (nicely please) if something needs sorting

Can you please remember, that for all of the bitching here (and I'm gobsmacked sometimes) there are teachers really working at the moment, and these kinds of threads are soul destroying. I was berated last week for refusing to go and pick up some worksheets from a kids house and called a lazy fat cunt, because I wouldn't go to a students house. If this was Y12 and one of my BTEC students, maybe, but this was Y7. I've had parents demand my personal phone number so their kid can call me if they are stuck (I'm glued to my email and google classroom all day for them), but that isn't good enough. Also, teh amount of parents emailing teachers expecting us to install flash for them, or make a website work... seriously, we can't fix everything. Also, the parent emailing me, telling me to call their child to tell them off... just brilliant.

This situation is shit. For everyone. Some are doing better than others.

I think most of us have been thinking that this will all be over soon and September seemed such a long way off that it seemed certain that things would be back to normal. But I had the same thought this week - that actually, things will not be back to normal. It’s a scary thought and I am trying hard not to think about it.

Why are you so cross with primary and secondary when uni arent going to be in person until 2021? Is it because you need to look after them instead.

It is looking increasingly like that, tbh.

Why on earth would teachers ever end up furloughed?
If anything we are going to need 2 to 3 times as many of them. Smaller social distanced classes are going to need more teachers.
Children's education cannot be stopped because of a virus.

MaryBerrysBomberJacket ❤

I'm not cross because I have to look after my children - No.

I'm cross because they're not getting a decent education. We're doing our best - but I'm not a trained teacher. We get no feedback or marking from the teachers in either primary or secondary. I've no idea whether I'm teaching them correctly. I've no idea whether we're wasting our time and wonder why the teachers aren't giving feedback.

Someone further upthread said that unions had advised teachers to give out little work and give no feedback.

@Lostmyshityear9 we’ve been told time and time again on here that online live classes are not allowed. How come you can?

@Blockpathingpath Are you accusing me of lying? I am teaching live online via the Internet using well known communication website. I am talking to my students and they are talking to me. They can't see me and I can't see them so there are no safeguarding issues. I can share PowerPoints and my whole desktop if needed and using a chat facility, they can write answers so I can see them live. I can set work and return it, edit it, correct it and make comments. I can teach as normal - the only issue is in not being able to see faces, I can't work out who may not be keeping up in quite the same way. It's pretty obvious when the work comes in, however. We do live whole lessons or part-lessons with activities they complete in class time, sometimes I send them away to do some work whilst I remain online for queries and then we come back together at the end of the lesson to do some answers and ask any questions. All my lessons are recorded and uploaded to the student shared area so if they miss anything they can listen when they have time to do so.

Plenty of schools are doing this but there are issues, of course, in terms of internet access in deprived areas (and even in non-deprived areas) and the technology existing in homes to be able to access the lessons properly. This is a major sticking point for many schools - I am at a private school, of course, so it is less of an issue but has been problematic for some students (particularly those who are rural-based) and where 2 parents and 3 children at home on the internet all at the same time causes the system to crash regularly. I also had my own tech to be able to work - the school had to give equipment to some staff (and I believe buy some) but as we saw it coming, this was done just in time.

I am not sure how you expect a state school to not exacerbate an already massive learning gap - because the education of all children quite clearly matters - on the basis of tech availability and internet access. Funding would help but hasn't really been made available. And parents may be poor or struggling but not want their children in school because of the obvious risks so that can't be used to close the gap. And obviously staff in school have been asked not to teach to avoid parents trying to send in children unnecessarily.

So teachers are working and it is insulting to suggest otherwise (although I have no doubt you will still find fault). We will continue to do so until such a time as it is deemed safe to go back to school. That is going to be problematic in the private sector because we will have to go back to keep our jobs because if there is no education, there will be no fee paying parents. Many of our parents are healthcare professionals. I am in no doubt that myself and colleagues are very much at risk of serious illness and death. I am aware of a couple of resignations and I am hanging on at the moment but may well put in mine before the deadline - I am high risk and don't want my children to lose a parent.

Ours are reception and year one and they’re getting plenty of work and suggestions. Comprehensions, maths sheets and apps, topics, creative writing ideas, science ideas for year one and play based ideas and learning guidance for reception

Notcontent

I hope you have a point and that a lot of the vitriol aimed at teachers is misplaced projection - the government arent going to respond to peoplenamdnthe virus certainly won't. If people can blame teachers for the fact they're not in work and put a human face to the problem, maybe it makes them feel better.

I certainly don't know any teachers who are saying we shouldn't be back in september and, like I say, most of us are keen to return and are preparing to go bac to school full time.in June.

It will look very different though. As I said up thread, I've removed all the exercise books, reading books and learning resources from my classroom this week - it's not going to be education as we know it for sometime. It will be a while before we get back to 'normal'.

Someone further upthread said that unions had advised teachers to give out little work and give no feedback.

If that's true then my kid's teachers are taking no notice of the unions.

I'm really sorry that you're getting no support from the school but you need to talk to the school to come up with a solution.

So teachers are working and it is insulting to suggest otherwise

Why do teachers always take this stance? How dare we say what we see! ... it's appalling. We're adults.

Maybe you speak to children in this way - but please don't patronise.

The furlough for other professions will end soon

It was just extended to October. After schools are due back. What are you lazy good for nothings doing at home not bothering to actually support your children with their education? Why do you expect me to pay my taxes to have you sit around on your backside doing fuck all whilst I work?

I think a lot of people just think that September gives more time to plan things and see how schools will cope and how the virus will behave. It's not an expectation that it will be normal by then but hopefully a clearer plan.

I’m going to add here one more voice to say I am very happy with what my kids school are doing. I have a Year 6 and a Year 2.
Each week they get a comprehensive pack sent by email (on Friday, ready for the following week, so you can look through it first as a parent). It includes maths, English and spellings, plus a set of suggestions for science, art, music, geography, history.
On Monday, the teachers go into school and photocopy packs for anyone who can’t print them out. They then drive round the area delivering them. When your child completes some work, you can photograph it and send it in - the teachers have fed back on everything my two have done. For the Year 2, we have largely had positive “Well done, I can see you have worked hard on your handwriting” style comments. For the Year 6, we have had more in depth “Excellent choice of verb, could you think of some more adjectives?” type of feedback.
Two teachers are doing stories for their class, one live everyday at story time, one videoed and put up later.
Each Friday a newsletter is sent out showing photos of the children and the work they have been doing, sent in by parents.
On Tuesday, my Year 2 gets an online 1 to 1 session with the teacher, she is academically behind, this is her catch up session.

They are links to websites, yes. And there is an online learning platform where the teachers can load challenges and then see who is doing what.

I also happen to know that the staff, both teachers and the head, are phoning children they are concerned about weekly, just for a chat.

They have done a hell of a lot. They are also being flexible. If you cannot manage the work, they ask why, and work packs have been altered to reflect feedback from parents. But they have also taken great pains to say “These are suggested activities. Do them all, or do some and dip in and out , do what you can and send us pictures. But don’t feel under pressure to work through order.”

Really, could not have been better.

Children can't stay off that long unless no-one cares their education is going to be screwed. It's not too bad for primary school children but you can't have secondary school children off .
Yes they get work sent home but they need the teachers there at times. We have left work undone because my children don't get it and neither do I. Teachers rarely get back to us if we message with a problem. I understand they're incredibly busy but surely having the children in would reduce the workload? Or maybe it wouldn't? I'm not a teacher so I don't know.
In regards to the school opening in October I'm guessing at the reason why. It obviously hasn't been confirmed but my children are climbing the walls and I do wish they could go back but it needs to be safe.

Maybe you speak to children in this way - but please don't patronise

And don't insult my professionalism either. Interesting that you are happy to see other posters patronise me, however.

Someone further upthread said that unions had advised teachers to give out little work and give no feedback

We certainly haven't received that.

I agree with those saying that if people are unhappy with what they are getting, contact the school.

I have very few children accessing the work I'm setting. And very few submitting work to be marked. I can do nothing about that.

Parents and children have my school email address and can also email me via purple mash and very few are doing either. I had a parent last week complain that her child didnt understand something that was set. I told them both they could email me with the details and I'd help but I've heard nothing.

I can't do anything about that!

I have my work and purple mash emails open all day at home so that I don't miss anything.

I'm sure there are teachers who, like people in any job, arent doing as they should but don't tar us all with the same brush.

The feedback I've had from parents has been overwhelming positive too and they've thanked me both for the work set and the support offered. Some just don't submit it for marking or take up the support!

And don't insult my professionalism either

Your what? How?