Child's education screwed. Repeat the year?

[KaysKey]

My son is in year 9. Online homework hasn't been that great, he is missing out on so much, socially and intellectually. It makes me very sad. Message to Boris, why not just reset and let kids repeat the year. 2020 is dead

I see your point, OP, but it just isn't feasible for a whole host of reasons. It might not be much comfort but all current Year 9s (or Year Whatevers!) are in the same position. Not the same at all but some additional study books might be an idea and there's so much online. You should also contact the school for additonal support/material/advice at least.

Nobody is being mean.
However, no this wouldn't work. For many, many reasons.

It's not practical for this to happen.

Someone I know has a child who has not had full time education for 2 years including 9 months with nothing provided because of no suitable school. Their child will still not get extra to make up for what they have missed.

No, cannot repeat the year. Where will the schools fit in the new classes that need to join the school?

Not practical. He will be in the same position as some/most other children in his school. There will be a difference for children from primary moving up though since some schools have continued good quality provision and some have provided little. For those there will be a bit of a difference.

Repeating the year would effectively raise the school starting and leaving ages. Permanently. Really the kids have missed out on one term.

Other countries who start later must have less years in formal school rather than be in school to 19.
I think the time especially for primary kids will be made up easily. In the same way other countries manage with kids starting later.
High school it's going to be more difficult but I think it's easier to make the exams reflect the missed schooling rather than the kids repeat years.

Teachers will be able to support children to catch up. I've seen classes who've had a string of supply teachers and a completely wasted year 10 in a subject go on to get good GCSE grades after year 11 with a good teacher, I've seen children who've fallen behind after a couple of years of changing schools and an unsettled home life go on to be A grade students.
Although the DfE and OFSTED like to see learning as a linear process it isn't, children are capable of great leaps and periods of regression. The evidence on repeating years is that it's normally not very effective.

Schools will be putting years 10 and 9 in front of their best teachers and they will be able to make up for this disruption. The kids will have to work hard, but that's always been the case with GCSE curriculum.

I DO NOT want my child to have repeat the year - it would have to be on an individual basis.

Mine is hardworking and tbf has only missed a small fraction of schooling. He’s actually done better without having the distraction of idiots spoiling his lessons everyday (not at all saying your ds would ever do that). I worry that if is did get momentum, conscientious students would be punished.

Kids have attended two terms out of three so they’ve attended school for most of the year. You have the w was hole summer ahead too.
Get something in place, get in contact with teachers and help your child back on track.
My dc1 is in yr10 and we’ve found the following helpful -
Do all the work school has set
Find articles and YouTube gcse clips around the topic
Maths genie and going through all the maths on the site the school use
Seneca learning. This one is really good

You're having a rough time. We all are, in different ways, but some are affected more than others, and it sounds like you are one of those. Try to relax about your boy's education.
For a start, all children are in the same boat. When he gets back to school the teachers will be expecting to have to catch up. Very few of them will have "flown" during this time and got ahead. Most kids aren't that self motivated.
I have four grown up children. Two went to University, two scraped through school. The two who scraped through with barely a GCSE have very successful careers, the others have had more problems in that department. After their first jobs, when the only reference an employer can really get, is exam results, nobody has ever asked them whether they have GCSEs or A levels, and I'd bet you don't know the exam results of most of your friends. Be kind to yourself and to your son. You have enough to worry about without taking on a worry that isn't yours...that one belongs to your son's school.

No it wouldn’t work

As a former teacher I think it would be an excellent opportunity to start the school year running from Jan to Dec so when the children go back in September they still have 3 months in their previous year. We could also use this time to do away with the 6 weeks holiday and have the holidays spaced evenly throughout the year. This would be beneficial to the vulnerable children who suffer during the 6 weeks holiday.

What they could do is extend the school day and get the state school kids putting in as much academic effort as the private kids are expected to do.

I work in a state secondary and the expectations are so low. 9am start, 3.15pm finish. Add another hour to that and increase the homework expectations from sept and they might get somewhere after such a long break.

My dd is at private secondary and school is 8.20 till 5.30, this includes prep time. I am fully expecting that they are going to accelerate them in sept, not let them languish where they finished in march.

What they could do is extend the school day and get the state school kids putting in as much academic effort as the private kids are expected to do.

Are you also suggesting giving them the same lengthy holidays as the private schools have?

My son is shielded so probably won't go back till next year and I really don't want him to have to repeat a year!

@KaysKey - I feel the same. Mine are year 8 and year 9. I’m worried sick about how much they’ve missed. My year 9 is too, she’s so upset and worried. She’s already working way below average. I’m not much help with the minimal online work they’re getting and no one marks it so who knows if they’ve done it right.
I’m trying To console myself that others are in the same position. Hard to see your child so worried though.

Both have full time places at school if they want them but there doesn’t seem to be actual lessons at the moment so I didn’t see the point.

Op you can’t permanently fuck up the entire education system for millions of kids. If you set them back a year now, we’d never be able to catch up to get back to normal. It would screw up colleges and unis as well as nurseries, primary and secondary schools. And I really can’t understand how people’s kids are falling behind. I know there are people working from home whilst trying to look after children which makes it harder, but for the majority of parents with primary children there’s nothing the teacher can do that you can’t. Bearing in mind it’s usually 1 teacher to 30 kids, most kids I know are now thriving with 1 to 1 learning with their parents. My 9 year old is completing a whole days worth of lessons in 2 and a half hours. She’s mastered all of her times tables which she previously had a massive mental block about. All of her work is being submitted online to her teacher, she’s been doing so week that she made and sent a certificate out to her last week. All the resources are available online for home schooling. There’s no excuse for the average parent to be letting their children fall behind

I understand OP. Mine is in the last year of schooling and the disruption will affect their uni entrance. I disagree everyone is in the same position, some kids cope much better than others with this. Mine has some SN and this affects things. They also blitz exams, that’s their strength, they are a bit weaker in the coursework assessment. They have now written off the year and are happily repeating.

They have longer holidays to balance out the longer school days

What they could do is extend the school day and get the state school kids putting in as much academic effort as the private kids are expected to do.

Surely an extension of the school day to 'put in as much academic effort' as private schools would then lead to a rise In holidays, they same as private schools?

I work in a state secondary and the expectations are so low. 9am start, 3.15pm finish. Add another hour to that and increase the homework expectations from sept and they might get somewhere after such a long break.

That's hundreds of extra hours. How will that be facilitated?

My dd is at private secondary and school is 8.20 till 5.30, this includes prep time. I am fully expecting that they are going to accelerate them in sept, not let them languish where they finished in march.

If you work in a state school and have a child in private, why do you not know about the balance between school days and school holidays?

Worried mum, definitely no to the idea of school year going Jan - Dec, every academic institution goes mid year to mid year. What are kids meant to do between leaving school in December and Uni / College in September?

Not to mention I'd actually support an longer 8 week summer break rather than less. Kids need family time and time to just play with friends and be active. It's not exactly encouraging for kids to be active in winter when it's barely light at 9 and dark at 3. Who wants extra holidays then?

It's hard to get time off in companies where 5 or 6 people are all wanting school holidays. Make the summer longer, extending the season might bring holiday prices down a bit too.

As a former teacher I think it would be an excellent opportunity to start the school year running from Jan to Dec so when the children go back in September they still have 3 months in their previous year

So what about my S5 kid who 'did' his Highers this year? He is expected to go to school from September but the next school year starts in January? How would that work?

Personally I would go with thinning down the curriculum. Its been needed for years as it’s too intense. Even for able learners. The things my year 6 dc is learning is full on not to mention my dc who is in year 8. And he’s really into learning.

@Herpesfreesince03

Good for you. But how can you not see that many, MANY parents can’t do home education as well as you seem to be able to?

Example: I’m a primary school teacher but I have four children of different ages, including a toddler. One of my children is very hard to motivate. Add to that mix, attempting to work from home (which luckily I’m not but many are), and you have problems already.

Not to mention the fact that some parents aren’t academically able enough to teach the content from upper key stage two (year 6 maths takes some thinking about even for me, a person with two degrees). My mum has always had a mental block with maths and couldn’t help me at all when I was growing up. Lots of people would really struggle).

It's fairly easy to see how loads of kids could fall behind / tread water / not progress.
How many kids are really getting quality 1:1 education.
Parents going to work or WFH, multiple kids at different stages, preschoolers who's job is to play and distract. 3 kids trying to access Google Classroom on one phone!

It's probably easy enough if you have one child, resources, wifi and a parent furloughed / SAHP. I don't know anyone in that boat.

I wish mine could repeat the year. We've been out of school for almost all of Year 10 - not just since March - due to unmet SEN. Finally given a place in a suitable school the week before lockdown. She has the potential to do very well at GCSE but probably won't now. But this is a familiar story for young people with SEN - who have largely been ignored or forgotten. Nobody ever shouted for them to be given online learning or Zoom lessons.