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Is my state school shit or just normal?

237 replies

Twattergy · 05/06/2020 19:21

I've been v relaxed about the educational side of lockdown in terms of impacts on DS's learning (year3).
But today I've just been hit by how crap I think his school has been. Or maybe it is normal (state primary?). Tell me if this is better or worse than what your state primary school has offered:

  1. online hub that is extremely un user friendly in which small number of worksheets are uploaded once a week. No need to send in work. I gave up and used bitesize .
  2. from next week, 12 weeks in, one 30 min zoom group w teacher. Once a week.
  3. from next week, one short daily video uploaded on aforementioned un user friendly hub, from teacher introducing that days work.

Nothing else. Why the small amount of videos and zoom now, after 12 weeks, at the time when more of the staff will actually be busy with yrs R,1 and 6? Am I being harsh in judging this as crap? Btw I know what fee paying schools are offering so no need to describe to me what they are doing by comparison!

OP posts:
Sittingontheveranda · 06/06/2020 17:36

NeverTwerkNaked What school did you enrol your DC in?

Sittingontheveranda · 06/06/2020 17:37

they deserve encouragement
They deserve constructive advice surely too?

NeverTwerkNaked · 06/06/2020 17:55

@Sitting - @agreed, but I think only once they are getting a fair bit of contact with the teacher.

Re schools- one son is enrolled at private school but the other one (who is on the cusp of shielding criteria ) we have enrolled at a totally online school. We picked Interhigh but there's also Myonlineschooling.

The main difference is that Interhigh is a full curriculum (in year 4 anyway) whereas Myonlineschooling you can do just one subject or build up to a full curriculum so it is more flexible. Both boys are buzzing from having interactive lessons and so much more work set - they both have a genuine love of learning though. I like that Interhigh is half a day each day only and then a fair bit of homework - some of which they can pick the topics. It means we can still enjoy the freedom to choose how to spend time in the afternoons.

Sittingontheveranda · 06/06/2020 18:03

NeverTwerkNaked Thank you

MrsPerks · 06/06/2020 18:10

Our school has been wonderful. Weekly videos from the class teacher introducing the week's work (mixed on-line resources). There is a weekly assembly video; these are very uplifting and fun. One piece of work is sent in each week and feedback is received the next day. Lots of work is displayed on the website. We get occasional phone calls home plus the offer to get in touch whenever help is needed. They are clearly working very hard and I am very appreciative of their efforts for our community.

NeverTwerkNaked · 06/06/2020 18:22

@Sittingontheveranda I forgot to say that an alternative option is Outschool... Two of our 4 have tried their classes so far and love them . Classes generally $6-20.
You have to really work the filters to narrow down the options though. Here's a link to s $20 dollar off code in case you would like to try Smile

outschool.com/?signup=true&usid=oJXLafjD&utm_campaign=share_invite_link

isitamapletree · 06/06/2020 18:34

We get tasks online each Monday. They're basically the same each week as it's just a list of websites. The spellings and topic activity change. If we email work over we get confirmation. It must take 15 minutes to plan the work tops.

No phone call, no online comms via zoom etc. At first I thought it was adequate but the longer this continues I realise how poor the provision has been and continues to be.

I used to teach and I see no way that my dc's class teachers are doing much during this time. Report writing and catching up with subject leads and admin wouldn't have even taken this long. I may contact the head this week as I'm fairly laid back and was enjoying the extra curricular stuff there's usually no time for and getting outside lots but am now starting to get concerned. A lot of children have been let down.

NeverTwerkNaked · 06/06/2020 18:46

@itsamapletree I can't even see how it will be back to normal this autumn tbh.

Typohere · 06/06/2020 18:56

2 of mine are back now - one full time and one part time.

During lock down there was very little work. An email once a week with a few links to websites (the same ones cut ans pasted). A reminder to read every day for 20 mins and a small piece of suggested topic work that took about an hour. Really poor.

Now they are back I am impressed with what is happening in school. I chatted to the teacher about the homeschooling and she said that they have quite a few shielding who didn't help with anything (no idea why - surely they could set the work for home schooling) and the ones in were busy with the keyworkers children.

It's a strange one and has highlighted the vast differences in provision from school to school.

Sittingontheveranda · 06/06/2020 19:03

NeverTwerkNaked

Thank you. I will take a look at that too.

Aria11 · 06/06/2020 19:30

Our primary school is providing minimal support and we are dispairing, especially as time goes by. That's why we decided to circulate a letter for parents to sign and send it to the school and see whether any improvement can be made.
@fruityloom, can you please PM me the information about online teaching? It's impossible to combine full-time work and home schooling and any help would be great.

stuckindoors77 · 07/06/2020 07:55

I chatted to the teacher about the homeschooling and she said that they have quite a few shielding who didn't help with anything

At the school I work in, the head teacher has told me that they're not allowed to ask shielding staff to do anything, even things that don't involve leaving the house like online teaching. A lot of them will volunteer (we have 3 pregnant teachers who've been amazing at all the behind the scenes stuff) but if they don't you have to let them sit at home on full pay....... I found this quite surprising.

Doyoumind · 07/06/2020 08:07

We're in a 'nice' area and the school has been terrible. No direct contact with teachers at all. They provide links to websites and some task ideas. No marking or opportunity for feedback. I did complain but it was a waste of time.

They aren't open and won't be opening any time soon.

museumum · 07/06/2020 08:59

Our school sends a daily message to the year group with greetings, well wishing and work for the day - spelling, literacy, maths, topic and wellbeing. Some are a weekly sheet then you choose something from it each day. Sometimes there are links to bitesize or other games online.

I’ve no complaints about the work but there’s been no personal connection to teachers and everything is signed from the year group team which is five teachers in total and you never know which one has written or is responding. It feels quite impersonal.

ChocolateCard · 07/06/2020 09:04

No work out of the shielding!

No wonder so many of them are happy to stay shielded.

CountessFrog · 07/06/2020 09:05

It’s the same in the nhs. Two nurses on my ward are shielding, both diabetic, smokers.

Both on social media lording it up, sadly.

cocktailoclock · 07/06/2020 09:07

The shielding thing not being able to prepare online work is ridiculous and far removed from the rest of the working world where businesses have been asked to move shielded staff to wfh jobs.

user1487194234 · 07/06/2020 09:16

I find the fact that teachers are on full pay and doing no work incredible,I really hope it isn't true

Meanwhile in the real world …….

cocktailoclock · 07/06/2020 09:20

There was a really interesting and honest thread earlier in the week where teachers posted what they were actually doing.
Some working vvv hard
Others being clear they were doing substantially less often because of direction from SLT
Primary / secondary a big differential

MrsPerks · 07/06/2020 09:20

Our class teacher is shielding but she produces weekly videos, sets and marks work, sends back personal feedback on a very rapid turnaround, makes phone calls and replies promptly and thoughtfully to emails etc. She is clearly working very hard.

I think it's best to avoid making generalisations about people in any group.

obviouslymarvellous · 07/06/2020 09:29

Ours is crap too! No work to be sent in - hardly anything online. No communication from teachers - def no zoom (they say safeguarding!) really fed up for my children's. Neighbours kids school have zoom class meet ups - which has been great for mental health etc. So disappointed!

ChocolateCard · 07/06/2020 09:31

Very unfair both for pupils and teachers, that there is such disparity in guidelines and expectations.

I have 2 teachers in the family who are openly loving their ‘long holiday’.

I know 2 teaching assistants who are of on full pay because “a member of their household is shielding”, not even the TAs themselves.

I also know another primary teacher IN THE SAME BOROUGH, who has never worked harder in her life. She’s taken the lead in running the timetable at the hub, and also provides daily contact and full feedback to every pupil in her usual class.

How can anyone justify that she ends up with the same full time salary as the lazy wasters she unfortunately has as colleagues?

OhLookHeKickedTheBall · 07/06/2020 10:03

DS school are using Oak National for maths and English and set another lesson, which sometimes is on Oak but often not. We get a call once a fortnight or so and the teachers are very responsive if you contact them about anything. Time table is fortnightly too.

DDs school set white rose maths and bite size for English quite often, they also set a few other lessons up on a weekly basis. There's some limited interaction via text with the children on google classroom but that's about it. I had one call about a week into lockdown from her school and that was about it.

DS' school sent a comprehensive pack for the first two weeks home, DD's school sent hardly anything so I spent a lot of time trying to join up a working timetable for them and putting things in place for lessons (operation ouch was science for a while!). Because of that I've ended up mixing the newer set work together. So DS is also doing white rose maths alongside Oak and DD is doing Oak for English alongside bitesize. They both seem to be getting more out of the wrong ones for those subjects!

TokyoSushi · 07/06/2020 10:16

Loads of worksheets here online, all very unappealing in format and quite frankly too hard, I don't even know where to start with them! (Year 2 and Year 4) No need to hand anything in.

Phone call from teacher every 2 weeks, like a phone call with a friend where everybody says 'ooh yes, isn't it awful, we've no idea what's going to happen' and that's it.

No survey of who would even send their DC back to school if they did offer to open, so they could be looking at taking back 10 pupils, or they could be looking at getting on for 600, how can you make a plan when you don't know what your dealing with? No communication of when the return might be.

Not even a suggestion of anything online like a zoom lesson.

This was fine for a few weeks when it was new, unprecedented and likely quite temporary. Week 12 starts tomorrow and this isn't getting better fast. Businesses have adapted to get themselves going again, school need to do the same. Think outside the box. Online school, use other buildings locally that are currently closed, take back all year groups in rotation, sack it all off and make a brilliant plan for September, but do something!

I have a friend who works at our school, none of the above are being considered and its very much an attitude of 'oh its a pandemic, it's unprecedented, it's out of our hands.'

This is not the teachers fault, it's the school leadership team who need to try harder. All the while us parents try to keep a job to pay the mortgage while homeschooling and juggling a million other responsibilities, and try to prevent us all from going slightly mad!

cocktailoclock · 07/06/2020 10:35

Completely right - @TokyoSushi - after week 12 it is wearing v thin.