We need to rise up about the lack of education for our children

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Please do this. Please join the Twitter movement #usforthem
Please write to your MPs
Please talk about this.

Our children are missing out on their fundamental human right of an education.

The children of regular families are suffering (all 5 of mine are suffering desperately), but those in vulnerable families are suffering even further. The gap between these children will be HUGE

I am a teacher and a mother. I am ready to go back to work full time and with the 'old normal'. I am also type 1 diabetic.

Please help us rise up to get our children educated. Our children have been totally forgotten about. Throughout my career I've had it rammed down my throat about how school is a safe place for so many children. They don't care about these children now.

I am amazed so many people have just accepted this. It has gone on for too long now.

Completely agree! Time to write to my MP.

Agree completely - schools need to go back to normal.

BUT we need to do more than moan about this on an anonymous website. We need to speak out about this. I would suggest contacting your local MP and make it clear to them that this is a concern and ask them
what they are going to do about it.

Sorry but I think lives are more important than education.
Education you can catch up on, you cannot get a life back once it is lost.
Vulnerable children are already entitled to go to school.

@LavenderLilacTree

I’ve seen my local authorities stats on how many vulnerable children they have in through my work and it is the tip of the iceberg. To think otherwise is naive. Schools do not have all vulnerable children in, they simply don’t.

Vulnerable children aside, there will be others who are just simply suffering too much from this.

It is not either/or between lives and education. We do have to co-exist with this virus. I find the hysteria and lack of critical thinking truly frightening.

Way more frightening than Covid.

Sorry but I think lives are more important than education.
Education you can catch up on, you cannot get a life back once it is lost.

So simplistic and short sighted.

People die in car accidents. Do you think we should ban cars?

Sad but oh so true.

I have just sent a question regarding this to the daily briefing, it's pretty easy to do. just putting daily briefing and it's there on Google All you need to do is put a name and contact details not long winded at all. hopefully the more people that do it we might get a chance of them addressing the question.

I can only speak from my own experience. My 13 year old DC has lost so much fitness it's horrible. He can't manage more than an hour now without being tired. No car and no where to go, just local playing field. His behaviour has totally deteriorated. School kept him in a routine. He's not tired at night and is disturbing us, so my DH is shattered.( He starts work at 7.15am). He has no interest in learning at home and it's just ruining our relationships with the constant nagging him to do some work. We are together 24/7 and it is suffocating for him. He should not be at home constantly.
It's going to be very tough on schools to get the kids into learning at school, when they have been left to learn from power points. Many kids sleep cycles are messed up so I bet they won't take well to the early starts again. The behaviour probably going to be a problem too ?!

Looking forward to normal too, as we all are. Whilst there a guarantee that R stays below 1 though, of course. 🤞

Completely agree.

I work in education, but as a parent of two year 9s who were due to sit some early GCSEs this year and next, I'm extremely concerned.

@LavenderLilacTree majority of middle class children will catch up. The most vulnerable and disadvantaged children, where there is already a significant attainment gap, won’t. This will impact their jobs, income, opportunities and ultimately their health and life expectancy.

That’s also only education before we even consider those children at risk of/or subject to abuse and neglect.

I know certain categories of children are allowed to be in school. I had a crazy idea that they should include only children in that. Children without siblings should surely be a priority category.

I agree op that children have been forgotten in this pandemic. Interesting that lots of posters agree with you - however if you'd not mentioned you were a teacher in your op you would absolutely have been ripped to shreds on here for daring to think that kids should go back to school.

There's another thread where the op is being told she's not allowed to even question her school about the measures they're putting in place. How did we get to the stage where parents aren't allowed to ask questions - surely they're the key stakeholders along with the children? I'm public sector and I have no issue with questions from taxpayers!

I've already emailed my MP about this a fortnight ago. But I will follow it up. Ive also submitted a question to the daily briefing on the issue. Our children deserve better than they are getting. Our home schooling support has been dreadful. Luckily in a way our school age daughter is only Year 1 but I can't imagine if she was Year 9 or 10 how much of an impact this could be having. Plans need putting in place to get children back in to schools.

Why are education and children being forgotten?

It seems strange to me that the media is not picking up on this.

I honestly think if schools don't go back in September and teachers are not doing live lessons - that teacher's pay should be stopped.

Teachers must be going into school from September and teaching lessons via zoom etc from there. Then there's no excuses for wifi not working etc

I agree. My year 2 child desperately needs to be back in school. I’m really struggling with not knowing when they are going to be going back especially when I read people saying it may not even be September.
I find myself jealous of keyworker friends whose kids are allowed in school.

@Feellikedancingyeah I totally agree with you on this, my 13 year old is exactly the same. School is about so much more than just the academic side. If children like ours who have parents actively encouraging them to get out and exercise/work are struggling, it must be even worse for those children in difficult home situations.

Completely agree and I've signed the petition and going to write to MP. I don't even have a school age child and my toddler doesn't even go to nursery but I think it's absolutely disgraceful how children have had so much taken from them. Not only are they not allowed an education but they can't even play with their peers. Play areas taped up ffs. It's gone too far.

@pontypridd

I honestly think if schools don't go back in September and teachers are not doing live lessons - that teacher's pay should be stopped.

Teachers must be going into school from September and teaching lessons via zoom etc from there. Then there's no excuses for wifi not working etc

Erm, we're all in school now teaching bubble groups and trying to manage home learning at the same time. If you stop our pay, there won't be any children in school and no learning for home.

You're not all in school though. I have friends who are teachers who are still at home.

@pontypridd

I honestly think if schools don't go back in September and teachers are not doing live lessons - that teacher's pay should be stopped.

Teachers must be going into school from September and teaching lessons via zoom etc from there. Then there's no excuses for wifi not working etc

Ha Ha! You are laughably ignorant.

My daughters teachers are working from home when not in the hub (for key workers kids and vulnerable kids). They are contactable between 9.30 and 3 Monday to Friday and respond pretty much immediately to the kids contact requests . They do this while also managing their own kids educational needs. They’re hardly sunbathing and drinking Prosecco all day. I would like more zoom type contact however.

I’m torn on this issue. I do understand the frustrations of parents needing to return to work and their fears for the potentially lost time but kids are adaptable and can learn quickly and if it takes some an extra year to catch up so be it. In extraordinary times no one will question that extra year. My concern is that the infection rate is slowly rising in parts of England and that the same will happen in ruk when they ease off too. I’d rather we maintained current status quo until we know kids can return safely and without potential for further disruption come second or third waves. I think any further lockdowns would be far more distruption than one extended one.

I strongly disagree. I feel my kids have been given a gift to be honest, to have all this time to just be and play and not be doing ridiculously pointless national curriculum work.

Live lessons are hard for younger years. Our tiny village primary might not have tech for live lessons but all along they’ve been setting online tasks, providing links to online videos and PowerPoints, worksheets and fun experiments, sports ideas etc for the kids. They also repeatedly share links and examples of other sites as suggestions for parents who aren’t doing schools work and saying we get it if you can’t do what we suggest, you might find things here that suit you. They’re walking a fine line because while they provide all the ideas some parents moan they feel pressurised by this, so the teachers keep suggesting many varied options of varying intensities and abilities in the hope it’s suitable.

They’re working flat out and frequently reply to work I’ve sent at 3 at 6 or 7 at night when they’ve finally finished teaching key workers kids, setting work for the majority at home (they haven’t wider opened yet as we’re above R1 here) and coming up with a wide range of ideas to encourage all the different types of parents out there. They’re also constantly having to assess the ever changing guidelines for opening amidst the ever changing climate.

I don’t think they should have their pay docked at all.