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

[Speeding201700]

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.

I would just add that I actually home educated my children for 3 years when they were primary school aged. This is NOTHING like home education. We had really busy full lives then. (and I didnt work then. )We went to many social home ed groups, they did vairous activities including a drama group, science group, ice skating, other sports etc. They had a wide group of home educated friends we met several times a week etc....
Currently our children have , for the most part, been sitting in their home for 10+ weeks with no real life interaction with children their own ages. A lot of parents are juggling full time jobs and the needs of their children. It is just not sustainable at all.

@Coffeeandbeans

My year 10 now needs some direction. He is missing PE with his friends, his team sports (yet professional football is returning ....money) and his teachers. I’m fed up with him and his 18 year old brother being in the house all the time

Oh well, you should have said, your Y10 is missing his mates and you're fed up of your kids.

Let's all just spread this virus around, overwhelm the NHS and let millions DIE. Anything but kids being bored

People need to understand the science & maths behind the VIRUS and stop whinging about being bored & fed up of their kids.

Kids will catch up, you can't make their parents, aunts/uncles, teachers undead. Lots of people dying will fuck the economy more than waiting a few weeks for shops/hospitality/schools to fully open.

@formerbabe

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 see what you mean (and almost agree) but what about siblings with big age gaps? I have an 8year old and a 1 year old. My son trys to play with his sister but it's not the same as playing with kids closer to his own age and he is lonely. (He is going back in as keyworker now but point remains).

@oralengineer

The curriculum is not suspended.DS is in year 10 and is still receiving a full five days online teaching. Live interactive lessons. Assessed course work, language auras and oral tests. They have been full on since Easter. He is at a private school and although we have had a discount on this terms fees it is what I would expect. I feel incredibly sorry for yr10s and 12s in the state sector. Work is being set by email for my friends DD with no teaching. They have been left to study on their own which some will be quite competent to do but many have yet to develop independent study techniques. Yet again there are going to be widening gaps between state and independent schools.

In the public sector the curriculum is suspended. That is what the government told schools. Of course in the private sector it hasn’t because if they stopped teacher you would not pay and the school would go out if business. My year 10s education has been suspended and it is a disgrace.

@IncrediblySadToo How dare you take part of my sentence!!!! I never said that! I said it has been a gift to have a 18 and a 15 year old boys around me all the time. No excessive drinking 18th parties, no getting in kids cars who have just passed their driving tests, no girlfriend problems and no stresses from studying. But it isn’t normal and they are bored and I’m bored for them.

Easiest thing ever on MN to just take part of a sentence and twist it to make your sad beliefs look better

My DC 6 & 9 are suffering now and I am struggling, WFH full time. However, there is no easy answer. There seem to be ongoing health issues for people that have had the virus, even those not hospitalised. Problem with the heart, blood, brain, joints, mobility, fatigue and these are (I suspect) the fabled "mild" cases.

It is very early days in understanding this virus and we have no idea yet how serious the long term health implications of it, or the long term cost to the economy, due to the health impacts on the population.

Yes to this! I would join a march. Lets see the effort and vigour of, say, furlough now put into education. It is needed for children's wellbeing and for working parents to actually be able to continue in employment.

I should clarify that I think the above people are included in the "mild cases" not that all mild cases are as above.

This is a tough one to get right as parents have varying opinions. I met up with a friend for a socially distanced walk the other evening

She has four DC. One is in reception, other three are a few years older. All primary ages

Her reception DC school has gone back. To meet covid requirements, DC would be at school mornings only for 3 hours. This enables a cleaning between sessions and all children can go to school on a daily, regular basis.

My friend has chosen not to send her DC because she said it’s not worth the risk to send DC to school for only three hours each day

She’s WFH but thankfully has flexibility that she focuses on her DC schooling in the day and started her work later afternoon, stop/start during dinner.

Have another friend who flat out refuses to send any of her DC back to school - her DC have ability to go back regularly. Friend says it’s too risky and she won’t do it. (Interestingly, she’s organised lots of play dates and the kids do not socially distanced and share toys)

Government won’t be able to please everyone on this point. For every person who want schools to reopen, there are the parents who don’t want their kids to go.

Another friend, her daughter is a head at a primary school. Daughter is adamant she does not Want schools to fully reopen, only open for key workers children. She has Persuaded her school governors to agree with her too. Her reasoning was that they’d have to have small groups, different sessions each day to maintain distancing, lots if cleaning to do between groups and that would mean the teachers needing to help clean. Not their job She also said the children would have too hard a time with the social distancing and it would be too upsetting for them, that they’d perceive they were doing something wrong if they tried to touch their friend/share something and then told they couldn’t do that. There very well could be teachers at this school willing to clean their classrooms. There very well could be children who understand the social distancing/not sharing things (somehow children in Asia are doing this already and back to school)

So how does the government match up all the varying concerns/opinions?

Is there a petition for this? And can we / mumsnet start a campaign for this and get the media involved? The level of content has varied so widely from school to school, there’s been zero consistency and whilst a handful of schools have done a fab job, a lot have done the bare minimum and a whole generation are losing out educationally, socially, emotionally.
We REALLY need the govt to develop a robust and consistent plan for how our kids will be educated now, over the summer, in September and beyond. I have little doubt there will be another spike in the winter. Working from home and trying to home ed has been hard enough in the summer but thank god we’ve been able to go and walk outside. I can’t imagine how tough it’ll be in cold, wet and dark wintertime. We need a plan NOW.

There were ZERO deaths in Scotland yesterday. Yes, the figure is always lower on a Sunday but the overall 7 day trend is still in single figures.

Yet the Scottish Givernment are pressing on with their "blended learning" for August? How can they justify this?

I have two secondary children, one due to sit national exams next May, the other doing advanced level science which we cannot support at home as we have neither the knowledge nor the equipment. They both need to be back in school in August, as normal, full time.

I do agree that there needs to be a campaign or similar for someone to take a holistic view of the impact on children.

Better provision should be made for children to attend school where possible, and better online teaching available for those who can’t or won’t.

Parents need to be better educated about measuring risk.

[quote Coffeeandbeans]@IncrediblySadToo How dare you take part of my sentence!!!! I never said that! I said it has been a gift to have a 18 and a 15 year old boys around me all the time. No excessive drinking 18th parties, no getting in kids cars who have just passed their driving tests, no girlfriend problems and no stresses from studying. But it isn’t normal and they are bored and I’m bored for them.

Easiest thing ever on MN to just take part of a sentence and twist it to make your sad beliefs look better[/quote]
Nope, I didn't - it was a whole sentence.

I’m fed up with him and his 18 year old brother being in the house all the time.

@IncrediblySadToo
This is my paragraph.
“My year 10 now needs some direction. He is missing PE with his friends, his team sports (yet professional football is returning ....money) and his teachers. I’m fed up with him and his 18 year old brother being in the house all the time. It is a gift I agree And we have played board games, baked, run, walked together but it really isn’t normal for teenagers to be with their mum so much”

You took the context out of my sentence. Clearly you do t think the schools should open but I do. My teens have a human right to education and it’s not being provided.

What do you suggest instead? We all stay in until next year?

Screw everyone who is shielded/vulnerable (plenty of whom are CHILDREN) screw the teachers, screw the NHS staff, screw the perfectly healthy people dying, screw the other patients for whom the NHS is twisting itself inside out to try to get back in for other things, screw the economy (which will suffer more- not less, YOU want lockdown lifted, so that's that.

Wanting our DC to return to school is not the same as wanting the lockdown lifted. Social distancing measures should stay in place where practical, no assemblies, no concerts, no mass gatherings, no unnecessary visits to other people's houses etc. There is a middle ground between the current situation and returning to 'normal' which does not imply 'screw you' to anyone. Many of us who want our DC to return to school are also NHS staff.

Completely agree OP. Happy to go back to when we were washing our hands more but otherwise normal lessons - no rubbish about 'social distancing' impossible hoops for schools.

Speeding201700 "This is entirely political" Boris Johnson and the conservatives are in power in the UK, but all the other countries have their own leaders who make the decisions in that country.

Hope that helps.

Oddly they all decided that the virus was real and started keeping people apart to save their lives. Despite that we still lost a lot of people.

I’ve just posted to my FB page saying I have a template letter for MPs and Ed Sec and to contact me privately if anyone would like it. I’ve also said I won’t engage in arguments in FB so not to bother trying that. I’ve had 7 requests for the template in an hour. I think people are just afraid to stick their head above the parapet on FB for fear of bullying. There is interest, let’s do it!

Wanting our DC to return to school is not the same as wanting the lockdown lifted. Social distancing measures should stay in place where practical, no assemblies, no concerts, no mass gatherings, no unnecessary visits to other people's houses etc. There is a middle ground between the current situation and returning to 'normal' which does not imply 'screw you' to anyone. Many of us who want our DC to return to school are also NHS staff.

It may not be the same for you, but some people (not necessarily on this thread) arguing that all the kids should be back at school ASAP are also saying the lockdown was unnecessary all along, it doesn't affect kids anyway, it's all an overreaction, everyone should just get back to normal etc.

The debate is getting polarised unnecessarily really. We all agree kids deserve better but there's a wide range of views as to how much the solution to that needs to include also avoiding virus transmission.

I would like to see the government putting serious money and resources into getting a combination of home learning and socially distanced face to face education working. We also need a robust system for shifting flexibly between the two at short notice, to allow for future local lockdowns and even, long term, future pandemics.

Right now, in the UK, with current virus levels, I think we're stuck with blended learning for a while. So the government need to make it work so that the things that are bad about it now get improved, fast.

Our kids have been learning well at home, the schools have been good. They have the advantage of two well educated parents. But they have that when they are in school as well.

Yes it's been hard at time but they have been doing well so I'm happy as it is.

I work in a school the children I'm concerned about are those from vaunrable backgrounds. They are the one's who will suffer. Although they have been able to access school through this, but many haven't. It's often hard to get those children to engage even at the best of times.

They both need to be back in school in August, as normal, full time.

Aye, as long as they're ok. To hell with anyone else.

If children can’t go back yet - fine. But can we have live lessons please. They need some structure. And Ofsted need to regulate it so there’s uniform provision across all schools.

INCREDIBLYSADTOO I think your tone is antagonist & is is not at all helpful. The OP is saying what most of us feel, this way of learning for our children is unsustainable & not natural. I believe if the government were to put money into getting our children to school like they do for many things we could come up with a plan. IT IS NOT RIGHT TO KEEP OUR CHILDREN AT HOME
We need to fight this & campaign together for our children.

MICGRIL As you said you work in a school so you have knowledge about how children learn in school. I’m struggling as I can’t do the children’s work the SPAG that is set is like a foreign language! The children who’s parents are teachers have a massive advantage over those that dont. . I am not a teacher I am a Parent & I should not be teaching my child.

Aye, as long as they're ok. To hell with anyone else.
But saying don't open schools continue lockdown is saying well the vulnerable are ok to hell well with everyone else.

Those struggling, those being made redundant.

It's the same thing.