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.

No all schools differ in size, numbers and facilities. There are a long list of instructions from the gov which have to be adhered to, it’s varies how schools can do you get many differences.

What about the fundamental human right of a teacher to be safe?

There is no evidence that teachers are a high risk profession for the virus.

How do we get heard? I feel utterly powerless.

Exactly, the men in charge have prioritised their needs (football, golf, horse racing) shortly to be followed by pubs and holidays abroad above children's education.

Remember that children unable to return to school also places a burden on mums left at home juggling homeschooling and work also under immense pressure to return to the workplace or face the threat of losing their jobs. Boris Johnson's suggestion that you just have a chat with your employer and they will be understanding about this could only come from a man who has never had a real job with an arse for a boss.

only a 1/3 of all children are doing some school work
Fuck! does anyone have a link to that report? that is shocking

There is no evidence that teachers are a high risk profession for the virus

Surely we don't know yet as schools have only had minimal students. Let's just be patient and see how the next few weeks go.

It’s awful.

As bigchoc said any headroom in R should be focused on getting children back in school and other essential stuff - golf, pubs, football, holidays. It’s all for white middle aged men - I.e Tory voters

Schools, playgrounds, social clubs for isolated people (not medically vulnerable people), sure start groups, health visitor clinics, churches, meeting your family

All before the stuff they have opened. Why use what little space there is in keeping R below 1 for such useless stuff

Not golf, pubs.:::

Yes only 1/3 are engaging with homeschool education. And yes it will most likely be the women who somehow have to carry on trying to work and homeschool at the same time. For months and months. But we can go to the pub and drown our sorrows.

Not just throwing children under the bus but women too. How many will have to resign because of this? How can we carry on working for months and months with kids at home? Many are at breaking point already.

Over and over it is said that schools follow instructions from the government - really? Why then are they all seemingly doing different things and providing different access?

There has been little to no instruction from the government about remote learning, that's why schools are doing their own thing. There was no guidance produced for key worker and vulnerable pupils in school before 1st June other than the obligation to provide childcare. Decisions are made by the SLT or by the heads of MATs based on knowledge of their own school communities and available resources and, one would hope, feedback from parents.

Contrary to public opinion on MN, the families in my primary school by and large don't want anything more than paper packs. There has been feedback about difficulties using technology. Most are treating this as an extended break and it's been harder and harder to engage them. I'm on some "Families in lockdown" groups on social media and the feeling seems to be similar on there. You can't assume that want you want as a parent matches what other parents want, probably even within your school community.

From outside mine and my DC's schools, I hear the most concern about the oldest pupils and agree they are the ones that need a plan put in place as soon as possible.

Over and over it is said that schools follow instructions from the government - really? Why then are they all seemingly doing different things and providing different access?

Because all schools are different. Different numbers of students. Different numbers of staff who are shielding. Different sized buildings. Different building layouts. It is not a level playing field.,

There is no evidence that teachers are a high risk profession for the virus
There are various studies you can easily find online that have been done on how COVID moves about. The conclusion is that anyone in a poorly ventilated or unventilated room with someone who has the virus for more than 50 minutes is at risk of catching it. That would be all primary school teachers and given most secondary have lessons of 50 minutes to an hour long, all secondary teachers too. Bear in mind we have no PPE, and with a full class of 25-30, social distancing beyond about 30 cm (or less) is impossible and in most classrooms, there won’t be 2 metres of space between a teacher and student desks. We need to circulate to do our jobs and touch student books, worksheets:etc. So yes, there is evidence that teachers are at risk.

I understand that Dippy however that makes it clear that some schools really are not doing what they are supposed to do. I appreciate that different groups want different things but actually when has that stopped schools doing what they want? All of a sudden when some parents only want paper packs or the minimum it's agreed to. Whilst I know that some parents would still not engage, if schools made it clear what they expected then it would be the parents responsibility to make it happpen. However to do nothing (as some schools/teachers clearly are) is not acceptable.

if schools made it clear what they expected then it would be the parents responsibility to make it happpen.

Ha! All I get told repeatedly on the phone is how their children don't want to do any work and they can't make them because they don'ton't want to create arguments. How can I force them to engage?? I supply paper packs for those who want them as at least then they're doing something. We set a variety of options of online work they can choose from, from online reading books to learning games that can be done independently in the hopes of engaging them. I provide weekly Maths and English plans with either a video or on-screen explanation by me and a weekly grid of offline activities. On top of that I'm now in school teaching a bubble group 4 days a week. I email at least weekly asking for feedback and get almost none. Until I was back in school I was phoning any families that I hadn't heard from online weekly.

2/3 of my pupils are doing pretty much nothing at all. My videos get a maximum of 5 views. From my ownperspective, it's the families who are not doing their job. Difficult as it is, for primary pupils especially adults do need to facilitate access, no matter how hard we try to provide things that pupils can access independently.

In my school we have opened up to Year R and Year 1 and have only 40% of families have taken up a place.
By all means, feed back to your school and they should of course respond. But to get all schools creating the same provision needs national guidelines and I highly doubt any will be provided. The government knows how many incredibly different circumstances schools operate in. They also know that they can't, for example, enforce live teaching or recorded lessons unless they ensure all school pupils and staff have access to the appropriate technology and WiFi which there is no way they are going to provide. Funding for technology in schools has been woefully inadequate for years.

Maybe parents are working Dippy.

@brakethree , you are missing the point. The guidance we have actually says that schools must take their individual circumstances into account when planning for provision. They will open for key workers first, then the year groups specified, until they reach staffing and space capacity. Yes it's inconvenient if they run out before they got to your child in the queue - and I have two still at home while I'm working - but that's the way it is at the moment, and no handwringing here is going to make your children disappear to school between 9 and 3 until social distancing guidelines change. Just like we can't all get into the supermarket on a rainy day, or get to the doctors on the day you'd like to. That's the fault of the disease, and I can't blame the government for setting out guidelines in this way.

What we CAN ask for, which I think is the point of this thread - OP is a teacher - is a way out. A plan on when we can expect to be safer, to reduce the 2m, to increase the bubble size and invite new year groups. Conditions on which these rest, so we know that we are not being forgotten about. And a reason why the leisure industry is going to be awarded wriggle room of any drop in R before we have at least all year groups back part tome in England.

@DippyAvocado good post!

My son is having the time of his life.
He was devastated this wasn’t going to be dragged out until September.

Of course individual children are missing out! If you are lucky enough to have a job as a keyworker then your child can attend school and get educated by a qualified professional. They will be doing the same work as we unlucky ones are set but they will have the benefit of doing it in a classroom setting with an actual teacher, amongst their peers with all the structure of a school day. Its impossible to recreate that at home, especially with a younger sibling and a husband who is out at work all day. So yes, there will be a huge disparity between those going to school and those at home.

Sorry that was on reference to an earlier post about the curriculum being suspended and no individual child will be missing out! Thought I'd replied to the comment

@DippyAvocado While I agree that parents need to play their part for some this is impossible sustain if they are also trying to go to work, WFH and/ or look after other children. Whatever about primary it is simply not possible for most parents to tackle the much of the secondary school curriculum - I can give most things a good go but languages and chemistry are not my strong points.

Werethere

It’s been said already. Keyworker kids are getting worse provison than many at home. They are not allowed to do the home learning in school and teachers are not allowed to teach them, therefore they have no acsess to any education at present

All children are missing out however. It’s not just each other they are compared with it’s the world.

@DippyAvocado I do agree. At least 1-2 hours a day schoolwork are absolutely doable, even with younger kids and working from home. Severe special needs are different, but otherwise , there is no excuse, especially with your provision.
Parents not doing that are withholding education from their children

I do understand that it's difficult, that's why it's so hard to have specific expectations as everyone's circumstances are so different. Let's hope we're all able to get back to school in September, even though a whole new set of problems arises then!

It isn’t possible,

I have teens. I am out working full time in my school. My Dh has a very intense job that involves a lot of concentration and has got a big deadline. He has been working 6 day weeks, shuts his office door wfh and that is it. It causes big arguments when I get home and he has barely done anything other than throw a sandwich at them. I would like him to make sure they get up and are working. They go back to sleep, he tries again. He says he can’t keep nagging as he has meetings all day he has to be in and then needs to focus on what he is creating, needs to concentrate without breaking train of thought.

People really are unrealistic about wfh. Bet Matt Hancock isn’t playing teacher while he works.

Maybe parents are working Dippy

And maybe teachers are also working parents. You see no irony in that?

I appreciate that different groups want different things but actually when has that stopped schools doing what they want? All of a sudden when some parents only want paper packs or the minimum it's agreed to

30kids in a primary class:
1 - SAHM engaged in education, bright child, only child, wants both paper and online resources plus stretch and challenge.
2 - SAHM engages in education but has 18 month old twins as well as additional school child. Bright. Will need to do significant amount of work online whilst mum is occupied. Wants 70% online, 30% paper.
3 - SAHM with aged grandparent with dementia who needs 24 hour care. Bright. Wants 80% online, 20% paper.
4 - SAHM with additional toddlers at home. Struggling family as father is 0 hours contract. No internet other than phone. Wants 10% internet, 90% paper
5 - SAHM single parent managing 3 under 6 an an abusive ex. No tech other than a PAYG phone that frequently can’t be afforded a top up. Parent struggling, easier to put child in front of TV. Wants 95% paper, 5% online.
6 - mum dead, dad disabled, grandma trying to help but can’t manage the technology and struggles to make sense of lessons sent, 100% paper.
7 - full time working from home professional parents, child with moderate autism diagnosis. TV and internet used to keep child quiet whilst they work. 100% internet based.
8 - 2 working parents, both worried about losing their job. Secondary school sibling. Only 1 laptop in the house. 100% paper to allow older sibling to access school work. Not very bright, needs simplified worksheets that have to be sourced/created from scratch.

....every child got their own story. Every parent demanding their own personal circumstances are taken into account. In class, individual learning needs can be supported, differentiated work and books, challenging activities for G&T students, resources ready around the room, TA support at least some of the time. Teacher now expected to manage 30 individualised learning plans, manage photocopying and delivery of packs, all whilst working on a key worker rota, managing own children and elderly family members, weekly phone calls to all students, Mark and track progress in every child you can’t actually see to ensure that next week’s individualised pack remains relevant whilst taking into account all family updates that occur during the week eg. elderly grandparent now in hospital so child doesn’t need work and parent will take offence if you dare to deliver your pack...,

Can I ask when we should sleep?