So it’s going to be back to school for privately educated children whilst state kids get thrown under the bus

[S1nkorSw1m]

So no more primary children in and secondary left until Sep at the earliest.Of course this gov aren’t bothered about the nation’s children as they prioritise the hospitality sector over schools. Most of their children will be in private schools getting an education.

What an utter shambles.

*2 at different private schools here, both getting full on-line lessons, one in year 12 so critical. I am happy they are not going back before the summer, there's no need, they are getting taught and I would have to drive them there (in different directions) and collect them, logistically difficult. This is what happens when an organisation is agile and has a 'we will do anything', they have to be, this is what we pay for.

That said, I will not be happy if they don't go back in September and I am hoping that this latest announcement gives private schools the option to open full time. I would be happy for teachers to wear PPE and tell my children they had to wear masks*

Yes @brakethree WELL SAID from a to z, love it.

It is crystal clear, also, that all government-run state schools should be open for lessons during July and August.

Why is it so that most private schools moved seamlessly to online learning on 23rd March (12 weeks ago) but state schools barely tried? Many MN posters love to say their pupils do not have the tech or home set up to do this. Fact is, it would have been 100% better to simply move all online to zoom system on 23rd/24th March, and then weed out those who do not have access, work with them. KW and vulnerable places were, in any event, available throughout.

Childcare = childminders, nurseries, clubs and nannies;
Safeguarding = Social services
Schools = education

It is 2020 (not 1980) and fact is that all state secondaries should have given a live provision of their teaching from 23rd March.

Rendolent - ALL children ARE given an education......🙄

So - Gavin Williamson's statement still doesn't make things clear. He responded to one question seemingly clearly to say that he would support any schools who could admit more children to do so. But at another moment he said that he was devising a 'priority list' of who should go back. So - is he giving schools flexibility or not? From when? Primaries only or secondary too? Still no proper answers.

@Juliet2014 It was in the press, but it was a while ago. Think it was Durham College and another school (can’t remember the name, sorry). I appreciate that private schools have largely been following the guidance but with the current state of play, I think more schools will deviate if their Governors and insurers will give the go ahead. My DC’s school is a large independent which has been around for 100’s of years. It takes advice from a leading law firm. It’s not just going to open for additional year groups on a whim.

My husband teaches at a private school.

Since lockdown began the students have had Zoom lessons Mon-Fri, 9am -3pm, including them having to be wearing their school uniforms during the classes.

The school itself isn’t opening until September (at the earliest) but the pupils will be receiving full time education via Zoom sessions until it does.

I'm not sure why anyone would choose a private school. The products of those schools( ie the government) seem to have had a very poor mathematical education. The inability to work out that splitting a class in two requires another teacher and another room is something most state educated people will manage. Of course it may be comprehension skills. When you former school has acres of land and numerous buildings it must be hard to imagine that many, many schools have a hall, a small classroom per class , an office and maybe a stock cupboard. Some have ony a small piece of tarmac and no green space at all as their outside area. Luckily these schools contain dedicated and hard working staff who are doing their very best to give their children an education.

And private school teachers don't? Sorry but I hate that argument too, that only people who have lived a particular experience can possibly have anything useful to say about it. Inverse snobbery at its worst. Should only ex bus drivers be allowed to be transport Secretary? Only ex prisoners be in charge of prisons? Only ex unemployed be in charge of the benefits system? No, because people are quite capable of learning about and understanding things that they haven't personally experienced. To suggest that anyone privately educated is incapable of understanding the pressures on state education is ridiculous.

@IDefinitelyHaveFriends

Two weeks ago the cry was “Private schools are remaining closed while normal children are forced to go back and risk death because the proles don’t matter to this government!” Now it’s “Private schools are opening while normal children are denied an education because the proles don’t matter to this government!” Neither is in fact true.

Exactly this! I get why people like to knock private schools but make your mind up....

FWIW the indie that my kids go to is having Y10 and Y12 children back for 3 afternoons (in total, not per week) by the end of term. Nothing said about September yet but if they are not back full time I will be RAGING. As will my friends with kids at state schools.

The reality is that this isn't the difference between private and state, it's the difference between state and state. Some state schools have a 'can do' and have risen to the challenge, others seems to have a 'no, it says so in the guidance' and to do the minimum. I am amazed that this also seems to be happening within schools with different teachers doing different things.

Not necessarily ‘can do’, maybe ‘must do, regardless of safety’ or ‘must do, want to be chief exec of trust’ or ‘it’s possible because we are lucky to have a large building, lots of outdoor space, few shielding teachers, few keyworker children and lots of parents who want to keep their kids at home’.

Our private infant school is fully open from tomorrow - nursery to year 2, year 2s last to go back and they start tomorrow.

What I don’t understand is why the government haven’t found the best 20 teachers in each subject for each year group and set up centralised online lessons - use iPlayer or whatever to deliver them. Schools can then focus on doing individual follow ups, responding to questions etc. The national curriculum is the same everywhere. I’ve always found it bonkers that every individual teacher plans lessons, now more than ever it seems an absolute waste of time and intellectual capital.

The national curriculum is the same everywhere. I’ve always found it bonkers that every individual teacher plans lessons, now more than ever it seems an absolute waste of time and intellectual capital.

This exists. It's called Oak Academy and it's not very helpful. Different schools go.at different paces, so some children will have covered it, others (like my DS2) are far ahead and find it incredibly tedious, others (like my DS3) find it hard to keep up and then get bored, others just aren't good at concentrating on a screen. Using it has had the opposite effect on me, I have extra appreciation of the tailoring a skilled teacher does, even in my state primary classes with 30 kids. Would you truly pay for your private school if the teacher was just helping with a video? If not, why should families with a bit less money have to accept it?

I’ve always found it bonkers that every individual teacher plans lessons, now more than ever it seems an absolute waste of time and intellectual capital.

I think that shows why you are not a teacher...

...and how specialised teaching actually is. Lessons and learning needs to match, through assessment and evaluation, what a child knows and what they need to know next.

I wasn’t aware of the Oak Academy, interesting.

My DD’s private school has been just that for the last ten weeks or so and it’s not been perfect but it’s certainly an improvement on the sending out a generic worksheet that my eldest in state secondary is getting.

Appreciate that there will always be children at different phases but this applies to any remote method and still think broadcast lessons would be more engaging - if ahead of your year skip up a year and if behind skip back. It would allow teachers more time to engage with pupils one on one or by setting extension activities etc.

I absolutely see the value in tailored teaching and when they are back in the classroom then great. Though why more planning isn’t done centrally is still beyond me, imagine every branch of Sainsbury’s setting up processes from scratch, in any other working environment it would be scrapped - you can still offer a personalised teaching experience but also reduce the impact on teacher’s workload.

We can't be 'fair' to all children because the only way to do that would be to cap all provision at the worst - which would be nothing. We can't do anything about the fact that some children are shielding and some schools can't or won't open. It would be far more damaging not to provide what we can to those we can.

Physically, I don't think there's much advantage to being Private right now. As others have said:

• We have so far only been allowed to open to N, R, 1, 6 and KW/V
• Our classrooms are built for 15 so having classes capped at 15 hasn't helped us.
• We finish 2-3 weeks earlier than state schools anyway so are unlikely to benefit much from any change to policy.
• Some private schools won't survive this and children will be looking for new schools.

Educationally, the average private school pupil has almost certainly had a far superior online provision than the average state school pupil. But we have to get away from this insinuation that this is because state school teachers don't care about their children as much or aren't prepared to work as hard. I am a private school teacher and we are doing this insane, all bells and whistles intense online programme because a) we are a business trying desperately hard to survive and b) because our parents are paying around £18,000 a year so they are (quite rightly, tbf!) very loudly demanding their money's worth. I am no better or more compassionate than my state school teacher friends who have been told they aren't allowed to teach online for safeguarding reasons. My school is just more desperate and being held over a barrel. State schools will survive whatever.

I really hope we do get more leeway very soon. We are desperate to have our leavers back in school for a couple of weeks (Year 8). Our Year 6s aren't leaving and don't need to be here - they're only following online learning in school anyway because 70% of the parents in that year group didn't want their children to come back.

@manicinsomniac It will depend on the particular circumstances of the private school. My DC’s school are bringing back year 5 tomorrow. They have lots of space. Year 6 have been moved to the senior school (classrooms are bigger there). They normally have 20 per class in the prep but have created extra classes by utilising heads of dept that don’t normally teach. They are also going to extend the term by a week.

This with bells on manicinsomniac.

@brownpurse Did you bother to check where the current education secretary was educated?! A state comprehensive in Yorkshire. Incidently, not all private schools have acres of land. My DC’s does but that’s because it is a large school with pupils from age 1-18. Many private schools, particularly prep schools, are tiny. They operate out of antiquated former residential premises with very limited facilities.

our reception and y1 are in, well there are 10 and 12 respectively and 2 in nursery social distancing no problem at all

If you don’t like Oak Academy, the BBC Primary provision is excellent - about 3 hours a day plus lots of extra links to programmes and podcasts. Don’t know about their secondary stuff, though.