Summer school catch up

[LockdownLou]

Just watched the briefing.

So how would this work then? Obviously we will have to wait for Gavins proposals, just speculating in the meantime.....

@SquidgeBum no, childcare would probably be easy to sort. Allow playschemes/private holiday clubs to open over the summer. Given PP children vouchers to pay for this. Require private providers who open to reserve a proportion of spaces for those children.

What we need is targeted education to close the gap, which already exists and will undoubtedly have grown during the lockdown. Absolutely, I think into this we should try and target other issues at the same time (the big one being no FSM over the summer).

They can't just force teachers and TAs to work throughout the summer, surely?
Many teachers haven't had a break at all yet.
They aren't paid for the holidays and they've already given up possibly 3 weeks unpaid so far.

I'm sorry but I've worked full time hours, albeit mostly from home, since 16 March with no break. I'm clinically vulnerable so can't go in the classroom really, though do go in for an hour or two most weeks to do some it tech stuff.

Although a qualified teacher I'm employed and paid as a HLTA. I'm paid from 8:30-3:30 a day 39 weeks a year. I'm working til gone 5 every day and in the holidays I worked several hours each day. I've worked at the weekends too.

I am not prepared to give up my summer break too.

How are the teachers/TAs supposed to work if they have children as well?

Good question.

@ihearttc

How are the teachers/TAs supposed to work if they have children as well?

This is my issue. I have an 18 month old. I have reduced childcare options (1.5 days a week possibly) during summer. I am already working from home with her doing online learning and I am 20 weeks pregnant. I get parents are finding it tough and want their kids back in school, but we are also managing out own families and work too.

I very strongly suspect it will not be summer "school" or anything vaguely resembling it. It will be some hastily cobbled toegther half plan, which wont work for various reasons, because they will have neglected to consult with anyone with experience in this area such as teachers and educationalists.
It is mainly so they can claim to be "doing something" to distract from the fact that they still have no plan about how to get children back to school in September and so it is looking more and more likely children will be mostly out of school for many ore months to come.
They think by announcing half baked ideas like this we all roll over and give up trying to fight for our children's right to an education. Well they can think again in my case!

Summer catch up will be interesting. Assuming September is “normal” It is the start of a 14 week term add another 6weeks on to that, it will be too long for children. If the government really cared and wanted children to catch up they should scrap the current constraints of the curriculum, encourage outdoor learning, allow children to develop valuable life skills such as independence, problem solving skills etc and move away from teaching for exams. The future mental health would be a lot healthier.

He did say it wasn't just summer it would extend into Autumn/Winter, so I wonder whether they will tweak the National Curriculum. Yesterday in Parliament a number of MPs questioned Gavin about summer school and he said that is short term and we are looking at long term.

It's well-meaning but in practice I can't imagine many children from a disadvantaged background voluntarily going into school in the summer holidays.

If children haven't been engaged now, they won't engage in a Summer school. It will probably attract the pupils who have been engaged and so have their families and they will be pushing them to do some more work in the Summer to ensure they would be at the level they should be in September, so widening the gap even more.

Not sure what the answer is though.

They may chuck a bit of money at schools and ask them to run more intervention style catch up classes which usually means employing an extra teacher who will take kids out of lessons (usually not English and maths) and give them some small group or individual tuition. This will be why they are saying it isn't just summer. Given that schools have not been consulted at all as yet, it is hard to see how they can announce any catch up programme as yet. I am fairly certain that what it won't be is a kind of dip in, dip out summer school where children can book in with a qualified teacher in a small group whenever they like over the summer months. I am also fairly certain that it won't be staffed by their own teachers, nor will it offer wrap around care to enable parents to work primarily because that would be too expensive!

@Winter2020 , every furloughed person I know is having to take annual leave during their time off

Sorry forgot to add Winter, that's not me saying teachers should be working the summer holidays either!

I’d really like some leave as well in the summer, so dd won’t be going in during that time, esp as things start to open, we need some fun. I’ve got acres to take , so it depends when jt js to be frank. I’d much rather everyone has a break (teachers included !) and start afresh in sept - home learning is wearing for secondary kids and we’re counting the days down.

I am a parent, not a teacher.

This is the most ridiculous idea ever. What my kids need is freedom to meet family, to catch up with friends, go back to their sports and have a holiday.

What they don't need is to be punished for having worked non-stop since March, what they don't need is being locked down in a school after being locked down in their own house.

If your young adult, 15 or 16 believe they would benefit, they are old enough to make that choice.

If schools close down now, or at the end of June and the kids have at least the whole of July off and possibly a couple of weeks in September, I would consider it.

Going to be interesting to see what's proposed. If teachers are required to work, then they'll need paying as they don't get paid for all holiday breaks. Many will have partners booked off work to spend time with them in the holidays so won't be willing to work a solid block of weeks.

I know of one that volunteered to work Easter, currently working more hours than normal in class five days a week, supporting remote learning, keeping in touch with parents, not allowed to leave school in her 30min break. She's says she's really tired. Can't see her wanting to do much in the hols other get her classroom ready for September

I hope this is for the y10 and y12 who have been forgotten in this chaos.

@Homemadeandfromscratch

I am a parent, not a teacher.

This is the most ridiculous idea ever. What my kids need is freedom to meet family, to catch up with friends, go back to their sports and have a holiday.

What they don't need is to be punished for having worked non-stop since March, what they don't need is being locked down in a school after being locked down in their own house.

If your young adult, 15 or 16 believe they would benefit, they are old enough to make that choice.

If schools close down now, or at the end of June and the kids have at least the whole of July off and possibly a couple of weeks in September, I would consider it.

I agree.

I wish they would just give vouchers to parents of disadvantaged kids and let us buy private tuition / laptop / approved therapies rather than come up with some half baked gimmick or force exhausted teachers to do extra. Or give it to organisations like Sutton Trust who already run summer camps for disadvantaged students. They’ve told councils to consider direct payments to kids with ehc plans but given them no extra money. Bit of kick in teeth to 1000s sen kids who have no school place or home tuition or catch up support even when there’s no pandemic.

I'll be honest, I'm concerned about this. I'm not teaching staff, but work in a school. Worked through Easter and May holidays as there aren't enough of us to rota (others are shielding). Been in almost every day apart from weekend and bank holidays. I get something needs to happen regarding catch up, it's a god awful situation, but contrary to popular belief, most school staff have been working incredibly hard over the past months and are ready for a break.

@Yorkshirehillbilly

I wish they would just give vouchers to parents of disadvantaged kids and let us buy private tuition / laptop / approved therapies rather than come up with some half baked gimmick or force exhausted teachers to do extra. Or give it to organisations like Sutton Trust who already run summer camps for disadvantaged students. They’ve told councils to consider direct payments to kids with ehc plans but given them no extra money. Bit of kick in teeth to 1000s sen kids who have no school place or home tuition or catch up support even when there’s no pandemic.

The problem is the parents of lots of disadvantaged kids wouldn't have a clue where to start. Hiring private tutors and approved therapies when you live in a "sink estate", have no money to pay for travel, no room for the tutor to come to you even if they're willing. Laptops require Internet connections and you still need to know how to help your child get on and do the work.

I don't know what the answer is, lots of "disadvantaged" kids live in homes here parents could use direct payments responsibly, some wouldn't have a clue and some wouldn't bpther

Anyone who has seen pupils and staff struggle to get to the end of autumn term will know that they need to be fully rested over the summer. Even current yr10/12 need to rest over the summer (while still doing some work) or they will be mentally and physically wiped out by summer 2021 and unable to perform well in exams

What I would like: a plan targeting the most vulnerable/disadvantaged children. Utilising the private sector if needed

I work in a private school. I have been teaching this whole time. I won’t be working over the summer as I have my own children who need me to spend time with them rather than just sit on their gadgets all day whilst I’m working.

@Howabout I didn’t say “private schools” or that I’m expecting private school teachers to man this for free. I’m just saying we need to look outside the state sector. In the same way convention centres were made into hospitals

My children’s independent school has huge grounds. They have a fantastic set up for SD (marquees, one way systems). The government could utilise these resources over the summer.

My children’s independent school has huge grounds. They have a fantastic set up for SD (marquees, one way systems). The government could utilise these resources over the summer

Yes, I understand that. Although the logistics will be huge. And some staff would need to work just to manage the IT, food, cleaning etc. They need a plan now if they want schools of any kind to put the necessary in place.

However, I am pretty sure the expectation will be we all,work for free,