Would it be possible for Primary DC to keep their current teacher next year?

[UndertheCedartree]

Just wondering how feasible this would be?

I'd love my Y3 DD to keep her current teacher for when she goes back in September (into Y4). He will be in the best position to help her catch up and will make the transition much easier. My DD is on the shy side and I feel having to get used to a school environment in September (hopefully!) again is going to be a bit stressful for her. I'm sure it won't take her long to settle back in though, once she's with her friends again. She really misses her teacher and would love to be back in a classroom with him!

Our school ( Juniors yr3 to yr6 ) have already been given their classes and teachers for September and had a Teams meeting. The school moves teachers around into different years sometimes, so my son's yr 3 teacher has a yr 4 class next year. Our school are planning to let all children come back for 2 days in July with their old teacher and 2 days with their teacher for next year. It will be half a class at a time and dependent on the numbers of CV cases staying low. There have been relatively few cases locally anyway. As far as I can see, most parents are happy for this to go ahead.

Blackbeard, I completely know what you mean and I suppose most people don't realise the resources teachers create to match their plans.

Resources like number boards, tens and units, atlases etc all all there and attainable for everyone but I mean things like a fraction/decimals matching game that a teacher has spent 5 hours one evening laminating and cutting up so each pair has a set. I teach 'Around the World' as one of my topics, I bought props for a range of different countries and the kids had to sort and match them to the country they thought they are from. For instruction writing I bought lots of mini gardening tools (plant pots, gloves, small trowel) so the kids could plant their own seeds in the vegetable plots and use this to write instruction on how they did it. For numeracy I got my husband to make a little 'shop' and bought a little till so they could role play using money in a real life situation (when doing this I also change £10 of my money into change so the kids have experience of using real coins).

This is the kind of thing that I and many other teachers would have worked so hard on to have little purpose next year should we just change year group with little notice.

I'd rather my DCs have the clean slate in September. I love DS2's teacher and it's sad he's missed so much time with him. DS1's I'm less bothered, and I'd rather move on without the baggage of the legacy of poorly resourced "home learning" activities that we ignored in favour of Bitesize.

I'd rather have the DCs looked at afresh without prejudice of what they have done/ not done, progression/ regression of lockdown. I don't mean that in a nasty way, but for better or for worse, my DCs are not where they were back in February, and they need teaching from where they are, not where they should have been.

Better for teachers to stay in their current year and adapt what they have than to move around with a cohort.

Our school has specifically addressed this and said they can’t because teachers moving on/maternity leave etc. I would have really liked it, but it would be really unfair of they did it for most but not all. Ours have been told their teachers for next term as we only have 6.5 school days left (Scotland).

Greyishdays, I'm also Scotland. 5 days to go and school are running to their usual plan, tell you new classes and teachers at the last minute. Less time for parents to moan.

I really hope not as I'm not keen on either of the DC's teachers!

Some people in my school are doing this. Can't see it working as a blanket rule though. It's one thing to consider but there are other reasons to put members of staff in certain year groups which could lead to better outcomes for the children. Plus staff come and go, change hours etc.

HildaSnibbs I’d be really pissed off if my reception child was delayed starting until October based on your plan. Why should another cohort be messed around? And what would you suggest people did for childcare who were expecting a September school start?

Our experience of the KW children is that they've come into school and aren't really having issues with having a different teacher and LSA in their room. Few have their normal teaching staff.

I think children, on the whole, are pretty resilient and will cope with new teachers.

We are an infant school so our year 2s will have new teachers anyway. Our reception teachers are very experienced in that year group. Whilst we do have staff swap year groups, we always maintain some key staff to ensure expertise in the planning etc. Our key stage leaders are also class teachers too. It wouldn't be sensible for those teachers to move years. So in a school like mine 1/3 of the school will be moving on, and at the very least one reception lead and one KS1 lead would need to stay in place. We also have one teacher leaving and another returning after Maternity leave. So pretty much half the school would need to change staff regardless.

Also, some staff may be new to school in September and some leaving.

Not sure it would work to have some children repeat the year either as it would affect class sizes.

@Saoirse7 - thanks for the apology and explanation.

@Quisto - that sounds good bringing the DC back to see their old teacher and then their new teacher. At DD's school they always have a day with their new teacher before the end of term. However it was confirmed today that DD definitely won't be going back before September. It will probably be a little daunting going back in September not knowing what the new teacher is like! It is a 5 form entry school so there are a lot of teachers she doesn't really know. But I'm sure the school will make the transition as easy as possible.

My DC’s school has already arranged for ‘goodbye’ slots at school for DC to come in and see their current teacher as they’ll be moving on to the next one in their corresponding years in (hopefully) September. I don’t see how they can do it any other way as teachers stay in the same year groups while they DC move up.

They’ve also continually told us not to worry about missed education as they’ll make sure they get to where they need to be. It’s to be expected corners will be cut. This is an unprecedented situation in education.

@Saoirse7 - your resources sound great. I am aware of how much teachers put into their plans and resources as 2 of my best friends are teachers and I used to be a teachers assistant (long time ago now!). Teaching a different year is great for experience, though as well as hard work learning the curriculum and resourcing it.

Blackbear we’ve been told about new teachers but nothing else. No idea how many days they’ll be in, well only that they’re currently looking at 33% in at a time over Monday to Thursday, which, quite frankly they need to improve on.

Back in the day of school books half the work was already done. Pick up the next book and off you go.

Ive not had access to a text book in 15 years. Every lesson every day needs creating from scratch. Ive tried every so often getting lessons of the teS but ive never had one i could just use Without massively altering it.

Greyish 33% in at time is hopeless. Although I'd have a fair bet they'll be at least another 2 plans between now and August.

I have lots of confidence that primary kids will make up the lost time as long as they get back in full-time school. But my logic for keeping kids with same teachers was more about the time kids will take to get to know new teachers and likewise the teachers to get to know the kids.
Especially where you have teachers job sharing and may only see the kids one day per week, or not at all depending on how they split the job share.

I'd have been happy with this for the teachers we'd had in the first few years at school but this year's been a nightmare. DC not been consistently happy about school while they were having to go in, including obvious signs of stress and anxiety at the start of each week. Mine isn't the only one to have had similar. Class control has been a regular issue so I expect the teacher is looking forward to a fresh start next year too- the reports I get from DC indicate she's found it a really stressful class.

The benefit DC would have got out of staying with the same teacher in previous years is way less than the potential disbenefit of another year of misery. So no, I think it's much fairer to move them on so pupil/teacher pairings which don't work don't have to keep on for another year.

Blackbear19

Teacher will easily be able to work out children's ability levels within a couple of weeks, then for some topics it is as and when you are teaching it which is then differentiated for. We always have transition meetings with the previous teacher to get no know any areas of difficulty, social/emotional issues, who they work well with, behavioural issues, what they respond well too.

Please parents do not worry about transition, we as teachers aren't worrying as we know we'll get there!

Saoirse I just wish I had your confidence that teachers will get to know levels within a couple of weeks when they haven't had work handed in and they are only seeing kids two days a week.

Fingers crossed this all works out because my DSs (any many others) need proper teachers.

Luckily, there's been some staff turnover at my DC school so the new year 2, 3, 4 & 5 are all having the same teacher again. I was pleased to hear it as my oldest DC has responded so well to her teacher this year, she has really got the best out of her.