A holiday, yes but an education? No!

[NeverFit]

Thread title says it all really. Seems more important to get the economy going, but not so important to make sure children can get back into school and start catching up on the education they have missed. Really!

It honestly doesn’t emojji. The reason I say it is a myth isn’t to be rude to yourself, it’s because it’s such a commonly held belief.

I didn’t say it was term time only.

I’m not really sure what you’re arguing about - or are you just saying that it doesn’t have to be August that isn’t worked, that just happens to be at the end of the 1265?

I’m saying teacher salaries aren’t term time only - we are paid for the 1265 of directed hours which are all used up by the end of the summer term.

@sirfredfredgeorge are you as angry about the abusive parents as you are about the schools not being open? It is horrific that for some children school is their safe place, but maybe more people should be directing their energy into wondering why children should be in that position to start with.

There are so many threads now about PP worrying about vulnerable children, but there weren’t so many threads about these vulnerable children when schools were open. But these children were still having a horrible home life due to abusive parents.

3 weeks of home learning is hardly a holiday. DD is at her desk 6 hours each day, just finished two weeks of tests.

While I doubt that they covered as much as they would have done in school DD worked through a play in English, two topics in Science, a new topic in Geography and History. Spanish was the usual learning and they had various projects for drama, music and arts.

She needs a break, she needs to socialise with friends and go places. She does not need more work and the teacher definitely don't need to work more.

There’s also the logistics that have not been addressed. My son is yr 6. His school is the second largest in the county. And yet because of the school layout, the class sizes and the kids already in from key workers, reception and yr1, no yr 6 other than children of key workers can go back.

My yr 10 in the middle of GCSEs is about to start a grand total of 2 hours a week in school.this week.

Meanwhile my nephew in a different county in yr 4 is back 4 days a week. How is this fair? Some kids are getting an education others are getting very little other than what can be passed on to do at home, none of which is checked or marked, no teacher contact.

It’s just all kinds of wrong and no one seems to care.

@FabulouslyElegantTits

And I think pubs opening is bonkers! Once people are pissed, inhibition and common sense go out of the window.

That pretty much sums up Boris Johnson's life.

What really is the point of lessons at this stage?

Younger children have years to ‘catch up’. And what the hell is ‘catching up’ anyway? Comparing them to an arbitrary target decided by who?

My heart breaks for the year 10s who will be worked like dogs to fit everything in to do exams which essentially mean they can remember things for one morning of their life.

It’s time to re-evaluate what education has become. At this point in time my children need a holiday more than they need school.

The reason schools aren’t back is because of the unions. It’s obvious. If you deny this then you’re dim

I’m saying teacher salaries aren’t term time only - we are paid for the 1265 of directed hours which are all used up by the end of the summer term

No one said they were term time only. Lots of people have said we don’t get paid in the summer.

I think you’re arguing a technicality- a valid one - but the result is the same, surely??

Probably, but some people were insistent we weren’t paid for august and we are (which is not me saying we should go back then, I hasten to add! )

@RightIsRight

The reason schools aren’t back is because of the unions. It’s obvious. If you deny this then you’re dim

How date those pesky unions seek to ensure a safe working environment for school staff and children 🙄

My child hasn't had any time off. She's got a full schedule of online classes and loads of homework.
Not all schools have stalled in providing an education. Many teachers have worked throughout Easter break too.

sRight
The reason schools aren’t back is because of the unions. It’s obvious. If you deny this then you’re dim

Are teachers dim? I thought you needed a degree.....!

The reason schools aren’t back is because of the unions. It’s obvious. If you deny this then you’re dim

So the Government's guidance that primary pupils can only be in groups of 15 (half class sizes) and so each class needs 2 teachers and 2 classrooms (which are not available) is because of the unions?

And the Government priority given to keyworkers, whose 'bubbles' widely prevent children other than the first wave of year groups going back is because of the unions?

Not to mention the Government's guidance that only Y10 and Y12 are able to go back, and then only 1/4 at a time - despite almost all schools having worked out how to get far more than that back at once (despite being staffed by those pesky union members, who generally had no issue with this) - it's all because of the unions?

Are you SURE??

@RightIsRight

The reason schools aren’t back is because of the unions. It’s obvious. If you deny this then you’re dim

Oh my goodness.

There certainly is a huge helping of ‘dim’ right here, but I don’t think it’s linked to any teachers, or their unions.

I have taken issue with many posters on MN recently and disagreed with their stance. I fully respect their intelligence and ability to state their view, even if I profoundly disagree with it.
Teachers have been called many things, and been accused of many things. But no one, to my knowledge, has stooped so low as to accuse us of being "dim," which therefore seems to say more about that poster than they perhaps realise, as it's not something that anyone of any intelligence would state.

Quote TheEmojiFormerlyKnown - you’ll find a lot of jobs are the same - paid an annual salary divided by 12..

I can’t bloody wait till the summer holidays! We’ve all worked hard, we all need a break. I am genuinely gutted that it wasn’t possible to get all the children in before the end of term but I think we’ve done a damn good job with the years that are back. It is what it is, coronavirus ripped through my school just before lockdown and it was next to impossible to staff as so many of us were off sick. I really don’t think it would have been wise to bring schools back any sooner.

CurlsandCurves There’s also the logistics that have not been addressed....Meanwhile my nephew in a different county in yr 4 is back 4 days a week. How is this fair? Some kids are getting an education others are getting very little other than what can be passed on to do at home, none of which is checked or marked, no teacher contact.It’s just all kinds of wrong and no one seems to care.

So true! What has happened with education after the initial Easter period has been inconsistent, arbitrary and the Government are just completely blase about it. Nor are they really acknowledging the parents facilitating home learning while trying to work at the same time. I can't believe there's not more of an outcry that millions of children's education has just been shelved for this year. I really hope the policy for Sept is not just cross our fingers and hope for the best!

We’ve had the most vulnerable in, we’ve knocked on doors and we’ve been relentless in our safeguarding.

And other schools have made no attempt to contact outside of mails to parents - however as I'm sure you know, it doesn't totally help even if you do, the knocking on door leaves them with the adults there, they're not free to talk, the most vulnerable being in is those already identified - that myth of the no middle class abuser etc.

sirfredfredgeorge are you as angry about the abusive parents as you are about the schools not being open? It is horrific that for some children school is their safe place, but maybe more people should be directing their energy into wondering why children should be in that position to start with

Certainly it's horrific, but as the country is set up now, the only opportunity for younger children to access help is school and neighbours, something of that continuity needed to be kept because there was no other. It's very difficult to actually have an alternative to school for this now, once there was the wider community when kids "played out" all the time as well, but it's increasingly acceptable and normal for kids not to play out so that's gone. So there's only school and health workers. Health workers only catch them if they are physically hurt enough to require treatment.

As to your suggestion that I'm simply using this complaint so as to somehow score a point for schools opening? In a way I am, because I think it's really important for it to happen, I'd also like schools to open to assist with the social isolation of other kids, but as I've said elsewhere that could also be sports clubs etc. there's no need for schools, other than it being the only thing that is universally free and accessible. I couldn't give a shit about the missed education, the privileged will make that up fine, the less might actually get some positive interventions from the money promised to them and a couple of weeks would have made so little difference to that.

My children havent had a 'holiday' over lockdown and they wont be 'bringing in the harvest!' I still want them to have a proper summer holiday at the end of july/august! Home schooling and odd days is not a holiday! They've also had odd days in school as we are key workers. I cant wait for summer holidays!

@NeverFit

Surely, children have had such a long 'holiday' already, so why cant they start back in July and work through August to catch up on school. Then current year 6 children can transition better to high schools in September.

August holidays were created for when children had to help to bring in the harvest. Don't think many children nowadays even know what a harvest is! So lets junk it this year and use August to get children back into learning.

It's this kind of stupidity and ignorance that tells me people have been inside for way too long

sirfredfredgeorge

I’m interested to know what area you work in.

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/coronavirus-secondary-schools-might-not-be-able-to-fully-reopen-in-september-hrfmxlg5j

On this topic today in the Times.

Schools will not be able to fully reopen in September unless people behave themselves over the summer, scientific advisers have warned ministers.

Even a modest increase in people’s leisure contacts would mean a choice between shutting pubs or keeping secondary schools closed, modelling for the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) suggests.