Are your secondary children still working?

[tootyfruitypickle]

I’ve got a y7. She struggled massively at the start emotionally, so just did core subjects, I managed to get her doing full timetable post May half term. She’s massively struggling again now- and by struggling I mean with her mental health. I’d said she should stop on the 11th but now I’m thinking maybe call it a day this friday. The problem is she is a fairly high achiever , very conscientious , and she says she’ll worry if she stops early.

How are your kids? Are they still working or is it a case of enough is enough now ?

My year 8 son is working solidly, every day. He has been FaceTiming his friends whilst doing it and they have been working together. I cannot fault him.
My students (I teach at the same school as DS) are also working really well and uptake has been good and getting better as the weeks go on.
The staff at my school (me included!) could not have supported the kids more. I have spent hours on my home phone, offering help and support to struggling teenagers.

I have a Y9 engaging in everything and working hard. He sticks to his school set timetable and live lesson every day. I feel he probably won't have missed much of his education as there's no distractions at least. But he logs on at 9am to his PC and is still in it now gaming with his friends 😓. I've not long been home from work , so he's left to it.

My Y6 is a completely different child and it's been like pulling teeth. About 15 mins a day max of online worksheets. I fear for his education and his transition to secondary.

Me and their Dad have both worked full time throughout (shifts) so we haven't been able to support them too much tbh.

Yes, years 6 & 8. But the year 8 is struggling. July 17th is our end of term.

Only a couple of hours a day 🙈 it's all I can get him to do (Yr7) and he hates Art and I've compromised by saying if he does everything else he can leave the Art work. I'm not sure how to get him to do more. He's keeping up with the work set but only narrowly and does nothing that is 'optional'. It's such a daily battle.

@WeakandWobbly. Exactly same here. Very short tempered (her !) , very unlike her. Then tears in the evening

Also I am wfh ft and it’s starting to drain me now, checking the time for zoom lessons, reminding her to re start after a break . I’m exhausted

I would get in touch with her school. They may be able to speak to her and offer support and reassurance. They should be offering support for wellbeing along with lessons etc.. it might make her feel more in touch and less isolated from the school community.

You must do what you think is best, with her agreement.
My daughter is stressed they are falling behind even with full online lessons and now back in school one day a week (y10, all years from R to Y8 back in school completely now). The teachers however believe if anything they are ahead of the syllabus. She certainly seems to have a load of work to do. The term has been extended by two weeks - normally they'd finish tomorrow. Looking forward to the break but certainly not thinking of stopping early.

Y7 is struggling now. I have been wondering whether to stop pestering. But I worry for their future. 6 months out of school is huge. We're working full-time and have other children so it's been so hard.

Yes, they are working up to and including the last day of term.

My Year 4 has not had a single piece of work checked or marked since March 20th and no contact from his teacher at all. So I’m letting him choose what to. He does 3 activities a day, usually maths, science and geography or history on BBC Bitesize. Takes about 1.5 hours tops. Then a walk in the afternoon. I wfh so cannot really help much. TBH I’m furious that he was effectively dumped by the school on March 20th.

My year 7 DD is likewise struggling, but she has done most of the way though it. The volume of work is ridiculous, and lessons that are estimated to take an hour are in practice taking much longer to do in many subjects, so she is falling further and further behind while more and more lessons are added to the list. All the work is just endless reading/worksheets/PowerPoint. No 'live' classes at all and very uninspired. Work has to be submitted online but in some subjects she has had no communication from the teachers at all, not even acknowledging that the work has been sent in. I'm not expecting it all to be marked (I realise teachers are facing an impossible task), but all DD sees is endless lists of tasks with little or no feedback. It's very dispiriting as she is normally very conscientious but has lost any enthusiasm even for subjects she usually loves.
I raised concerns with the head of year several weeks ago, who was very reassuring and said that they just want the children to be happy and not worry. He made her promise to do no more than 3 hours of work per day, which she is doing but there's just no chance of getting all the work done in that time. She's focusing on the core subjects and has given up even trying to do the drama, DT, art or music lessons (all of which she would normally love).
It's all such a mess. I really worry about what this is doing to our children

Our yr 7 is still working a full timetable. They don't have anything via zoom bar music lessons which are a private commitment. What she has found useful is working via zoom or google meet with friend and doing some work together. She also has a friend from the same school and they often split the day up and meet up for a packed lunch at each other's garden or go for a run! Could she do this? Personally my daughter would worry if she stopped now and I must admit she keeps her yr 2 brother motivated too. However if she didn't worry and was suffering then I would support her in stopping and let school know. From the messages from school reading between the lines I suspect there lots who have stopped sending work back. I think you need to support her to maybe do a little but her mental health is far more important!

I've been in school with they key worker group this week, some of whom are in my normal class. They're done in with learning. I've been knocking myself out doing video lessons (over 150 now), responding to emails, sending out packs and accompanying video emails to SEND children.. but it's just over. I am hating being in a screen so much, I'm sure they are too.

I tried my videos, my partner teacher's videos, BBC bitesize, Oak National and all sorts with them yesterday, but all nope. They just stare blankly at it with headphones on. And that's in school with support from teachers and a TA (she's their consistent adult).

Painful. Still, only 10 more maths lessons, 6 more writing lessons and 2 history lessons to go. Meh.

DD yr 9, is still working, she has ASD and gets anxious if she misses a deadline, self motivated.

DS yr 7 has done nothing since Easter, unfortunately he is the type of child that needs someone sitting with him the entire time to get him to do the work and I am a single parent and went from part time to full time for the past 3 months, I don’t think it will take him long to catch up, maths is his weakest subject, and was already thinking of a tutor for his GCSE’s if he is struggling

My Year 9 foster child gets about 2 hours a day work from school via class dojo. No Zoom or Team lessons, not even a PP. I supliment school work with work I set.having purchased GCS3 text books in Science, Maths, English and BTech Sport. Child loves learning and doing at least 4 hours s day and will continue through July and have August off as a break. I will not allow him to slip behind and am hoping he is getting ahead. He has been doing BBC Note size every week day too. He has also taught himself how to play chess and used that as Skill section for DofE Bronze Award. He is on Level 7 now. For last month he has had 4 1-1 cricket sessions each week with cricket coach and learned to bowl a Googlie and he has SN.

Yes year 10 but he doesnt have loads
And in for 4 hrs once a week
Maybe has another few hours of work on top of this but certainly not enough to work 3-4 hrs 5 days a week

The workload for my year 7 DS has relaxed a lot thank goodness but he's still plodding along.

Mine are still working. About 3 hours a day. We have a no screen until after 3pm policy which helps., They do go out most days to meet with friends in the park which has cheered them up no end.

My y8 has 'exams' next week! This week is revision week and then 1 timed exam each day next week in core subjects. Other subjects still setting work. My DD is still engaging gamely, though by the sounds of surprise on her online chat with friends she may be in a minority. She is even doing food tech this term - including next week!
The work load initially was painfully high and we had some wobbles. Fortunately school realised this and dialled it back a bit. I've been less impressed with lack of marking of submitted work, though teachers respond to questions. No live content but they have upped the webinars (which DD hates because they don't seem to be able to record without background noise). After exam week they have an activity week planned where there will be challenges set but not formal leaning as such. It will include some kind of sports day where they upload their totals e.g. sit ups or keepy-uppies. I guess most kids will switch off from then! There is one last week of term after that, but I'm unclear what is expected of them apart from a 10 minute face-to-face in school with head of year to discuss progress/reports and apparently get some suggestions for self study over the summer (I'm sceptical that will happen - they need a rest).

@Ilovewillow your description is what I’m seeing - except she does have a few zoom lessons. Yes each piece of work takes more than an hour, especially things she enjoys like english.

Some teachers have been amazing and I am planning to thank because they have made a big difference.

Others though set unintelligible work and seem to make no effort to help or respond.

It’s a full timetable from 8.30-4 and she is still usually a bit behind by the end of the week. I think there is just too much and I am going to tell her to drop food tech, computing, music and DT but carry on with the rest. Week after the 11th she was going to still do the English as her teacher there has been exceptional plus that’s her strongest subject and I don’t want her to fall behind there as it seems likely that will be the subject that goes through for her entire education path (so reading novels and writing stories for a couple of weeks rather than doing music worksheets seems quite a positive idea).

Setting compulsory PE was ridiculous tbh.

She would worry which is why I need to be firm iysiwm and be clear that my decision is right and it’s not up to her so she doesn’t agonise.

Sorry that was to @fadingfast see I’m losing the plot!