Iv just seen how dds reception class is set out and it’s made me sad

[Mummypig2020]

Dd starts school in September. She’s not yet 4. Her teacher has posted a video walking around the class room to school the kids. It’s like a Victorian class room. Each table has one seat and they are in lines. It makes me feel so sad.

No real point of this post just feeling sad. Everything will be so different and not at all exciting like it should be :(

I think it's bad enough that the new year 1s need to be like this tbh! As pp have said reception does not need to, according to latest guidelines.

My 5yo went back to school on 8 June and has loved every second even though it’s a bit different. I worried a lot tbh but I shouldn’t have. Yesterday was the last day of term and he came out of school crying because he didn’t want to leave YR. he already has said today he misses school! Children are very adaptable so do not worry.

@DappledThings

Or alternatively as many others have already pointed out there are lots of exceptions for early years settings that they are choosing not to employ. I'd be asking why this particular school is taking such a draconian attitude that it seems most others aren't.

You can’t compare the two! Early year settings have way less children, my son is in a bubble of 6 and there’s 23 kids in total at the whole setting. My other sons pre school has 32 kids in total and in a bubble of 7. This isn’t achievable in a schools. This is manageable in early years settings as the adult-child ratio is 1-3, 1-6 etc, primary can be 1-34!!!

@OverTheRainbow88 The guidance from the government for Reception (which is still an early years setting) talks a lot about small groups and keeping the small groups together. It doesn't say anything about individual desks or turning what is meant to be a year with a high emphasis on learning through play into a model more appropriate for much older children.

We know that, unlike older children and adults, early years and primary age children cannot be expected to remain 2 metres apart from each other and staff.

Yes I'd be asking the school questions and I would be gutted if my son's school send out something between now and September that indicates they are considering anything similar.

We are in Wales. Although the guidelines are for children to be sat in rows, it's impossible to fit them all in so classes are back to normal. They will also be in bubbles of 90+ children as a year group bubble.

@Barbie222

I think it's bad enough that the new year 1s need to be like this tbh! As pp have said reception does not need to, according to latest guidelines.

Our Year 1s won’t be. We are continuing to teach the EYFS curriculum with them for at least the first month so will be applying the EY guidance.

Our school have decided to make all 4 reception classes one bubble, so they can make use of all the space and they have a separate garden/play area away from year 1 and 2. Everything else is the same apart from no cuddly toys and no assemblies, I'm very pleased with this after reading some of these other plans in other schools!

My daughter just finished Reception so experienced normality for the first half of the year, then went back when they opened to lines of desks. Honestly she loved it! She was so happy to have her own desk and tray with things.
As an aside it is COMPLETELY pointless, the kids mix freely in the playground at that age. It's all for show to look like they're doing something...

My Y1 child loves having her own table and chair. Kids that age are so territorial anyway.

They have lots of fun outdoors. Initially they had socially distanced and supervised games but relaxed in the last weeks. I see them playing tag screaming their heads off giggling etc at pick up (pick up is staggered and outdoors).

They still do group work but within their class bubbles of 15. In September it will be back to 30.

Frankly I think its better and less chaotic. Personally I always had my own desk and chair since kindergarten (another country, similar to reception) and I have wonderful memories of running outdoors at break to play, vandalising the underneath and inside of my table with my secret crush name (our desks could be lifted to store workbooks and folders).

The only downside is that this term they seem to have been watching a fair bit of CBB during class. DDs always telling me "oh I watched this [kids film or cartoon series] in class already" and this is not like BBC bitesize type programmes

But she won’t know any different will she? I don’t get the big deal to be honest. Everyone is just moaning about everything at the moment!

But she won’t know any different will she?
I think the difference between current pre-school set-up of totally normal free play, little bits of structured learning etc and sitting at rows of desks for hours would be pretty stark.

If DS wasn't in any kind of care setting at all it would be really strange for him as well.

It does seem to me that when schools plan to have four or more classes together as one bubble, they've totally lost the protection a bubble can give. That means there are up to120 children, each of them in contact with parents and siblings and potentially childminders, and each adult is in turn potentially in touch with workmates, other relatives etc etc. It then only takes one child or adult in the bubble to get Covid 19 for chaos to ensue.

Not Victorian. I started school in a classroom laid out like that, and seem to have survived

This. And I’m on mid thirties

How can a just turned 4 child sit at a desk for large periods of time?
Awful idea.

Not Victorian. I started school in a classroom laid out like that, and seem to have survived

This. And I’m on mid thirties hmm

Im early 40s and only ever had a single seat in exams. Primary was sets of four pushed together, cabaret style, and secondary was pairs facing forward. Single desks, all day, for Reception is ridiculous.