Concerned schools will just reteach material from March 2020

[notevenat20]

I have become worried that schools will decide they need to reteach all the material from March 2020 onwards when they go back in September. For the many families like ours who worked their socks off trying to provide decent home schooling in the lockdown, this would be a kick in the teeth.

Do you think this is going to happen?

I had this confirmed by my son's new teacher before the end of term.

To say I'm pissed off is an understatement.

My son has worked really hard and made good progress (I'm a teacher myself so I know this is the case). He completed everything the school sent and a lot more. Now he gets to sit bored shitless while everything gets recapped.

Why the feck did I bother?!!

Learning doesn't work unless you repeat stuff anyway.

Revisiting stuff isn't a bad thing, teachers should be extending it for those who need it.

Teachers cope with huge differences in ability in every classroom every year.

Most of the curriculum involves some revisit and adding to. I am sure they can find some mastery work for those who have learned the basics at home. They will not let children sit there bored. Remember Ofsted are visiting again to see how schools are managing the return to full opening, they won't be impressed if children are not learning.

@Eccle80 same here. And factors - omg factors. I guess my “what did you learn during lockdown” was that I am a terrible terrible teacher. I am quite relieved they will revisit most of it and teach it properly. Well, just teaching it would be better than my appalling efforts.

My youngest is going into y1. We have been told the first half term will be finishing off/revisiting the EYFS curriculum before they start KS1 curriculum later on. Im happy with this. His school didn't have the whole reception class back in June it only had key worker children for the whole school, it was mainly childcare with the odd worksheet thrown in.

Yes. I think they will go over things to cover the gaps that the disadvantaged children may have.
I think it is right to focus on the disadvantaged children.

It will be possible to revisit and revise for those who need it while still extending and supporting for those who don't.

Though, to be honest, if it wasn't I think most teachers would rather risk the wrath of the privileged parents (in some way - be it money, time, education, health or all four plus more) than risk losing the less privileged children for good. If they aren't helped quickly, they'll be behind and confused for years. Which will lead to poor behaviour (affecting all paupils), disillusionment with education and poorer life prospects when many already had a raw enough deal as it is.

ktp100 if you're a teacher yourself then you'll know that there's lots of children that won't have had the support you've given your child. The SEN children, the pupil premium children, the children whose parents have been working full time through the pandemic and haven't been able to home school so to say you're pissed off is wrong. It won't do your child any harm to recap!

Dd's school (2 form entry) has moved staff around so that 1 teacher from each year moves up a year between yr2-5 with the aim of bridging the gaps by having one who knows what wasn't taught together with one whi knows what needs to be taught. Sounds sensible to me.

Dd1 did everything the school set but I can guarantee she will still have gaps in her knowledge because the input/work/no feedback was hugely disappointing compared with dd2's in same school.

Kids need repetition anyway. If it's revision with deeper learning added on where's the harm.

Our schools started back in August. Primary school (ages 6-10) are doing a six week review of the three months of material missed due to school closure. Junior and senior high (ages 11-18) are not doing any review because they have to get all the material covered before testing time.
The big problem was that some parents did home-school and saw to it that their children watched the YouTube videos, read the textbooks and novels, and completed science experiments, projects etc.
Other parents did not have computers, libraries were closed so they couldn't check out books, etc. so their children are far behind. Covid widened the education gap between the haves and have-nots even in the same classrooms.

"We always differentiate for ability and prior understanding.

I want DC to go to your school! "

Ditto! In my ltd experience, the more able kids are left to it - often bored - a gap that will be further widened now. I wish there was a genuine way to reduce the gap, whilst providing more of a learning experience for those who already "get it".

Yes it’s right to focus on disadvantaged children. Absolutely. I agree.

But why not all children?

dc1 struggled through Y1 and 2 because she was ahead of the curve. As a result she was not truly taught. For both years. While everyone else did the regular lesson and the TA worked with the disadvantaged, dc and her friend sat in the corner trying desperately to do advanced worksheets with no teaching at all.

It took me homeschooling her in lockdown to finally fully understand what was going on.

And whilst homeschooling, she thrived educationally and confidence wise. The transformation in her mood was so positive.

So in a weird way this cursed lockdown was good for her. She grasped all the skills she’d been given sheets for but not taught. Her confidence of course grew.

But what happens in September? If they’re catching up will she join in or be given sheets again?

Have I made the problem worse by sacrificing my work to teach her? Is she more ahead now so the problem is greater?

I don’t know. She had struggled in school before lockdown and thrived in it not I absolutely do not want to homeschool forever. That’s not me.

I know other kids have to catch up. Totally!

I don’t think my kid is a special exception.

I just feel confused about what to do for the best.

“Often bored” is not an advantage. I can well tell you it leads to mental health issues.

Like many other education issues

If you have individual issues and feel that your child isn't being challenged effectively, then you should definitely speak to her teacher. Putting sheets in front of her with no instruction is wrong and shouldn't be happening.

However the idea that revisiting stuff automatically equals boredom and academic shut down is wrong.

er, OP reads like:
I stressed myself out to make sure my kids would not "fall behind" and now it turns out I needn't have bothered. How dare the feckless parents who didn't dedicate themselves to homeschooling be in same position as morally good people like me.! This isn't fair!! I want my kids to have advantages not be bored because I demanded my kids do extra work that the school never requested or expected.

But maybe I'm just one of the feckless lazy parents.

@Hercwasonaroll

Learning doesn't work unless you repeat stuff anyway.

Revisiting stuff isn't a bad thing, teachers should be extending it for those who need it.

Teachers cope with huge differences in ability in every classroom every year.

Absolutely the truth!

I've had a Year Five class before where the range was such that I had one child ready for an exceptionally deep Maths curriculum who needed complexity and challenge at the highest end and two children who were still working at the average level of a Year One child who needed significant support and small steps.

We do not teach to the lowest common denominator: we teach everyone in a way that's appropriate for them. If that means that we tackle a concept in five different ways, so be it. If that means in one lesson we need to have three different concepts being taught at the same time, so be it.

It can be scary as a parent not to know exactly what's happening in your child's classroom butn unless you are in there, you need to have trust that you child's teacher will be doing what is best for each of them. That's the whole reason he/she is there. No-one goes into teaching for the fame and fortune.

There is clearly a split between what teachers say happens in schools (I know most about primary) and the real lived experience of parents. I wonder if this is just because schools are so different from each other and teachers in one school can’t imagine that not all schools are like theirs.

Our experience is that there was very little differentiation at all, that teaching was aimed only at children at the median or below, that asking teachers for work at the right level for a more able child made no difference at all etc. The “spiral” meant literal repetition for those children who understood and could remember the previous year in detail. The mantra was that able children “will be fine” so can be safely ignored. When pushed, I was also told that education at primary school is largely about reading and to a lesser extent writing and learning to socialise was really what it was for. That if I wanted anything more I should have sent them to private school. The idea that private school is where able children receive an education absolutely shocked me.

This is all before lockdown but the ethos then followed into what the teachers did during lockdown. For the first month or so they did nothing. Then they emailed saying we could pick up print outs from the school gates once a week. No further interaction at all until around July. There were 6 key worker children in the school with a normal capacity of 420 so you have to wonder what many of the staff were doing.

If you believe that the purpose of primary is socialisation, then it makes sense that during lockdown you would not offer anything to the children. But if you contrast this with what was offered at some excellent primary schools, it is hardly a surprise the country is so divided.

Our school have said they will use the first term to go over things. I’m relieved for my children especially my eldest going into Y5. I’ll be so sad for them if school closes again.

@notevenat20

I have become worried that schools will decide they need to reteach all the material from March 2020 onwards when they go back in September. For the many families like ours who worked their socks off trying to provide decent home schooling in the lockdown, this would be a kick in the teeth.

Do you think this is going to happen?

Get a fucking grip.

Get a fucking grip.

Is this said as a teacher or a parent or just an angry person with a word limit?

We repeat stuff all the time. Each year is just a tiny step up.

Out of interest OP, where in the country are you based? I'm surprised at the lack of support given to you. Is this comparable with neighbouring schools to yours?

I think we’ll be taking it slower, with more focus on times tables than we would normally have done, but ultimately I’m not teaching year 4 material in September. I’m teaching the year 5 curriculum at a slower pace and with more recapping, if that makes sense.

Each year is just a tiny step up.

Does this make sense in the later years of primary school? For example, algebra is a big step. Using logical reasoning to analyse algorithms is pretty big. In foreign languages, learning tenses is significant etc.

Very little algebra happens in primary. It is not a big step either. It tends to be introduced as missing number problems and then the number replaced with a letter. Saying algebra is a big step reinforces how little you know.