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Original poster

Year twelves and 13s are screwed

54 replies

Northernsoulgirl45 · 03/12/2020 14:39

I am really cross. In dds school year 12 and 13s don't get cover teachers. Work is supposed to be set online.
Well today 3 of her teachers are off either with COVID or Self isolating. I really hope they are self isolating as one is pregnant and one is close to retirement.
She is supposed to be sitting an external exam in January and they haven't even looked at the main paper yet. No work for that subject online.
We are in a low case area which up to now only had a case or two in school .
Now we are in the middle of a big outbreak which will be replicated across the country and certain people on here want to abandon any mitigation in schools. So many kids are not getting an education right now and it is shit.
My younger two are already at home and feel my year 12 might as well be. Bearing in mind her year group were totally abandoned last year too.
Disclaimer I do not blame the school. They have done everything in their power to mitigate risk and fully expect work will appear online soon but as teachers on here keep on saying it is not enough.

OP posts:
Original poster
Northernsoulgirl45 · 03/12/2020 14:48

Another disclaimer I know other years are impacted too when they are forced to self isolate. However I was amused to read how subject teachers would be moved from KS3 to teach exam students. Nit much chance in a small school.

OP posts:
Racoonworld · 03/12/2020 15:48

Why don't you blame the school? Round my way schools are providing proper lessons whilst kids are off isolating, including uploaded work and zoom lessons. Isolating teachers are still teaching their classes via zoom. Your school should have had an online learning plan in place by end of September.

RedskyAtnight · 03/12/2020 16:03

This does sounds like an issue because of it being a small school. We've had instances locally of whole schools closing for a time due to lack of staff, but in the main if schools can protect Year 10-Year 13, they are doing that (sadly at the expense of KS3, but that happens in "normal" years!)

noblegiraffe · 03/12/2020 16:09

Remote work can take time to prepare, especially if the teacher unexpectedly had to isolate so it might not be there instantly, but please do contact the school if it doesn't appear tomorrow.

It is a shit situation. Which subjects is it? Maybe some teachers on here could help with links to resources.

Original poster
Northernsoulgirl45 · 03/12/2020 16:56

Thank you for replies. There is work on line for younger kids but not my year 12 as of course they are still in school. I think I will give them a day to get organised before phoning school.

OP posts:
MrsMiaWallis · 03/12/2020 17:00

She is supposed to be sitting an external exam in January and they haven't even looked at the main paper yet. No work for that subject online

That sounds like an issue with your particular school tbh. Do you mean they have an exam in January and haven't covered thet part of the syllabus at all?

Walkaround · 03/12/2020 17:08

@Racoonworld - ah, I see, it must be the fault of a covid positive pregnant teacher. Let’s all blame the school - they probably kept the staffroom open or something.

worriedaboutmyboytoday · 03/12/2020 17:12

That sounds fair enough Northernsoulgirl45.

Schools are required to have online learning plans in place, although it may take a day or so to set up.

It's such a grim situation all round.

canigooutyet · 03/12/2020 17:28

Year 10's have been doing exams round here this week. The main talk from them is the work hasn't been covered and made guesses for those questions.

Oblomov20 · 03/12/2020 17:40

I think this is a school issue. Year 11's here have been taught loads. Have been at home for the last 2 weeks because school has been closed and the online stuff has been fab.
Apparently they are on target and on schedule. Re where they should be at this point in the 2 year A'level schedule.

Racoonworld · 03/12/2020 18:50

[quote Walkaround]@Racoonworld - ah, I see, it must be the fault of a covid positive pregnant teacher. Let’s all blame the school - they probably kept the staffroom open or something.[/quote]
Where did I say it was the fault of the covid positive pregnant teacher? Why do some people completely (on purpose) misread what is said and turn it round to fit what they want?

What I'm saying , and a lot of other posters are saying, is that despite the obviously difficult circumstances other schools are providing proper lessons and work to students that are self isolating, and managing to cover lessons properly in school. If OPs school isn't doing this then yes, it probably is the schools fault as they should have had a proper plan in place. It means the OPs children will be unfairly disadvantaged when it comes to the exams as lots of other children will have got more adequate teaching this year s there schools managed to provide it.

Barbie222 · 03/12/2020 19:27

Reading this it sounds like maybe you should check in the morning and see if work has been set, if it's the first day of absence.

Videos take a day to make and edit, and then you're filming in the day to post the next day's work. If you are not given work after another couple of days, I think you should contact school.

Walkaround · 03/12/2020 20:05

@Racoonworld - the OP talks about no work being provided on the first day of absence and that the teachers concerned may be ill with covid and you immediately ask why she isn’t blaming the school. I didn’t misread what you said - you are just trigger happy about suggesting complaining.

Doyouthinktheysaurus · 03/12/2020 20:24

I thinks it's an issue with your dc's school as well.

I have dses in year 12 and 13 and their experience has been very different. Ds1 had online teaching through the first lockdown and they have both remained in school since September. One teacher has been off with covid but they had cover and they have continued their curriculum.

I don't think it's been easy for either of them but the school have been fantastic and I have no complaints at all.

I hope things get better for your dc's op.

Porcupineinwaiting · 03/12/2020 20:27

I've got 1 (Y8) off self isolating at the moment. Our experience has been very mixed - some subject teachers offer live lessons, some set work. Some are very poor and just send PowerPoints and questions and leave them to get on with it. We go over stuff with him in the evenings to make sure he doesnt fall behind- he's in there now learning about the digestive system with dh.

Hercules12 · 03/12/2020 20:28

Dd is in y12 and has had teachers off. When this happens they're taught in their classroom via teams on the whiteboard by usual teacher. No cover needed.

SnowmanDrinkingSnowballs · 03/12/2020 20:31

If you can afford a tutor I would.

Porcupineinwaiting · 03/12/2020 20:35

@Hercules12 what do they do when their usual teacher is actually sick?

Hercules12 · 03/12/2020 20:37

Get sent the work to do via email from usual class teacher and then go to wherever they normally have their frees to do it.

Original poster
Northernsoulgirl45 · 04/12/2020 00:11

Thank you for replies. Fingers crossed that some work is added tomorrow.

OP posts:
StatisticalSense · 04/12/2020 00:29

Is this really anything new? When I was in sixth form it was exceptionally common for teachers to be absent with work either left on the classroom door or emailed to us and in some subjects it probably averaged at least one lesson a fortnight if not more and would often include a full week at a time and on at least a couple of occasions included periods significantly longer than this.

Walkaround · 04/12/2020 08:58

I think parents in schools relatively unaffected by covid absences (as opposed to teachers isolating due to possible covid) have f* all understanding of the difference between a few isolating teachers and a lot of people getting sick close together in a major school outbreak, which is what the OP is talking about, if people want to bother reading it properly. And even if just isolating due to contact, with potentially less than 24 hours notice, it seems unreasonable to me to expect a teacher who was anticipating teaching their lesson in class, in person, to get an alternative up and running for the very next day.

Btw, “cover teachers” is usually a euphemism for people who are not teachers but are employed to babysit classes of absent teachers to try to keep behaviour under control while the class do work set by the teacher, so I’m not surprised they are not used in years 12 and 13. They are not in there to teach.

MrsMiaWallis · 04/12/2020 09:49

And even if just isolating due to contact, with potentially less than 24 hours notice, it seems unreasonable to me to expect a teacher who was anticipating teaching their lesson in class, in person, to get an alternative up and running for the very next day

Why? When teachers are off for other illnesses they at least manage to say "read pages x to y and look at questions in the text book". Presumably they aren't actually ill if self isolating.

canigooutyet · 04/12/2020 12:56

Before CV if a. teacher was off they would have to contact their hoy/hod with a lesson plan and a link to any resources as soon as it became clear they were ill.

I'm ex cover staff. Grin
If there was no work given, as pp. said, we were there to babysit. Students used to love cover days.

Teachers who didn't supply work on a regular basis didn't have their contracts renewed.

Ideally teachers are supposed to have lesson plans and resources ready and accessible to anyone incase they are absent for that next lesson.

Although yes they were supposed to be up and running, some are still having issues due to internal systems/funding/staffing.

My ds school didn't manage to get enough funding to start works until around half term, by which time a lot of staff are off sick and well passed their first lesson.

Now the school are doing their best uploading content, plus all the usual day to day stuff they are doing for their own subjects never mind others.

Plus catch up for the course work missed, hence many students will be in the same predicament of not knowing the exam questions because as yet that material has not been studied. Not all schools were able. to open in June for the years 10. and 12 (?) so they didn't have that catch up. Plus closures since September and the provisions schools were able to get out, also means some won't know parts of the exam questions, and normally they would know it all or a majority of it.

Walkaround · 04/12/2020 12:57

@MrsMiaWallis - yes, I’m sure a message can be passed on to children to read a bit of a text book, but that isn’t teaching, is it, and if that is going to help the children pass an exam in January, then clearly all the efforts to do proper online teaching are unnecessary. Still, one could always go ahead an complain that one doesn’t know what to readmin the textbook without prompting and the teacher concerned had better be in hospital or something to justify this appalling laxness.