School only providing 1 hour of live interaction a day!

[NotLookingTooGood]

What is everyone's school experience? I am going a little crazy. We have live online learning of 2 increments of 30mns (maths & english) a day + homework that we have to supervise.

What is everybody else's experience?
The school is relying entirely on us to do the work.

I mean this time @MarshaBradyo I think it would free teachers up more for the children at home if they haven't got to set the work. And it would be a good national strategy as a leveller between different schools.

Holyhead there seems to be a mix of found content and new for us and it works well. There’s no live teaching in primary. Ds spends 4 to 5 hours a day working but the contact he has is important. This is a platform with fast response and feedback and (happily as I wasn’t sure) differentiation.

There isn’t that much content that the teacher has to create. I think I’ve seen one video so far from art teacher. But it’s still much, much better than last time when all we used was Oak. As good as it was we were completely separate from school. It’s also not hard enough so you have to use higher years which renders curriculum irrelevant.

Much prefer this. He feels connected and is writing on paper and screen most of the day without that much from teacher. Very good at feedback though.

Ginty I feel for Scotland on two counts now - that and nursery closure, children seem lower priority

I think the Oak Academy content is better this time - I think it's improved in quality over the year - it certainly feels a better level, my Year 4 child is analysing poetry, and my year 1 has been learning how to tell the time and now on to continents and a geography topic. I agree that it feels more detatched from school though.

I don’t mind if found content is used a fair bit of the time but as a remote student you need that school connection as a motivating factor and also to not feel you’ve been abandoned

I feel for anyone who has that scan of the room with most friends in. Which some posters dc have had, that’s very hard on them.

I feel for anyone who has that scan of the room with most friends in. Which some posters dc have had, that’s very hard on them.

This is what we’re finding the hardest. The work the school has set suits us fine but it’s tough to see half the class carrying on as normal.

Anyone complaining to OFSTED this week, after less than four day's lessons when teachers only had 12 hours notice of this, should take a good hard look at themselves.

Some places will have got off to a better start than others, admittedly, but give the others chance to get up to speed, for goodness' sake.

It's clear that some people on this thread have no idea how time-consuming it is to set up online teaching in addition to one's normal planning, and when many teachers are also working with KW children in school.

Anyone complaining to OFSTED this week, after less than four day's lessons when teachers only had 12 hours notice of this, should take a good hard look at themselves.

The problem from a parent point of view is that I have never seen the point of complaining. If the school is crap, they are not going to become less crap because they read your complaint. If it's the kind of school that does change in response to feedback, it probably wasn't crap in the first place.

So I can see the point of emaiing about really small and specific things. But if they aren't providing an education, I can't see how it could help.

I agree with @Hollyhead re: Oak Academy being a leveller and freeing up teachers to be able to interact for a portion of the day. Plus how much more efficient at home learning is without distractions is and that snappier is more effective than tyring to elongate a homeschool day out.

I am happy for the parents where schools have built proper systems to develop the provision from the summer. It is the inequality in provision that is so disappointing.

Clearly, there was a sudden change, but with delegation it is possible to create a system to deliver some content online with interaction from a class teacher, ..and I say that as someone who really does know what it takes to create online learning like this, which is why I consider Oak Academy to be a fantastic resource to take up 'the bult of the load' to make this type of schooling realistic and doable.

bulk

@notevenat20

Anyone complaining to OFSTED this week, after less than four day's lessons when teachers only had 12 hours notice of this, should take a good hard look at themselves.

The problem from a parent point of view is that I have never seen the point of complaining. If the school is crap, they are not going to become less crap because they read your complaint. If it's the kind of school that does change in response to feedback, it probably wasn't crap in the first place.

So I can see the point of emaiing about really small and specific things. But if they aren't providing an education, I can't see how it could help.

I agree people should wait a bit longer but ofsted as an option would help I reckon in dire cases.

Ive been really impressed with the stuff my DDs have been set by school from Oak Academy. The lessons could do with worksheets, but I've noticed my elder DDs teacher is producing worksheets to match the lesson now.

As for being too easy... Maybe for the top end. It's actually a bit tricky for my lower ability child. So probably perfect for the average child.

Two 40 minute zoom sessions per day for my dc (reception and year 3). I'm absolutely delighted with that, especially as they're trying to supervise children in school at the same time.

Are you working @IncidentsandAccidents? Are the sessions at the same time?

@Hollyhead yes they're at the same time, which has been interesting! I sit with Dd2 and Dd1 manages zoom by herself. It's making the world of difference seeing their friends and teachers online. I can understand that it would be hard if most of the class were in school but the vast majority of dc's classmates are homeschooling too.

Yes I’m sure it’s nice for the children to see everyone. Do you have other work to do as well? It’s how working parents cope with live sessions for young children I have concerns about - it could send me over the edge!

@Hollyhead I'm lucky that I can take a break from work and sit with dd1 for the two sessions. She's only 4 and would definitely struggle without me. Dd1 (age 7 and in y3) manages zoom really well independently.

Videos for each subject. Maths, English and one other per day which is marked if submitted. Assemblies periodically and spelling each week. And a 30 minute zoom with their class as a social each week. I’m not convinced love learning works with primary. There are many pitfalls including increasing screen time, child has to be online at set time and misses it if not, can’t ask questions really as it would go on fir ever whereas videos can be rewound if child doesn’t get something.

My DCs school are doing full live streaming teaching exactly as they would in school - same break times, lesson structure etc.

My school is doing fully remote learning (apart from tutor time) - they have to do the work of the lessons they would have that day but can choose the times they do them.

There’s pros and cons for both.
Fully live:
Pros - nice to have a routine, good for me wfh as they’re distracted, nice for them to see their teachers faces.
Cons - routine can be too strict when I’m wfh I have to fit in with theirs, MSTeams so I’m constantly getting distracted trying to sort it and other pupils messing around means it takes twice as long for teacher to do anything, not fair on those who share devices so watch it later on, not much learning happening.

Me fully remote:
Pros - they can go at their own pace and do extra work if they need to, there’s no issues accessing it if they’re sharing devices, they can ask questions without other students hearing, they can send work for me too feedback on.
Cons - I miss seeing their faces, they don’t get the ‘social’ aspect, they need to have more independence to get on with their work.

I know it’s only been a few days and my mind might change but I think so far education-wise remote learning is far better as what my students do in an hour vs what my DCS does is completely different as the live lessons go too fast or you can’t hear properly etc.
Questioning should be better live but I’ve not seen it yet.

They were barely given notice!! Give schools a break. Kids learn about 50 mins of actual lessons in a 6 hour day ......! So relax.

child in a special secondary here and denied access to school despite SC plan and SW too. However today we got another email recognising for first time school has responsibility to allow these children to attend. Promised they will try to get it sorted for end of next week. Offering any parent a leave of absence for children if they request it. Children at home will get some online learning but atm 2 x 45 mins lessons today so 1 1/2 hours or less each day and set a piece of homework. No mention of the 3-5 hours of online learning. We have to let Head know if we wish child to attend school first thing Monday morning and she will try to organise for following Monday. Lateral flow test will be available for testing staff and children twice each week. Children must administer their own test. Just not sure they will get it right up nose. She specifically referred to Williamson statement and said she was forced to implement change because of it.

My yr 9 son is having online lessons and the maths teacher hasn't turned up once or set any work for the students. So that's four maths lessons he's missed.

I’m a teacher and we are providing a normal secondary timetable of live lessons - 5 per day for all subjects.

My son’s in y6 and is having no live interaction at all. I think it’s shocking personally and feel that all schools should offer something once a day that is ‘live’. No phone calls from the school either this week

Secondary private here. Full timetable online and music lessons. Same as last lockdown. My son says he has a headache from been on the laptop all day.

I personally think that for primary, the government, having invested so heavily in Oak academy should have made that along with worksheets the 'mandatory national scheme of emergency learning'. Schools could have printed and distributed the worksheets to those who needed them. Teachers and TAs could then be freed up to supervise key worker children in school and maintain appropriate contact with children at home.

I’m secondary and I agree that schools should have printed and distributed work packs to complete.
It would probably be a similar amount to what they were printing anyway and it would stop most of the technology issues that so many people have.

We've got none at all, count yourself lucky if you get any live material from your primary school, we haven't even got any recorded lessons from them personally, except a 4 minute assembly from the head today, they're just sending us links to Oak National Academy lessons, White Rose Maths, a Powerpoint for reading lessons from Literacy Shed, orders to play Hit The Button, and a spelling list to practice and test ourselves.