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.

My issue is with teachers (or indeed anyone) who feel that everyone should make exactly the same decisions as them and not take a place. It doesn’t take into account the circumstances which are entirely personal to their family.

I do understand what you’re saying I am a single parent key worker and Ive not been able to get a place yet but last lockdown some parents took the mick and as there are only a certain number of VKW places available it’s not fair if those who don’t really need it take it from those that do. But i agree it is unfair of anyone to judge someone’s situation if they don’t know the full details.

My school can’t accommodate that as they say they need a regular pattern

This is out of your hands then and no one can judge you for taking a place full time if that’s what the school is saying to do.

@whittingtonmum

We got two 30 minute zoom sessions this week which wasn't really much of a lesson more of a quiz and a chat. The rest was videos, worksheets & tasks. This is year 4. Luckily my employer has been brilliant and has full time furloughed me so I can be an untrained teaching assistant. Pausing the videos when they tell you to, do number 1 and 3 on worksheet, continue with video, explain anything she doesn't understand and check and correct her work. At least the school has provided enough material this time round that I can actually follow the curriculum if I sit with my daughter the entire time to understand what they explain in the video so I can do what a TA would in the classroom. Honestly it's a joke. No idea how my daughter would cope if I was working. Knowing that some class mates are being taught properly in school and everyone else gets thrown under the bus is heartbreaking. Thanks to my furlough we will be ok, but many many others won't be. For two weeks fine- but not for months on end.

This is what worries me. Not a criticism of you in the slightest.

Parents are putting far too much pressure on themselves because they don't understand what happens in a classroom, through no fault of their own.

You say that you give help for her to understand, just like a TA would. But that's not true, unless your child has special needs. Even then, a TA would very rarely help a child 1.1 for a whole lesson.

One of the most important things teachers say to children is "use what you know and apply it to this piece of work." Children need to develop independence in their learning, or they won't learn.

I say the same to other parents - your child might struggle with some questions. This is completely OK. They may say they don't know how to do it. But in school, the best teachers and TAs don't jump in at the first sign of struggle. They encourage the child to think it through. Your child might not answer all of the questions. This is OK too. If your child is of average ability, they won't be able to answer every question of every piece of work, because teachers have been told to post 4 hours of work for ks2. Well what takes high fliers 4 hours might others 6. This happens in school too.

I'm not sure if I've been a bit rambling in this post but my key point is that parents can cut themselves some slack. Your child won't fall behind if you're not able to be there all day.

DS is in year 8.

This week he’s only had daily tutor time live but they’ve had a good 4 hours work a day at least from three subjects.

Next week onwards they’ll be having two live lessons per day plus tutor time and two independent learning tasks. There will also be daily PE exercises provided by the PE dept.

I think they’re doing a very good job. DS was at a different school last year as we moved over the summer and despite his previous school being a very good school, he didn’t get anywhere near the amount of work he’s receiving now, and there was no teacher feedback. Having said that I expect online learning is a learning curve for all the schools and they will have learnt a lot from the last closures.

I’m very lucky in that DS is both old enough to crack on with his work without much input from me, and that he enjoys learning so I’ve not had to spend time mithering and cajoling.

DC (yr 5 and 3) get a 15 minutes of live video chat with the class teacher and classmates mon-fri, this is to explain the work for the day, ask any questions etc. If you miss the session then the school will email/call to ask if everything is okay unless you've got in touch to forewarn you're missing a session.
This is new for us, last lockdown there was zero live interaction but you could email the class teacher for help but it could be days before you got a reply and you would very rarely get an answer if you called the school even though there were always staff there, so this is a big improvement of course but we are reliant to do all the work here too.

How would I understand what happens in the classroom @2020out ? And how is what happens in a classroom relevant to my situation? My dd is not in a classroom. Other kids are. Mine isn't. She sits on her own in front of google classroom and is told by the school (not by me) to complete work presented in a way that is not suitable for an 8 year old to do in a self directed manner.
I find your assumption ridiculous that I jump in at the first sign of struggle and don't encourage her to think it through. I need to watch the videos with her in order to understand what she is asked to with what method in case there are questions as there is no teacher available at all to answer any questions - even after she tried to work it out by herself. I assume in a classroom you get to ask a question? At the moment if I don't answer it she can maybe ask it two days later on the 30 minute zoom call if she happens to remember what her question was.

This kind of cavalier attitude and belittling of parents when they are trying to support their kids who get very little learning support at the moment is really uncalled for.

My daughter's school are doing 1 hour a day live on 4 days of the week, the rest is pre-recorded so that anyone sharing equipment with parents or siblings can still access their learning. Younger kids can't focus for long online so would be unlikely to manage longer than an hour a day, even in short chunks. My son has multiple online lessons per day and is still quite easily distracted by online games and chatting with his friends on another page, he's year 7.

My 7 year old has two hour team's meetings a day, followed by 2 or 3 assignments to complete before next day,

The expectation is 3 hours online for KS1 and 4 for kS2 increasing for other key stages.

Full timetable of live lessons via Google Meet, even PE. Can’t fault it. Private day school.

@whittingtonmum

How would I understand what happens in the classroom *@2020out* ? And how is what happens in a classroom relevant to my situation? My dd is not in a classroom. Other kids are. Mine isn't. She sits on her own in front of google classroom and is told by the school (not by me) to complete work presented in a way that is not suitable for an 8 year old to do in a self directed manner. I find your assumption ridiculous that I jump in at the first sign of struggle and don't encourage her to think it through. I need to watch the videos with her in order to understand what she is asked to with what method in case there are questions as there is no teacher available at all to answer any questions - even after she tried to work it out by herself. I assume in a classroom you get to ask a question? At the moment if I don't answer it she can maybe ask it two days later on the 30 minute zoom call if she happens to remember what her question was.

This kind of cavalier attitude and belittling of parents when they are trying to support their kids who get very little learning support at the moment is really uncalled for.

My apologies if you felt belittled.

It was the exact opposite of the intention.

how would I know what goes on in a classroom? I was trying to give you an insight to try to take some pressure off you and others who are stressed.

I would apologise again, but I feel your aggression towards me there was utterly uncalled for.

That's WAY more than we get. Also WTF to the idiot who said complain to Ofsted. Try speaking to the school first if you think your child isn't getting enough live learning and they'll explain their decision and maybe offer you extra support! Last thing schools need right now is ridiculous parents complaining to Ofsted!

@Walkaround it's been the same through every lockdown and self isolation we've had. This time is actually worse as the teachers are now only making themselves available for 2 hours a day.

I'm an ex-teacher. I know how to plan, deliver and mark work. What my DS is receiving is nowhere near what he would be getting if he was in school.

@Xerochrysum the school told me to concentrate on his handwriting, so last term I bought him some handwriting books to help him form his letters and to start cursive/joined up writing. There were many tantrums and arguments but we completed a few pages. I took photos of the work he had done and uploaded it to the app they use. It was never approved, mentioned or commented on. This term they've now said that they will not acknowledge any work which has been uploaded which they have not asked for. DS is now refusing to do any more of the books as he doesn't see the point.

@ivfbeenbusy

You can apparently make a complaint to ofsted if you feel that what the school is providing is sub standard

Please contact the school first, they’re only four days into this massive you turn and this time last year we’re teaching normally - they won’t have remote lessons (only isolation work eg worksheets) ready. They might be able to support and advices.

If the government had given schools time to plan maybe! Complain about Gavin Williamson instead!

Another thing to remember is that schools may have a lot of onsite children - in some areas they are almost full! This will affect the remote provision schools can provide massively.

Even if key worker numbers are low, if your school is small it will be very difficult to do two things at once.

Bitesize has videos, cbbc and CBeebies educational channels, setting research projects is a great, educational, independent task.

Speak to your school first but do email Ofsted about Gavin/Boris - he has shown repeatedly that he doesn’t understand that teachers actually plan lessons and can’t magic things out of thin air!

@icedgem85

That's WAY more than we get. Also WTF to the idiot who said complain to Ofsted. Try speaking to the school first if you think your child isn't getting enough live learning and they'll explain their decision and maybe offer you extra support! Last thing schools need right now is ridiculous parents complaining to Ofsted!

I think it might have been Gavin😂 Have you seen how many complaints he’s had to ofsted!

When we weren’t happy that schools were safe, Gavin said to talk to the school, to receive false information about wiping services negating aerosol transmission (information that schools were forced to give). Anybody manage to get hold of Ofsted or anybody for a personalised response??? Or was it just a repetition of dangerous nonsense that has led us here?

Now they’re all ears!! It’s outrageous. Please email Ofsted with your complaints if you feel outraged. Put it at the top of you to do list.

I am wondering if the department of education has actually come on here to stir people up. Massive egg on their face this week.

Stand with teachers. The vast vast vast majority became teachers because they care about children and education. Watch how the government give deals and money to their friends and ask yourself what motivated them 💰

Surfaces!

Primary - no interaction so far, they put world on an online platform, they plan 3 zoom meetings a week from Monday but not to teach, more as a social thing.

High - lessons are on teams, many pre prepared power points, they can ask questions through chat. No live presenting though, partly as some kids are sharing tech and cannot always access the lessons at the appointed time.

By the way everyone, it's Saturday so any whinging about lack of live lessons today is unfair.
Take a break from it.

Try reading this: censoredhead.wixsite.com/website/post/shell-shocked?fbclid=IwAR13hCEGB_AvmfuQOSfsEt83AqVgijTDPoXlut5qeQMUHY9Oa4zAEkfEYAU

We're having nothing live at all

No interaction with teachers. Work uploaded on a daily basis. If we have any issues, we private message the teacher but that doesn't be answered until late in the evening.

Everything is left to us as parents to 'teach'. Google has been so helpful but can be very stressful. I find it difficult to explain things and absorb information which makes so much harder.

I think, so long as the basics are covered and they're reading- should help!
I hope.

No live sessions for either of my grandsons...one in the infant school one in junior. Elder grandson has dyslexia. Sent a grid of lessons and handouts but need to be supervised to do the work, which is impossible as both parents are working from home. They also need a laptop each, but 2 are not available in the house and have to use a phone. Would be more helpful to have printed out handouts, as in the last lockdown.

I am an ex teacher and don’t think this is acceptable, to get away with it parents have been told that data protection (or something) stops teaching from being live on screen with the child.

Everything is left to us as parents to 'teach'.

This should change next week as the new guidelines just released specify that videos/lessons explaining content should be provided alongside the work.