Pupils with no laptop or space to study allowed to school

[Orangeblossom77777]

In case this is of help to anyone.

There are concerns some schools in lockdown could be inundated with pupils without laptops after a change to the vulnerable pupil list.
Pupils are learning remotely in England after schools were closed on Tuesday to all but children of key workers and those deemed vulnerable.
But those without laptops or space to study are now eligible to attend school, under government guidance

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55565537

@MarshaBradyo

Meaning you don’t need to teach them in person just provide room(s) and person not teacher. You can SD and mix year groups even

Support staff have to be there to look after them.

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss just moving it away from equipment, how do you conjure up an extra bedroom? (also laptops are expensive!). but also, even pens and paper in more conducive surroundings still better than nothing surely?

[quote DBML]@AccidentallyOnPurpose

That’s absolutely shocking. But I’m not shocked.

And the solution is to just send more children in to you apparently.[/quote]
Considering we already have 14 kids in my group with two more coming in next week, we'll get a full class soon.

TBH it would probably be easier... it's only the first week and we're run ragged with teaching kids in school, providing feedback/support/work for the online learners and then separate paper copies(3 children) and feedback on those too.

I'm at home now making dinner and giving feedback to the children that I didn't get a chance to answer to during the day or that submitted the work late.

Fem

Yes which is why I said person in. In response to pp If they need to be taught, you need to bring in teachers

They don’t need to be taught by teachers. But yes I actually do feel for whoever is overseeing in cold classrooms.

@dbml you're right I expected a different answer from you, you seem all about protecting schools rather than fighting for poorer kids education. I guess you must be feeling really ground down and I'm sorry for that.

@AccidentallyOnPurpose

Oh don’t fib!

You’re probably sunbathing with a glass of gin, or lounging in your hot tub whilst your naked butler feeds you grapes.

@stovetopespresso

You see what you want to see.

I want out of this pandemic. I don’t want to be in a perpetual state of semi lockdown, because people can’t handle a few weeks of proper lockdown.

@luxxlisbon This seems totally reasonable, I've seen a lot of people complain about this and I genuinely can't understand why. you can’t think of a reason why extra children in school would be a issue? Why do you think we are in a lockdown?

We have so many children in we don't have enough computers in school for them all.

@Jetatyeovilaerodrome

Yes, surely the government should be ensuring that families have a laptop to work with?

No point having a laptop if you have no where to put it and no internet to connect it to.

[quote DBML]@stovetopespresso

You’re not going to like my answer. But I think it’s about time that some parents took responsibility too.

I get that affording a laptop is impossible to some. That’s understandable and I have sympathy.

Not providing a space to do some school work? Doesn’t cost, doesn’t take up too much time, isn’t asking the earth. I can’t be responsible for irresponsible parents kids their whole life.

If you’re considering sending a child into school because you haven’t got a quiet space for them to work, sort it out.[/quote]
If you can 'get' that affording a laptop is impossible to some, why can't you 'get' that the same families, overcrowded in inadequate accommodation, may well find it impossible to sort out a decent space in which to do school work?

@MarshaBradyo

Fem

Yes which is why I said person in. In response to pp If they need to be taught, you need to bring in teachers

They don’t need to be taught by teachers. But yes I actually do feel for whoever is overseeing in cold classrooms.

Some areas in our school don’t have good ventilation and the parents are complaining about their kids having to wear masks 😨 and the kids not wearing them properly if at all anyway. It seems so strange that they keep inviting more and more in, is it because the teachers are now protected and we don’t count as that’s what it feels like. I read on another thread ‘All support staff have had the virus already anyway’ I mean wtf?? Like we are another species.

Our secondary put out an email today, saying that they are concerned that families with more than one child at the school are only asking for one Chromebook, and that they need them to have one each, so please get in contact to borrow a Chromebook. So they must have worked out from their surveys that enough children have them already to allow them to cater for the rest.

Oh, ffs. How bloody incompetent and stupid is the DfE and Government? What makes them think schools have laptops lying around either? And how the hell do they think children without laptops will access online learning in school any more easily than online learning at home? Fund schools properly if education is the priority you claim it is, you useless Government - provide every child in England with an appropriate laptop and don’t pretend schools can conjure them out of thin air and deficit budgets

@Nellodee yes i have read that as well and should def bring more into the equation, most of my sons friends have one of these at least and I live in a ha house and mine go to a disadvantaged state school so we are not in an affluent area.
School has also been good at giving out here as well.
It doesn't seem to if been mentioned much about using xbox/ playstation so I wonder if some are not aware .

@BelleSausage

Maybe the people talking key worker spaces they don’t really need should consider that they are taking a space from another family and denying another child access to learning.

But, as always, the pushy get their own way.

Totally the case at my ds' school unfortunately.

@Walkaround can be accessed on more than just laptops though .

@unmarkedbythat

If a family are in a dire situation, where they live in poverty and their accommodation is overcrowded. The child is already going to be classed as vulnerable and be entitled to a place at school.

Thank goodness that some small measure of understanding about inequality has been shown.

[quote DBML]@AccidentallyOnPurpose

Oh don’t fib!

You’re probably sunbathing with a glass of gin, or lounging in your hot tub whilst your naked butler feeds you grapes.[/quote]
Stop spying on me!

[quote donewithitalltodayandxmas]@Walkaround can be accessed on more than just laptops though .
[/quote]
I’m fully aware of that, @donewithitalltodayandxmas. According to the OP, however, all children without laptops should be allowed to go into school. If that’s what the DfE expects, then it’s laptops the DfE should provide, thank you very much.

could schools do a shout out to the community/businesses to donate laptops they're not using? use pta funds? again o know this is putting pressure on schools to bail the gov out, just an idea if they don't want more kids in school?

It has really annoyed me.

They've had months to prepare for this and they still weren't we all knew winter would be bad

We've just had to buy the dc a laptop each we are lucky that we can afford to but the children that have no access to tech are probably disadvantaged on so many other levels that this will only compound the issue.

I can imagine in some schools virtually every child will be eligible to attend due to tech issuss which then undermines the school closure

@stovetopespresso

We have. We’ve begged everyone we can think of for laptops. I’ve even donated my old laptop and my son’s old iPad. I’ve got an old Xbox 360 I am willing to donate, i need to find out if it could be used.

@Blankscreen

I’m so angry...we’ve know about potential winter lockdowns for 9 months! 9 months to sort out this issue and ensure every kid who needed it had a laptop and a dongle.