Don't expect your school to educate those attending

[bjjgirl]

I am a keyworker as is my ex, we have 2 dds one in primary and one in secondary.

The secondary school is amazing and she is getting full lessons. Dd2 is at primary school where we have been told not to expect education but just childcare. they don't have enough electronic devices for the children to view the lessons on line. The teachers are at home streaming their lessons so the children have to view it on line only.

I can't believe it, that as a key worker, risking my health to keep others safe, my child is at a disadvantage due to having to attend school.

I am very close to taking annual leave so that I can home school but we are already chronically understaffed

I offered to send her in with an iPad but apparently she won't be able to access their WiFi.

Surely there must be an answer

Also my close friend who is also at her wits end with the school is a primary teacher and has stated it is so different in her school.

It's as if with the tone of the schools emails that they want to dissuade people from sending their children in and that the children attending are nothing more than a health risk. They continually refer to the school places as childcare and remind us all they may not be able to access the classes.

At my kids school, each year group is staying in their own classroom with a TA, so they can just join in the live stream with everyone else on the interactive whiteboard. I think they do then have laptops as well, but presumably could do without one as well?

"What also grates me is the teachers claiming there isn't enough devices/ space etc but then bringing their own children in with them."

What? So teachers who needs to work at school should leave their children at home? Aren't teachers key worker too?

No online classes are being offered to us (at home). Just a few worksheets. Most of the day spent on a screen while I wfh. Whereas the kids in school are getting adult supervision, help and social interaction. I know where I'd prefer my kids to be!

@Jetatyeovilaerodrome

At my kids school, each year group is staying in their own classroom with a TA, so they can just join in the live stream with everyone else on the interactive whiteboard. I think they do then have laptops as well, but presumably could do without one as well?

I did suggest this but it didn't go down well, I'm going to see how it goes. It's a small school so I don't think they have one teacher per year group if the teachers are doing work from home

The person I've been dealing with is the head

But isn't the streamed class also being streamed into the classroom?

In our school the key worker kids are grouped into upper and lower school, 2 groups.

These are run by the TAs. All the work is set online, in advance so no live teaching for anyone.

Teacher is available on google classroom for homeschooled children all day long, as well as in school children. So the TAs are downloading and printing the worksheets / tasks same as parents at home, and can access the teachers the same way as homeschool parents / children.

Seems the fairest and easiest use of resources. I wouldn’t expect a full days of teaching, as the groups in schools are likely to be a mix of year groups anyway

@Xerochrysum

"What also grates me is the teachers claiming there isn't enough devices/ space etc but then bringing their own children in with them."

What? So teachers who needs to work at school should leave their children at home? Aren't teachers key worker too?

Their children could go to their school and use a key worker place, if the space and resources are so drastically limited like we are being told.

Or if there is enough resource to educate all the children attending then I have no problem with their children coming

I can not take my children to work

I would expect for the lesson to be streamed into the classroom, perhaps on the interactive whiteboard. Or the teacher could be in school teaching and this is streamed to those at home. It's not fair to disadvantage one group.

It is the fact the teaching staff are telling us via emai that our children might not be able to view the online streamed classes in school due to lack of equipment and they will be at a disadvantage

The teachers are at home streaming their lessons so the children have to view it on line only

But then you said the teachers are bringing their kids in with them?

So which is it?

@TheGreatWave

Because in primary, one teacher per year group is all there is, so I’m not sure where “the rest of the teachers” would come from!

Well I'm guessing that, like many schools, there is a 2+ form entry. Unless you are proposing one teacher to 60 children.

That’s what I mean, though - it’s so different for each school depending on how big the school is, where it is, how well resourced it is or not, make up of the school community in how many pupils they’ll have in. Secondary is more predictable in a way, and children older so can learn more independently. But what one primary school can organise and manage is so different to another.

This is the complete opposite to me in that key worker kids are doing the same work as at home but being taught by the teacher instead. We get it all sent as worksheets to complete at home. I've just had to go out and buy a printer otherwise it's a nightmare.

So it seems some schools are prioritising key worker kids and others are prioritising those at home! I'd kill for zoom lessons but we are not being offered them

The only fair where is to give pupils at home and pupils at school exactly the same.

So. I think teacher should stay home, (and thus safe) either live lessons or setting work. Pupils at home or at school getting EXACTLY the same.

Staff in school should be there for ratios - teaching assistants/MSA's, not helping (and therefore keeping themselves safe) just for security.

Most children are not getting much help, as their parents are either WFH, have other kids, can't, WOH, whatever.

I work in a one form entry primary and I’ll be honest it’s a nightmare. The children in school are doing the home learning though, I am with them but also have to respond to those at home and make lessons/ videos/ resources etc. Plus often cover lunch so no break all day, it’s unsustainable but it is easier to do the home learning with them to be honest than thinking up something else! We are in year groups though so may be harder to organise if there are children all doing different work.

We also have people claiming those in schools are advantaged as working with teacher so I guess you just can’t please everyone !

It must be very hard in smaller primary schools, particularly where the key worker take up is high, we have the advantage of being a 3 form entry school with 1 Teacher and 1 TA per class.

It does seem to vary between each school.

At my DS primary (a two form year) one teacher from each year group is in school teaching the key worker children (about 11 in his year), and the other teacher is delivering the same lessons over Microsoft Teams to everyone else.
I fully support why my DS is staying home, but I do wish he could go to school to benefit from those teaching ratios. Instead he’s than having to stay at home with both parents working. I’m trying to juggle helping a 7 year old access online resources, complete and submit his work, then support our secondary age DS complete his work and also attempt a full days work myself, which is proving impossible.

We’re lucky we have a laptop/pc each at home and I am tech savvy but it’s clear on the calls lots of children learning from home aren’t so fortunate.

It’s a shame it seems to vary so much between schools, but it seems none of this is ideal for anyone.

I'm a primary teacher and at our school all the teachers teach their own classes from home. In school, key worker children listen to my lessons on the interactive white board while supervised by a teaching assistant. That way everyone is getting exactly the same provision

Maybe it's still early days. I've read so many different stories on MN last few days. Some are doing great, some are not so much.
I thought they should have prepared since they had to provide works for isolating children, but if the school has been badly affected by covid and many teachers/staff were off, it couldn't have been possible to organize well in time.

Op, you do seem to be thinking only of the negative, whereas what you actually have is...

Positive

1. It is an amazing advantage for your secondary age dd to be getting lessons at school from a teacher. That is actually incredibly unfair on the rest of the class. I'm surprised secondaries are even offering this except to maybe y7s or special needs.

1. You have free childcare given so that you can work. Many many people have lost their jobs or are having to take unpaid leave.

1. It is incredibly nice of the teachers going in with their children to put both themselves and their children at risk by doing so.

But, yes, I agree with you, your youngest shouldn't be at a disadvantage to home schooled.

Anecdotally there seem to a lot my key worker and vulnerable kids in this time. I have to say managing large classes and doing home learning seems very unsustainable for teachers!

I think a bit of perspective would be helpful here.
Our primary class is broken down into these broad categories:

1. The parents wfh and/or don’t qualify for a key worker place. The home schooling their children receive will be minimal, rushed by stressed parent(s) and bored, isolated children.
2. Those parents who don’t have access to the tech required to perform homeschooling.
3. Those parents who are not inclined to attempt any form of homeschooling.
4. Those parents who can access the key worker provision but where the school predominantly provides a level of opposed to schooling.

Believe me, the children who are in household 5. where there is an available parent ready and willing to dedicate a full day to homeschooling are in the vast minority. The majority of children will require some form of catch up when schools resume and the teachers will have plans dedicated to ensuring this happens.

@NoSquirrels - surely the poster means the other class teachers in the year?

So in my DC's primary school, it's two-form entry. One class teacher and TA are in school teaching those children, the other teacher and TA are on-call at home, posting learning, responding to parent queries etc. Then next week, they swap over and it continues like that.

Just be grateful they are being looked after and they are not lonely. I’m a primary TA and what we are currently providing educationally is below the usual standard but I still think these kids are the luckiest ones. They’re not lonely for a start!!

Please come down off your keyworker high horse.

My kids were in school and today they were making Pom poms. I am grateful.