Why do my children not deserve an education?

[noitsachicken]

Just because we are not key workers?
My children don’t qualify for a school place, that means they won’t be educated in a classroom, by a teacher, with their peers, they won’t have time to socialise with their friends or play in a group.
They will be sat around the kitchen table, sharing a space with siblings of different ages, all with different needs, with a non-teacher parent trying to do the best they can.
Last lockdown school provision was ‘childcare’ the curriculum was suspended and there was no expectation. That is not the case this time, children who are not allowed in school are at a huge disadvantage.
I realise we are ‘lucky’ compared to others, we have access to technology and I can be home with the children, but I worry for my children, for their mental health and their education.
Why do they not deserve an education and others are prioritised for an education based on their parents job?
How long will those of us with children who are not allowed in school accept this?
I understand the reasons for closing schools, but children are not being treated fairly, if childcare is needed for those with critical jobs then it should be no more than that.

But I also think that I am lucky to be in a job where I can wfh and so keep my children at home. So on balance we are lucky ones even if educationally we are worse off temporarily.

@JMAngel1

Possibly the most selfish post I've ever seen on here

I think so too. There you are, OP, safely at home knowing your groceries are being processed, police are keeping law and order, doctors, nurses and other health care workers are doing their utmost in dangerous environments to keep us all as well as possible, transport workers are getting all who need to go to work there as safely as possible while you can tuck yourself in for the duration. Have some humility. Your children are more likely to suffer from being around your attitude than they are from learning at home for a few more months.

@noitsachicken

Just because we are not key workers? My children don’t qualify for a school place, that means they won’t be educated in a classroom, by a teacher, with their peers, they won’t have time to socialise with their friends or play in a group. They will be sat around the kitchen table, sharing a space with siblings of different ages, all with different needs, with a non-teacher parent trying to do the best they can. Last lockdown school provision was ‘childcare’ the curriculum was suspended and there was no expectation. That is not the case this time, children who are not allowed in school are at a huge disadvantage. I realise we are ‘lucky’ compared to others, we have access to technology and I can be home with the children, but I worry for my children, for their mental health and their education. Why do they not deserve an education and others are prioritised for an education based on their parents job? How long will those of us with children who are not allowed in school accept this? I understand the reasons for closing schools, but children are not being treated fairly, if childcare is needed for those with critical jobs then it should be no more than that.

I think that it really depends on the school.

Here all children in school are in the hall, with school lunch tables, given ipadsto follow what the others are doing at home.
The teachers are on a rota. So no consistency with the staff, and with children from the whole school.
Not really as idyllic as you assert in our situation.

If you "understand the reasons for closing schools" then surely you also understand how those children probably feel and feel secure knowing your children are at less risk?

So it sounds from this thread that the ‘at home educators’ feel like their children have been ‘othered’. Pushed out, not welcome, side lined. Knowing what we know about how those feelings can turn to resentment and anger is it any surprise that the parents feel resentful and angry?

I’m a teacher and I’m not sending my kids in. I was going to send youngest in (they are at my school) but so many are being sent in that I and all my colleagues in the same situation have decided to keep ours at home as it seems safer.
I really doubt that the kids at your dcs school are getting normal teaching though. I don’t see how the teachers could do that. I wouldn’t normally advocate pestering the head teacher but it might be worth clarifying exactly what is being offered to those in school and if it is significantly different to those at home you should raise this as a concern. If there is ‘fake news’ going around the headteacher would probably be glad to know.
It is tough having them at home and it’s fine to hate this situation, but cries of ‘not fair’ are just going to annoy people, OP.
Having said that I do think that if over 50% of kids are in it is tough on those at home - but that’s due to some people sending their kids in because they can, not because they have to. Could you order a very cheap folding table so you could at least spread the kids out a bit? I’ve put one in the hall, one in the sitting room and I’m in the spare room.

If it helps, I'm a teacher and my kids aren't being educated by by me.

When they're at home, they do their thing while I do live lessons to my big kids.

When they're in school, they sit distant from other kids and do their thing.

When I'm on rota and go into school, I help with the occasional query, but if it's outside my subject area I can't really help. I'm definitely not teaching kw kids, because I have to keep disappearing to teach online.

Then all kids get the benefit of my wisdom. Except my own. They are ignored for roughly 12 hours a day, but they're used to that.

Go put your life at risk and get a job on the front line....then your child can go to school. Problem solved

@ineedaholidaynow

Schools should be providing the same education for children in class or at home.

In some schools the teacher is teaching remotely from home and there is a TA in the class supervising the children

Other schools the teacher is live streaming their lesson from the classroom

Yes they are missing out on socialisation but we are not really meant to be socialising and they will be at more risk of getting the virus and bringing it home

Bollocks. Yes to bringing home to someone vulnerable but to the children themselves the risk of this virus is very low, the damage to from the lack of socialisation is huge.

I was with you during the first lockdown OP. Well, not the “it’s not fair that key worker’s kids get to go in”, but the other stuff.

This time feels different. We didn’t have any cases in DS’s primary school up to Christmas but the new variant is much more transmittable.

What really brought it home was a friend’s dad dying of Covid after she passed it on from work (nurse). Her DPs do/did their childcare. So I really don’t begrudge her DCs going to school whilst we have to home educate DS.

‘ In our school children have been prioritised based on their parents jobs (as well as vulnerable children) those children are in school with their teachers and peers being taught as normal (with distancing etc)
How is that fair?
Yes it goes without saying I understand the crisis, I am greatful for what we have and that we are all well.’

The alternative is for no child to be in school. Is that what you’d prefer?

Or would you like the nhs to be completely crushed?

We’re living in a pandemic, nothing is fair. The biggest unfairness is the amount of people who would otherwise be fit and well right now but aren’t.
Your children are not disadvantaged because other children are in the classroom.
Fair enough feeling shit about it, but stop moaning. You only have to watch a couple of hours of tv to see adverts asking for money for the true disadvantaged children in this world.

Some of my frontline colleagues have moved out of their home in order to try and protect their families in the event that they do contract the virus. They don't even know how long it will be until they seem them again. Can you begin to imagine how awful that feels?
Yes this situation sucks but it sucks for a lot of people right now, not just you.

You just need to get yourself a job as a critical worker and then your children will have access to a school place. I’m sure you’re happy to take on the logistical and health/safety challenges faced by critical workers so your family can access what they deserve.

I don’t think what you want actually exists at the moment. Schools did their level best to ensure safe, high-quality in-school provision as per government instructions, even as school staff fell ill in large numbers. With no funding for supply cover schools were stretched to breaking point, classes were isolating anyway. Now, many schools have cobbled together in-school learning with TAs while teachers plan, deliver and mark online provision. There is no idyllic, utopian school where children are getting small-group, bespoke education in a totally sterile and safe environment, with freely mingling social interaction and playtimes filled with skipping through fields of bluebells.

We all want schools to get back to normal. But there is no normal, so we just have get on as best we can.

Are you 'that parent' OP?

OP you are lucky enough to be at home with your DC, you can give them an education and they have their siblings to play with.

My primary DC (10) does not have a school place, DH & I can't work from home. We are classed as key workers. But....
DC will be left with a few work sheets, getting a minimal education.

Your DC are luckier than many others.

@noitsachicken Is there a particularly reason why you’ve only responded to the posts that are vaguely aligned with your opinion?

Please don’t be so selfish and short sighted. We would all prefer this dreadful disease wasn’t here and that our children we having normal schooling but in ordered for this war on the virus to be won we all have to make sacrifices.

Your op sounds selfish, narrow minded and entitled. I hope that you are not like that in real life. Let’s all pull together- it is a war against this virus, those on the home front have a role to play just as those in the front line of the NHS do.

Think of it as a way to keep your family safe and build for their future.

Honestly, this

They will be sat around the kitchen table, sharing a space with siblings of different ages, all with different needs, with a non-teacher parent trying to do the best they can

sounds like the gold standard experience in this situation. They have a present and available parent, the company of siblings and a safe environment.

Don't be so ridiculous. We are in the middle of a pandemic with over 1000 dead yesterday

They need to clamp down on the number of people claiming key worker status this time. In our area both parents have to be key workers and both unable to wfh to get a space. I think that’s how it should be

Stupidest post I've seen here in a long time.

Op we're in a pandemic. Schools haven't closed to discriminate against anyone, they've closed to keep people safe. It's not a matter of kids deserving an education. Be grateful that you're in a position where you are able to stay home with your kids and keep safe instead of having to send them in and go out working amongst the general public everyday.

Homeschooling is hard we can all agree on that but stop being so bloody entitled.

I don't think it's as straightforward as the OP suggests.

I would rather stay home & have my kids at home & either be furloughed or reduce my hours & work around the dc as education is very important to me. I don't believe the dc in school are getting an excellent provision.

Oh give it a break! My daughter is doing exactly nthe same as the other kids at home, she is just sat in the school hall with a TA watching over her. She would rather be at home so she can get straight on her Xbox in when she has finished her school work. There's a massive health crisis on and still people are doing the "woe is me" crap. No advantages at being at school at all. No teaching, just kids doing their work with a TA babysitting and putting themselves at risk to help out keyworkers having to go out to work, putting ourselves at risk.

@noitsachicken if your child were in school and god forbid they caught covid and then passed it to you and other family members and one of you died; you’d be on here screaming about how unfair that was as well!

Your children will be in school when it is safer to do so.

Last lockdown school provision was ‘childcare’ the curriculum was suspended and there was no expectation. That is not the case this time, children who are not allowed in school are at a huge disadvantage.

Also this sounds like last time because your kids weren't disadvantaged it didn't matter but now you feel it's reversed it's unfair.

shut up

Suspending the curriculum is a terrible idea!

Also being fair doesn’t always mean treating children the same. And in a crisis (which this is) we are going to have to make the ‘least bad’ decisions. In this case we need less children in school, so the first ones to go home are obviously going to have to be those with a parent at home, even though it’s annoying for them. The last would be those with 2 key worker parents + vulnerable kids. The difference this time is that those with only 1 key worker parent are going in + school me people are taking the piss and trying to get their kids in rather than trying to keep them at home if possible.