Secondary school closure not a disaster

[Rowenasemolina]

In among all the doom laden unhappy threads, I just want to put the other side.

Some children prefer home learning , and do better

No teacher time is being wasted on bad behaviour, so the whole lesson is about the lesson.

Given that 25-50% of learning time in schools is wasted For the average child for the average week, there are positives to the current set up

And the school meals sent home are no worse than the school meals served on site. Maybe now the electorate will wake up to the absolute con of s a school meal system which takes millions of pounds and spends almost all of it on wages rather than food. School meals should be got rid of altogether

As a tutor, I would say around a quarter of my students say they prefer being in school, a quarter day they prefer being at home, and half vary in their feelings from day to day.

They certainly have less interruptions to their learning from badly behaved students at home though.

Not surprising, it is the parents of the badly behaved students that are Complaining most in our schools, and pushing hardest to get them back In

Mine absolutely love their school and really miss it.

I don't think your comment 'it's not a totally negative thing' is correct. That might be true for some but for others such as my son it is a totally negative thing. As I said up the thread, schools need to be shut but let's not pretend it's good for children. Your comment that it's the parents of badly behaved children who complain also really annoyed me. I have a brilliantly behaved son, I don't complain, we just try to get on as best we can but it's certainly not solely the disruptive kids finding it all a massive struggle.

@Rowenasemolina

I wonder if this model could be Adapted and used in future for excluding pupils. It Might work. The problem with excluding pupils from a lesson is that it can be counter productive if they fall behind. If they are placed in the exclusion room with computer and headphones and I can just turn on live streaming, then they are no longer disrupting the class, but have no excuse to get behind either

I've actually done this before Christmas with a boy who was removed from all lessons after persistent disruptive behaviour. He dialled in and could hear everything I was saying and put messages in the chat. He's rejoined my lessons now but it did work quite well.

They don't have any pupils who are so badly behaved they lose 25% of their lessons though, so their normal lessons are very productive.

That's great if you've one child and plenty of space in your home. Plus Great WiFi,

I've 5 teens, 4 are secondary, I don't have the space to put them separately, with 5 kids using our WiFi it creates problems, lagging, cutting off, teachers complaining of background noise, insisting on mics and cameras are on.

When they are in school they have a good walk to the bus stop, a bus journey with friends which is great for their mental health, plus good exercise. Plus it gives me a day where I can focus on my disabled dd, I can make dinners, clean house, come and go as I please. Instead I'm sitting in my bedroom from 8.30am with dd and I don't leave it till after 4pm when online classes finish.

I have to make dinners the night before because I can't go into the kitchen making a racket. I have to make sure all housework is done by Sunday evening because there's no hope of putting a hoover on, or the washing machine while they are online. To top it all off the breaks between classes are a maximum of 15 mins, teachers are piling in the work because parents with less children want their kids to be kept active. Kids are trying to get the work done in between classes so it doesn't build up, there's barely a lunch break slotted in, never mind time to go for a walk, they are not allowed to talk to classmates, only teachers, so it's constant work, I've never handed out so many pain killers for headaches for stress and constant screens. Then they do homework till 8pm, it would go on later but I have to put a stop to it.

We constantly get surveys, texts, emails from the schools asking for our feedback but it's just tough shite that I have a few kids as everyone else is very happy with it. I can't even get a grocery shop delivered during the week as I can't make noise, so getting a Saturday slot is like hens teeth!!

Of course I want my kids safe, and don't want them in an environment where it's not, but this home schooling is utter crap!! And DOESN'T suit us.

My son suffered between Oct and Dec when he had repeatedly isolations and was home alone all day everyday. He was very depressed.

With his dad and I home now, he is much happier. He’s doing his school work and he’s doing really well! Lots of teachers calling to say that he stood out in a lesson.

Without the louder disruptive ‘cool’ kids in the class he feels confident enough to speak up and get involved in Q&A.

His dad and I do have to get him out of bed and motivate him to start, but once he gets going he’s fine.

For my son it’s done wonders, even if it’s been a little more stressful for me.

@Lipz

That's great if you've one child and plenty of space in your home. Plus Great WiFi,

I've 5 teens, 4 are secondary, I don't have the space to put them separately, with 5 kids using our WiFi it creates problems, lagging, cutting off, teachers complaining of background noise, insisting on mics and cameras are on.

When they are in school they have a good walk to the bus stop, a bus journey with friends which is great for their mental health, plus good exercise. Plus it gives me a day where I can focus on my disabled dd, I can make dinners, clean house, come and go as I please. Instead I'm sitting in my bedroom from 8.30am with dd and I don't leave it till after 4pm when online classes finish.

I have to make dinners the night before because I can't go into the kitchen making a racket. I have to make sure all housework is done by Sunday evening because there's no hope of putting a hoover on, or the washing machine while they are online. To top it all off the breaks between classes are a maximum of 15 mins, teachers are piling in the work because parents with less children want their kids to be kept active. Kids are trying to get the work done in between classes so it doesn't build up, there's barely a lunch break slotted in, never mind time to go for a walk, they are not allowed to talk to classmates, only teachers, so it's constant work, I've never handed out so many pain killers for headaches for stress and constant screens. Then they do homework till 8pm, it would go on later but I have to put a stop to it.

We constantly get surveys, texts, emails from the schools asking for our feedback but it's just tough shite that I have a few kids as everyone else is very happy with it. I can't even get a grocery shop delivered during the week as I can't make noise, so getting a Saturday slot is like hens teeth!!

Of course I want my kids safe, and don't want them in an environment where it's not, but this home schooling is utter crap!! And DOESN'T suit us.

That sounds incredibly difficult

DS isn’t loving it, but his progress has been good. He has a specific learning difficulty and finds the lack of distraction, the fact that his screen is set to his preferred colour shade and the lack of irritating school uniform to be huge bonuses. He’s in yr11 and we are all just hoping for fairness in giving GCSE grades and an end in sight so he can enjoy his sixth form years.

When they are in school they have a good walk to the bus stop, a bus journey with friends which is great for their mental health, plus good exercise.

One thing dd’s school is implementing is one afternoon off every week (on a rotating basis so they don’t miss the same lesson each week) as a mental health afternoon. They have been advised to do things like go for a walk in daylight hours or just relax/catch up on work etc.

@Rowenasemolina

Comefromaway really? That’s awful. No school should have been allowing children to move from room to room unnecessarily between September and December. Did you report them? It’s that sort of thing that’s caused this peak

I don't understand this. All our students moved, they needed to go to different classes and in different groups. We staggered times a bit to avoid too many in the corridor, but that's it. They weren't doing anything wrong so not sure how they could be reported.

@Rowenasemolina

In among all the doom laden unhappy threads, I just want to put the other side.

Some children prefer home learning , and do better

No teacher time is being wasted on bad behaviour, so the whole lesson is about the lesson.

Given that 25-50% of learning time in schools is wasted For the average child for the average week, there are positives to the current set up

And the school meals sent home are no worse than the school meals served on site. Maybe now the electorate will wake up to the absolute con of s a school meal system which takes millions of pounds and spends almost all of it on wages rather than food. School meals should be got rid of altogether

As a tutor, I would say around a quarter of my students say they prefer being in school, a quarter day they prefer being at home, and half vary in their feelings from day to day.

They certainly have less interruptions to their learning from badly behaved students at home though.

Not surprising, it is the parents of the badly behaved students that are Complaining most in our schools, and pushing hardest to get them back In

That's a terrible thing to say. There are plenty of well behaved students and their parents who desperately want school to re open to all pupils. Also please don't label some as "disruptive".

My daughter is happy that she can work without having fire extinguishers let off in the classroom, that whole lessons aren't lost to one child having a meltdown, singing and swearing and walking in and out, cleaning placards thrown at childrens heads etc..
Classrooms have become so unsafe and environments that are really hard for some kids to learn anything.
Those that disrupt lessons in future should continue to be taught on-line.

@DBML My DS was the same when he was home alone all day five days a week from March to May in the first lockdown. He became withdrawn and stopped communicating with friends. I had to send him back into school in May. I've been working out of the home throughout.

Not surprising, it is the parents of the badly behaved students that are Complaining most in our schools, and pushing hardest to get them back in

What a horrible thing to say.

How about - it's people who benefit financially from schools being shut, like tutors, who are quite happy for them to remain closed.

I know you are trying to present this as a positive thread and I’m pleased that some children are happier.

It’s not doom mongering to be worried about your child’s mental health though. Many are struggling. What about the rates of child abuse sky rocketing as school is their safe haven? Is that doom mongering?

Have you read the other thread about all the children struggling? It’s heart breaking. I actually cried.

What a strange, short sighted thread.

My child is very well behaved thank you. He’s a sociable happy kid. Never been in trouble once.

He now says his life isn’t worth living. So that’s why I want him back in school.

@Delatron do you have source for that? I would like to look into that more.

here is a piece from the guardian

I’ve been doing one to one sessions with my tutor group, they absolutely love remote learning. We have always taught live to timetable from lockdown 1. They are loving the ‘break out’ rooms on teams so we can generate small group discussion. My own children are primary age and they are accepting of the situation. DH and I often joke they’ll look back at this time as the period they were allowed to live in pjs, completes schools work at 6am so they could then play in the garden all day!

My daughter and her friends really miss each other but they are all learning far more without the disruption, without having to go into school to sit at a desk for a whole lesson when no work was able to be done.

DH and I often joke they’ll look back at this time as the period they were allowed to live in pjs, completes schools work at 6am so they could then play in the garden all day!

Yeah, maybe its bant having primary kids who do very little at school.

It's shit having older teens worried about exams.

@Frodont

DH and I often joke they’ll look back at this time as the period they were allowed to live in pjs, completes schools work at 6am so they could then play in the garden all day!

Yeah, maybe its bant having primary kids who do very little at school.

It's shit having older teens worried about exams.

I’m a secondary teacher of 20 years. I have a Yr 10, 11 and 13 class. I teach them live to their timetable and they know they will be fairly assessed.

I agree. I don't know many school aged children now, but the couple I know well are ecstatic to be home. They are well-behaved and social, but they love the independence and quiet learning atmosphere.

My oldest 2 should have had exams this year - it is extremely stressful them being out of school when they were supposed to be doing assessments in class to be submitted to support estimated grades. With no knowledge of when and if they’ll return to face to face teaching.

But they’re fortunate we have space, WiFi and computers they can use.

However, I’m devastated for kids not as fortunate trying to deal with all of this and get good grades so they can improve the opportunities they have. It’s heartbreaking.

My daughter had 100% attendance in school, was rarely in trouble and loved the social/physical interaction of friends and lessons.

She detests online learning and is becoming a real concern. I am a frontline healthcare worker doing 12-hr shifts and I’m also a single parent - I hate that schools are shut but understand the reasons why.

Every child is different - my middle one would have loved it and my eldest would also have also lost the will to live.

FFS get off your high horse - those kids you talk about that misbehave are very likely the ones that need to be in school the most.

As long as your little darling’s doing fine eh ...