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

@Makinganewthinghappen

My children have been home educated for years and so the current situation has made no difference to their actual school work. I have missed our regular trips out and meet ups but my children have not seemed that worried about it.

We did try some of the “lockdown learning” resources a while ago but after 1 week of boring videos and pointless worksheets we went back to our normal curriculum. School at home doesn’t work - home education is not school at home.

The problem isn’t that the schools are shut it is that so
many families are struggling to survive. If families can’t feee their children without being given a box of (pathetic looking) food there is something seriously wrong with society.

If parents are so busy working all the hours God sends that they are physically unable to spend time with children - there is something wrong with society.

If children are so stressed and unhappy by being at home that they have developed new mental health problems there is something wrong.

It seems to me as a school outsider that reopening schools just papers over these cracks.

What age are your dc?

Are they secondary

For Ds it really isn’t like home school it’s live classrooms. Which are very good and preferred. But all learning and talking to friends is not rl mixing. It’s digital not f2f

That’s the issue. Not the home school comparison. With home school you do a lot with others don’t you?

Besides, if your child can't cope with school there's always been the option to home school

Agree with this and all your post January

I'm not sure all schools are offering the same experience.

My 6th form dd has full online live school from 8.30 to 5. She's had 6 essays to write in 10 days. She can't lay in bed and do online school. It's bloody tough!

Marsha I have 6 children the eldest is 16 (she would have been doing her GCSEs this year - ( she has been accepted into college without sitting them)
I have 2 more secondary aged children and 3 primary. The youngest is 5 and would have started school this year.

@Makinganewthinghappen

Marsha I have 6 children the eldest is 16 (she would have been doing her GCSEs this year - ( she has been accepted into college without sitting them) I have 2 more secondary aged children and 3 primary. The youngest is 5 and would have started school this year.

Great.

It’s not what we want and dc love school. They thrive on being with friends and classroom interaction.

I know some children find it tough, even very tough to be in school environment, but home school option is there for them.

Do you think maybe @Makinganewthinghappen that children are not stressed and unhappy by being at home (I hope your implication there isn’t that their home life is unhappy). More that we have happy, sociable kids, that love school and the school routine and being with their friends?
That they love the sports clubs and being part of a team. They get confidence from this.

That right now a 5 minute Zoom and then hours of worksheets (whilst their parents try and work) isn’t quite cutting it? No there’s nothing wrong with society in this respect my kids just actually love being at school.

I’m sure those that hate school are happy right now. Though the lack of social interaction can’t be good for them whatever you say.

How can being shut in a room staring at a screen for 7 hours been good for an 11 year old?
If you are into practical subjects, it’s a disaster. My child most enjoys singing, learning and instrument and composing, performing music and drama, choir and smaller singing / playing in ensembles, dance including ballet and group dance.

All of these things are extremely rubbish and unfulfilling over zoom. Her enthusiasm for the things she loves dwindles week by week when not able to do them

I know. Are we actually saying isolation is good for kids now?

Interesting piece on 5 live now about the mental health of kids at the moment due to missing school.

Delatron - yes I realise that children like to socialise. My own children normally do scouts,D of E, swimming, karate plus home ed meet ups of various types.
I am not talking about children who just miss their friends. I am talking about children who have become suicidal or mentally ill from being at home.

I think that it’s all being well if your school has good online provision so hats off to you. However, for those of us with completely shit provision is different. My children are yet to have a single online lesson-10 months in. The school refuse to even consider it despite complaints and the fact they are the only high school in the region not offering anything. This is from a supposedly outstanding school and not in an area of high deprivation. I am so worried about their loss of education as well as everything else to do with physical and mental well-being

Yep are people ok with the richness of life being digital only?

I noticed outrage when someone suggested holidays should be virtual on another thread

Maybe it’s only when it comes to taking stuff away from dc

I don't think that reopening schools is papering over the cracks at all.

It's perfectly understandable that a child or adolescent would struggle when their lives have been effectively turned upside down for a whole year and all of the things they enjoy taken away.

Before any comes with the being resilient bollox you can take a running jump. People and especially families have been extremely resilient.

But it's normal and acceptable for children to want to live a full life, alongside other humans their own age.

And if it has been me in lockdown with my mother without the escape of school I would have probably not come out of it at all

My year 7 DD is pretty much hating it, and she is usually enthusiastic about school and learning, and loved her first term at secondary school. Sitting at a laptop day, day out, however good the lessons are, is killing her motivation and she's just becoming so sad.

I'm seriously worried about the next however many weeks there are of this.

For those children for whom home schooling is better, why not home school them permanently if you can?
For my children (and I suspect the majority), home schooling is way worse than in-person schooling. Socialisation is hugely important at all ages. For those lucky enough to have access to laptops, staring at a screen all day is not healthy. Physically, it’s important to GO somewhere. It’s very unhealthy to do all your lessons in the room where you sleep but for many that’s the only option.
For our family there are so many downsides from home schooling and no upsides.

Teenagers lying in bed, is where most teens prefer to be.

They do get more tired don't they.
But it's temporary.

It's only going to be a small blip in their education, they have been out and in and will in soon... People really need to get some perspective. Short term.

@Justthebeerlighttoguide

Teenagers lying in bed, is where most teens prefer to be.

They do get more tired don't they.
But it's temporary.

It's only going to be a small blip in their education, they have been out and in and will in soon... People really need to get some perspective. Short term.

What age are your dc?

Even just the walking about between class is good for them. Waking to school. Walking around at lunch. Chatting and socialising.

I think we’ll also have lots of kids with eye issues. They are just staring at a screen in one room alone for most of the day.

I do take mine out when their work is finished and kick them out in to the garden at lunch but it’s not the same. And very hard to get them to go for a run/walk in the dark. Though we do it.

Delatron - yes I realise that children like to socialise. My own children normally do scouts,D of E, swimming, karate plus home ed meet ups of various types.
I am not talking about children who just miss their friends. I am talking about children who have become suicidal or mentally ill from being at home.

Oh do kindly sod off with the patronising condescending attitude.

If you can't correlate the two then there's a problem with your empathy and understanding.

Children aren't becoming suicidal or mentally unwell from being at home.

You don't hear parents saying that their children are suicidal because of the school holidays, do you?

Children are struggling because of living under severe restrictions for so long, where often their only social interaction is via the screen that they're spending all day learning on. If they're very lucky then they might have a friend nearby they can go outside with.

Most parents will tell you that when their dc were able to resume school and other activities they were back to being bright and happy. Lots of children are also only children or don't have siblings their own age.

Sorry but no, they are missing out on too much that makes school, well school. And yes some may well prefer it I think they hugely need the social aspect of it for their mental health. For lots of reasons for many being at home does not help or improve learning. And yes whilst there may be less disruption with bad behaviour the teachers still have to some how deal with the kids that are not bothering to attend or do homework. So would make things harder for them.

Damn pressed send. Although I do hugely agree, and it should of been done many moons ago, that exams need to be looked at and changed. To pin everything on to one day/exam is madness and this has shown that at least

Meant to add school on the whole works well for the vast majority of children.

School isn't perfect, but the answer isn't to close them down and learn from a laptop, this isn't the better option for most.

Lurking I agree that staring at a laptop all day is terrible and that you need to go somewhere - as I said recreating school at home doesn’t work.

There’s are lots of home education ideas out there if people wanted to get off the computers - we are working through some of exploring nature with children each afternoon at the moment.

(Raisinglittleshoots.com )

I don’t think schools should stay shut - I do think they shouldn’t be the focus of a child’s life.

Thanks at @Januaryissodull I couldn’t quite articulate a response to that! Yours is perfect. So true and very sad.

Listen to 5 Live now if you can. It’s heartbreaking the impact this is having on kids.