No time to homeschool much but 70% of DC's class is in school. Worried about DC falling totally behind....

[Angelfishfan]

that's if really. I don't wanna discuss if we agree or not with the government. But my 10 year old who is needs a lot of help (no Sen though) can only do so and so much alone. Due to work (WFH but extremely busy, zoom calls frequently etc) and caring responsibilities (another child with complex needs, though luckily in school 9-3), I just cannot spend much time with my supposedly home schooled child.

I was much less stressed during lockdown #1 as it was the same for almost all of the kids in the class but currently 70% are in and are receiving lessons. Most of the others at home have a Sahp and get much more help. It means a huge gap will open up by Easter or even May for DC.

Not sure what I am asking but I am very stressed and worry, that DC will fall completely behind. How do other parents deal with this. School will just send some weekly work packs home but it doesn't work well die DC and we get some stuff online but it's all very basic.

Does anyone of any online tutors and is the financial help available? It not fair that 3/4 receive an education in school and a minority are left without for months and months. Just trying to figure something out so DC gets a regular education if this is gonna go on for a few more months.

And no, furlough refused and no other family support.

borageforager - it doesn't have to be live, it can be pre recorded. But there should be some interaction. I don't think we even have to do all the pre recorded stuff themselves, we could use Oak Academy etc for some of it. But there should be clearly signposted online instruction and there should be feedback on work and welfare check ins - esp if no live lessons.

Oh okay, we get videos on Bitesize.

@Thewiseoneincognito

OP I’m curious to know how many children the 70% is?

A friend of mine is a 1:1 support for a child with an ehcp in DC's class. She told me that 20 out of 28 are in. I also know 2 other staff from school and apparently, it's similar across all year groups. I don't think any of them is making it up.

@soundofsilence1 I have a child at a SEN school too who initially did the vulnerable only thing. A lot of parents asked the question about how this time, the right to full EHCP provision has not been suspended so the children were legally entitled to it. Very quickly the school opened up for everyone on a part time basis. Might be worth asking that question about how they are delivering your child's EHcP right currently?

maniacinsomniac Yeah it’s the interaction/welfare checks I think is missing really. I can see it isn’t necessary to produce your own video for everything. But it’s impossible for my Rec child to navigate a word document full of links on their own, and difficult for my Y4 child to do it so that’s frustrating. And They’ve each had one email in response to their work since school went back, it just feels like their teachers/classmates have disappeared.

[quote yearnewwhatever]@soundofsilence1 I have a child at a SEN school too who initially did the vulnerable only thing. A lot of parents asked the question about how this time, the right to full EHCP provision has not been suspended so the children were legally entitled to it. Very quickly the school opened up for everyone on a part time basis. Might be worth asking that question about how they are delivering your child's EHcP right currently?[/quote]
EHCP = vulnerable.

My other DC's school pulled this on us us well but lots of parents complained to the LA. The SS is now fully open!

@borageforager

Oh okay, we get videos on Bitesize.

Bitesize videos are probably OK but not for everything. There definitely needs to be interaction and feedback though:

Online video lessons do not necessarily need to be recorded by teaching staff at the
school: Oak National Academy lessons, for example, can be provided in lieu of schoolled video content.
• consider how to transfer into remote education what we already know about
effective teaching in the live classroom by, for example:
• providing frequent, clear explanations of new content, delivered by a teacher
or through high-quality curriculum resources
• providing opportunities for interactivity, including questioning, eliciting and
reflective discussion
• providing scaffolded practice and opportunities to apply new knowledge
• enabling pupils to receive timely and frequent feedback on how to progress,
using digitally-facilitated or whole-class feedback where appropriate

Not all schools may have staff to supervise those in class whilst teachers do stuff for the 3/10 who are at home.
TAs may not be qualified for whole class teaching.
Some staff may be shielding.
I’m bloody glad I’m not a teacher.
No mention of what extra support this child actually needs. Lots of parents are struggling to WFH and homeschool. But you cant say you need to give total concentration to training then say a teacher doesn’t need to give the same attention to the class full they have.

Well in the last e days dd3 has completed the equivalent of 3 hours work. She just won't engage.
She is already behind and is on a ASD pathway. She is 7 so not too concerned as I am sure with the right support in place she will catch up

3 days

In the schools local to me (my children's school included), any of the children who go due having parents who are keyworkers aren't taught whilst there, they are supervised. My SIL is a TA in our school and she says there are no teachers in supervising the kids, they are marking work, setting work etc... The TA's are supervising and don't do any teaching or helping, they aren't allowed to.
A boy I'm a eldest daughters class goes 4 days a week and and takes his school work on with him to do, but gets no help whatsoever, comes home from school and a lot of it is wrong, the parent and kid are exhausted as the have to redo the work.

We have no 2 way communication with the school. Minimal feedback on anything submitted. 2/3rds of the class are in (not the school, we just have a key worker heavy class).
My DC is so isolated.
They struggle with the home learning and I work in the evenings, so I’m available to help during the day.
I can’t imagine how hard it would be juggling work as well.

By no 2 way communication I mean no live lessons or anything live at all. Not even a phone call.

@Wolfiefan

Not all schools may have staff to supervise those in class whilst teachers do stuff for the 3/10 who are at home. TAs may not be qualified for whole class teaching. Some staff may be shielding. I’m bloody glad I’m not a teacher. No mention of what extra support this child actually needs. Lots of parents are struggling to WFH and homeschool. But you cant say you need to give total concentration to training then say a teacher doesn’t need to give the same attention to the class full they have.

This child needs teaching, like all children.

If they could teach themselves from worksheets and word documents we wouldn't need teachers at all.

Schools can't decide not to teach some of the children because it's a hassle. There are several options as @manicinsomniac listed above.
None are easy, but opting out of teaching children at home isn't reasonable.

If the school provision is rubbish, sort out your own.
I found Maths Factor to be good for maths for dcs. They can work at a lower level to get a good grounding in basics and times tables. You do need to pay a subscription but it’s not too expensive. Cheaper than a tutor.

Make sure reading is a priority. Buy used books from amazon or eBay or download onto a tablet from your library if you have a card.

Handwriting practise can be writing just a few lines a day from a handwriting practise Workbook.

Oak academy is good for some topic work.

Watching documentaries with subtitles for some general knowledge and higher level English exposure.

My dd is in primary 2. Can't yet read or write. 26 out of 30 in her class are currently in school, in their normal classroom, with their normal teacher and ta. She is being sent home worksheets and advised to look up bbc bitesize - no live or recorded lessons, no zoom calls, no phone calls - just an app where we send in photos of the completed worksheets (that are a fighting match to get through because she's had no lessons to along with them) with very little feedback. It's ridiculous. I've no advice for you, but just wanted to say you're not alone. I'm so angry and bitter. Me and dh are working (him out od the house, me supposedly wfh to keep a roof over our heads) but with 3dc who are bored and miserable, and no proper lessons, dd doesn't stand a chance, and the longer this goes on, the bigger the gap will be between her and her peers. All concerns raised with the school, and now my local MP have been dismissed, or minimised ("kids are resilient, she'll catch up" 🙄) or else the response has just been "there's nothing else we can do." There are so many in school that the teachers are flat out with what is essentially normal school life, they simply have no more time to work on the homeschooling children. It's a travesty, and the people in charge should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

I have to spoonfeed my 10yo and 7yo 1:1. They rarely cope with "learning" at the same time. DS1 has ASD, dyspraxia and dyslexia, no EHCP because his diagnoses were shortly before lockdown #1 froze him out of school for 5.5 months. DS2 is just not a very mature learner.

Even with being a SAHM (because DS1 doesn't cope with wrap around care) and having been an experienced teacher, I can't sucessfully deliver a balanced curriculum to them, even with substantially differentiating it. We have live teaching this time, but focused on maths which they are more receptive to, leaving us to go nowhere with English, far from ideal as at 10, DS1 is just about getting the hang of writing his name and proper sentences. DS is the kind of child who has a 30 minute meltdown because you said the word "diary" and he needs that distinction between home and school to get anywhere with anything that he finds remotely difficult. There isn't enough time to tag team them, and life is constant meltdown management. If I had to hold down a job at the same time, their education would be screwed over completely.

All I can really say is get hold of school, let them know that he's falling behind because this situation is not meeting his needs.

So, so many children need to be in school with their peers and the clear role of a teacher, and this broken "system" is failing them.

That's so sad borageforager I can imagine how isolating that must feel - for them and for you.

Our Reception children don't have much live content as it's not suitable for them at their age but they have short live lessons in phonics and maths every day as well as a 'hello everybody' session (basically a welfare and social thing rolled into one) and optional story time and music sessions. I don't know how feedback is given on their work to be honest as I don't teach that low down the school - I think probably via email to parents.

Our Year 4 children have almost a full live timetable of five 50 minute lessons a day which I actually think is going too far the other way and is too intense and too much screen time for their age.

TAs may not be qualified for whole class teaching.
TAs are qualified to supervise children doing work planned, set and marked by the teacher.

My dd is in primary 2. Can't yet read or write. 26 out of 30 in her class are currently in school, in their normal classroom, with their normal teacher and ta

Are you in Scotland? (assuming because you said Primary 2). I thought Scotland had been far stricter than England about who qualifies for a place in school? 26/30 is insane. I genuinely think that, if I were your child's teacher, I'd try and find any contrived reason I could to get the other 4 children in and just carry on as normal. An extra 4 would make no difference to the safety and would be much fairer on the children and easier on the teacher.

Our school doesn't have normal lessons it's online too, teaching via zoom. So do you think a year R child can focus on a screen sitting on the floor in a room of 16 better than at home ? They have 2 TA's to help them, but my DS said they just have to do it by themselves. Not even at a desk. So I am doing stuff at weekends and after school when I'm not working to support my child's learning. Just in a way he enjoys well he doesn't enjoy any writing, but I make him write real things like shopping list or thank you card.

FFS. Teachers aren’t refusing to do stuff because it’s a “hassle”. Op is though.
Teachers have a full time job in schools. There is a limit to what they can do.
@Foghead OP doesn’t want to do anything themselves.

The teachers will catch them up when they go back.

@Wolfiefan

FFS. Teachers aren’t refusing to do stuff because it’s a “hassle”. Op is though. Teachers have a full time job in schools. There is a limit to what they can do. *@Foghead* OP doesn’t want to do anything themselves.

I never said that . you obviously have an issue with me. just find someone else to pick on. your posts are ridiculous.

@Wolfiefan

FFS. Teachers aren’t refusing to do stuff because it’s a “hassle”. Op is though. Teachers have a full time job in schools. There is a limit to what they can do. *@Foghead* OP doesn’t want to do anything themselves.

It's not individual teachers, it's poor management by the school. The teachers themselves won't be choosing how it's organised.