Making pupils repeat a year

[PigggieABC]

Is this likely to happen?

What would happen to the pre-school and year 6 cohorts in this scenario?

Can you imagine having 12 year olds at primary school?

Wouldn't it be much better to move all year groups up as usual but lower the expectations in each year's set curriculum?

I hope they won't do this.

@PigggieABC

Some sort of system of assessment might work for the UK. Who has not managed to cover the material during home-schooling? Who has fallen really behind? Which children have additional needs which have not been met? etcetc. These children could then resit the year while the others who have achieved the learning goals could move on.

I agree that assessing the children to identify those who would benefit from repeating the year might be the better way forward. Let the children who have worked hard during both lockdowns move on as planned. However, I don't think that the parents who say that they would like the year repeated would be happy about this selective approach .

I don't know that I wouldn't be happy - it obviously makes some sense. But it doesn't address all the issues I've mentioned about emotional and social development. In any case I think my children would probably pass such a test but I still think they've lost out and might never catch up where they might have been.

@PigggieABC

Why do you think there will be further lockdowns (that involve schools closing I mean)?

Genuine question, not trying to be awkward.

I assume we'll have another lock down next winter. The thing will mutate a bit and not everyone will be vaccinated. I really don't think we're sailing out of this yet, it'll get better, but it's not finished.

@megletthesecond

I assume we'll have another lock down next winter. The thing will mutate a bit and not everyone will be vaccinated. I really don't think we're sailing out of this yet, it'll get better, but it's not finished.

We’ll just have to live with it. Between the vaccine and people getting immunity from infection we’ll be in a better place next year.

"Those who can't do online learning during potential future lockdowns will continue having a place in school and use computers in the classroom, just like now."

And there are some that cannot use computers for learning anywhere and are also not in school at the moment ( like many in special schools). There needs to be provision for them as they are being overlooked at the moment.

Why do people keep saying schools have been shut for a year? I know March 2019- March 2020 seems like they've missed a year, but in terms of school weeks missed it's not the case.

Schools here shut on Fri the 20th March. A week before the Easter holidays. So they missed one full term and a week of last academic year. And we (Wales) opened all yeargroups up on a rota in July instead of staying closed until Sept to most.

Not every school has had to close last term for periods of SI. My own primary had no cases and on March 18th (if that's when they do reopen) they will have missed less than a term of this year. DD's class missed 2 x SI periods and switched to online learning during them. Even if they stay closed until Easter (more likely than mid March) then it's still 1/3rd of last year and 1/3rd of this year.

People are asking for it in terms of mental health as well as learning. Well, my y11 has persevered with her online work, secured her teacher predicted grades and would be beyond devastated (to a worrying degree for her MH) if she was told she was resitting y11 and not going off to sixth form college.

And making all the kids work through their summer holiday in the nice weather after slogging through the winter on lockdown learning is also not good for them. Why should they miss the chance to do everything and anything for so long, then, when things unlock again in the nicer weather, be forced to keep attending school right through.

Well lucky for you. My dd's school closed earlier than that and her year didn't go back till September. And a week later than planned even then. We were lucky not to have bubble closures bit much of the September- December curriculum was a "recovery curriculum" focussing on wellbeing. So it does feel like she's lost s year already. And they'll presumably need more recovery when they go back this time. And again lucky for you if you can facilitate your DC having a lovely summer off after a year of juggling without childcare or family support but that's not the case for everyone.