Work sheets and oak academy ?

[SeldomFollowedIt]

Bit late in the day now but I just wanted to get some opinions. My children’s primary school have provided work sheets and emails directing us to oak academy lessons. No zoom lessons and their work sheets do not get marked. Zero feedback.

This is poor isn’t it?

To top it off we have been informed some classes might not go back at all next week as some staff members are awaiting test results.

Am I being unreasonable to feel so deflated with the school?

Sorry for the typo - Khan Academy.

@bicyclebelles I’ll look at them now, thank you!

No idea OP,but Gavin Williamson has promoted it multiple times.

@Piggywaspushed

Strange then how some teachers have been participating in live lessons, marking and feedback.

Makes you wonder why we even need teachers at all if the oak is so fab. Also GW is a bit of a prick.

If what the school set was rubbish why didnt you set him something else? The provision by my 6 year olds schol has been woeful but I have just set extra work and alternatives myself.

This is just such an odd thread to start OP.

You haven't complained to the school as you don't want to sound entitled. Instead you come on to MN to complain to a load of strangers who can literally do nothing about this other than disagree or agree with you.

Are you just wanting a moan, a vent, validation?

What is your point exactly?

Please don't tell your child work is boring . This is stirring up a whole heap of trouble.

Re teachers waiting for test results _ I am afraid this is the shape of things to come. Covid has not gone away.

I agree GW is a prick but it what it is. I have seen plenty of posts on here in the past signposting Oak. What they do can be a bit dry but lessons at school aren't always whistles and bells and pompoms.

Primary here. As a comparison, our school used google classroom and provided a full day's timetable although although only 2 pieces of work would be marked. Basic feedback IMO.

Live registration for each class every morning.

The head of year also recorded a video each day of themselves explaining the English lesson.

Some lessons were oak academy which I found to be mixed. Some lessons were quite engaging, others not.

And I have to say, this was poorer provision that many other local schools. Parents have complained. The school did take on board feedback from lockdown 1 which was pretty awful.

So yes, your experience sounds particularly poor.

To top it off we have been informed some classes might not go back at all next week as some staff members are awaiting test results.

Regard your school as 'being a bit ahead of the curve'. Schools will be opening and closing groups from next week as they were in the Autumn term, as the vast majority of both staff and pupils will be unvaccinated and so any infections will lead to testing and self-isolations as before,

It's not 'all schools back full time', it's 'all schools re-start the honey cokey, with some being predominantly in, and some being substantially out'.

Oak academy is boring though, my child said that himself everyday, we learnt about the same thing for 5 days in a row, it was absolute rubbish! Going over and over the same things.
Kids don't learn when they are bored.
They learn when they are engaged.
I supplemented it with other fun learning but that doesn't mean that the school work was sufficient for us when we had it.
I myself didn't complain as I thought the school would be busy enough so I just got on with it.
I don't think I am alone there in not wanting to complain I understood the school were having other things to cope with too.
I think this lockdown has been particularly awful on parents and kids, I wouldn't think bad of anyone who didn't do Oak academy. I felt miserable having to do it at a time when lockdown was daunting and depressing as it was.
I was so happy when my school stopped doing it and gave us some engaging work and the seesaw app to upload our work to.
It really was that bad.

@Piggywaspushed

You’re totally right I have no idea why I even started this post. I had received the email from my kids school regarding my kids possibly not being in school next week and I just felt so deflated. Just wanted to talk about it, and ask others about their provision so far. No I haven’t spoken up and that is completely my fault. I do still think the provision on the whole has been poor.

Of course I know the teachers need to be tested. Covid isn’t going anywhere. I guess I was just holding out for the 8th because then my kids will learn. Yes, yes I know education starts at home and all that, but I genuinely do struggle to teach my kids. They’re bored as heck with Oak!! I do not call school work boring infront of my kids as that then becomes the norm. I want my children to enjoy learning. I know that not every lesson will be fun and there are parents who blame teachers for their (sometimes lazy kids) but my kids do enjoy learning. What I didn’t want to do was just kill the love of learning off with Oak. They do like some feedback in primary, I know it becomes less important at secondary and the motivation has to come from within but just wanted some balance.
It was for that reason I left it and we all focussed on being active and getting outdoors.

If they are off school next week I will liaise with the school and communicate with them (for help) but I just didn’t want to be fobbed off with yet again more oak and possibly tokenistic feedback.

Anyway thank you all for your replies.

"It's not 'all schools back full time', it's 'all schools re-start the honey cokey, with some being predominantly in, and some being substantially out'."

Though i do suspect that there will be parents demanding that schools no longer send children home for self-isolation because 'the vulnerable have been vaccinated so it doesn't matter if the staff and children are ill, we want our children in school', disregarding the impact on their children's education if the regular and experienced staff in the school are ill for weeks or longer, and the impact on families of spreading infection from school children to adults.

@Pippa234

Reassuring to know it’s not just my children then feeling the same in regards to oak.

Thank you for your reply. All will be well. Your DS is bright so he has that on his side.

@SeldomFollowedIt - if they’re reading they will be absolutely fine. I looked at the Oak stuff out of curiosity (I’m a secondary school English teacher) and thought it was pretty dire.

I think that no matter whether you have had live lessons, recorded lessons, worksheets or nothing at all, there will always be someone for whom the majority decision doesn't work. I think it's you this time OP, it's just fatigue with the whole thing too. I think Oak is better than nothing and being used for the purpose intended.

I actually think some of the Oak Academy is very good. I agree the English units are too long.

Can I ask about completing the same worksheets as the first lockdown? Can you explain more? What kind of worksheets?

‘Making them do it’ that just about says it all!
If you have to make a child do something then they are not really going to be learning much anyway.

Is making a primary school child do their set work really such a bad thing?

My 2 primary school DC have been doing their work because DH and I have been “making them do it.”

If they’d been given a free choice in the matter, I don’t think they’d have chosen to do any of it. There’s far too many other things at home that they’d rather be doing.

Did you complain to the school?

Thanks everyone. Yes they have read extensively throughout this winter lockdown. I am proud of how many books they have read but I am aware they still need to do more particularly maths etc. I will be sorting this out on Monday, and letting the school know I need some help. I was prepared to sit it out as other parents were not complaining, but obviously they do need to learn so hopefully I can sort something out with the school.

@sherrystrull

Comprehension work sheets and maths work sheets. Grammar etc. Same content as before as they have split year groups (year1/2) (year3/4) etc.

It is too late now, but you should have considered the effect on your children's mental health that it will have when they return to school and discover that everyone else has made good use of the (perfectly adequate) resources on Oak Academy. If you were struggling you should have spoken to the school about it, not bleated on here about it after the fact.

But it's too late now. Good luck to your DC when they do return to school.

Thank you.

Now that is not the best practice. Children are at a very different point to first lockdown.

@Lickofpink

Not concerned about MH effects on their return as a large percentage of my sons class have not completed any remote learning since January. (According to the class whatsapp group). I know that’s pretty incomprehensible on a forum like Mumsnet, but tis true 🤷‍♀️. In fact my children are still probably going to be at an advantage because they have read and had plenty of outdoor exercise. Unlike many in the class, but thanks for your concern.

Sometimes school work is inavoidably boring. Home learning is even more boring. Perhaps that is one thing we can agree on.

As a teacher, all of my lessons have been either pre recorded videos or live lessons, about 50/50 split I would say. Attendance at them has been really patchy. Some classes I was getting 23/27, my live lesson this morning had 4 students out of 28.

I'm sitting here now waiting for tomorrow's videos to finish uploading to youtube as we are in training all day so I can't do anything live. The prep and admin per lesson compared to how I would normally work has been really tough.

I'm just glad this whole episode is over to be honest.

I have to admit Oak Academy rose in my estimation when I realised the Science Unit for KS2 on notable Scientists was 3 female, 3 male scientists. And they aren't all white either.