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?

No live lessons from our school but the teachers have done lots of recorded videos which have been great. Every piece of work submitted gets a thorough mark with comments and asked to correct if things are wrong. They've done an amazing job at keeping kids motivated with their comments. I've been really impressed. There ha e been some links to Oak lessons etc but always with extra teacher comments and guidance.

I'd say it's poor, but the point about lives lessons depends on age.
My DS is Y2 and I would have struggled having him logged onto live lessons every day at set times as I work full time. We've been doing his work in our own time, however school have timetabled 2 class calls a week which was manageable and he really enjoyed them. They were mainly fun, and a catch up with the teacher and friends.
We had to submit photos of the work they had done each day, and received daily feedback. From my point of view, this has worked well for us

We didnt have live lesson (yr 4) for which I'm very relieved. We did have a zoom 10mins twice a day which was actually really good though. They would mention the work that day.

We were really lucky - all subjects ahad a prerecorded video of anything from 7 20mins and a task. We could email in and get a reply very wuiclly if we were stuck but answers were given so it was all possible to self mark. They would send an encouragingncomment if you semt a photo of anything you were proud of.

I think live lessons/lots of marking would be a waste of time. Did oak not have answers either in the lessonnor following lesson?

Our school provision was poor last year and my the ln year 6 chose oak yr 7 work to do to prep for secondary which has done her in good stead. She learnt a whole algebra topic but I am aware different thigs work for different people. I know how important it is to keep up maths skills so she had a choice of oak or khan and we had a look together. She did some projects herself and read but in the absence of work last year we kept reading and maths as a minimum. We used mymaths and checked she could do wach topic.

Otherwise I would have got a cgp book to work through... ideally you want to be firmnin foundations for secondary although they will go over a lot I'm sure in yr 7.

I cant understand waiting 2 months though. I expect if you weren't able to find other website or cgp yourself you could have asked here or asked your teacher for an alternative to oak.

My yr 4 now understands decimals and hadn't a clue before. They've carried on teaching the curriculum so if we hadn't done any maths she would have really missed out.

In contrast I know of a village small school where they have mixed years. Most of the children were in so the handful at home just had to zoom in and watch their friends in class which I think was awful.

OP I think it is really poor. Oak Academy for English is soul destroying. It's like Gradgrind in Dickens, enough to put a child off learning and literature for life. I did two weeks with a year 2 child last summer and both of us were completely fed up by the end of it.

This time my children have had a lot of live lessons. I can hear my children's teachers talk about Egyptians etc whilst I try to work and I find it interesting. Also they suddenly pick on children to read things out or answer questions which keeps them engaged.

Unfortunately whilst it has been better my children haven't responded that well to home learning and only complete the independent tasks when I literally sit and stare at them. Which is only possible for a short time each day. But I can see that is not the schools fault.

I suppose the real question is what to do now? My strong area is Maths. So once they have cheered up again I will teach them extra maths. I will have to hire tutors for english.

Obviously it might not be possible depending on budget but you might want to do similar if possible but get help with the maths. Good luck.

I think it’s really poor OP. It’s not just about the teaching, it’s engaging with their peers. My DCs love “seeing” their friends each day in class. My year 6 goes into breakout rooms with other children to discuss ideas. My year 3’s teacher is totally amazing and engages his class of 7 and 8 year olds for the whole day. Morning starts with a show and tell type exercise that they all love. Friday afternoons are more relaxed and usually involve a quiz or something similar.

Whereas that would be awful for many people (my kids included!)

I really wouldn't want a whole day of live lessons for my Y3.

That amount of screen time would be awful.

My children haven’t had live lessons. 3 worksheets a day - literacy, numeracy and a topic.

I’m a a teacher and haven’t complained. I have faith that once back in school full time they’ll ‘catch up’.

@BugsAndBeesAndBirdsAndButterfl Really? Don’t your children like seeing their classmates?

@SeldomFollowedIt

Because I didn’t want to be an entitled parent who moans and groans at the school at every opportunity. That was what they provided in terms Of their provision so why would they change it for one child? They obviously deemed it acceptable.

So you've come on here to piss and moan late in the day and not got off your arse to contact the school about it?

Well done you

Bunsy mine loves seeing her lassmates and does in optional social 10min zoomz.

She would hate learning that way and would hate being tied to a screen all day and hate being stuck to the school timetable.

We've loved the flexibility to do the content at our own pace!

Yep v glad she hasn't had that level of screen time. The 3 or 4 short videos we can play when we want and then go for a walk 9n the beach/bake something etc or she can play while I get on with some work.

When I realised thay other schools had done this I sent a v grateful email to our head who def got the balance right for us.

Mine genuinely wont need to catch up as has covered the content they would have in school. However I can see that many children won't have been able to for whatever reason .

@noblegiraffe It’s not playing computer games and watching TV...it’s asking questions, having maths problems explained to them, it’s reading out their stories and poems, it’s dance and PE, it’s sharing jokes, it’s gathering up items in the house...it’s interaction with their teachers and other children.

It’s.... on a screen. That still isn’t good for the kids. Eyesight for one thing.

Ive done between 3 and 4 live hours teaching a day. It hurts my eyes.

Whilst I don't believe online live lessons are necessary and they definitely aren't always the best solution for a school, I do think that just worksheets and a link for all lessons isn't sufficient. We have provided our own staff-made videos for all core subjects and most foundation subjects, using links to external,sites in,y where they are of a high quality and appropriate to the age/subject we are teaching.

We have done no live lessons as we know it wasn't right for our school catchment and our school type. Parents agreed. We have a weekly live 'fun' session which is enough for ours. The teachers all add a morning video too which reflects on work done the day before as well as setting an overview of the current day's work.

Giving feedback is important though - we do this as written or via voice comments/messages. All work submitted is at the very least acknowledged whereas some work - at least one or two per pupil per day gets written or spoken feedback from the teacher and/or Ta.

Unfortunately,OP - the DfE have stated that Oak Academy IS sufficient work for children. They organised it and paid for it. Schools were directed to it.

Whilst I personally think a mix is better, your school did nothing wrong in offering oak academy as it's provision.

You chose not to have your children do it. That's why they've not been doing any school learning. I'm afraid that was your choice,

No live lessons but Oak Academy, workbooks and various apps.

The apps have been the most successful as they are interactive and fun, DD thinks she's playing games when in fact she's learning.

Yes Oak Academy is boring and repetitive but kids needs repetition to learn!

We've done lots of creative play, and crafts. Haven't fully committed to the 9-3 timetable but with both DH and I working it's been impossible.

Teacher who is also deputy head has been very understanding and supportive of what we have managed to achieve.

Abraxan I think our school has had a similar approach - we have loved all the teacher-made videos and I have been so impressed at how much my daughter has covered. It all would have taken a lot longer if taught through zoom and I was pleased to be able to finish the work in the morning if we wanted to. I just want to say a huge thankyou (i've thanked my school) for all the work that will have taken you and your staff and how much it has been appreciated. It really has been the best way to manage it. (Now I'm wondering if you're at my child's school - although we had daily fun sessions)

I've loved the encouraging emails when we have sent work in (once or twice a week - often the writing built into a finished product by the end of the week which we then sent in, or the odd piece of work she was proud of. ) There wasn't any need for someone else to mark the maths or comprehension though. It was such a good balance.

I'm so grateful we weren't tied to the computer all day/ having to watch classes in school/ just sent to Oak Academy. There's lots I don't like about our school (they want to extend the school day to "catch up" which we wont be doing) but I am so pleased about this period.

Last time I did have year 6 though and no real work other than pointless sats papers - and that was when I did look for other work. Leaving it til now to start a thread is a bit pointless really. We could have directed you to other materials if you'd started in say January. Or if you weren't able to do any work at home with your child you could have sent them to school.

@noblegiraffe As long as they take regular breaks (which they do), I have no problem with it. It’s the nearest thing to being in the classroom without being in the classroom and every parent that I have spoken to has been very happy with the situation and agrees that it is much better than the less structured approach that we had last year.

Watching Oak Academy and completing worksheets (without proper feedback) is poor. What happens if a child doesn’t understand something? You’re assuming that there’s always an adult around to supervise the work. That’s simply not the case.

How long does providing teacher made videos for all core subjects and most foundation + 1 morning video and 1-2 pieces of feedback per pupil per day take? Presumably on top of being in school at least some of the time with KW or vulnerable children.

@BugsAndBeesAndBirdsAndButterfl Many people can’t get a school place for their child even if they’re unable to do work with them at home. In fact, many critical workers can’t even get school places. I have a friend who is a social worker and has been refused a school place because her husband is not also a key worker. However he has a job that can’t be done from home. Yes, the OP should have complained sooner but the provision her child has had from school is shit. There’s no denying that.

Rafals our school is big which I think is why we have been so lucky - the work has been divided between teachers but I can dtill see it was a lot of work. The curriculum was already there but adapted for the short videos.

Ours has intentionally put answers to sheets in the folders or on the next slide so that parents or kids can mark themselves. They only really need feedback for the bigger pieces of work.

Presumably those doing zoom lessons and in school lessons have staff to do both so they could have chosen to make videos/respond instead of 9-3 videos. We had a variety of teachers too. So one teavher may have done the maths for the week using the powerpoint and tasks they'd have used in school anyway but adapted it. Its a shame its too late now for others to do this but it was such a good model.

I really feel for a friend who is just watching the rest of her class in the classroom on zoom. It seems cruel - but can also see they didn't have many staff to do otherwise.