Ireland's Calling for Normal Life to Return, thread number 5

[eggandonion]

Unlinked because I can't remember how to do it, and can't find Help thing.

I dont know about vaccination or France but I am reading a out schools and getting frustrated.
They say from March 1st it'll be a phased return to school.
Why cant they give dates of exactly when classes will be back.
I expected schools to be back on March 8th.
I plan on cleaning my afterschool and ECCE rooms from march 1st to 5th.
Really hoping we are not open before then.
I would like to know exactly when the juniors are going back to school.

I supppse they can't say exactly because it will depend on the numbers then and we just don't know yet how the numbers will be?
Regardless of when they go back I'd love if they could all just repeat the year from September. I know that's not possible but it's my preference. My kids both in primary and secondary school are doing their online classes and keeping up with the work being set (there's a lot of it!) we are very fortunate that they have the ability and resources to do that, plus DH and I keeping an eye on it etc. But so many kids in their classes aren't online and aren't engaging at all, whatever the reasons, and when they do eventually go back there'll be a lot of kids that have fallen behind. What's going to happen? Do they go back and try to cover everything they've missed or leave them all behind? It's a lot of kids to leave behind. If they go back they won't have time to cover the curriculum for that year group. I'd hate to be a teacher or principal, I'd imagine it's a nightmare to deal with.

Yes, it's a nightmare. I had a chat on the phone last week with my dd's teacher in primary and she said that she had been doing maths in class last term that hadn't been done last year and generally, they are behind.
I feel that my own dd is hasn't advanced much. She hasn't regressed, because I'm keeping an eye on her and doing the work with her, but I'm wondering how she will be ready for 5th class next September. And then the children who don't have support at home who will really struggle when we do go back.

Personally I won't be going back over content. I've provided the teaching and if they haven't engaged, then they haven't engaged - but the content has still been covered and we've more work to get on with. The primary curriculum is a spiral curriculum anyway so topics will all be recapped in the following year. Now, if I were in a school where many kids weren't engaging then it might be a different story.

I see a lot of flapping about repeating the year from English posters and you have to wonder, why is the conversation about repeating and not readjusting expectations? Their curriculum is insane for primary. (Not saying that you're flapping btw, that's just my impression of those posters).

And speaking as someone who taught 4th for years, imo there isn't much advancement in the 4th curriculum. A lot of it is about hammering home concepts like fractions/decimals/division/multiplication and shoring up on knowledge from previous years. 5th is a big jump up in terms of difficulty and new content areas - there's way too much content to cover, I hate teaching 5th class maths - so would really focus on having those 4 areas down. Plus tables knowledge.

No, I'm not flapping but it has made me wonder what will happen to all the kids who will have definitely fallen behind. My DC in secondary school has attended all online classes and I've been really surprised at how many kids are missing. I met the year head for 3rd year and she said she could literally spend all day every day just chasing up the parents of kids who aren't engaging. And it's not just the ones they knew they'd have a problem with. Obviously there are lots of reasons (I know for a fact if we weren't at home, my second-level DC wouldn't even get out of bed let alone attend online classes or complete any work!) but there are huge numbers of kids who will have done absolutely nothing for months on end.

Hats off to all you teachers! (two primary school teachers in our family so I know how difficult a job it is)

My sil in England flapped non stop about sats, and sats results. She didn't know how we survived without constantly badgering small kids to do sats revision.
I think parents who can keep their kids engaged are doing really well, my ds would have found it really difficult. And I know some of our neighbours wouldn't have bothered.

It would be amazing if we could get back to normal education in September, and play catch up.

My DD is my third child and I've been through primary twice before with the older two. I think it's a good curriculum and as Sionnach says, there is opportunity in it to go over content time and again.

My own worry is that my dd isn't strong in maths and is still learning the basics that you mentioned, SionnachRua, so it's up to me to make sure she grasps them before she goes into fifth.

My own worry is that my dd isn't strong in maths and is still learning the basics that you mentioned, SionnachRua, so it's up to me to make sure she grasps them before she goes into fifth.

Oh 100% with you on that. It's something I always say to parents at the start of 4th, nail the basics and get a good confidence with maths in before 5th class. It really stands to them.

We've a good curriculum on the whole but I do hate the jump in 1st and 5th...I think it could have been balanced better. But give me our system over England and the SATs any day!

In non-teaching related talk, how's Pancake Tuesday going for everyone? It feels a bit unreal to me tbh to have it in the middle of this Groundhog Day world. Still horsing into the pancakes here. I'm an old school, lemon and sugar sort.

Lemon and golden syrup for me! We have ours for dinner, in place of an actual dinner. There's lemons, raspberries, bananas, raspberry jam, nutella, golden syrup, sugar and squirty cream. Like a production line, I'll have 2 pans on the go and the pancakes just get passed to the table and everyone can put what they want on them. Of course it means I'm last to be served but I don't mind! Love pancake day but it definitely feels a bit odd this year.

We also have pancakes for dinner. I do a savoury filling of ham, mushrooms, onions and Boursin cream cheese and then pancakes for dessert with the usual lemon and sugar, Nutella or whatever we like :)

We are having risotto, then a break then pancakes after nine. Because dh will be doing his hobby after risotto. In true mumsnet style, he does his hobby.
It's Spanish evening class, online. Tonight they will be learning about pancake.

I initially read last week that lc would be returning the 22nd now it looks like the March 1st??
Junior & seniors are supposed to first in primary to return but how long before the other classes are phased back?

@eggandonion

We are having risotto, then a break then pancakes after nine. Because dh will be doing his hobby after risotto. In true mumsnet style, he does his hobby. It's Spanish evening class, online. Tonight they will be learning about pancake.

Ha ha!! I read that with a jolt. Thought wyf is this "hobby" madness spreading!!

I'm honestly not able to flap a about school. I just don't have the headspace with my work, I'm in college my self too (weekend) and trying to keep my teenagers sane and alive!!

They are attending school and submitting work. That's all I know

I think it's terrible how Norma is saying that the schools will reopen in March, yet the unions haven't agreed to this. Also it hasn't been cleared with the health board.
So how do they know this will happen??
I'd rather they had a proper plan in place, all sorted and then publicise it.
Everyday we hear a plan and everyday it gets scuppered.
It's ridiculous, I can see my DD anxiety increase every day. Just give us a proper plan.

I'm sick of all these leaks and whispers. Just sit at a table, come up with a plan and let us know what it is. Norma Foley and Josepha Madigan seem like absolute nightmare Ministers to be dealing with.

I'm honestly trying to give it no thought but it's almost impossible atm

My 3 children are struggling socially and educationally. Me and My husband are essential workers , with me Frontline. Only for creche we would be in a complete mess. Im so upset that Teachers may not make allowances for Parents like us who must work outside the home and wont help catch up the kids. We are living for March. We have to pay for our increases childcare which TG isint a problem but I am aware of one mammy in creche who is considering leaving her job as the increased creche fees with her kids in more hours is just NOT sustainable!! I mean how is that ok ??? School needs to go back. The effect on kids is horrendous and on the stress of the whole family. My 2 youngest were collected from creche and I tried to start a project on Spain for 2nd class. Cue poor child in tears with tiredness so thats shelved til im off Thursday.is there an assumption that all parents are working from home ? I know my Nephew age 16 is now gaming addicted as His parents are both frontline and work outside the home each day . Its just a complete nightmare trying to hold down jobs. So im all for school into July or back early mid August to " catch up "but i would say the unions will go mad
Im certainly not anti -teacher . I know for a fact some Teachers are working so hard at home BUT there is a cohort who are doing v v little on full pay !! Also Secondary Teachers will get it in the neck from worried angry parents which is absolutely not right once they return if they have fallen short of expectation.

I am completely in favour of longer school days for 6 th class kids to catch up and other classes over 3 rd to catch up. That will be met with derision. There are teachers in the UK vaccinating after school. So have trained up. That is amazing.
Like anyone can inject ,its not rocket science but that is unlikely to happen here.

It feels so slow the roll out. A bit demoralising some of the vaccination centres said logistics werent finalised. Govt very quick to announce good news and then forget things are still in the planning stage !!! Frustrating -

I just saw on Facebook, "Breaking news, schools to return 1st of March" when I clicked into it, it was just the exact same information I'd been reading for the last few days.
We had pancakes in work today. I had mine with chocolate. They were yummy and I didn't make them.

Everything is so hard and getting harder, everyone is fed up.
Id love some pancakes that someone else had made. Like when someone has died and you go to visit the house and there are plates of sandwiches and buns made by someone else... will that ever happen again?

It really was a very strange pancake day. T

I keep hitting the post key before I'm ready!
To be fair , we have been having pancakes for breakfast a lot ever since the first lockdown back in March so there wasn't a huge novelty today..
I still made them though and DS and DD enjoyed them and that was really all it was about.
I couldn't face going for a walk today- even though it was a lovely spring day - the thought of the same route and same people on that same route was just too depressing. Maybe tomorrow.

Yeh @Radyward i work outside home, essential worker and my son has been sleeping til 2 :-/
I think he can catch up in time but i could not make him log in to lessons. My dd doing her lc has put on over a stone in the last year and is v depressed about that, and anxious about the 20 thousand extra applicanrts to the cao.

Schools / teachers cannot possibly expectkids to know everything they covered in online classes b4 they move on.
One miinute it's "do your best, we are all in it together". Then it's "where is three months of english homework?" 😩

My eldest doesnt get up til 1pm !! Still in onesies . The other 2 in creche. I mean its so hard mentally/ so frustrating/ just another month / no decisions/ its v hard to work with no structure at home. I mean the kids at home have disrupted routines. Its just so hard to keep going. Just read there a post on Twitter from someone saying her LC daughter will be repeating the year. Omg so right. Sure its a shambles. Sure 5th yrs will repeat too meaning #pointsrace2022and2023.
There isnt a word about rights of children and children being failed by the Dept. Of ed. I think everytime i hear a teacher go on about their safety , i think easy for u with a college education already AND I work frontline HSE and have been working on covid and non covid wards with NO vaccine til recently.
Like was the ppe for teachers useless ??? Like people forget the main reason schools closed in jan was to reduce movement of people not that schools were unsafe. I mean as the months go on it Is getting ridiculous. Coping is just so hard. My colleagues are really struggling working long days and no homework done -the stress !!
the unions are just too powerful. They are danmed lucky to be in in any talks and need to put kids first. Families have sacrificed enough !! My 12 yr old said unprompted last week. Mammy im doing the work. But im not learning anything-so so true . We will crack up me and my Husband if schools fail to open fully. Some classes in some not Will NOT work !!

With respect, Radyward, could you clarify where you are living, please, as on page ten of this thread you said that you are from Wales, living near London?