Does anyone have exam year kids getting Teams/Zoom/Skype classes in the state system?

[Lilliput]

We are in Scotland and our ds is in 4th year going into 5th so about to start Highers. Up until this week there has been next to nothing in the way of work for him. Monday saw 4 lots of higher homework come through a homework app.
Dh phoned the school to find out if there were to be Teams/Zoom teaching set up. She said not, council would not allow it.
Is there any virtual learning using these apps going on in your kids state school at all?

No, the school told me it was a possible safeguarding issue and the teachers union was looking at it

My y11 son is getting some introductory A Level lessons by zoom, but that's mainly because the school wants to retain as many as possible of its y11 students for sixth form rather than losing them to local colleges etc. I don't think younger year groups are getting them.

Private schools seem to be doing them a bit more. This article has some stats: www.google.com/amp/s/schoolsweek.co.uk/coronavirus-teachers-warned-against-live-streaming-lessons/amp/

We are trialling it atm to rollout after half term. No cameras, talking through power points etc. Microsoft teams is nowhere near as user friendly as Zoom and it sucks bandwidth where we are so teachers children haven't been able to access their own learning or watch TV etc. It is far from ideal but better than nothing.

In Scotland too with a 3rd year going up to 4th yr and so far we’ve had a couple of emails with links to BBC bitesize. 🙄
I would like any recommendations for online learning. Even thinking about going looking for private online tutors. I’m actually very upset about it all - their primary school was amazing but their high school has just gone from bad to worse. This has been the icing on the cake.

My son is going into S4 in a Scottish state school.

He has been set plenty of work to do via Teams and has also had some face to face time with teachers, although I think most work set is to be worked on independently.

He's working a full day in his bedroom. He's quite conscientious though and is still doing work for his subjects which is actually giving up next week. Many pupils wouldn't bother as the teachers don't chase them up if they are not continuing with the subject.

It just shows how the schools can differ in approach and support.

Very jealous Aurea. I can support DS in some subjects but not all (computers and physics are beyond me) and I’m scared of helping with maths because it’s all changed since I finished my O grades.

I’m going to contact some of my teacher friends to see if they know any private tutors. I’ve been a huge supporter of the state system over the years but I feel extremely let down over this.

*Karon
*
This series of books is very good. There are other similar ones out there. It may be wise to purchase to support your DC now to look at the curriculum and they can also use them to revise.

I have another son in first year uni so I'm a second timer for exams.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Pass-National-Maths-Second/dp/1510420991/ref=sr11_1?dchild=1&keywords=How+to+pass+national+5&qid=1589394048&sr=8-1

I’m a third timer😂 but a first timer for a pandemic. 😂

Thank you for your recommendation and I’ll order it now.

No, unfortunately - have a year 10 and a year 12 here. As with others, have been told it’s a safeguarding issue.

It seems that Scottish students are being unfairly impacted by this. We have state school y7 DD so not near are urgent as yours and we've had: zoom assembly, tutor and instrument lessons as well as work set and marked from every subject. Emails answered and lots of competitions.
They have explained this week that they will be ramping this up in light of the news kids won't be back. However they have a very big dilemma as they can do online lessons but they have 40% FSM and so many can't access the internet or laptops. They are going to update us on their plan but the y10s have had a separate letter saying they are going to get live lessons and everyone has had a laptop bought.
This is a bog standard state school that's 'good' and they seem to be handling this v well. I have no doubt it'll create a massive deficit in their budget though.

I can recommend oak academy though, it's been really really good to fill the gaps and we know kids doing just that.

Unfortunately my ds is not conscientious really and was finding the best way to revise was to stay in school so self study is very challenging for him.
We have family and friends with kids in private education down south where they are making use of video online support.

Our state school did 'moving up day' on Monday so I now have DS working on S4 work including physics which he just picked up.

Since the start of lockdown his school has used teams for the classes and roughly stuck to the timetable for online access to the class teacher. They are also using email, GLOW and other online resources.

They recommended 4 hours per day study for S4+ and 3 hours for S1-3. Most days he is sticking to this and working pretty hard. The rest of the time he's online with his pals!

My DS's school has just introduced some 'masterclasses' on Google classrooms. I think you can watch them live, but he's watched some after the scheduled time. Not interactive, no asking questions or discussion, but at least it's better than endless practice GCSE papers.

Universities are doing way better (because fee-paying students would demand it) and using specially designed platforms for live and interactive lectures and seminars.

'Safe-guarding issue' - what a load of bollocks. The teachers don't want to do them. Or because some students don't have access to the internet, then all the rest have to suffer too.

My two nieces have had very little. They are 12 and 14. Really disappointing.

I'm in Scotland too and I have two friends that teach in private schools in Glasgow. Both are providing Zoom lessons for their pupils. I don't understand why it is a safeguarding issue for state school pupils and not private school pupils.

My yr 12 DS in a state sixth form college which was recently downgraded by ofsted to 'needs improvement' has been following his regular timetable remotely since the first week of lockdown.

The teachers are handling it in different ways; some pre-record a lesson and then give classwork and homework and then are available for a period later to answer questions live. Others are 'live' through the lesson. All are monitoring the work and chasing anything not completed.

I am so impressed and hope their amazing effort is rewarded in some way.

Year 12 dd goes to 6th form college. She's basically following her usual timetable with some live lessons via Teams, no faces though just voices and power points. We have had some connection issues though and have just bought a booster for the broadband. The college are finding concentration levels are way down using teams than in normal lessons, the kids switch off after 30mins at the most so there's quite a lot of work done on their own then quick catch up at thr end to check understanding. I think they're doing pretty well, hope the learning is going in...

I’ve heard of Scottish private schools who are expecting their pupils to be in school uniform at 9am and logged on. They are getting assembly, tutor groups and lessons all on zoom. Even PE.
Seems like a race to the bottom at my DS’s school 😞

@KaronAVyrus

Ds is moving from S4 to S5. We found the BrightRed Course Book for English NAT5 good, especially for RUAE and essay assignments. He struggled with English so we went through it bit by bit together discussing what it meant and he did the exercises in it (answers available on line) and it really helped.

We also bought the BrightRed books for and physics, chemistry which were good to supplement his class notes. For physics also look at Mr smith physics youtube channel. The Videos the book might work well.

Brightred Modern studies and French werent as good, but the French had lots of listening audio online which was good.

Brightred PE book for portfolios wasnt any good, reading the understanding standards was more helpful.

Maths we had already bought the teejay books which are really good with lots of examples to practise, with some basic explanations but not much in the way of teaching.

I've bought the brightred and how to pass books for higher and prefer the layout of the bright red. If you buy how to pass you can get money off using their young scot card.

I’m in Glasgow and have a 4th year who should be sitting exams just now. They were notified today that online classes will be beginning at the end of May. It looks like they’re planning to go ahead with the usual moving up the year they do for the senior school in June.

WeAllHaveWings. Thanks. You’ve been extremely helpful.

Have you been checking your child’s glow account? We’ve been getting info through teams and regular updates.

Yes, we’ve checked together.

We have also looked at Scholar (school gives out password) and that might also be useful.

Safeguarding apparently, although the staff and governors have been having zoom meetings weekly apparently.