Y10 & Y12 - it's gone very quiet...

[SausageCrush]

There was talk about Y10 & Y12 going back to school in England after half term. Now silence. Is that optimistic - or ominous?

greendayz presumably the communications from DD's sixth form have all gone to her though? My parents had absolutely no contact ever with my 6th form, it was down to me. They weren't ignorant layabouts- one a teacher, one a lecturer- it was just expected that at that age the onus is on the pupil to be an active participant in their education.

@Greendayz we dont have enough teachers to triple the class groups for year 10. We have too many kids and not enough staff. It's just logistics. My school have figured it out somehow, I dont know how, and we are going back on the 8th of June, but it will probably involve non specialists teaching year 10 to make up staff numbers, or maybe shorter lessons. You even have to take into account that some staff are only paid part time, so how do you work their days out? Also how does remote learning continue? Or do we abandon those kids? I dont know yet what plans my school have, but it's a timetabling and logistical nightmare. Considering it takes 6 months to design the normal timetable every year, this is a huge undertaking. Your DDs school will email when they have it sorted. They arent twiddling their thumbs, believe me.

Surely you don't need to have all the kids in at once though @sqidge? They're 15-17 year old, so it's not childcare. DSS's school is only taking half at a time (minus however many opt out) So if your school can't manage them all at once, couldn't you have either a half or a third of them in at a time?

Yes we are staggering them for break and lunch at least , and keeping them in the same classroom as much as possible, although that's hard when they arent all doing the same subjects. Again I dont know how that is going to work time wise as we are teaching them pretty much all their subjects from the 8th of june. I am not SLT so I wont have specific info until next week. Also, the schools have been told to hold off on making specific plans until the guidance is received, which was supposed to be yesterday, but it looks like it will be tomorrow, and then another set of guidance will be released next thursday.

Surely you can accept it's a very difficult job to organise this? Or do you think we are just making up excuses?

Both groups are going back in my school but part time and staggered, and obviously they don't have to actually attend, so will still also be teaching online at the same time for those who don't.

I'm sure many people are trying very hard @squidge. I wouldn't assume all schools and sixth forms are the same though. DD has now heard from her sixth form (still nothing whatsoever to parents) and their plans for after half term involve "no large scale reopening" and an extra week with no lessons or work set after half term for consolidation and catch up. I would like to think the best of them - I really would. But I'm struggling to see any evidence at all of any effort to make plans for reopening, or for making much effort with online learning either. Two of her three Alevels subjects have had not a single online lesson (even though they do have the tech to do it). They have simply pointed them to PowerPoints and reading material and given them deadlines for essays to be in by. I want to believe that most teachers care about their students, but all the evidence I have in front of me is that her teachers don't, and expectations set my management at the sixth form appear minimal. I'm glad to hear your school are thinking things through though, and do hope that others try to find ways to work too. I'm sure it's not easy.

It's so interesting reading through the replies here. I've been stuck in my own little bubble and ... honestly, it's amazing to come back to MN and get a wider view.

(I posted earlier as theirtheir because I managed to lock myself out of my account - which was horrible, actually!)

It's so clear that provision from school to school varies widely. And, if you pause to think about it, it's no wonder. It's not mendacity, laziness, or obstructiveness: it's the inevitable result of the fact that the coronavirus crisis escalated quickly in the UK, and there hasn't been a government led, system wide intervention strategy in the education sector.

So schools have had to move fast, doing what they individually have been capable of. And that means a massive variety.

You know - I would say, looking at this variety - that the very variety demonstrates why we need a well thought-out, system-wide (funded!!) strategy for the 're-opening' of schools.

I know that school building vary, numbers of pupils vary, what subjects they are all studying vary - and that will necessarily impact on what schools can do. So there has to be a degree of flexibility.

But, honestly, unless we want to see a continuation of this extraordinary variation in provision, there has to be more government intervention.

Because a wide variation when schools reteurn is going to be hugely damaging.

Can I just reiterate how good it is to hear about everyone else's experiences? I feel as though I thought I was the only survivor in a disaster movie, and have finally tuned in to a frequency to hear other voices!!

In the spirit of communication, I'll share what my daughter's been doing:

My daughter's school has sent homework, returned it marked, offered on-line discussion groups for the pupils to talk through their work, and been in contact weekly - and been available via email throughout.

But that is not what all schools are able to do. And others are able to do more.

It's also no substitute for classroom learning. It just isn't.

I have no idea what the best way out of this is and have enormous sympathy for all of those trying to work out how to hold all those shattered pieces together and find a way.

I've heard from union today that the government's reduced transmission in children age rage is up to 13. So all the year 10 and 12 do not have that applied to them. My schools measured the science labs, says we can fit 7 kids in, fixed tables due to gas mains etc. Plus if anyone needs the loo everyone has to move :D that's going to be smooth

Guidelines for workplaces do not require everyone to move out of the way so that someone can go to the loo without walking within 2m of anyone. I'd there any reason why they would be stricter for teenagers?

We just had e-mail from school yesterday saying still working it out but no school for years 7 to 9 and year 10 very few children would be allowed back for a very low number of lessons. Rest remote.

We had to fill out a survey last week which basically asked the student are you in a shielding group, is anyone you live with in a shielding group, how will you travel to sixth form and how will you get home, how do you feel about coming in?

Today as his sixth form is part of a MAT with primary, secondary, alternative provision and the sixth form they are getting staff back in 1st June then EHCP, keyworker etc from Wednesday 3rd back in their own schools rather than the hubs they have been in. Years 10 and 12 are back in from 8th June but are not on the same site.

Ds1 is year 12 so has been told he will have a 2 hour block in the day and 3 sessions a week. Ds2 is year 9 so they are checking in by telephone which they have done twice already, SLT and then head of year. This is both a welfare and a work check, asking if we need any further resources.

I cannot fault either provision, they have done an amazing job re work being loaded onto google classrooms/moodle and communication with teachers has been great too.

Had email survey yesterday asking who would send back did we have any comments etc and been advised we will hear more but was put as some face to face time with teachers

Thank you all for your replies.
We've heard from our school too. They are 'probably' offering one full day each for Y10 and Y12 after half term. The 'probably' is just in case they get new information in from the government.
It's better than nothing, but a far cry from the 4 weeks we'd originally been hearing about in the media

DD's school isn't reopening (they already have KW/vulnerable in) until the 29th at the earliest, for year 10 and 12. That'll be on a part time basis.