How are your DC getting on if they currently have no face to face learning and no prospect of it until March?

[shadypines]

We are just waiting for an update from DDs uni but there seems no prospect of on overall return to FTF until this date, as in the governments announcement the other day. Given that the Easter half term is only a couple of weeks after that it seems unlikely that there might be any until latish April.

DD has gone back but I'm concerned that this will be too much isolation. Obviously it was her choice but it doesn't stop me worrying. Just wondered how other parents and DCs are coping.

Not brilliant here but not disastrous either. DS is non Y8. He is doing the bare minimum as far as I can tell, and largely getting away with it as he is completing the work set. Aside from that, he’s spending too much time on XBox and not going outside enough. DD is Y10 and has always been very conscientious and studious. She is sociable and loves school. Really misses her friends and teachers and is quite low currently. She’s losing interest and enthusiasm for her studies which is not like her. They’ve done so well really, they’re lovely kids and a hot to live with overall but I am starting to feel pretty worried now about their learning.

DS is IN Y8. Not non Y8 🤔

A JOY to live with FFS 😆

I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise this was in the HE topic. gets coat

Dd is prepared for no ftf classes this year. Teaching finishes at Easter and she has no live exams just assessment deadlines in April/May. Not great, either for morale or socially, let alone value for money.

My son is fine - he has never been a great participator although does well in exams. One year at school his teacher said he might as well have done the year's work by correspondence course as he did not speak once in class. So his degree which did not have many lectures was ideal for him (finished last summer) and his current law conversion course (which has been 100% on line since the summer) has certainly not been a big issue for him now he is used to how they teach and examine it although he has to have 10 minute breaks every hour on screens due to his eyes so that is a slight problem with online learning and no physical books. He is however post grad so the friends are already made and I think the lack of going out to parties is not a bad thing given he was lucky enough already to do that during his degree.

In halls & has vibrant social life there, I think. Happy enough in herself.
I perceive she's not working hard enough (she sometimes agrees). But probably is working hard enough to avoid failing which is main thing.

First years not working very hard is pretty standard, I suppose!

Both DD (undergrad, Birmingham, 2nd year, so living with friends in a privately rented house, not the university's business whether she is sleeping / eating / working there or 165 miles away in the parental home) and DS1 (postgrad, Bristol, ditto, other than flat not house and at least 10 miles further off in a completely different direction) have gone back, as they both work better where they are meant to be studying.

Which leaves yr13 DS2 at home, competing for WiFi with Mum and Dad. Tbf, not normally an issue, although we do keep getting those phone calls warning that your Internet has been compromised and will be cut off altogether if you don't press 1 now, so who knows.

Apparently as a result of the individualised tasks that his Art class were given this week, DS was up at the crack of dawn yesterday, dyeing his hair purple.

He's a prefect...

I'm actually quite glad that the return to school has been delayed...

No prospect of it until March?

I don't think there'll be any for the rest of this academic year sadly :-(
Maybe not much even in September. Would you want to be teaching hordes of unvaccinated 18 year olds?

@McCorona

No prospect of it until March?

I don't think there'll be any for the rest of this academic year sadly :-(
Maybe not much even in September. Would you want to be teaching hordes of unvaccinated 18 year olds?

Our school is gearing up for an optimistic 8 March return as we are in an area with an R rate of below 0.9 currently. I am guessing you are usually a glass half empty person.

@McCorona

No prospect of it until March?

I don't think there'll be any for the rest of this academic year sadly :-(
Maybe not much even in September. Would you want to be teaching hordes of unvaccinated 18 year olds?

A lot of staff didn’t want to teach unvaccinated 18 years olds last term. All of my teaching was f2f then. What I wanted didn’t come into it! The minute the government gives the green light, our students will be told to get back to campus so that the university can resume charging accommodation fees.

Ds is in his first year. Hasn’t had any f2f teaching bar two lessons right at the start.
He has been told none this term either.
He is still at home as his university have asked students not to return until 15th Feb. They are offering them a two week rent rebate. Not sure what is happening now with the lockdown being extended. He hates it.

@starrynight19

Ds is in his first year. Hasn’t had any f2f teaching bar two lessons right at the start. He has been told none this term either. He is still at home as his university have asked students not to return until 15th Feb. They are offering them a two week rent rebate. Not sure what is happening now with the lockdown being extended. He hates it.

Similar here @starrynight19. DD had one hour face-to-face each week for perhaps the first four or five weeks of term. She's had nothing at all in person since early November, and has only met a handful of people on her course in passing at those few sessions. No chance to get to know anyone. It's all been such a disappointment to her. I very much doubt there will be anymore in person this term, and after Easter there is then only a few weeks of assessments and she'll be a year down already.

First year DS went back to his uni halls after Christmas. He wasn't allowed into his accommodation until mid October, with a month of online teaching beforehand. I think he had 4/5 F2F morning sessions before lockdown (although he missed a couple due to isolating/having covid). He does at least have about 5 hours of live lectures, with only a few recorded.

He was desperate to get back and at the time his was one of the more practical courses that the govt said would get F2F. He seems happy - 2 flatmates are also there. His uni promised refunds on accommodation, but only to those that hadn't gone back so that was too late for him.

DS is thoroughly fed up with it and hating it. He had it for most of his second year last year and now it looks like it will be his entire final year too.

It must be the same for all his cohort in all universities, and I feel so sorry for all of them that they have such an utterly shit university experience.

I'm a second year mature student. It's grim to be honest. I feel so bad for the younger ones on the course, they're really struggling.

A mix of experiences then, some worse that others. Luckily my DD found some decent flat mates (not all) to be locked up with .

I can't help feeling the unis have really let them down, at least DDs has from where I am sitting. There seems to be very little extra support supplied for anyone, let alone the freshers. There was the offer of one Zoom quiz last week, that was it and even that wasn't organised properly so nobody apart from DD and a friend joined it they seem so bloody uselss at providing any crumb of fun or support. Total shambles, when they knew this was on the cards last year the Education minister and Unis should have had a plan B. They've been so let down it's disgusting and don't even get me on the subject of refunds. Rant over.

I agree a complete let down.

DS fresher. Came home beginning of December and is still here. Unfortunately his uni puts them in flats with 2nd and 3rd yrs so found only 1 person he might want to share a house with next yr. but instead he's applying for halls next yr too.
Not met anyone on his course, all online learning and been fined once for breaking Covid rules in November (was talking to people from another flat). Does not want to risk another fine as he's been told he'll be kicked out of uni if so.
So he's staying at home, has started antidepressants and he's seeing his gf. Against the rules but tbh mental health is more important.

He was considering restarting in sept but had already deferred a year so is going to keep going and keep hoping his 2nd year is a more normal experience 🤞🤞🤞🤞

Dd at home, Uni updating when government give more guidelines but no return until after 8th March. No labs this term and the Uni are being proactive in adjusting flow of the course in terms of more theory this term to allow more practicals next term. She loved the first term, managed to make some really good friends and had a great social life despite restrictions.

The workload is high, but she's managing OK (on course for 1st based on exams taken). Its not easy having a high workload without the fun of Uni life but I've encouraged dd to have a few treats each week and she's planning summer holidays with the monies she's saving from not paying rent.

She has seen old school friend once a week and all close friends have also not returned which makes life a little easier. She loving cooking at home and we have a chilled relationship so whilst it's not the ideal start to Uni its OK.

Mine is in third year. Most of second year was written off as well. Costing a fortune in rent for student houses she’s barely lived in. Very fed up.

@tarapinn it’s so wrong. Like you say it’s not just this year it’s the implications for next year to.

Mine is in first year.
She is fine. (Well, didn't like the exam she had this week but.....).
She likes the lectures being on-line - helps her pause them and hear a phrase or explanation again at the time..... means she doesn't have to sit still.... means she can watch them at different times if she prefers.

She enjoys living with her flatmates, shopping for and cooking what she wants. She "chats" (on-line) with others from her course {she set up a whatsapp group when the met (on line) for their first tutorial.
They arrange 'entertainment' between them - as you would expect with adults - they shouldn't expect some mysterious "other people" to arrange her entertainment .
sometimes this is with her flatmates. Sometimes this is with friends from school who are now scattered around the country. Sometimes this is with friends from hobbies she used to do (and one she still does). Her volunteering has moved on line and this continues to take up a bit of time. Sometimes she'll have an on-line chat with cousins. Sometimes they go out for walks. Quite often she gets on zoom with one of her best friends and they do an exercise class together.

Yes, of course it is different from the experiences her siblings had when they went to University. Yes, she is hoping next year things will be a lot more normal. But she very much feels 'it is what it is'. This isn't exclusive to students. Everyone's lives have changed. We all have to get on withit the best we can.

My sons have not met a single person on their courses which have been 100% online this year (post grad) so a large part of this has disappeared in a sense - a course until April where you meet others, interact, learn people skills and all sorts. All they will be getting if they pass instead will be to have passed the professional exams and be able to start their legal practice courses in September which again may simply be online although hopefully not. It is a very different experience for people this year and feels more like a £3k a year cost of an open university type course rather than £9250 fees £7k rent plus in many cases what your parents give for an allowance - say £20k a year all in -£60k over 3 years for what is really more like a £3k a year online course.

What used to be a subject I adored has become an utter relentless grind. There's no spark, no interaction, no bouncing ideas off each other anymore - we used to be an interactive bunch who shared resources and got each other through stuff but now even the ones who normally helped pull people together have just checked out and are slogging on solo. I did lots of trying to make sure we had the means of collaborating and supporting each other earlier on in the term - but even I'm just burnt out totally now.

And logging onto the learning platform a million times a day as it's set to log you out after about 15 nanoseconds is really pissing me off.