How Many hours of online lessons in Year 7?

[OtterL]

Hi everyone, how many hours of online live lessons does your year 7 child have? Our 11 year old DS had live lessons from 8:40 - 4 with an hour off for lunch and a 10 minute break in the morning. We ve just had the most horrendous week, with epic meltdowns yesterday by the end of the week - he does have ADHD and dyslexia and by yesterday he was just exhausted and emotional about the whole thing (he slept in until 10 this morning which is unheard of). We did make him sit through tall the lessons but it was a real battle at times to keep him engaged. He didn’t have live lessons during the first lockdown when he was in primary so this is new to him. He’s also in a new school since september whereas all his friends went to a different secondary so that’s been hard for him. Just wondering if everyone else in year 7 is having the same amount of live lessons - I couldn’t spend 6 hours a day on teams calls for work (I d be shattered!) so wondering if we/ the school are expecting too much with the number of lessons or whether other year 7s are having this much and doing fine with it. We don’t know any other parents at the school due to lockdown so grateful for comparatives. Thanks!

Hey there, OP

We're going to move this one over to lockdown learning for you now.

My son is in year 8, but the entire school is doing soon lessons in place of real lessons, so 5 lessons of around 50 mins long. He gets 5-10minutes break in between lessons and 45 mins for lunch. It’s a long day, and I feel really sorry for him at times, as if I have a Teams meeting heavy day I’m as exhausted as he looks! I think it would be good for him to have some independent learning.

My daughter is in year 6, and she is getting 3 google meets of around 30mins long and work to submit after each one, based on what she’s learnt. Much more than in the first lockdown, but I’m happy, as she’ll be going to the same school as my son and needs to be prepared!

I don't think that comparatives are that helpful as at the moment everywhere is doing things so differently.

For example, a grammar I know are doing a combo of recorded and live. The comp is relying on Oak Academy online lessons, so totally different.

I would say that if there's no downtime between lessons when normally there would be walking time between rooms etc, perhaps write to the school or call, discussing whether lessons could say be 45 minutes online and 15 minutes off to allow for loo runs and just a 5 minute breather.

Are they using his normal timetable? What about form time and PE slots?

Thanks both. @motherextraordinaire - they are using his normal lesson timetable even down to PE (which is done as theory). I was so worried yesterday as he was in such an emotional state by the afternoon. After a good long sleep, he’s much happier today. There is no break between lessons at all - it goes straight from one to the other and the teachers will ring and message if he’s not there on time.

One thing I’m insisting on is a walk after my son is logged off school for the day, as he chooses to go straight on the Xbox otherwise.

@OtterL

Thanks both. *@motherextraordinaire* - they are using his normal lesson timetable even down to PE (which is done as theory). I was so worried yesterday as he was in such an emotional state by the afternoon. After a good long sleep, he’s much happier today. There is no break between lessons at all - it goes straight from one to the other and the teachers will ring and message if he’s not there on time.

I'd definitely raise the lack of breaks and down time. Even as an employee who works in front of a laptop for 8 hours I have staggered breaks away outside of lunch and encouraged to do so. It's unhealthy to not. I'd focus on this but also the impact this is having on your still young child.