Have your Primary School been in touch since schools shut?

[mumoftwodc]

Just wondering if your child's school has been in touch since school closed for lockdown. We've not had any personal contact, just general ParentMails and I'm wondering if this is the norm?

I am not allowed into school to try to limit the potential viral pool, or whatever you want to call it. Obviously I can't ring parents on my personal phone. I imagine many teachers are in this position.

I have many, many chats on the online platform with children.

I've written a letter to each child in my class.

The HT rings the families in a loop (finishes the last family, however long it's taken to get there, and starts at the beginning again), and obviously she visits in person vulnerable families who have chosen not to send their children in.

My dc school adds a weekly timetable plus all resources online each Sunday. The class teachers are available on Teams every morning and afternoon during a set time and there’s a class assembly each week for each year group. If we don’t join then the teacher calls us to check in and make sure we are okay and if we need anything.
Similar to my older ones at high school. Timetables each week, emails from tutors and subject teachers contact is to say well done or not enough work done type of thing....

My school:

Children on CP plans who are not in school are called 3 times a week.

All other children are called by their class teacher / their sibling's class teacher once a week.

Home visits (social distancing adhered to) to those we cannot contact.

DD's school:

No personal contact. Some lesson inputs uploaded onto YouTube.

Generic messages through Marvellous Me.

I’m a primary teacher. Every Sunday I upload the work from home so that parents can look at plan their week so the home learning fits around their working commitments. I send daily chatty messages to the class on google classroom that some respond too. I comment on every piece of work they submit. Some pieces in more detail than others. I chat to parents online to help with worries and issues as I can. We are not allowed in my authority to use zoom. I don’t personally call but management are monitoring our classrooms. They are in contact with families who haven’t engaged T all and those who we have welfare concerns about. Everyone without tech has been offered a loan of a chromebook from the authority.

Yes, we get emails once a week, sometimes twice & fortnightly phone calls from class teachers. They've also made it clear that office staff are still working & we can call if we have any problems.

We get a periodic email from the head complaining about everything parents have dared to do over the last week or so and telling us off and ranting about any talk of opening schools. Allegedly some "work for the next fortnight" which lasts about 10 minutes (and took about 15 minutes to produce if that) and radio silence. They've totally washed their hands of the kids who are due to transition away and give minimal shit about the ones continuing next year.

I'm livid.

The other child's school have weekly video calls, the staff engage with the kids on the online platform, the head emails all the parents weekly and if any families need support the head or class teacher will call them up. Plus an "I'm stuck with the kids' homework" email helpline.

Nope. For the first 4 weeks we had absolutely zilch. We had a home learning pack which was sent home on the last day schools were open and just left to work through it.

Now we have another learning pack (paper form like the first one) but we also have the seesaw app which the teachers post generic messages to a couple of times a week. They update on a Monday telling the pupils which worksheets to complete that week and also set a weekly challenge, and then update through the week with pushes to complete the work or take a bloody AR quiz. We can submit work but we’ve been told to only submit 1/2 pieces a week and the teacher makes a generic comment on it. Nothing personal. (P5)

My dd is in year 2, no contact off school at all. On the last day they were in we had a letter with a list of websites where we can find resources.

I have a child in reception and I can honestly say both our school and our class teacher have been brilliant. They have sent enough options and daily challenges to give great ideas for those that can home school. Snippet ideas for programmes that those who have limited time have also been sent home -along with all the classroom challenges that they would have been doing. Phone calls home have been made and questions answered through Tapestry have been answered.

My son has spoken to his teacher via the app he submits his homework to.

The depute of the school emailed a couple of weeks ago to see how he is getting on.

DS is in year 4. Teacher emails the following week's work on a Sunday. She also posts messages/videos on class Dojo every day and always responds when DS messages her or sends any photos. She also calls every pupil once a week. Has a quick word with me and then chats to DS.

Ds year 4. We have a phone call from his teacher every 2 weeks and the head emails every 2-3 weeks.
It's enough to be honest.

I couldn't understand why some primaries are giving out weekly learning packs - eg comprehension, spelling, maths etc, where as others are pointing us to websites and giving silly challenges like what are all the pink things in your house but no real pointers on what we should be learning.

EG friends secondary has been carrying on as normal using technology, ours has just issued power points and youngest very little ... then yesterday I saw its all down to the Unions. Our school is extremely politicized and very much - poor hard over worked teachers etc. So I guess thats why we are being left to flounder when other children get far more support.

Dd had a call from her class teacher in week one as she had changed her mind about an activity. Apart from that we have the daily work setting and weekly newsletter with a note from the head and showcase of some of the work sent in from home learning by class. Seems plenty to me. Most of the teachers have their own children so are all in the same position as us. Trying to juggle work and homeschooling.

Y5 teacher calls every week to chat with parent and a child. Have not heard from Y2 teacher at all, apart, from reply to an emails with pictures of homework.

No personal contact.
Weekly email with the learning 'ideas' for the week- mostly directing to White Rose maths, and variius other programmes used in school.

I would have appreciated a phone call... But do not expect a teacher to use a personal phone to do so. Zoom etc would be tricky for us due to poor internet speed.

No personal calls/ emails but we are getting comments on work we've submitted and DS's teacher responded to my email questioning something.

Nothing to check how we are actually faring though. I suspect they would be in contact if we weren't semi-regularly uploading work.

Nothing from our school and no zoom classes either. They started posting (easy) work daily on Google Classroom at the beginning of the new term but dont respond to comments/ questions or mark work. Said any questions need to go via office. So we followed instructions and emailed one question the office ... and got a response back 5 weeks later!

Apparently they might call this week for 5 minutes. I won't hold my breath....

Ds' school haven't been in touch, they set work and in the last week have set up SeeSaw so you can post work, which they occasionally comment on. They've sent an email saying they intend to phone us at some point, so we'll see.

Our SLT call every family in the school 2-3 times a week.

Then teachers set work, exchange messages and leave videos for pupils on SeeSaw. They respond usually within an hour or so to any comments or questions left on there.

Lots of contact here, but it is a small independent school. They have live registration each morning and 3-4 live lessons per week, plus a weekly instrumental lesson. There is a personal email per child each day from the member of staff dedicated as pastoral support (not always the form tutor - different children have different members of staff for this). We also get comments on all work submitted online for marking. In addition all teachers are responsive to email from either the children or parents. They also send additional messages via emails or Teams - for example praise or work feedback. This is all in addition to lesson plans to follow, worksheets, pre-recorded video lessons etc. I'm impressed and think they're doing well - only wish that all parents and all schools had the resources for such a set up.

Oh, I forgot, their class teachers are chatting with them, about day to day things, on google classroom too.

My children are in two different schools (one primary and one secondary) and the contact/work set has obviously been different.

One school hasn't been in contact by phone, but I assume that's because my child is submitting work as required and I haven't called them. They did respond to an email that I sent.

They have sent news updates, texts and videos though, plus info about how to access the FSM voucher scheme and links to websites re: school work, bereavement, well-being.

That's fine. They've no doubt got plenty of children who aren't engaging at all plus others that are known to be vulnerable, plus the children of keyworkers and their own families to focus on.

The other school has daily zoom check ins and is calling children who aren't engaging in these. I appreciate this very much.

Yeah our more communicative school have absolutely pulled out all the stops (and I have let the Head and class teacher know how appreciated it was) - to the extent they've even uploaded little clips of the class pets on their "holiday" as well

Yes, I really appreciate it too and it's been great for my child's well-being.

But I also appreciate that there are no doubt reasons, other than not giving a shit, that my other child's school has been less communicative.

No personal contact here and they aren't wanting work submitted so no feedback either. They write a daily blog where they tell us what a lovely time they are having in their garden. I'm pretty annoyed - I think they should be getting us to submit at least some work and should have called at least once now. The work isn't differentiated and is aimed towards the lower end of the class, it's all stuff they did last term and is mostly too easy. I've almost entirely given up on doing school work and am doing my own thing with DC - if I'm not getting any feedback or support I might as well find stuff actually at the right level and much better produced e.g. by the BBC.