AIBU?

[Emmaheather]

To be upset with my son's school. They have said they cannot safely accommodate year 6, year 1 and reception children and are prioritising reception (they say as per government guidelines). School input to date, 1 email per week. Absolutely no mention of how year 6 are to be supported with transition to secondary or acknowledgement this marks their permanent departure from primary school.

What would you like them to do with Y6? All the usual parts of transition e.g. visiting new school, drama, sports days, signing shirts, funa activities at the end of SATs etc are impossible with social distancing. Y6 need to go in before the end of term to say goodbye but it will be unrecognisable as 'their school'. They don't necessarily need to be in for seven weeks to say goodbye.

See their friends, see their teachers, get some support with school work to build confidence before moving into a new and challenging environment. Collect his belongings.
Why are reception considered more of a priority? A lot of children don't even go to school at 4/5 years old in many countries and I hardly think it will impact on their education.

They’ll be ok. My children have been through similar with moving between countries and the countries’ different school years. One year they were off from January to August because of a move and no school place until the following year. We all coped ok.
At least all your children’s friends and school mates will be in the same situation. My children were the odd new ones.

Everything that Wildling says.
The teachers will not know what to do with the kids. It would be incredibly stressful for the children themselves and very upsetting for everyone involved.
It's the right decision. It's very sad.

“Why are reception considered more of a priority?”

I think they are more of a priority because a Year 6 (11yr old) could be left home alone for a few hours which could enable both parents to return to work if one does an early shift and the other a later shift. Or if very responsible, home alone all day. I know that at 11yrs old I was a paid professional babysitter myself and often left in charge of my six younger siblings all day. Of course that was decades ago when children were not so infantilised.

In other words, the governments priority is getting people back to work not education.

I've been saying all the way through this business that we are learning the truth about schools now.
It's child care and social work / safeguarding.
Education is way down the list.

I know he'll be ok, but I think having a chance to say goodbye is helpful. I wouldn't want to leave a work place I had been in for several years without saying goodbye. (Goodbyes can be a bit upsetting, but that's just normal healthy emotional processing).
Why would it be upsetting for them to spend time in a school he likes, with his friends and teachers? He understands the need to socially distance and will be more able than a 4 year old to work out how to interact with his friends safety.
There has been no indication they will be able to return, even for a day.

Brain development at Reception and Y1 is critical. The gap between rich and poor grows most between the ages of 0-5 and Reception reduces the gap.

But yes - the point really is childcare not education.

It would be upsetting because it really wouldn't be as he remembers school.
It will be fine to go in for a day though.
Teachers are planning for the future.
I know it sounds harsh, but it's done and dusted for year 6 now.
Your son is the priority of his year 7 teachers now.

prioritising yR and y1 is the right thing to do on a big-picture view because in the most deprived and challenging demographics, the groundwork done in these years can make a huge, exponential difference to eventual outcomes. in leafy middle-class demographics the academic progress of older children may seem more important and the younger children are more easily accommodated at home, but if there has to be a single policy for the whole spectrum of society then it is right to take the decision that will have the most beneficial impact on the most vulnerable - and that means prioritising the youngest. it would be divisive and counterproductive to try to apply different kinds of policies in different areas so it has to be a single blanket policy.

It is crap and you’re allowed to be upset. It’s totally normal to worry about your children whether you’re worried about them because they’re not going to school or you’re worried about them because they are! It’s horrible as a parent to see the school year ending up so different to what we expected. We just have to try hard not to let them see our anxiety and to try to make the best of it

Helpful reflections. I think my upset is fueled by having had virtually no input from school since lock down and that there was no acknowledgement by the school of year 6 transition, which was also highlighted as a priority (although a less important one,).

Thanks vashta. Yes, definitely trying not to show my son my upset. Luckily most of his classmates will go to the same secondary school.

I'm a teacher in a secondary school, and only work with year 7 and 8.
Your son and his peers will be really well looked after in September. Teachers will be prioritising their well fare.

That is reassuring to hear. My older son is in the secondary school and I have been impressed with their care for the students, pre and post covid. Less so the primary school!

The government guidance states reception and Y1 should be prioritised in primary schools if they can't accommodate all 3 year groups - your school is doing what the government has told them to do.