Not bashing, school have not been in contact at all, what should we do?

[drspouse]

Highly aware that teachers are under masses of pressure.
DH is KW and currently he's quarantining in the spare room (due to upcoming hospital appointment not symptoms), DS has SEN and his school have been great, loads of work packs, calling every day.
DD has been in on average one day a week but will do next to nothing at home. She's in Y1 and has an IEP.
Today she screamed for 10 minutes then read four pages, took 45 minutes to find 3 words in a word search, did crafts (she'd happily do only crafts, ever),

I emailed her teacher 10 days ago to say she was not coping. No reply. Not a single phone call the whole time she's been off. No emails.

We can't read some of the work set on the school website and the rest is too hard for her e.g. phonics way ahead of where she is, she's only just doing one more/one less. School said they were going to give the class the same choice boards in class, we asked the class teacher to let us know what she had done (she never tells us) on days she's in. No answer to that either.
What can we do now? I'm trying to work, she's learning nothing and just getting upset, DH can't help but she won't do anything for him normally anyway, she was already really behind!

That does not sound fun for any of you. It could be that they aren't calling because she has been attending school. Is her teacher, the one you emailed, definitely working not ill or shielding? I would call the school, they have a responsibility to help you in any way that they can. I have dropped in work for children who cannot access the internet or if they need further support or challenge. I hope that the school, her teacher or the SENDCO can help.

In year 1, I would let her do whatever keeps her happy, if it's constructive. Craft will teach her fine motor skills and make her think. Give her (and you!) a break.

That's all very well Lougle but she's already very behind. She went backwards, if that's possible, in her reading over Easter, so 6 months of no school work is not happening on my watch.
Our LEA isn't going back yet, and the school will then be offering half days with no individual help, or current KW provision.

@speakfriendandenter we've seen her a few times at DD school sessions. So she is working. Though we appreciate she's got school provision, setting home learning etc etc etc. The school put out really poor story videos (frustrating for DD because you can't see the book) and she's been on them, which we thought would be nice but we stopped watching. She also answered a query about a password.

Slight back story is that the SENCO, we felt, badly failed our DS, he wouldn't do school work (he has ADHD) and they told us he should go to an MLD school (he doesn't have a LD and his current school agree he needs mainstream) and that we had to find somewhere else for him.
So the SENCO is not our favourite person!

I think a lot of schools have been pretty crap but ffs, if you can’t sort your own kid out how do you expect her teacher to do it via email?

She’s your child and her behaviour is your responsibility.

Speak to the headteacher.

sortitoutffs I don't think it's unreasonable for OP to expect school to provide school work for her DC.

if you can’t sort your own kid out how do you expect her teacher to do it via email?
Regular phone calls, work packs, well made video explanations and differentiated work from his school have been what's helped DS. Not one email.

If the teacher isn't responding go to the head.

When is she next in school? I'm a primary teacher and i have a quick chat with parents of mine that I see in school, give them tasks for the next week and they bring them in on their next school day. I only call the ones I'm not seeing otherwise I'd never get anything else done. Face to face might be better than email if you're already going in every week.

Expecting an answer to an email within a week is totally reasonably, and you have waited 10 days.

Email again on Monday (forward your original one, and say younare syptill,awaiting a response), copy to SENCO at this point, despite your opinion of competence. You have to work with the schools formal structures, whatever younthink of the current incumbent.

Your DS is at a PRU. That is totally different- the staff ratios are way higher and they are 100% used to planning individually for each child as that is what they do every day.

Your main concern seems to be that the work being provided is not suitable for your DD? Could she do the tasks being sent out for YR instead?

Would she engage with something like Bitesize or Oak Academy (assuming you have the tech available)? At least then she might make progress, you can pick slightly different content on there sometimes. So she might not have covered the actual work set by the school but will at least be trying to make some progress.

In the meantime I agree with others about contacting the school again.

I agree its worth looking at the reception pack and pulling things from there.
I also think that as much as the senco let your son down, you might have to copy her and the head in asking for some suitable work.
I also agree that a child they are seeing weekly wont be top of the list for calls.
Its strange times -a lot of schools arent teaching new content.

The tasks set for YR are too easy (they told us where the cut off was in terms of PIVATS and she's in the Y1 range), and we aren't allowed to hang around and talk - plus I have no idea when her class teacher would be in.

YR have explanation videos (she would listen to one from her class teacher but they have none for her class), I assume they still have teacher comments on Tapestry (DS has really benefited from teacher comments on photos of his work on Class Dojo but there's no app for DD).

I appreciate that DS school is different but there's a huge difference between daily phone calls and no phone calls in 11 weeks.

disorganise I looked at Oak but she doesn't understand multiple choice! DH tried BBC Bitesize but we don't have the time to do the masses of prep/working out what's right for her/chivvying her and he said she didn't engage any better.
We only realistically have time to pick up a workbook or scheme of work but she just refuses/screams. I feel she's only going to engage if her actual teacher is involved.

I agree we need to go back to school but historically the relationship has been so toxic - we were pleased to get a different class teacher for DD (though TBH his Y1 was also lovely).

Ah not to worry then. Sorry if I have missed it but is her year on Tapestry or not?

No, EYFS is on Tapestry, nobody else.

Although I agree the lack of communication from her school sounds crap, it also seems like you want something she can do completely independently, which I just don't think is realistic.

If she doesn't get the multiple choice quiz on Oak Academy then skip it and get on to the video.
BBC Bitesize doesn't require any prep work really? At most I download and print the worksheet if there is one.

Can you send her to school for more days if you're not coping with her at home?
Then on the days she's at home just aim to read together and do some maths games.

I would contact the head and if no reply the chair of governors to raise your concerns.

Her actual teacher may not be her actual teacher any more. When she goes into a bubble it may well be a different teacher, then a new class teacher in September.

Presumably you have a couple of weeks left at most and then she'll be back in with a bubble.

Yes contact the head op. I sympathise because my dds school have been shit too. It’s very frustrating.

Have a look at the reading eggs app. A lot of my year 2 class are doing it and loving it. You work your way through it as you progress through phonics so it might be useful.

That doesn't sound good at all op.
I'm an early years teacher, we put weekly activities online for the class to pick & choose from and encourage parents to upload and share anything their child has done (we give feedback to anything we receive within a day)
Any children that haven't logged onto the system we (politely email) and I've personally delivered resources to families who have limited internet access and/or no printer.
I personally call families who I know are struggling just to 'check in'
We made it quite clear from day one of school closing that we would always be at the end of the phone and for parents to shout if we could do anything to help.

If you still haven't received a reply from the teacher, would you consider contacting the year leader?

DS's school have been very caring but the home learning activities are a mixed bag so we have picked and chosen, and used Oak and BBC Bitesize to supplement, or follow DS's level and interests, or frankly find something he will engage with without a major stop.

I think you have to try a sample from each website and find what works for you. The quiz is optional on Oak as the PP says, so just skip it to get to the good stuff for your DD. FWIW my DS is in year 1, and struggles with writing but the Year 1 English teacher on Oak is fabulous and he has really engaged with her lessons. She doesn't include any multi guess quizzes either! There are three sections to each lesson - phonics, spelling and a section around the week's story or other text and a wider language or vocabulary learning goal. Even if the phonics is not where your DD is working she might enjoy the second 10 minutes each day on the poem/story/text. Ffwd is your friend! You can adjust the work eg if my DS writes 3 of the 8 spellings Miss Browne sets, that is great and we have high fives all round, and he will just write a sentence or I will scribe for him on the Friday writing task. He has come to love the routine of "seeing" Miss Browne every day, too, you don't get that with Bitesize.

Other lessons/teachers on Oak haven't hit the spot, some have gone down a storm - he adores Year 2 history - but you can sample when your daughters not around to pick likely winners, and ffwd or pause to adjust.

Have you tried looking on White Rose maths for the free teacher planning units for the whole of each year? They explain the methods and learning goals and have sample activities/questions. You could find where your DD is and build from there at her pace rather than having to consume the topic/content from BBC or wherever. More work when we are all juggling about 3 jobs at once, of course :-(

If she likes online work, Mathseeds is fun and hooks them in with games and rewards. It is from the Reading Eggs stable and free trials abound at the moment. It does a level,check and starts them off at an appropriate point, you can also dip back in to go over any areas she needs more practice with, and there are free worksheets if you like that kind of thing.

We have in the past tried Reading Eggs (not phonics based) and Maths Seeds (jumps about too much). We use Doodle Maths but that's 5 minutes a day.
I really, really don't have time to prepare stuff, work out what's good for her, what level she's at etc. I need something at her level, pick up and go, every day - I'm trying to work, getting picked up on for being behind, missing meetings. History? Ha. Getting a book read is a lost dream let alone any time for non core subjects.
The foundation choices from school are all things that would take me an hour to prepare and she'd stop and cry after writing 2 letters. So we've given up entirely on anything that isn't literacy or numeracy.
We don't have any "system" to log on to or any way to feed back what she's doing except email and the main means of asking questions seems to be to ask on their public FB page which isn't exactly confidential!

(I agree we need to get back in touch. I just don't see them doing much that will help her, they haven't done anything that she would find useful so far)