Has your child made progress?

[holidaydisaster2020]

Hi! Just wondering this really. As a teacher and as a parent (year 2) the general expectation seems to be that either the children will have gone backwards or stayed pretty much where they were when they finished in March. Not sure if our schools have low expectations but it seems as if the best case scenario is that the education provided at home will keep them "ticking over"
So, I just wondered, does anybody feel that their child has actually made progress at all and if so, how have you achieved that? Thanks.

My daughter is in reception and has been in throughout. She has regressed especially socially and emotionally. Can't blend or segment even simple CVC words. Can't write at all. Can't write her name.

ishouldtryabiteachdayy As SandieCheeks says, not all words are made up of '1 letter, 1 sound', plus some words are pronounced differently in different accents so may require 'tweaking' eg bath or grass.
Personally I have been teaching sounds based on how I have seen DC1's Read Write Inc phonics lessons be delivered. I started by teaching 'set 1' sounds which are all the single letters plus a few digraphs: nk, ng, sh, ch. Then worked on understanding that words are a blend of these sounds and how to sound out and read CVC words. I then made a start teaching the next set of digraphs alongside simple common exception words eg 'the', and printed out some basic phrase phonics games from Twinkl. Once she could decode eg 'The pig in mud' we started on the level 1 Songbirds and have progressed from there.
If you go straight in with non-scheme books you will come across a lot of words with di/trigraphs or split digraphs that they haven't learnt yet and it gets very confusing! Songbirds are easier than some of the other schemes as they seem to use fewer tricky words initially, and they're cheaper too.
My next aim is to get her sounding out and blending words in her head, but I haven't watched any lessons on this and will be going at it blind 😫

DS y5 has made some progress in Maths, which he loves, reading and writing. But it's a fight to get him learning. Sadly we don't really have time & energy to cover any topic work other than looking for YouTube videos or TV Documentaries, we then have a little discussion about the subject... again he loves screen time, so hopefully something will stick.

DS is in year 6. Academically, he’s made loads of progress, by using Oak Academy and CGP books. He’s started the year 7 curriculum and year 8 in maths on top of his set school work. His spelling, handwriting and typing skills have all improved too. I am a HLTA in Early Years Special Education. I’ve been WFH but working hard so he’s been working whilst sitting next to me but quite self sufficiently. His social skills have taken a huge dive and he is thoroughly fed up of sitting in front of a computer. He’s had no transition work from primary or high school so, if he’s still not back at school on Monday as school haven’t told us yet when/ if they’re going back, I’ll be stopping the school work and doing transition work.

My 5 year old has made good progress. I am quite sure of it despite not being a teacher. Our school has set 1-2 hours of work a day and I have the time to complete this and more with my only child. We have been given access to a lot of online resources (twinkl, various publishers online teacher aids) which have been very useful for finding extra work. I am planning to keep homeschooling up at a low level throughout the summer holidays. I am little worried about social maturity but there is little I can do about this.

@ishouldtryabiteachdayy there's a pretty good explanation for parents here home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/ . There are videos on how to pronounce the sounds, free books to practise with and also daily free lessons on YouTube.

DS is in reception. The lessons from school are focused entirely on consolidation with no differentiation. We have given up entirely on them and have been doing our own thing - DS was bored and I couldn't see the point of battling him into doing work he was learning nothing from. For phonics and maths he likes them and is ahead of where he would have been at school and is now doing year 1 work, he's a fairly bright boy and we've been able to go at his pace. For writing, he's less keen so hopefully we've got him to where he should have been, he can definitely do more than he could 3 months ago. We've been doing 1.5 hours ish lesson stuff a day plus reading, although it will stop when he starts back at school on Monday.

Y2 DS has made good progress, but we have had very good provision from his (private) school - daily lessons via Google classroom, with videos by the teachers, as well as Zoom assemblies and reading groups etc. Expectations have been high which has helped - they are told to sign the register by 9am each day and given encouraging but honest feedback on the work, as they would be in class. I moaned a bit at first as it was a lot of faff for working parents to help with all the bits/chivvy along all day, but am grateful now.

I feel like he's missed out on the social maturity aspect a lot though, which I'm more concerned about than the academic side.

5 year old has stayed exactly where he was if not got worse.

9 year old has improved massively in maths. His teachers have always told me he struggled in maths and I've said for years it was purely a confidence thing. A few weeks of 1-2-1 working with me and he's flying through work 2 levels above where he was because I got him to believe that he was more than capable.

8 year old hasn't improved in quality of work but definitely has with quantity. He's the type of kid who needs a nudge every few mins to keep him going and obviously a teacher in a class of 30 kids can't do that but me working with 3 of them can.

I've got a 5 year old and an 8 year old and both have made good progress. I am a teacher who left the profession a couple of years ago, but also have a toddler thrown in who has made things interesting! We haven't done intensive study or anything, but I have tried to stretch them where possible.

My year 1 has made good progress with reading and maths. Writing is trickier but it hasn’t gone backwards, just ticking over.

He has been choosing what he wants to learn aside from the core subjects and as a result has made exceptional progress in his understanding of dinosaurs. Has been a tad repetitive for me and DH!

My year 1 dd has made huge progress with her writing but that's because she's had me one to one daily enforcing the need to write ( school have struggled to get her to write ). She's still behind but getting better.

My son has made so much progress.

He has additional needs and can struggle in school. Schoolwork comes home so I was used to having a lot of things to do pre lockdown.

I think having 121 and someone explaining in a clear way (math tasks are complicated in comparison to how I did them at school) has helped. His teacher has commented on his work saying how well he's doing and that she's never seen him grasp tasks so quickly.

I'm really pleased with his progress.

Not really sure whether mine (primary age) have made much progress or not. I imagine they have stayed pretty much the same but I think most of the work they have been set is just consolidation rather than new. If I am honest I am not sure what they are expected to be able to achieve for their age!

I have no idea if mine made progress. How would you even know? I suppose that means they didn't.

My two (Y2 and Y5) have regressed massively. It’s very depressing. They both were having amazing years with great teachers. It is a daily battle to get the work done at home and they are doing the minimum required and ticking over rather than making progress. I’m really disappointed that neither will get to go back before September and worried about how they will cope when they do.

I've not managed to do much learning with my reception DS. I have to work and every attempt at school work results in a battle.

I'll keep chipping away throughout school hols and see if that helps us catch up. I've mostly tried things that capture his interest rather than the set work.

I think both of mine have in different ways. My year 1 DS is way ahead and has been under challenged at school for a while. He has learned things they don’t do till year 2/3/4.
My DD who is year 4 and is currently below expectations has really benefited from the 1-1 to plug some gaps in her knowledge. I basically started from the begging of the year 3 curriculum.

My Reception class DD has made good progress in reading and maths. Thanks mainly to Read, write inc YouTube lessons and Carol Vorderman’s maths factor rather than my teaching. She’s done plenty of playing and outdoor things as well. I think I am very fortunate she is keen to do these every day and I know friend’s children of the same age have been difficult to get to do anything.
She started back at school this week and she hasn’t done much academic work but it’s just been wonderful for her to see friends and teachers.

I wish I could do more with my y1 dd. she's behind in everything and we've made some progress but it takes so much repetition for concepts to stick with her. still wants me to tell her what 13, 15 and 20 look like. spelling atrocious. but I'm WFH and looking after a 2yo too. I'm managing about an hour a day or just over and will keep it going through the hols.

In response to the earlier responses to me: it’s completely fair to say that those children with parents who are able to educate them for 6 plus hours a day should see progress. It’s also fair to say these children are advantaged.

No, the parents don’t have to be teachers, but teachers are better placed to know and teach the curriculum and check progress and attainment. They are then better placed to fill the gaps. How many non teachers of primary DC know the curriculum that would have been taught? Very few I suspect.

This will mean that children with knowledgable parents are better prepared/taught than the DC of other parents who will not or are unable to spend the time doing this. Or simply don’t have the necessary skills. It seems the doctors who wrote to The Times agree with me about the effect on our most needy children. We know we have a group of children who are not making progress and they are definitely the “have nots”.

Many MN parents are in a great position to enhance the skills their DC have but others see a big gulf appearing between DC who have been helped with their education in a meaningful way and others that have not. We really need to address this or it tarnishes us all.

DS (Y1) is now back at school. Over lockdown I would say his reading improved, and he does quite a bit of reading just by himself now. He had already hit the reading goal for end of year before Easter though. He is very good at maths, but I wouldn't necessarily say he has improved loads, as the work that school sent wasn't very challenging. Writing has been the difficult one. He has probably stayed at the same level, but his interest might have dipped as we tried to encourage him to do it as best we could, but it created some friction.

Swings and roundabouts I think. My yr 2 son has made massive progress and is cracking on with yr 3 maths, his reading was already really good so ticking over I think - handwriting still not great but he's a leftie so it's taking time. He's a very imaginative learner so is really enjoying learning what he wants rather than what his teachers feel he should to fit in with the class. However, I would love for him to be back at school as he's not the most confident and will move to a new school in September (junior) with zero transition which worries me.

My yr 7 has enjoyed home learning but secondary has been a different Learning experience. Some subjects have been great, others pretty poor. She has made progress because she is self motivated and has asked for more challenging work in maths to keep her going. In some ways because she hadnt been at secondary long I think the teachers have probably gleaned a lot about the pupils and how they learn since they haven't been in a group setting - not to say I wouldnt send her back tomorrow. She's definitely done more music practice- music teachers have been awesome!

2 of my dc have made progress but possibly as much as they would have at school (it's impossible to know!)

The 3rd has regressed massively. It's a worry.

I haven't got a clue, really. They've been doing the work set and generally just get on with it. DD2 in Y3 needs a bit more chivvying than DD1 in Y6. They've probably both got better at typing (and Roblox!), maybe a bit worse at handwriting. DD1 is back in school now which means I can focus more on supporting DD2 but I'm trying to work as well, and she's missing the company of her sister. They were both doing well before lockdown, and I'm sure they will soon get back up to speed again. I feel for teachers who will have to try to deal with the gaps that will have opened up in their classes come September, or whenever things are back to something like normal.

This will mean that children with knowledgable parents are better prepared/taught than the DC of other parents who will not or are unable to spend the time doing this. Or simply don’t have the necessary skills. It seems the doctors who wrote to The Times agree with me about the effect on our most needy children. We know we have a group of children who are not making progress and they are definitely the “have nots”.

I agree with you that we will see a gap opening up when we go back properly. I worry that those children who have parents in a position to help them plus those children who were probably already doing well because they're naturally academically inclined, compliant able to work independently etc will be ready to start their new school year whilst those who's parents have had to work full time from home, haven't known how to help their child or the child's resisted working at home will need a significant amount of time to settle and catch up.
My class are mostly back now and I can already see that my brightest child has completed almost all the work set and corresponded with me on a daily basis whilst my weakest learner (pre-covid) has been out on his bike every day and hasn't done anything. It's a worry!!