Keyworker school classes - are they worth it?

[Cindas]

I’ve (rather belatedly) been defined as a keyworker, which now gives me the option of sending my Year 5 to school. Her class is unlikely to return before the end of term, so she would be part of the mixed-year keyworker group.

She’s not proved to be a great home learner, and my job means I haven’t got a lot of time to support her with it. But she has been lucky enough to have quite a few extra-curricular activities delivered via Zoom, so her brain has been ticking over ok.

I’m going to continue to be home based for the foreseeable, so there is certainly no obligation for her to go to school; I’m just weighing up the benefits. But I’m really not sure how useful a mixed-age group will be in getting her education back on track anyway.

How have other keyworker parents found the experience for their children? Are they doing well, or is it as much of a stop-gap as home learning?

I’m well aware that there’s a whole other debate about the potential infection risks of returning to school; but I mainly want to know how children who have been, or remain, in the keyworker group, have found it.

Mine went back a few weeks ago - she's learning a lot and having a lovely time. Her key worker bobble is just made up of children in her year and the year below and they're doing a great job.

Yes worth it in my case as my dd struggles socially and having the routine of school is good for her, learning wise I'm not too sure it's the full experience but something is better than nothing.

My y2 went in to the keyworker class for the first time today and came out absolutely buzzing with happiness. He’s had a great day and made a new friend. Kicking myself we didn’t send him in sooner. Why not try it and see how she gets on?

The role of the KW provision is to provide essential childcare so essential workers can go to work. If you’re at home anyway, you may find the school won’t agree to giving a place depending on how many they have. You don’t need childcare by the sounds of it.

Aw shoot - DONT CLICK ON THE LINK

It's childcare, not teaching

Quality varies wildly and there is a good chance the key worker group has mixed with a large number of people as they won't all attend every day and staff working with them may well be on a rota

I wouldn't if I didn't have to

DS has been going since lockdown started. He is in year 7.
What is provided isn't school, it's childcare. They do the same work your child will be being assigned to do at home. The teachers that are there vary every day and often can't help with the work the children are doing much more than a parent could. For example, his geography teacher hasn't been able to help him with art or music much!
That being said, he has loved it. The routine has kept us all sane. He has made friends in different year groups. And because they aren't doing a full timetable of lessons they get to do art, PE or cooking every afternoon.

varies school to school
ours only offers the same worksheets that are sent home
however DC2 is really enjoying going, even though she's the only kid in her class, and is having a good time just hanging with other kids and escaping the monotony of home.

Surprised children are cooking. Activities like food making/tasting/ artefact sharing and touching activities should be avoided but it highlights the differences in schools. Sure you have found a safe way around it.

All our children have curriculum learning in school and online. (Should say they have access to it at home? Not sure how many do it)
SEND children have benefitted by having double their usual involvement with SENDCO in school. They have also benefitted from the smaller groups.

Maths. phonics, art, PE, forest schools, and emotional and wellbeing work going on.

It isn't just childcare for my child and eligible children should now be encouraged to attend according to the guidance.

Our keyworker class is mixed age groups, and they are all doing their lessons being taught live (same as the non keyworker children still learning at home) via laptops (with headphones!). We have staff supervising and helping with work where necessary. They have 4 hours of live lessons then offline work to complete for the rest of the day. All of our children are working very hard and getting a huge amount of work done each day.

We have had some year groups back since 1 June and tomorrow the rest of the school is returning for the 2 weeks of term. We are a very small private school with very small classes, so this is possible.

Is she an only child? My year 9 DS has been going since early May and enjoys it. He has made friends in other year groups and they do PE everyday. His friends don't live close to us and I'm working full time so he was on his own before.

Mine went back a few weeks ago - she's learning a lot and having a lovely time. Her key worker bobble is just made up of children in her year and the year below and they're doing a great job.

Exactly this. Dc is loving been back and loves being taught in small groups.

@pud2 the latest Government guidance states that children with one key worker parent should go back to school even if there is someone to look after them at home. They want children back it is generally a good option for their mental health. Mine love the key worker set up and work harder and more effectively at school than they do at home, enjoy seeing peers and talking to teachers.

• @pud2 the latest Government guidance states that children with one key worker parent should go back to school even if there is someone to look after them at home. They want children back it is generally a good option for their mental health. Mine love the key worker set up and work harder and more effectively at school than they do at home, enjoy seeing peers and talking to teachers*

Yes, that is the case. However, in reality, this is causing problems for schools. We’ve opened to N, R, 1 and 6 and, with the current restrictions, this is using up most of the staff. Some schools are now bringing in more classes if they have the staff and so are stretched to full capacity. Given that we can’t have more than 15 in a bubble then, if more and more KW children appear, new KW bubbles will have to be formed which means classes will have to close again as there aren’t enough staff. This is a great shame particularly when schools are working so hard to reopen classes.

It's definitely not childcare at my school. We are teaching key worker pupils in year groups and are providing the same work which is set for those who are still at home.

Provision will vary from school to school.

At my primary school, I teach the lessons in the morning that are sent home for my class. Because I'm aware of the expectations for the year group, I'm at the front of the class delivering the lesson and because children are mentally in school mode (not just physically there), the standard of work produced is generally higher than than the work being emailed to me from home.

In the afternoons I teach some of the other subjects. It's not the same as normal schooling (apart from anything else, the frequent hand-washing has really slowed the pace of lessons) but it's certainly more than just childcare.