How full are primary schools???

[mids2019]

My partner and I have 2 primary school children and though keyworkers took the decision to keep our children out of school to limit COVID transmission.

We are now aware half the school is back in and we are worried that we have compromised our childrens education as with such high numbers in school it seems inevitable some kind of teaching will be happening there (as opposed to the first lockdown where it was childcare essentially)

How full is your school and do you think there is a difference between online learning and in school?

(I am a little frustrated by this as we envisaged schools would be used sparingly as really what was the point of shutting them)

24 kids in the whole school

180 here

Ours is probably 2/3 full.

50% of the school is in. (100 kids)

I get the impression the allowance of one key worker parent and a wide range of allowed key workers has persuaded quite a few to send their children in....

There are only 11 children in our primary school currently. I think there is a big difference between homeschooling and actual schooling. You say 'online' learning so I suppose you may have online classes which would be better than homeschooling. You could always send you children in for the day and see what they report back. If they learn more in school you can decide whether you should send them to school or not and if they learn less then you will know you have made the right decision.

90 out of 250

We are teaching live from the classroom via zoom from 8.45 until 3.15 so the children at home get exactly the same provision as those in school, as long as you can access zoom. For those that can't we provide the weeks learning in paper form but obviously there is no teacher there to explain what to do.

It depends on the approach taken by the individual school. Some schools are being very tight on who they allow to go in and some are keen to allow as many as they are allowed to within the ‘guidance’ 15 in a year group of the usual 60 may not sound loads but bear in mind they are all in the same classroom so in fact it’s still pretty full. It’s questionable how effective this is going to be given how many children are in fact still mixing.

Primary 500 students normally. 80 students now.

There are no prizes for keeping your children home when they're legally entitled to a place. You can argue it's ethical to stop the spread but I would argue that it's unethical to keep children from accessing education.
The government have other choices that they haven't made- many industries are working as normal.
They let people mix over Christmas, people were at the theatre in London in December. They don't care about your children, you need to advocate for them.

So with schools so full are teachers essentially doing the same job possibly with more emphasis on support than teaching?

This time round there is definitely an expectation of continued education and so are teachers obliged to do this in the classroom.

In other words have just withdrawn our children unnecessarily?

20% of ours are in.

@mids2019

So with schools so full are teachers essentially doing the same job possibly with more emphasis on support than teaching?

This time round there is definitely an expectation of continued education and so are teachers obliged to do this in the classroom.

In other words have just withdrawn our children unnecessarily?

Well if you're coming into contact with lots of people in your job you're preventing infections in the school which is brilliant. But if not then yes.

We have 20 out of 60 children in school in year 2. At the moment both teachers are in and we are alternating between teaching the children in and prepping hone learning, marking work and doing zooms and answering a lot of emails! Home learning is the same content as class learning so includes a lot of videos we are doing so the children can work as independently as possible.

Next week I am the only one in so am hoping the numbers don't go up much more!

Thanks for the replies.

It is somewhat reassuring that the teaching provision is aimed to be the same for at home and in school children for some.

However we have no live lessons and though the teachers send work to be done with pre recorded comments this may not substitute for the live experience.

School is now shut to further KW children so feel we have missed the boat...for how long I dont know.

I'm not sure how many are in.
The teacher said about 10 per class.
But my kid said it was about 20 but she isnt always clear on things like this.
There is a definite difference.
She cant always answer me but it seems that are doing the work that has been set online.
But she is still reading to the teachers. Bringing new reading books home. And I'm not sure if she will be given her weekly homework like normal. I assume the kids at home wont be given that.
It's her normal teacher in the class with her and the TA.
I'm not sure if she is getting any extra teaching apart from what's set online. But I know we would have struggled to get through the online learning at home just because of work and tried to do as much as I could when I returned from work or at the weekend.

Got to admit admiration for teachers at the moment but arent you doing 2 jobs? Is this sustainable?

We have 160/430 in school.

@mids2019 I’m teaching a bubble and doing live teaching for online learning. The children in school are getting a 1-1 read as extra across the school and that’s it. We don’t have time for anymore than that with teaching each lesson twice (home and ev school) and providing written feedback on each piece of work sent to us.

@Mnusernc

There are no prizes for keeping your children home when they're legally entitled to a place. You can argue it's ethical to stop the spread but I would argue that it's unethical to keep children from accessing education. The government have other choices that they haven't made- many industries are working as normal. They let people mix over Christmas, people were at the theatre in London in December. They don't care about your children, you need to advocate for them.

Im a teacher, last lockdown in March I was in more than not in due to being a small school, lots of teachers who are friends had weeks and weeks off, Dh worked full time from home, kept our 2 children home throughout and struggled massively. This time I’m sending them in for a day a week that’s been given for the reason above. I’m teaching other peoples children, entitled to a place and my children missed out so much last time from me being at school.

@mids2019

Got to admit admiration for teachers at the moment but arent you doing 2 jobs? Is this sustainable?

Yes we are doing 2 jobs! It is relentless and unsustainable actually.

I think the approach will vary by school, some are using support staff to supervise children in school who access the same online provision as those at home. Some schools are providing full teaching including the usual support and feedback in class and separate remote provision for others.

We are still awaiting updated government guidance which gives more detail on what is expected.

I am absolutely shattered and not sure how long I can do this for.

Live teaching is not what you think it will be. The only way it can really work is with the class teacher in, small class size and good technology. I would have to have two chrome books with one class logged onto each one. They would have to face the board and I would then teach the children but the children watching would have to be muted, I wouldn't be able to interact with many of the children as I would have 60 children watching me.

I feel a zoom meeting with one class doing a quick intro or prep for the lesson does give more quality interaction. I also feel my recorded videos are quite good!

It really shouldn’t be something that people are able to ponder. If you can keep your child at home, do.

At the school I work in teaching is happening but we had to send a child home the same day we opened up again because parents had sent him in with a persistent cough. So depends on how Covid risk averse you are as to whey its of benefit having a place.