Coronavirus - do you think there’s a possibility that all kids at school will repeat a year?

[LSmith789]

In the news it has suggested the restricted measures / social distancing etc may be in place for up to a year. Of course we don’t know whether this will actually pan out and if it does whether the schools will be closed for a large proportion of this. However, I think it may be possible that all kids that are currently at school whether primary or secondary (except for those supposed to be doing exams this year) may be literally repeating a year so they all leave a year later.
In the grand scheme of things, if the situation does turn out to be fairly long term, this may be a solution.......

I have thought about this but don't think it is an option because it would mean children due to start reception wouldn't be able to. It would also put everyone back a year forever because they'd never be able to catch up.

Speaking as a parent with children in primary school, I imagine they will lengthen the school day slightly, give more homework to catch up.

For secondary school children though.......they may have to add another year.

I think it's the perfect time to raise the school starting age to 6 and let all current students repeat the year.

We’re still setting work, assessing and teaching remotely though...I know it’s not exactly the same but we’re going to try our best to keep up with the curriculum.

I said to my Dd year 11 that repeating the year for everyone would be a fair system. Then those due to start school in reception do at age 6, which is pretty much in-line with the rest of the world. She said no **ing way could she stay at her school another year 😁 she's been so looking forward to leaving and going to a different 6th form college. She's resigned herself to the teachers marking and giving the grades.

No that won’t happen. It would cause a hell of a lot of disruption in many places.

If they started school later they'd have to massively increase the preschool funding and places though. Twice as many in the 3-4 year class in most nurseries? I don't think so. And more EYFS staff.
We start earlier than some countries with easy to read languages like Finnish. No earlier than France/Spain/Italy. Americans spend a year longer at uni.

What happened during WW2? Did children’s schools close and if so did any repeat a year? Just wondering if there’s a precedent for this?

Why would they need to? Do people honestly believe school is the only place children can learn?

Bit tricky because atm children can legally leave school on the last Friday in June if they are 16 before the end of August. They couldn't forced to stay on.

I really hope not, ds is in yr5 and already ready for secondary (academically). Anotherin yr10, worriedaboutdoingthework at home but eager to get on with her career. I think that secondary, sixth form, university will just have to accept that for the next ten years there will be a knock on effect of this on students and still give a similar proportion of each grade boundary if adjusted down somewhat.

I've wondered, depending just how long it goes on for, whether some sort of national community service year age 18-19 could be implemented to allow universities to reduce intake for a year, some students to redo a year, and most students to then go to further education a year later than normal so as not to create a bulge year. Other than that I think policies on small numbers repeating a year may need to be changed but I don't think holding everyone back a year can possibly work or be realistic. Doi two teens yr 10 & 12 and niece yr 11.

I think we could just carry on where we left off next January for instance. Give year 11 and 13s choice of carrying on or moving up with predicted grades.

We are over half way through the school year. We would need to plan an extra 6 months curriculum for every year group as they do not need to repeat what they have already done - revising perhaps but for most children they do not need to repeat everything they have already done.

The return to school is going to be incredibly complicated. Given the level of vagueness that schools were given about closing, I am not confident that they will make any decision on how to deal with the huge gap in children's skills and knowledge that will have opened up.

It's going to hugely widen the gap between poorer and richer pupils (poor kids can work at home, though this is restricted if their home is overcrowded, chaotic or if they lack a computer or Internet connection). Some children will have suffered real neglect, and others will have lost loved ones in quite stressful circumstances.

The current curriculum from y1-y9 is all about a progression of skills from year to year, so adaptations will need to be made if children just turn up in September without having completed half of their previous year. This could be dealt with on a holistic level by the government, but I doubt it will be and so individual schools or teachers will need to work out how we're going to cover 1.5 years in 1. Opening longer and setting homework won't work because teachers can't just work more at the same quality, and because that's not how children learn. They need time to process and revisit things. Finally, I'm pretty sure that the teacher crisis will be further intensified by this crisis. Trainee teachers are all passing, but they aren't all ready, so some teachers will have the skills to teach effectively. Some other teachers won't return, but children will.

It's all a bit of a headache, but I wouldn't expect or want the government to be working on this in the short term, as there are so many pressing concerns. I, however, clearly have nothing better to think about!

DS Yr 13 loves college and said he would like this but I think it's too much to ask of children- they've done virtually 2/3 of the academic year anyway- and it's not practical or financially viable. You'd have to delay a year of 4/5 year olds their chance to start school. You'd have to keep 12 year olds- some coming up for 13!! at primary school. Universities- would they repeat too? Assuming students don't want a further year of tuition and maintenance loans to pay back- and that would leave unis with hardly anyone in 1st year. Financially unviable.
If they don't get back to school in Sept though, we have to start thinking about the unthinkable and it cannot be written off as an option.

What happened during WW2? Did children’s schools close and if so did any repeat a year? Just wondering if there’s a precedent for this?

It depends on where you were, an English school in Belgium had quite a few students who became spies / underground for the allies.

In areas that received a lot of evacuees some schools went part time, locals in the morning evacuees in the afternoon.

The school leaving age was 14 (maybe even 13) and taking public exams was incredibly rare unless you were at somewhere like Eton.

I think it depends on how long we are going to be in lockdown, if GCSEs and A Levels could be taken later in the year then they should.

FE colleges could offer a 'GCSE year', it used to be common and was called a 'consolidation year'.

As for the number of places in a school if students repeat a year, sadly there will be fewer children returning to / starting school.

Lots of universities have courses that start in February.

No they’re not.
My teen who is/was doing his gcse has been told teachers will give grades according to the results they got in class and their mocks.
There is no way everyone is repeating a year. This would mean a year at uni/apprenticeship etc..with no one starting! And réception years with twice the amount if children which is not manageable.

I think the y10 and y12 children will have to work like troopers to learn the content for their exams next summer and everyone else will catch up eventually, with a disparity between more engaged children with very supportive parents and less engaged, less well supported children. With the best will in the world, a single parent key worker with 3 dcs isn’t going to be able to support her children as well as a wfh couple with one. I know children of key workers can go to school but I don’t know anyone who is sending their teenagers and it’s certainly not being encouraged. Children who don’t have space to work will suffer, as will those with young siblings they have to look after or anyone, who for whatever reason, uses school as a sanctuary. I have already heard people say they won’t be making their children do the work as they “can’t force them”. It’s not even day 1 yet.
Y12s with practical elements will be much more affected than those who are on courses that are purely classroom based.

My dad was part time all the way through secondary school due to the war. He went to night school to get qualifications but I don’t think the government are going to suddenly reverse the cuts in adult education for the sake of one term of home learning.

Im far more concerned about my y10 than my y8. So much content that they now have to learn themselves. I wonder if any allowances will be made for that or if next year will be doubly stressful for them?

Like I said I don’t think Y11 and Y13 would repeat. I think it’s a done deal that they will get grades marked on predicted gcse and a levels. Some university’s are all ready coming out saying their offers for children starting this year are no longer dependant on grades and that they are unconditional...I think other unis will follow this.
Also, I didn’t mean that kids would repeat everything they’ve done from sept 19 to now, but we don’t know how long they are off, they may restart schools sept 20 or it may be later than that.
My child is fairly eager to learn etc.. and I am trying to teach at home. I know the teachers are really doing their best in difficult circumstances, but setting work that at the moment no teacher has time to mark along with the fact that secondary schools I know do not have the technology to do proper remote learning, I think will mean that this won’t be successful long term.

I agree. I am also more worried about my Y10 than my Y11....

Catching up with 3 months of teaching next year will be hard.

I’m pretty sure that schools will be back in September, even if BJ is fucking everything up.

We have 2 weeks and a term left, given in primary schools the last few weeks are winding down with sports days trips etc

If kids learn even half as much as normal it is a loss of 5-6 weeks not ideal but not an educational catastrophe that requires repeating a whole year, maybe all UK should follow Scotland and finish for one year at end of June and go back mid August and to even out stretch from August bring October holiday forward by a week or so

I thought about this, but what would happen with children due to start school? There won't be enough classrooms or teachers. Also all of the children due to move schools, would they stay or go?
Whatever happens, I really hope teachers are involved in the planning, not just government officials. And definitely don't leave it to Ofsted.