WWYD - school has said they will only field queries from and give feedback/mark for years 10 and 12

[MrsFogi]

My dcs non-selective state secondary has emailed out to parents to set out some very vague info parents to say that they set too much work (they just dumped it online and told kids not to submit it and not to contact teachers) in the last two weeks of term and that having reassessed it for next term they will be setting less and that some year groups might get some online teaching at some point next term and that there would be the opportunity for quizzes later in term for the kids to check their learning.

I emailed to ask for clarification and received a response to state that only Years 10 and 12 would potentially get any online teaching at some point next term and that all other year groups will just be set work (there will be no marking (apart from children marking their own work against suggested answers) and no potential for feedback/raising queries). I an already see that some teachers had set an entire half term of work on the homework system so I'm at a loss as to what they are doing (and I don't mean to teacher-bash here I just genuinely don't know what they will be doing if they have set the work already but won't be contactable, delivering any lessons or marking anything apart from potentially some year 10 and 12 work). We are not in a deprived area (so there will be families needing individual support but it would be a minority) and the school is running school for key workers' children in conjunction with another school (and as far as I am aware there are not many attending give that it is secondary school age only).

I am amazed that the school thinks this is sufficient and would be interested in the thoughts of other state school parents/teachers.

Just to say, don’t forget they will be having to ‘mark’ the students in the exam years too. I imagine they will be a very taxing and draining thing to do

Online teaching isn't really practical for state schools (variety of other threads explaining why). So setting work for the children to do is really all they can do. I'm surprised about the lack of marking and feedback though. Though as PP says this may be because they are focusing on Years 10-13 and don't have any extra capacity to support lower years for the moment.

I’m a school SENCO, I only teach KS3. I have three classes totalling nearly 100 students.

Since Tuesday when our term restarted, I have had nearly 150 emails from students (plus another 50 or so from parents, my colleagues and the LEA) most students are asking questions that the answers to are in the very comprehensive instructions I gave and the rest giving the answers I asked for. I’ve responded to each and every one. I can see that only about a 2/3 have accessed the work so far. They are working really well, and are very engaged with the tasks which is great BUT if I had a full timetable with perhaps 9 classes of 30 students, based on that level of engagement,
I would NEVER be able to keep up with the marking/feedback as well as taking care of my family etc.

So far, I’m finding setting online activities and marking them is so far much more time consuming than being in school would be - it’s taking me a REALLY long time to adapt resources, make them accessible to all, develop options that use less tech or no tech other than opening an email for students with limited computer/internet access. And I’m already pretty good at working out how to make resources that every student can access because of my role, I’m very IT savvy and my students are pretty well motivated etc. For some teachers, this is not the case, and it is meaning they are working even more, with even longer hours than they do “in school”. Before they even get to the marking bit, which is also a longer process than usual - I didn’t know it was possible to make marking even more onerous than it already could be, but it turns out, yes there is, it’s trying to do it all online

Given my experience, although I think your children’s school need to better explain why, I can see why they are limiting marking and feedback to KS4 & 5 classes. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.

Just because a teacher isn’t visibly teaching it doesn’t mean they are not working.

I’ve been given a list of tasks to work through when I’m not setting work, things like creating resources and rewriting tests.

Mine aren’t getting online teaching-I am not expecting them to either.

Interesting to hear teacher side of this too. Non selective state school parent here - before Easter my dc was logging onto their full real time timetable in google classroom with work loaded up for that lesson and teacher online to answer questions during the lesson time - I.e. as close to normal school as possible. Expecting kids will finish pieces as homework and feedback given where needed. Also end of term tests delivered in real time on google classroom. Think they are doing a brilliant job. Also some children still in school accessing same work as far as I know. Am sure the reality is much harder for teachers but as a parent I really appreciate the smooth transition and continuity given everything going on right now.

I have a feeling that your school is just managing expectations for at least this Half Term (after all, they do mention quizzes that will be marked in the future) and after Half Term, a little more time can be devoted to Years 7 to 9.
That’s because grades and ranking for Years 11 and 13 will be a very long process that needs concentration and collaboration between many different staff members. In addition, teaching classes for Years 10 upwards alone will take up a huge chunk of the day and if they no longer have Supply Teachers on roll or staff are ill, that will mean colleagues teaching classes they wouldn’t normally have (certainly the case in my situation)
Also, tasks such as organising the timetable for next year is usually done around this time and this will take longer with staff not easily accessible in school.
Besides, marking policies in schools usually say once at least every two weeks and this could involve peer or self assessment. The fact that the work that has been set also provides the answers for self assessment also fits this brief and can be just as effective as teacher assessment (when kids just look at a final mark and don’t read the comments/corrections for example). If they are marking and correcting themselves, this can be beneficial. Don’t discount it just yet.

It’s not a perfect system and in fact, none of this is ideal. However, it does seem that you are more keen to ‘see’ teachers working than considering what they might be doing to keep the ‘school’ going.
It is obvious from your OP that you can contact the school and get a response if needed. What they are trying to do is probably prevent a thousand children from emailing staff, lots of questions such as ‘how do I save this’ ‘how do I log in’ when the instructions are probably already on the tasks (sorry-it’s just that this was 90% of my emails from Years 7 to 9 in the weeks before Easter)
As a parent, I genuinely sympathise with you and I know you just want the best from your child. It might be easier for you though, to think about what extra teachers might have to be doing that they wouldn’t normally be doing in the summer Term and see that in your school, it is teacher marking for a couple of Year groups that has had to temporarily take a back seat. Just see it as temporary and consider those future quizzes as how you can judge how your hold has been doing.