Thinking of moving DD from her school at end of year 7 due to poor handling of closure period - anyone else in the same boat

[fancymcfancypants]

That's it really. We've been really, really disappointed with provision from the school during the closure:

• nothing whatsoever in the way of 'live' teaching
• not a single call from the school, pastoral or otherwise, until 2 weeks ago when a teacher that DD had never spoken to before called to check in on her (as if she'd be comfortable sharing any concerns with someone she doesn't know from adam)
• virtually no effort at all put into lesson planning (sample maths lesson 'here are the answers to Tuesday's worksheet, go over anything you got wrong')
• in instances where children have fallen behind by a long way e.g. one of DD's friends who didn't submit work for two weeks, no contact from the school at all

Complained to HOY (as have many other parents) and was told they were going to try and do more live teaching but some of the teachers 'aren't comfortable' online.

She likes the school generally. It's viewed very highly in the part of London that we're in, very sought-after etc and before Covid we were fairly happy with it. But what she's getting just isn't anywhere close to proper schooling and the thought of it all dragging on into next year is really dispiriting.

They are now saying they aren't sure KS3 will be back at school in September and I'm thinking of doing whatever it takes to somewhere else for her. We recently moved and are now in the catchment for a local academy that seems (according to other parents) to be handling this stuff better so was wondering about going to ask them to put her on a waiting list for an occasional place (which I'm told do come up). Alternatively, we can afford to pay private school fees but wanted DC to go to state schools. But now I feel we'd be letting DD down if we don't explore other options that are available to us.

I suppose I'm just putting this out there to see if anyone else has been massively disappointed with how their DC's school have handled the past few months and is also considering moving.

@Malmontar - This is the crux of the problem with state schools, there is nobody to answer for it. Private schools are quick to find solutions and deliver a service, because the survival of their business depends on it. If the customer isn’t happy, they will go elsewhere. And if their staff aren’t on board with finding those solutions, they will be going elsewhere too. Less namby-pamby, more action.

This is the crux of the problem with state schools, there is nobody to answer for it.

You really think that? They’re state schools. The buck stops with the government. If you only knew how woefully inadequate the DfE’s response has been to this crisis - the reason that provision is so different between different schools is that there has been very little guidance and nothing in the way of support. And then because schools have had to find their own way and make their own decisions, it gets thrown back in their face because School Y down the road is doing something differently and a particular parent would prefer that (and assumes that because they’d personally prefer it that it’s actually the best or even a workable solution). The worst thing is when School Y is a private school with money, resources and an intake that is way beyond the reality of state schools and people think that a difference in provision is down to laziness or lack of a can-do attitude on the part of the state school.

Then people blame individual teachers for doing what their school has asked them to do!

If you think the school response to this has been inadequate, write to your MP, especially if Conservative and ask why schools and children have been abandoned while money and support is poured into other areas.

They’re not even going to give schools money to pay for extra cleaning. That’s how little they care.

Yet there are some state schools that have managed it more successfully than others? Which surely suggests this is down to management of those particular schools, regardless of how little guidance the DfE has offered. Private schools have been following and relying this same guidance, yet somehow manage to navigate the process, because they are led by a business driven management team, keen to deliver the service they are paid to deliver. Where a state school’s management is falling short during this pandemic, who age they go to answer to? Nobody..because they simply point the finger back at DfE and blame them instead.

I understand your anger @noblegiraffe and I have been disgusted with how the DfE has responded, and so have many. People involved in their kids education have eagerly awaited DfE guidance and after waiting till late into the evening on many occasions, they've been fuming.
I think there is anger overall at the unfairness of the situation on all fronts.
Our school massively invested in 2m signs for them to now be deemed useless.
I don't fully agree there is no one to fall to, it is the govt and if you look at the way the crisis was handled at govt level, its a shambles and everyone but the very rich, have paid a heave price in a lot of areas.
I think on a smaller scale, there are some things that should be done and just as teachers have a right to be angry, so do parents.
Yes the phone call home may not be the choice of the tutor, but OP has a right to be angry imo.
There are SEND kids who haven't had any therapy since March and councils have washed their hands clean of them. It's a crazy situation and I just hope it ends soon.

If your school performs well during normal times I'd be looking at that. Many things affected show no help a school could do. DC's did quite a bit although no lube lessons as it was seen as a safeguarding concern. No cameras were allowed to be on on teams even between students. The school I work at however did far less. Not because people couldn't be bothered but because of the demographic, so many dc wouldn't have been able to access the online content that it was deemed unfair to provide it for the few. The pressure would have been too much in some households too.

Yet there are some state schools that have managed it more successfully than others?

Every single school will have been criticised by parents for what they have been doing. They literally can’t win.

I’ve seen it all on MN threads. On this one we have a poster complaining that school haven’t phoned. On another one a poster was complaining that the school had phoned and it was intrusive. Some parents want zoom lessons, some parents don’t. Whatever work has been set has simultaneously been too little and too much.

I agree there should be some minimum standards and expectations that would help clarify things. The DfE, whose job it would have been to write such a document have failed miserably. Prominent people who have called on Ofsted to investigate why some schools’ provision has been inadequate have had Ofsted respond that in order to inspect schools on their lockdown provision, there would need to be some sort of standards to inspect schools against and there aren’t any.

I am sure that there are schools out there who have been useless due to bad management, as there were before lockdown. It’s a systemic issue caused by incompetence at the top and it can’t be solved by berating individuals.

I hadn't realised it was a "thing" for personal tutors to check in regularly with students. Sounds like this is school specific.
DD hasn't even had a personal tutor since lockdown (her personal tutor went on maternity leave as lockdown hit, and her class were not allocated a new one) and has not felt the lack. If she'd had any issues I would have expected to contact the head of year in lieu of a tutor.

Every single school will have been criticised by parents for what they have been doing. They literally can’t win.

Also this. For every school that has parents complain they've not done enough, there will be another with parents complaining it's all too much, too much pressure, unfair expectations- they literally cannot win either way!

Me! I could have written your post, OP.
My Yr7 ds school have been woeful. He has SN and not a phone call or anything until 2 weeks ago. Just more homework being set. Meanwhile, he was been struggling with work, meltdowns, fights, real desperation here at home (we gave up on school work at half term, as we were all having such a bad time) By 4 weeks in we had emailed tutor, HOY, pastoral, SENCo. Then a phone call from someone we've never met about 2 weeks ago. I think he has been discriminated against because of his Asd. I Put in an EHCP needs request in during lockdown-- turned down. Looking to move him ASAP!!!!

I haven’t seen or heard one comment condemning a school for doing too much? This all sounds like another ‘damned if we do damned if we don’t’ excuse. How can it be that many schools can deliver a service that the vast majority of parents are happy with, yet somehow there are so many state schools where the parents are collectively so fussy that they can’t agree on anything? So now it’s the parents who are to blame?
And as for the government being answerable for schools in this regard, that in my book would count for little. It’s all well and good getting into a debate on government accountability regarding schools and how they are managed, we all know this is the case; but when it comes down to it, we just want our kids to have some continuity of education, and sadly for some, there are far too many schools, who just aren’t getting their act together, and are quick to point the finger at everything else.

I haven’t seen or heard one comment condemning a school for doing too much?

Oh they are there. The ones where kids’ mental health needs to be prioritised and expecting them to engage with schoolwork is unacceptable? The ones where kids being expected to complete and hand in work and were being chased up for non-completion was causing issues? There was definitely one complaining about the school phoning.

So now it’s the parents who are to blame?

Never said that. If Ofsted have said that they can’t fairly judge lockdown provision due to the lack of guidance then how can parents be expected to know what is reasonable?

Parents have also been bombarded by unhelpful and sometimes downright dishonest stories in the media.

I'm in a similar boat-major disappointment with school's response to Y7s- although there really aren't any other alternatives so we're stuck.

DS was scheduled for a full Ed psych work up to address his learning needs as he spent much of the year prior to lock down generally not coping with the transition to secondary school. He was diagnosed with dyslexia last summer as it became apparent during SATs prep, but very little was done to help.

We've had no phone calls from the school to check in at all over the past 4 months. There was a blanket email suggesting to get in touch if your child wanted a call from school (what 12 year old would admit that?) No online classes, which was fine with me, but the workload was a lot.

Just off the top of my head amongst dh & his teaching colleagues, One had a spouse who ended up being rushed into hospital, dh had a father rushed into hospital and a mother with dementia to deal with along with our autistic child not coping with lockdown, another colleague was ill with suspected Covid, another had a parent with cancer, another was shielding a child with serious health issues and another lost a friend to Covid.

You never know what else is going on in people’s lives.

@Comefromaway - do you not think other people in other professions have things like this to deal with too? This reminds me of our last ...(and we had told ourselves it would be our last) state school experience. Tiny village school with one small form per year...and one year we had three quarters of the staff off on extended leave..Multiple sick leaves, three month extended grieving leave, stress leave which turned into never coming back leave, and elderly parent needs some help leave..which also turned into long term stress leave after one week of returning. It was quite simply farcical. And with a child who was spending half their time in hospital, we were just appalled at their inability to cater for her needs, let alone the kids who were there full time. Some schools have great management, and great teachers who together as a team, can make things happen. And sadly for many, some schools don’t.

Well everyone else had problems and had to work too. What about nhs workers? Did none of them have problems? It was a problem for everyone. Teachers were not a special category. Few issues last for 4 months stopping someone working when they are being paid. Every teacher could have done something during this period. In fact I think if people couldn’t do the job they should have been furloughed. Like everyone else. Job kept open but released from the school budget.

The idea that the government should micro manage schools is laughable. Should they micro manage the nhs? Or bin collections? Or social workers? Obviously not. They set the legal framework. Schools have delegated budgets and lots of decisions about how a school is run is delegated to SLT. The GB sets the ethos. It has been desperately disappointing and there will be problems when DC return to the less effective schools.

Mumto2two. I have seen schools with a culture like this. The teachers are more important than the children. There is an ethos of taking the piss I’m afraid. It’s not good enough and SLT and the GB must deal with it. Everyone else has to work through personal difficulty and there are often time limits for some of the issues you raise. It’s just not enforced. As I said before. The children come off a poor second in some schools.

The idea that the government should micro manage schools is laughable.

Literally their job to set standards.

Standards were exceeded by some schools but met with bare minimum by others. It’s a shame more didn’t do the former.

@Comefromaway I think this is the only type of argument I flat out disagree with on this whole thing. This is sad but schools are not some sort of sickness and trauma magnet. This sort of stuff happens everywhere. There are thousands of parents that have completely lost their businesses, houses, loved ones and on top of that they've been worried sick about their kids education, or lack thereof. Working in state education has been one of the few secure careers during this thing.
Some provision has been outright disgraceful but most teachers have worked themselves thin this term and comments like this just fuel the misconceptions that school staff live in bubbles away from the real world.

What standards, Marsha?

@MarshaBradyo what standards? There were no standards set for lockdown learning.

Reading quickly thought pp meant government set them.

If not some schools far exceeded nothing then. Others didn’t, a shame more didn’t do the former.

I wasn’t saying teachers suffer more than others. My parents run a business, I work for them. We’ve had over half the workforce on furlough. We’ve had workers with covid.

I was explaining why some members of teaching staff may not be available to do all these things like phone pupils etc.

Yes, it was government’s job to set the standards, they didn’t and now everyone’s complaining about how different schools did different things. Ofsted were asked to intervene but said no, because there was nothing to judge schools against.

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-ofsted-needs-clarity-inspect-schools-remote-offer

Amanda Spielman, chief of Ofsted said: "At this stage, routine inspections are suspended. And this is an area where at the moment there are no clear expectations for what schools ought to be providing.

"Sometimes there is confusion about what Ofsted does – people think that we create the standards. We don't, we inspect against the standards that government creates.

"So what I have been saying is that we do need some clarity about those minimum expectations. Parents need them, children need them, schools need them.

"And as soon as those are in place then it will be possible to start assessing whether schools are in fact doing what they should be doing."”