Corona Cohort - Year 12 - 2021 - NO 'Self isolating' please.

[Oblomov20]

We just want our kids in school. Please. If at all possible.

And driving lessons. And good Mental Health. And happiness.

In-and-amongst all this Covid nightmare and lockdown debacle.

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First day back is going all right here - DS and DD have taken over the kitchen and the living room for their Teams lessons. Making DS get up was more difficult than encouraging DD to get up .

Good thing DH and I have converted garage in the garden to work in. Before all this happened I was the only one who worked at home - I did enjoy my space...

Do you know what will happen to Year 12s who have to resit Maths and English from last year?

And in further '2021 is starting strong' news, the school's server is broken and having to be sent away for repair.

oh @TheySeeHerRowling that's awful. I guess they have no idea about how long it will be away for?

A few missives coming in to teachers from exam boards today.

They basically say ' Watch this space. We found out when you did'.

Wheresthebeach Hoping to be back by Monday - but no promises...

So second day back and another phone call from the school about DS. How can I help him turn up for lessons? I heard him in the morning lessons so why did he randomly not go to the one after lunch. Fucks sake.

@TheySeeHerRowling that is rubbish, does it mean they can't send anything or can the teachers use laptops on internet without using server?

Monkey2000 They are scrambling to get Google classroom set up apparently, so I'm assuming teachers are sorting this individually on their own laptops. Should at least mean they can set some work this week.

Monkey2001 sorry, I stole a year off you then

@TheySeeHerRowling: that would almost be comical if wasn't so dreadful! Dh is now in the mood when if anything else comes along he just raises an eyebrow, and goes ' well of course, naturally the heating at work has stopped/our soil pipe has developed a blockage/ds's mouse and printer have stopped working ... I would expect nothing else ...' It is amusing me somewhat!
@Piggywaspushed (& any other teachers on here) - my absolute sympathies: the frustration of having these announcements bounced on you so late must be enormous ... when you could have been effectively planning ...
@ChristopherTracy: what do they suggest?! I've discussed having dd (my 'away with the fairies' one) down working in the same room as me - she is very anti this, so is working very hard to prove to me that it's not needed. It will be annoying for both of us if we need to do it tbh, but might need to happen!

We're finding live lessons rather than 'here's a powerpoint' mode that was in place in the previous lockdown for dd - a complete game changer - it's still rubbish, but very much more engaging when done at least half well. I listened in to bits of the kids today just due to where they/I were, and I was in total awe of the teachers ability to still be engaging and dynamic. Dd's music GSCE class were painting along to music clips to discuss different tempos, moods and time periods: it was really lovely!

There wasnt anything really suggested tbh - if they copied me in on his meeting invites that would help, I will suggest that next time.

I cant have him in with me as I'm in meetings literally all day. I will say that if he cant get himself to lessons then I will have to micro manage him like I would someone on a disciplinary at work.

That will go down like a lead balloon.

Anxious wait here now to see if DD’s school will be going ahead with BTEC exams next week. Typically there is no information from DfE about what the consequences will be if they decide not to go ahead.

It's so frustrating. You'd hope that DoE had very clear contingency plans. It seems not !

Or if they do indeed directioner!

They had no contingency plan. At 4pm on the day the announcement was made to close schools, civil servants at the DfE were told they were all staying open and exams wouldn't be shelved...their determination to charge on regardless -a nd the consequences of this- has been scandalous.

Gavin W gets a lot of the flak but Nick Gibb is to blame for most of this particular issue.

Well it appears DD’s school is still going ahead with exams judging by the live revision session I can hear coming from DD’s room.

Ds said he will have exams this year to assess their grades.

Our nearest secondary (not the ones my boys attend as this one is over the border) are doing b-tech exams this week and next. My friend is an invigilator, she's been asked to work. I saw on the news that schools can decide whether their pupils sit them. Is that fair...some taking them and others not?

Nope @icanbewhatiwant it really isn’t. And it’s a shitty move to put the decision making onto the schools like that with no idea of what is for the best for the kids

Some schools have particular issues with the BTEC exams - DS's school is a special school and virtually all the students are entitled to a scribe or reader, this is very problematic with social distancing. DS isn't scheduled any till the summer but I know some subjects have them scheduled imminently.

Very messy with the BTEC exams having individual schools decide. DD did one a few years ago but they didn’t have exams then.

It’s ridiculous. With absolutely no idea about what the implications are if schools decide to cancel. It’s clear that the government don’t remotely value BTECs as qualifications. Just when I thought I couldn’t hate them any more...

Ah well. DD’s BTEC exams going ahead. I’m quite pleased in a way. We weren’t happy with the gcse CAG’s so this is her chance to show them in a controlled setting that she is capable. I just bloody hope she takes the opportunity. It’s ok to chain them to a desk aye?

DS was told by teacher today that AS paper 1 next week is on.

This is all getting messy isn’t it. I would like to think someone somewhere is discussing contingency plans for summer 2022 but am not going to hold my breath.

I think it will be hard for them having not taken GCSEs or AS levels then going straight onto A levels.