Have the cohort starting 2020 been writen off by schools?

[stickygotstuck]

After yet another disappointment with DD's (supossedly well-regarded) secondary school, I can't help but wonder whether there are any/some/many schools out there which seem to have written off the cohort of kids that started Year 7 in 2020, mid pandemic? In a 'these are never going to catch up anyway, why waste time/resources on them' kind of way.

For the kids now in Year 9 there was no induction in y7 and no start of year, getting-to-know-you residential. Also no meeting the teachers in person. Ever. They have continued with the franky insufficient 4-minute online parent evenings for 3 years now, with not enough slots to speak to all teachers, and with no plans to go back to physical sessions.

Compare this with those currently in Year 8 - two weeks of 'summer school' in their new school before start of year 7, physical 'meet the teacher' event in school with drinks and nibbles during year 8, one extra residential in year 8.

Am I imagining things or does anyone have similar experiences?
The 'meet the teacher' even did piss me off, I must admit!

I agree, my DD is loving the strikes. I don't think there's that many tbh. Her private school friends have way less school. One of them broke up for the summer today! The rest are breaking up next week. DD still has 3 weeks.

@Beamur Interesting you notice it too. It's almost like they're all a year behind right? I look at DD and her friends and they feel like they should just be finishing Y9, not Y10. The DSL at school said she feels like they have two Y9 cohorts.

Halfway into second term is February break, pretty sure it was only a week early here, March 20? It's not dark at home time at the equinox! The children seemed settled by October break to me, DS was, and he started knowing no one.

Missed induction activities and 'summer school' in 2020 are really are not the be all and end all. They don't affect whether children would learn routines and expectations on arrival, and they'll all of course have known the teachers for nearly 3 years now!

I'd agree with @MargaretThursday

I just said on another thread, our 2020 and 2021 intake seemed so socially immature compared to previous years' intakes.
The 22 intake I have to say are fine.
The 20 and 21 are fine now.

In my experience the hardest hit ones (at secondary school) were the 2017, 18 and 19 intake.

The 2019 were at school for half a year, so just settled, into the swing of things. Then COVID.

2018s were reaching that level of maturity where they were really developed as people, not just as school students. Forming ideas, starting to think about their futures, sort their own wishes and dreams out. Gaining that first bit of true independence.

2017s were halfway to their destination and suddenly the train broke down. (if that's not too facile a metaphor) That year were the ones at the time who seemed to not be able to see an end to it all.

Oh, wow, so many replies!

Can't answer one by one, but the main points.

• Am I jealous? I certainly am!

It's not a matter of 'letting it go', because I would have if most other things were good. But they are not - as I said disappoinment after disappointment. Communication is non existant, teachers keep disappearing and you are lucky if you get a supply one that changes every day, DD's year has been affected by ALL strike days - no attempt to take turns, nothing.

The latest was today - they are not longer doing trips abroad for DD's chosen language GCSE, but they are for the other language. They did in the past and they will again in the future, just not for this one.

• Yes, the comparison of residentials and meet the teacher events (for parents, not students!) are within the same school. The year after have had those. It is a large school (ar. 1500 kids)

• DD's MH was already bad in Y6. In fact, initially the pandemic probably saved her from much worse. The promising school had supposedly great pastoral care - one of the two reasons why we chose it. It certainly was not by the time DD got there.

• I take the point that it is mostly the goverment's fault & lack of funding. But also, the school became an academy a couple of years before, and since then things are worse.

Shit government policies and investment, pandemic, recession, war, mental health crisis, did I mention the shit government?

But still, I do think this school is 'prioritising' and DD's year seems to be at the bottom of the pile.

Ds was year 9 and lockdown one was shit. He was home alone five days a week for six weeks while I worked (at still 13), then put into school with a dozen other kids for the rest of summer term. His friends parents were home and doing family things so he became very isolated and withdrawn. He was a bit better when sent into school but wasn't himself again until they went back properly in September. Lockdown two he was in school without a second thought about it!

1500 kids so 300 per year? And they do a residential for the whole incoming year?!

I think that how well children dealt with it was largely down to how their parents handled it. If their parent had a ‘wow is me, woe is us’ mentality then they would have the same.

I had 2 children, a husband that had to reapply for his own job and a father diagnosed with stage 3 cancer at the beginning of lockdown. However, I want my children to grow up to be resilient when life is shitty so we made the best of it. They actually look back and remember lockdown fondly but it could have been so different had I been crying into my cornflakes every morning.

it’s honestly doing the children no favours still blaming Covid for everything now.

Beamur :
I don't think schools have written off any cohorts but some missed opportunities just can't be made up

They can't, can they? 🙁Naively, I think I was hoping for some stories of how great other schools had been and stuff they had done to make up for some of it.
Maybe they would if there was any funding and joined up thinking...

I agree with this, but I do think that some ages were more adversely impacted than others.

I have one y9 dc (so 2020 cohort as per op) and one y10 dc. Consider ourselves really lucky compared to those with under 7s or those in year 10 and above in 2020.

worst of all - those poor kids in year 13 in 2020 who are now having their exam papers unmarked.

Yep. Well, with 'voluntary contributions'. As I said, it was a well-regarded school.

Oh and the school was going easy on them and barely setting work until May break, which would have been great if I was home but DS was alone, isolated, and desperately needing some structure to his days! He was going out for a walk alone every day at my insistence, but otherwise just at home for the working day.

“They can't, can they? 🙁”

But why wallow in it?

Every kid doesn’t has something that another kid gets, nothing to do with Covid.

My Y9 doesn’t have any secondary meet and greet residential - because that’s simply not a thing in any school I know! And she doesn’t get to go on a school ski trip like her cousin - because they’ve never done them. And she doesn’t get to spend summer evenings on the beach, because we live in Birmingham.

Focus on what you can do with her.

That's lovely for you. Please read the first sentence of the post you're replying to. "I'm not sure, maybe your kid is different".

This! Every year was affected

I agree that parents should be the main force in how well children cope, al things being equal.

However, things are not equal, are they? Not all children are equal, not all parents are equal, not all jobs are equal, not all circumstances are equal.

An only child with SEN and MH difficulties, with two parents working 10-12 hour days for months during lockdow is not the same as non-SEN child with no other issues, with siblings and at least one parent on furlough/SAHP/reduced hours. For example.

With the best will in the world, child A is going to be worse affected. Even if the parents of child A had to try twice as hard of those of child B.

And that's where we are. But this is something that many people seem to forget.

I don't think it's something anyone seems to forget. What makes you think people forget this?
There's simply nothing anyone can do. And actually it's very probable that there exist a child A that isn't worse effected than child b. I know them! Not everyone's parents are ones you want to be stuck at home with.
You sound quite bitter with the situation Op. Have you actually spoken to the school about this?

I don't see this as an issue. Many of the years have been disadvantaged in many ways. I don't think the current year 9's more so than most other years.

“I agree that parents should be the main force in how well children cope, al things being equal.

However, things are not equal, are they”

There are things you can’t force equality in - like whether you’re working 10 hour shifts during lockdown or furloughed. But you can look at attitude now. You don’t have to be someone that focuses on residentials 2.5 years after your child missed it. If after 2.5 years they’re not settled - a residential wouldn’t have changed that. You don’t have to be thinking unhappy emojis about things they’ll never make up… it happened. There’s other cool stuff to do. My 2020 cohort child will never have the Y6 leavers show - she would have had a big part too, but no longer does drama so that was her last chance. She missed the country netball schools final - she’s not good enough now to ever qualify again. She didn’t do SATs. She was going to flipping ace them - full marks in most past papers, but she won’t be an all 9s GCSE student. I’m sure I could think of more! But o don’t! Because before, after - even during! - Covid - she has had and done cool stuff.

Every parent has an equal chance to focus on the future and the positive.

Ace post.

My Y10 (Y7 in 2020) left school in March 2020 and wasn’t allowed to go back until September 2020. And then it was in bubbles and mostly in one classroom, not the normal secondary school experience.

Despite excellent online lessons and the teachers doing their best, it was a very tough time for friendships (nascent Y7 ones didn’t translate well to online, lots of misunderstandings and drama). And it took a while for her to gain confidence and independence outside the house again.

Not as bad as the exam years, I agree, but still had an impact.

I think it’s the government who washed their hands of their responsibility to find schools generally or catch up in particular to any vaguely acceptable standard.

Yes, my current Y9 missed the end of primary stuff. Transition consisted of a booklet sent home - although they did bring the new Y7s and 12s in a day earlier than the rest of the school. He's had an overnight trip with school - missed his Y6 residential.
His younger brother - now Y7 - missed less.

However, I think we have been very fortunate with their ages. Yes, they have missed stuff - as have all kids. But I am mightly pleased that they had in face teaching for the fundamentals of phonics, writing and maths. They will (if the government funds things properly to stop the strikes) hopefully have uninterrupted GCSE teaching. That's 2 major things that i would have struggled even more to support from home than the stuff we did do.