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I think boomer needs to take up a school governership position
I used to be a parent governor. I think all sides found it frustrating.
but NW has highest R rate in country
If the teens were in schools and not milling about parks and other outdoor spaces it might be a bit less. Who knows?
Not setting them work gives them excess time to slouch about rather than doing something constructive.
Jnr is doing some busy work…. I just checked and told him it was factually incorrect.
My daughter was set work on the Titanic a few weeks ago. It started off by stating that 'the Titanic was made in 1997'
Some misuse of Wikipedia went into that nugget, I feel.
Also wonder how much of this is to do with fractured nature of our schooling
private schools, academy trusts & chains, free schools etc
Acaedemies act removed powers of LEAs to oversee all schools
Head of OFSTED today on R4 pointed out that they are not inspecting schools homelearning, which goes someway to explain why there is so much variability in how things are being taught
She pointed out that OFSTED were not consulted before Johnsons announcement & they were not being consulted on the plan Johnson mentioned for catch-up over the summer
Johnson looks to be setting himself up to fail on this again
no doubt he'll blame teachers & unions rather than admit his own mistakes
If the teens were in schools and not milling about parks and other outdoor spaces it might be a bit less. Who knows?
we do know
Do you know what? They do. But you have to request one
I asked, got given a memory stick.
Not the safari park then!!
The guidance is just keep your 2m distance and it’ll be fine.
Have the Lions been given the memo?
Johnson looks to be setting himself up to fail on this again
no doubt he’ll blame teachers & unions rather than admit his own mistakes
Its a win win for him!
My daughter was set work on the Titanic a few weeks ago. It started off by stating that ‘the Titanic was made in 1997’
Accurate dates? Who cares?
Near, Far, Wherever you are..good enough for me.
Have the Lions been given the memo?
Apparently the lions are among those petitioning Downing Street for a reduction to 1m.
My daughter was set work on the Titanic a few weeks ago. It started off by stating that ‘the Titanic was made in 1997’
This is a correct date. Titanic was made in 1997 and had its premiere in the November.
The more this thread develops the more I question the purpose of schools and what “education” really means.
Once it’s been established that kids can be taught at home it wouldn’t be a giant leap to get rid of “schools “. Give everyone a laptop and have them log in to centrally broadcast lessons of a uniform curriculum.
"Once it’s been established that kids can be taught at home it wouldn’t be a giant leap to get rid of “schools “. Give everyone a laptop and have them log in to centrally broadcast lessons of a uniform curriculum."
Yep - thats what my daughters school has been doing since the 22nd March when they got sent home.
Both my children have been in real time online school with a timetable that reflected the normal one, register in every lesson and homework. All work is checked in lesson and homework marked the next day or whenever its due in. They have break and lunch as per normal and school finishes at the normal time. Pastoral care teachers for each year check up on mental health by doing a questionaire every few weeks and contacting children by phone if the results are worrying or if children are not logging on or submitting the correct amount of work.
According to my children its basically as good as school without the downside of uniform....
Once it’s been established that kids can be taught at home
If anything is being established at this point it's that being taught at home over the internet is not a great thing for a great many pupils.
If all the teachers on here are at best average, at least half your profession are worse than you.
That's not how averages work.
Stats isn't my strongest point but, assuming a normal distribution, only about 16% of teachers would be more than one standard deviation below the mean.
Both my children have been in real time online school with a timetable that reflected the normal one, register in every lesson and homework. All work is checked in lesson and homework marked the next day or whenever its due in. They have break and lunch as per normal and school finishes at the normal time.
I've deliberately not done that for my students, because it relies on every kid having access to a decent device at home, a place to work, and an internet connection. This style of remote teaching will widen the gap in outcomes.
All the work I've set has been asynchronous and can be completed with no specific digital resources.
I’ve just watch a head make his staff all hold hands to make a point about not social distancing. This is at a school in an area with a high percentage of multi generational households. Obviously still doesn’t get that he has a responsibility towards the community, as well as staff and pupils. I suspect he’ll have fewer teachers very soon.
"’ve deliberately not done that for my students"
All the childen in school have a school issued Chromebook paid for by the parents. Parents that genuinely can't afford one, or broadband have access to a hardship fund. The school IT department sort out any issues and have been working incredibly hard since lockdown, as have the teachers. It is a very well run school.
"This style of remote teaching will widen the gap in outcomes."
Yes, yes it will.
Once it’s been established that kids can be taught at home it wouldn’t be a giant leap to get rid of “schools “. Give everyone a laptop and have them log in to centrally broadcast lessons of a uniform curriculum.
I'm not sure it's everyone...
If anything is being established at this point it’s that being taught at home over the internet is not a great thing for a great many pupils.
Multiple things are happening all at once... but first there are a great number of kids...and being taught in school is not a great thing for a great many of them.
The first thing ....
My daughter was set work on the Titanic a few weeks ago. It started off by stating that ‘the Titanic was made in 1997’
Why assume that is any worse than usual? Just because you see it?
Jnr's teacher had set some work on coastal erosion which would have been fine had she not tried to explain how arches and sea stacks occur and missed something as exciting as Alta last week.
However that being the case I'm left wondering what the educational part is? Is it knowing the teacher is incorrect but giving them the answer they want or knowing the Titanic was built in 1911 or knowing that "when was the Titanic made" is different in google to "when was the titanic built" ???
My real issue is more the first point I made... if the academic value of school is primarily for the 5%-10% then it's failing but its failing more visibly at the moment whilst the parents of the 90%-95% see the actual "facts" being taught whilst the 5-10% don't see or care or even realise.
It's hardly creationism being deliberately taught ... but at the same time it's disturbing 1997 didn't ring a bell on the Titanic?
Following my earlier post I had some of this explained to me by a 10yr old... "if we did that then (list of names) wouldn't be able to take part"
So I'm back as confused as I was ...
If anything is being established at this point it’s that being taught at home over the internet is not a great thing for a great many pupils.
What do you mean by "great thing"?
Surely it's established that teaching all the kids together is preventing the majority from learning as quickly as they can but is that "good" or "bad"?
I'm the first to acknowledge it's not a race, there is plenty of time later ...
On the other hand in a global economy UK kids will be increasingly disadvantaged.
If you look at test results from SATS as some sort of metric then on paper not going to school has been a great success for my child. I'm not really fussed about the results so much as him organising himself to do an hour a day without adult interference and finding he can teach himself and do much much better than predicted by his teacher. Obviously we'll never know but I feel had he been at school instead of lockdown and just doing an hour a day by himself he would have performed "as expected".
kelvin
I’ve just watch a head make his staff all hold hands to make a point about not social distancing.
I watched the staff zoom before they opened up....
The head was sat at a 1m table opposite one of the deputies coughing. Quite a few staff we sitting as far away as possible... a HOY asked the head how they were going to social distance and the answer was "we will tell them we will try where we can"
I know your OH had to make a decision a the time... mine asked for unpaid sabbatical right after watching that zoom.
mine asked for unpaid sabbatical right after watching that zoom
I’ll add that option into the the conversation. Good thinking. Thanks.
Have the Lions been given the memo?
Lions, vions, virus, lirus, wifffle woffle - not your concern.
Boris' "led by the science" guidance is all you need.
kelvin
I’ll add that option into the the conversation. Good thinking. Thanks.
It was very quick and seemed amicable. Short term we can weather that financially and although a few teaching friends incl. her HOY said she could make a bigger fuss it was worth it for peace of mind.
The way I see it: Technically as I'm the one at risk the school/CC have no legal obligation to me as I'm neither an employee or pupil so they could get arsy.
Her HOY is actually the one at risk and I understand is getting paid... (which I also think is fair). She's feeling guilty especially now so many staff have been sent home and still doing a fair bit of work anyway.
Why assume that is any worse than usual? Just because you see it?
I think it's because her teacher is going off script and improvising, rather than sticking to what they would normally be doing. I further suspect it's an Alexa or Siri error rather than the written word.
Still, I'd have hoped it wouldn't pass the mental sense check that any imported fact would undergo. It was only 23 years ago, you would remember it from the news.
I think it’s because her teacher is going off script and improvising, rather than sticking to what they would normally be doing. I further suspect it’s an Alexa or Siri error rather than the written word.
Still, I’d have hoped it wouldn’t pass the mental sense check that any imported fact would undergo. It was only 23 years ago, you would remember it from the news.
OH often has to take a class she hasn't prepared herself and this sort of thing isn't rare. These are just things she asks me "this can't be correct ?" and ones that she actually gets the material in advance.
Again, this stuff as I remember that should just pass a mental sense check. Perhaps more now though as they have gone off script?
I'll hold my hand up and say I couldn't have said what year the Titanic was built or sank before looking but putting it the wrong side of WWI is bad enough... WWII unbelievable.
I asked my 10yr old to have a guess... he said 1906...
interestingly having already checked google's answer to "when was the titanic made" (23 January 1998) I asked him to check... he used Siri and that actually came up with 1911.
Either way going back "what is the correct answer if your teacher says 1998?"
I asked Jnr (after he knew the correct answer)... he said "whatever they want to hear".
I asked why if its wrong and he quoted "Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else." (he's currently reading 1984)
I can't help that remind me of:
"Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing."
Well here we are, lovely day for it!
Well here we are, lovely day for it!
Did you have a training day yesterday or something? What do you do on them when the pubs are shut? 🙂
Did you have a training day yesterday or something?
Only allowed a certain number of kids in so I only teach tuesday and thursday at the moment. Its only Eng, Maths and Sci too.
Yesterday I went for a ride with my son!!! Couldnt find a pub 😂
Well here we are, lovely day for it!
It certainly seems to be getting down and dirty.
OH was given unpaid sabbatical basically* as the school/CC have a legal responsibility for her as an employee not me as a spouse. I'm kind of OK with that. It would mean me moving out somewhere but that isn't strictly THEIR responsibility.
(* is what it seems to boil down to)
However one of the SEND TA's has now been pressured into returning. Her daughter is the "at risk" attends the same school and she's a single mother.
Her salary is paid linked to a child who's parents have been pressured into sending the child to school.
Regardless of all that the upshot is the TA now has to send her daughter to relatives indefinitely and whilst I accept the school has no responsibility for a spouse it seems to me that sending away the daughter is not in her best interests or mental well being.
I'm only in for 90 minutes on Friday morning, delivering about an hour of pastoral stuff then 30 minutes of subject-specific content. Same next Friday too, then out Y12 students start their 7 week summer holiday and we're doing a virtual transition week for Y11 who are thinking of joining us next year.
We recruit from a very wide area so a lot of students travel to us by public transport and school buses. Almost all of them have a more local alternative, so we're really worried about the impact on recruitment of new students and the impact, long term, on staffing levels.
I'm in tomorrow to gut my room and mark out distancing. In next Tuesday to do something. We're not allowed to have a planning meeting even if it's socially distanced even outside.
We've been told this will definitely be until Christmas there's no going back to normal unless.....
I think ScotGov is beginning to get pressure to get folk back to work so I can see schools being open no matter what.
We've got nqts being told there's no jobs and yet pushing for retired teachers to fill in gaps.
I think people being expected back to work when they have a vulnerable person at home is going to be an issue outside of education as well. I can see both sides, people not wanting to put relatives at risk, but employers desperate stay solvent aren't going to pay people arent working. In schools theres going to be shortages even if everybody is in with social distancing, factor in staff who are ill for other reasons, staff who are vulnerable themselves and i cant see much capacity for people protecting others being off as well, especially if that means paying for cover.
I'm a visiting guitar at a couple of Cheshire high schools.... I've been told it's unlikely I'll be back in September (I'm teaching remotely currently)
My main concern/thought on getting schools back in September.....lots of people seem to have forgotten about the concept of 'self isolation'. Ie if you have symptoms of Coronavirus then you must self isolate for X amount of days.... winter term in your average school the vast majority of staff and kids will be displaying multiple symptoms of covid19 regardless of whether or not they have it. I just don't see how with the current restrictions/measures/advice in place, we will end up with anything other than chaos!
In addition to the rules on isolation of you have Covid symptoms, I think this is probably going to mean more people taking time off sick for other illnesses. I've certainly dragged myself in while iller than I should have done before know, but am probably more aware of 'spreading it around' now and so would probably phone in sick for things that I've gone to work with in the past
Been in to school in my HoY role for the last two mornings to say a distanced hi to my cohort (or at least the third of them that are coming in each week). Lovely to see them but still proper odd in many ways. Being nosey, I've determined what I already suspected - that maybe only 20%-30% of them have stuck to the 'lockdown'.
In other news, my wife's school has just announced that they're closing for the rest of the week due to a Key Worker kid testing positive. Time for a deep clean and to decide whether they need to close the entire provision for 14 days.
100th
I think ScotGov is beginning to get pressure to get folk back to work so I can see schools being open no matter what.
I can see that were it not practically summer hols...
We’ve got nqts being told there’s no jobs and yet pushing for retired teachers to fill in gaps.
The standard down here pre-covid is no teaching jobs but plenty of TA jobs BUT you need QTS for the TA job and its only a year contract.
Then you get asked "can you do a lesson plan for...." .. and "oh would you mind teaching that lesson" and end up as a cover teacher on a TA salary that comes out of the CC budget not the school. Not really the school's fault... just saying things could be worse up there
TomB
My main concern/thought on getting schools back in September…..lots of people seem to have forgotten about the concept of ‘self isolation’. Ie if you have symptoms of Coronavirus then you must self isolate for X amount of days…. winter term in your average school the vast majority of staff and kids will be displaying multiple symptoms of covid19 regardless of whether or not they have it. I just don’t see how with the current restrictions/measures/advice in place, we will end up with anything other than chaos!
Now you said it I can't believe noone pointed that out before. A bit like how we were suddenly and magically going top triple classroom numbers for 15 pupil bubbles (even assuming staff).
When do we get told about Boris' plans for summer catch up?
Once Gavin has finished scribbling it on the back of his fag packet...
I'm already hearing the words 'retired', 'trainee', 'summer', 'school', 'weekend', 'extended', 'opening', in a variety of combinations though.
And no mention of any modifications to next years qualifications until at least March 2021...
Yep holidays in 2 weeks but the hubs is moving to the high school because numbers of kids are on the rise. Almost doubled in 2 weeks I'd expect the same rise when we move to phase 2.
The pressure to get folk back to work while not being able to fall back on the wider support network means the hubs being used more.
We are even to be a hub for ourselves. So kids of teachers will be in the school when not in their own school. That needs staffed too.
There was a magic money tree, but where are they going to find a magic teacher tree?
Loads of local schools are suddenly putting cover supervisor jobs up. There will be a need for loads more bodies in schools.
I'm in 3 days a week now looking after key worker and vunerable pupils.
Still setting online work and giving feedback to other year groups...and ringing my tutees in a pastoral role.
All core subject teachers are in doing sessions for yr10 'bubbles'.
Did anyone notice that at PMQ's it was said that GW will announce a catch up plan.
That will be fun.
Also just heard a headteacher say that the guidelines say that primary children do not need to stay 2m apart so they can be crammed in. Is this true?
Well our nursery called this morning to say there would likely be issues delivering care.
As two deemed key workers we can get childcare at. Hub....only we can't because the LA hasn't got any.
So wife's expected at school I'm expected at work
Gov says the LA will provide childcare and the LA are saying sorry full.
Good work goverment.
Currently I'm on a 3 day week using holidays and so is she as phased return after maternity. Come August that won't be manageable
This situation will be repeated and magnified up and down the country especially where both parents are teachers
Also just heard a headteacher say that the guidelines say that primary children do not need to stay 2m apart so they can be crammed in. Is this true?
No social distancing allowed at the school I know most about, between kids or staff. And I mean not allowed… even giving other staff a wide birth in the corridors frowned upon. Oh, and parents evening (but in the day) for all classes next week… so all parents invited on site. This is what you get when guidance from government is hopeless.
Also just heard a headteacher say that the guidelines say that primary children do not need to stay 2m apart so they can be crammed in. Is this true?
M<y Daughter is at a Childcare Hub at the moment, she'll be moving to a similar at her usual school a week Monday.
I think they've decided, probably rightly that there's little point asking 5 and 6 year olds to socially distance, you might as well try to herd cats Well I'm sure you could, but it would really **** with their heads.
In our school they're in small bubbles 4-6 kids, they wash their hands a few times a day, they're not allowed in with symptoms etc, but they play all day, she LOVES it. There's no definitive science on infection rates and transfer rates in under 10s, but it suggests it's far lower risk than adults.
My Son, who is 14 has volunteered to join a study on anti-bodies as we've all been exposed to Covid and had no symptoms, he's been having a blood test on Saturday which may prove our immunity, or at least his. This study will form part of the process for how schools reopen in Wales in September
I posted this on another thread.
Bit of a conundrum here and this spans a few threads.
The Wife returned to work on Monday, she’s a TA at a primary school. Tuesday morning she’s had a phone call to say someone in her “bubble” has CV19 symptoms. So she’s now having to self isolate, at least until this person’s test result is back. One bloody day of schools returning!
Sensible head on means that my household is now in isolation. But the NHS111 advice is to only isolate if you or someone you live with has symptoms or a positive test. That means we are free to carry on as normal until we have symptoms.
This seems a very lax approach, but on the other hand one person having symptoms could mean vast swathes of people self isolating for a small chance that the 10th person in the chain “could” have been exposed.
So I’m now sat in limbo, work doesn’t want me in until the test result is known, waiting for someone else to do the right thing and get tested ASAP.
kentishman
MemberDid anyone notice that at PMQ’s it was said that GW will announce a catch up plan.
Maxxis Bling Bling on the back, and stop being rubbish at bikes, was his usual advice
catchup plan is government will hire 1-1 tutors for all kids that need them
colour me sceptical
anywy our twins are back in nursery, they have temp checked on entry fwiw
my niece whos 6 just had a kid in her bubble test +ve , so theyve had to shut the entire school
Did the pesky unions shut the school? Or was it Starmer’s fault?
my niece whos 6 just had a kid in her bubble test +ve , so theyve had to shut the entire school
Why the entire school?
In our school that's what the bubbles are for - if someone has symptoms then the bubble they're in isolates until a test is done, and then if it's positive they all isolate for the required length of time (still 14 days AFAIK).