Lockdown (And Beyond) Hatchlings

[Cerise]

D’s teacher rang me this week for a weekly check in. As she’s also kind of my colleague (I supply teach there), I told her that she didn’t need to waste time calling me. Just tick me off the list each week, I’ll contact her if I need to and say that she calls me if anyone asks. He uploads all his work, she can see him on the “Zoom Playtime” and he didn’t fall back during last lockdown (in fact his maths got better )

[Pippedydeadeye]

That’s bloody awful. In lockdown I I think Chunk went a whole fortnight without dressing or leaving the house. Squeak is refusing to get out of her pyjamas right now too.

[Cerise]

I’m too uptight to let them stay in their PJs all day but I wouldn’t comment on someone else doing it. What an arsehole!

[purple_dress]

Sorry if this has already been shared and I missed it but the TUC have a survey to work out how best to campaign and support people working during school closures: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2021WorkingParents

[purple_dress]

We didn't leave the house all week! It was so much easier in lighter, warmer weather.

[smalex]

They are encouraging us to upload more. I did it last time and they never really responded so I stopped bothering but Ws teacher did reply to the stuff we uploaded yesterday which is encouraging. I don't know how she'll find time given she's FT teaching half the class.

[Flora Poste]

Yesterday I was having a Teams meeting with a colleague and two of our business partners. At some point, N popped into view and my colleague said "Oh, you're still wearing your pyjamas!" One of the partners said he wished he could do that too and then we carried on with our meeting. Today, I get an email from said colleague with a P.S. "I know it's hard working from home and home schooling but my Ruben is never in his pyjamas at 11AM." He's a single dad who has his 11-year-old 1 day a week.

WTF! I’m actually speechless that someone would actually take the time to write that!

[purple_dress]

One of my friends has a year 1 child and their school (not a private school) has two live lessons a day - you have to be online at 9am every day for the first one - and then they have to submit four pieces of work by 6pm each day! She and her husband both work and they have a 1 year old with no childcare at the moment, and a puppy, and she's 6 months pregnant!

[smalex]

4 pieces! We'd often not achieve that. I honestly don't know what they expect people to do? In year 1 as well theyre not exactly independent learners by then.

I would like the live lessons though. It seems so mixed whether people get this or not. We've been told there's definitely none of that because they're running every class as a Bubble etc.

[Pippedydeadeye]

They’re going to start live registration at Squeak’s school on Wednesday. This has been a long time coming from them. Her tutor left before Christmas and we’ve no idea who her new one is.

[Smunder Woman]

I am 38 and I refuse to get dressed if I don't have to. That colleague can fuck off with his one day a week, look how easy I find this parenting.

Jack's school has been very clear that there is no pressure to get work done. Joe's seems quite strict on a full timetable, but as he only started high school this year, I've no idea how much it will actually be enforced.

[Cerise]

Our junior school has said that there will not be any live lessons so that families can be flexible about how they structure their day and allocation of devices. The teachers have been videoing lessons so they kind of talk the children through what they need to do.

The first English one had dreadful sound which I told the teacher when she WhatsApped me. Turned out she filmed it at midnight on Tuesday after doing all day at school, an evening adjusting the planning and was trying not to wake up her daughter. She was back in school at 7am on Wednesday.

The high school are strict about submissions and J has a full timetable of 5 one-hour lessons.

[Princess Morripov]

The amount of work we’ve been sent for Tupac is ridiculous and he’s only in pre-school (but blended in with Reception). I genuinely thought it was maybe a whole half terms worth of work but it was just for this week :eek:

Because he’s not at pre-school he’s doing 3 full days at nursery instead so that would only leave 2 days (one of which I’m working) to attempt this around a 16 month old so it’s getting a bit of a nope from me. I don’t have a printer either so doing picture activities etc on my phone seems a bit pointless. They also want us to check in EVERY DAY with acknowledgement of receiving the work and having a crack at it I mean I absolutely think he’s young enough for this short while not to matter but I do think it’s an absolutely unnecessary amount of pressure during a shit time we need to try and get through.

[Cerise]

That does sound ridiculous, Pov. Nursery will be doing stuff so forget the rest!

[Marth]

Oh my god, Dutchie. I feel absolute fury for you. OF COURSE he’s not a full time parent. Wanker.

If I let her, Pete would just live in pyjamas forever. Who cares?

I wouldn't even call him a "single" dad. I reserve that for parents on their own that do that majority of the child rearing, and I include in that child and life admin and emotional lifting, not just showing up.


SB2 does not get dressed any more.

[Kleio]

What the hell was that part time dad hoping to achieve? Surely pyjamas are just house clothes right now?

Pov, he doesn’t legally have to be in school until the term after his 5th birthday so I’d tell them to swivel with it. Nursery will cover most of it and I’d just stick to basic reading and writing practice.

Here, the secondary school have live lessons but they are also recorded to be watched at any time. They ask the children to complete their timetable every day but there’s no pressure to do them at the same time as the timetable iyswim. What if children are sharing devices?

The primary school said they expect them to do 4 hours work a day. Betty is loosely following the same timetable they are doing in school. Elf not so much. She does comment on every piece of work completed and will ask extra questions if she thinks the child has missed something. For example, Elf had to design a pair of shoes and say why they were amazing. He never mentioned what they were made from so she asked and expected him to answer.

[Ruby]

I'm not really appreciating the messaging we're getting from school about the work being compulsory and reminding us how important it is if we don't want our kids to fall behind. This is a difficult fucking situation! I'm pretty sure the messaging is from government but I'm sure what we don't need is parents having a nervous breakdown.

It very much is led by the government. The whole thing is horrible.

[Flora Poste]

We've get daily video lessons and work for English, Reading, Maths and one piece of Wider Curriculum (that varies, so can be art, science, R.E. etc). There's PE as well but we mostly ignore that (other than C who has been doing his PE entirely independently and with no encouragement). That's for Yrs 5 & 6. E (Yr 1) gets daily videos for Phonics, Maths, English and Wider Curriculum, plus work. 1 weekly small group Zoom for each of them to go over any issues.

I'm actually pretty happy with it, there are parents already on the warpath about wanting live lessons, but like Cerise's school - I can see the benefit of people being able to organise work round when they can get it done/ sharing devices etc. They are never going to please everyone.

Also - having mix of ages and personalities I can totally see how one approach can never fit every child or every home situation - whether one or two parents working full/ part time, studying or with caring responsibilities, other children or the million other permutations. It's just rubbish.

I really feel for everyone trying to juggle - it is just not possible.

[Glint]

S's teacher sent this out yesterday, which i think is fair, but we haven't seen the tasks yet.

Dear parents and primary 5

I hope that you have all had a lovely holiday and are ready for our new online learning next week.

I will upload a weekly grid... The expectation is that this time pupils will complete three set tasks per day and upload their learning to Teams. I would encourage you to check in for attendance before 9.30 as this will be monitored. Please contact me if you need any support. The times of all Teams meets are listed in the grid.

I know you may be working from home and / or sharing devices but we shall work together to find a balance that suits your family and I will do my best to support you all.

[Luce]

F’s school has live tutor registration and live lessons for the rest of the day. Attendance is taken and engagement is insisted upon - they get negatives for not engaging or not completing the work. So that feels like full on school apart from poor F is just sat in his bedroom.

At Theo’s we get worksheets set in the morning and one live lesson after lunch each day. Live lesson is a bit strong, it varies in time and is mostly the poor teacher trying to read them a story.