Home Schooling Thread

[Northern Eel]

33 minutes ago, Bearman said:

I was asked to help my 9 year old Grandson with his maths.

My GCE in maths did not help me, so I asked my mate who has a maths degree, he in turn asked his wife who is a teaching assistant.

 

This is KS2

4a 

Complete the calculations with the same number so that the missing digit leads to an exchange.

 A  2,3?5 +1,454 = 

B 3,926 +2,?43 =

The word "Exchange" was all Greek to me.

 

Daft way of saying 'borrowing' in subtraction and 'crossing the 10s' in addition. Excellent mastery question though for applying understanding of place value.

[shrek]

First day back home schooling two primary school children today, had a couple of issues needed help/advise/guidance on, e-mailed school, the two teachers and two teaching assistants who could have helped are all off now until 4th May - no-one is stepping in to help in there absence.

In the time between the initial shutdown and start of the Easter Holidays both children had paper packs to work through and it was easy to structure and worked really well.  Today all we had was a link to a website thats been down all Easter, so was hoping to catch up today on Easter homework and todays lessons, but ran into a couple of issues, especially with the youngest who has an EHCP so really needs a tailored learning pack.

Looks like tomorrow if nobody from school gets back to help we'll do our best with the wider online offering and hope we get it about the right level to help progress the youngest.

Not sure how other schools are going on, but amazed at the total lack of technology being used to keep in touch with the kids, would have thought Zoom and the likes would have been ideal, but seemingly not.

Hard work this teaching lark, no wonder they need so many holidays!  Running out of hair to turn grey!

[Pen-Y-Bont Crusader]

14 minutes ago, shrek said:

First day back home schooling two primary school children today, had a couple of issues needed help/advise/guidance on, e-mailed school, the two teachers and two teaching assistants who could have helped are all off now until 4th May - no-one is stepping in to help in there absence.

In the time between the initial shutdown and start of the Easter Holidays both children had paper packs to work through and it was easy to structure and worked really well.  Today all we had was a link to a website thats been down all Easter, so was hoping to catch up today on Easter homework and todays lessons, but ran into a couple of issues, especially with the youngest who has an EHCP so really needs a tailored learning pack.

Looks like tomorrow if nobody from school gets back to help we'll do our best with the wider online offering and hope we get it about the right level to help progress the youngest.

Not sure how other schools are going on, but amazed at the total lack of technology being used to keep in touch with the kids, would have thought Zoom and the likes would have been ideal, but seemingly not.

Hard work this teaching lark, no wonder they need so many holidays!  Running out of hair to turn grey!

Zoom isn’t regarded as wholly safe and there are potential CP issues over using video anyway. 

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, Pen-Y-Bont Crusader said:

Zoom isn’t regarded as wholly safe and there are potential CP issues over using video anyway. 

Yes. Little Ginger's special school were using it but have gone to Skype; Tiny Ginger's school are using Teams, when they do use anything.

[shrek]

1 hour ago, Pen-Y-Bont Crusader said:

Zoom isn’t regarded as wholly safe and there are potential CP issues over using video anyway. 

Skype, Whatsapp video call, facetime anything would be better than whats currently on offer.

[Pen-Y-Bont Crusader]

Are you using the oak academy or bbc Bitesize stuff ? It will tide you over until school gets something to you.

as far as the EHCP goes that’s the ALNCO responsibility so id email them.

[shrek]

29 minutes ago, Pen-Y-Bont Crusader said:

Are you using the oak academy or bbc Bitesize stuff ? It will tide you over until school gets something to you.

as far as the EHCP goes that’s the ALNCO responsibility so id email them.

Plan tomorrow is to use BBC Bitesize for the youngest, but with a grand sum of two weeks teaching experience behind us its hard knowing where to pitch, so we'll try, the work pack we did have was very specific and things went like a dream in the run up to the Easter break.

The SENCO is also the school Head, which is far from ideal - not e-mailed them yet pondering it now, but because he is also the head we thought we'd give them a couple of days to get back to our follow up e-mail.

[Northern Eel]

14 hours ago, Pen-Y-Bont Crusader said:

Are you using the oak academy or bbc Bitesize stuff ? It will tide you over until school gets something to you.

as far as the EHCP goes that’s the ALNCO responsibility so id email them.

There should also be the option of sending the youngest one to school with an EHCP.

I must say, without knowing the school, they aren’t appearing to be representative of the great stuff out there provided by most schools.

I assume those teachers now on holiday worked through Easter with the key workers and vulnerable children? Still there should be someone primed to take over. Not a good look. 

[gingerjon]

15 hours ago, shrek said:

The SENCO is also the school Head, which is far from ideal - not e-mailed them yet pondering it now, but because he is also the head we thought we'd give them a couple of days to get back to our follow up e-mail.

Never the best situation, that. We had it once where it was the Deputy. Complete waste of time.

Little Ginger's school, which is filled with children with EHCPs, is completely closed as a building so we're aware at first hand that this idea that they are open for those who need it is ... how to put this politely ... as much a fantasy as the EHCP process in the first place. But they are getting progressively better at remote student support. At first it was just the therapists but we do now have a vague timetable and system in place from the school. It's not perfect - and some teachers seem to have forgotten what personalisation means - but it does give some loose structure and, this is important for Little Ginger, deadlines for work.

[Northern Eel]

23 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Never the best situation, that. We had it once where it was the Deputy. Complete waste of time.

Little Ginger's school, which is filled with children with EHCPs, is completely closed as a building so we're aware at first hand that this idea that they are open for those who need it is ... how to put this politely ... as much a fantasy as the EHCP process in the first place. But they are getting progressively better at remote student support. At first it was just the therapists but we do now have a vague timetable and system in place from the school. It's not perfect - and some teachers seem to have forgotten what personalisation means - but it does give some loose structure and, this is important for Little Ginger, deadlines for work.

Are they doing Hub-based support on the ground, even though the school itself is closed? 

[gingerjon]

9 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:

Are they doing Hub-based support on the ground, even though the school itself is closed? 

You may need to explain what hub-based support is because I'm not sure I know.

(School 'returned' yesterday. Unlike towards the end of last term there is now a timetable. It's very loose, reflective on the pupils it's for, and there was Tutor Time for the group over Skype, this will be repeated on Thursday. Before the term break none of this was in place. There is also access to the therapy team that are part of the school although this is variable. This is a special school, though, so that may make a difference.)

[shrek]

37 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Never the best situation, that. We had it once where it was the Deputy. Complete waste of time.

Little Ginger's school, which is filled with children with EHCPs, is completely closed as a building so we're aware at first hand that this idea that they are open for those who need it is ... how to put this politely ... as much a fantasy as the EHCP process in the first place. But they are getting progressively better at remote student support. At first it was just the therapists but we do now have a vague timetable and system in place from the school. It's not perfect - and some teachers seem to have forgotten what personalisation means - but it does give some loose structure and, this is important for Little Ginger, deadlines for work.

He's a nice guy and has been great over the years, but it feels like running to the head at the first sign of homeschooling trouble, if the SENCO had been anyone else would have been much easier I feel to get there advice and help.

We were told the youngest could keep coming to school but it wouldn't be his school, it could have been any in the academy trust and he wouldn't be taught, he'd be "managed", so kept safe, but basically sat in a corner and occupied.  I knew we'd made the right choice when the teaching assistant broke down crying and that she'd not been able to sleep worrying about him.

Glad to hear you sound like your making progress in the right direction.  I was despondent yesterday, especially at the thought of no help until the 4th May which feels a lifetime away if every day is like yesterday!  Appreciate teachers have there own issues, some will have there own children to home teach etc but some support would be nice.

[Northern Eel]

2 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

You may need to explain what hub-based support is because I'm not sure I know.

(School 'returned' yesterday. Unlike towards the end of last term there is now a timetable. It's very loose, reflective on the pupils it's for, and there was Tutor Time for the group over Skype, this will be repeated on Thursday. Before the term break none of this was in place. There is also access to the therapy team that are part of the school although this is variable. This is a special school, though, so that may make a difference.)

I gathered it was a Special School and indeed, this does make a difference. Schools generally are encouraged to work together to provide support for key worker and vulnerable families, which include every child with an EHCP. If schools are in a position where they don't have the staff to safely run the provision in their own school, they should be working with other local schools to provide a school place there, with the remaining staff going along to suppor the provision.

For children with EHCPs, and particularly in Special Schools, it may be deemed that they do not require this provision, but this has to be agreed with the parents. Part of that agreement ought to include how you expect the school to continue to provide for the needs identified on the EHCP. It sounds like the latter of those is in a bit of doubt currently.

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, shrek said:

He's a nice guy and has been great over the years, but it feels like running to the head at the first sign of homeschooling trouble, if the SENCO had been anyone else would have been much easier I feel to get there advice and help.

We were told the youngest could keep coming to school but it wouldn't be his school, it could have been any in the academy trust and he wouldn't be taught, he'd be "managed", so kept safe, but basically sat in a corner and occupied.  I knew we'd made the right choice when the teaching assistant broke down crying and that she'd not been able to sleep worrying about him.

Glad to hear you sound like your making progress in the right direction.  I was despondent yesterday, especially at the thought of no help until the 4th May which feels a lifetime away if every day is like yesterday!  Appreciate teachers have there own issues, some will have there own children to home teach etc but some support would be nice.

I think a key thing is not to beat yourself up about it. I have a good friend who is a 1:1 for a pupil and, right now, is having to provide that 1:1 support remotely. It's exhausting for both of them. Even she is not being able to deliver a full curriculum, even with parent support at the other end.

So if they can't get everything done then the rest of us are just going to have get done what we can. Right now, Little Ginger is meant to be following a timetable but, at this second, he has become distracted by something about dentists and I'm not getting him back for a while.

[gingerjon]

3 minutes ago, Northern Eel said:

For children with EHCPs, and particularly in Special Schools, it may be deemed that they do not require this provision, but this has to be agreed with the parents. Part of that agreement ought to include how you expect the school to continue to provide for the needs identified on the EHCP. It sounds like the latter of those is in a bit of doubt currently.

We're in a pretty good position because this break has come at a time when Little Ginger is remarkably together. He got an ADHD diagnosis and that came with medication and, from us, some support we are able to do ourselves. If that wasn't bedded in and working then I suspect at least one member of this household would be looking for an alibi right now. There are other aspects, such as speech therapy, which are going to need to pick up but they are at least scheduled for some online sessions for that.

But there are other parents - some overreacting, some not - at the same school who aren't coping with their children being at home and really could do with 'more'. I think the problem is that a lot of the time it's hard to know what that 'more' looks like until it's working and right now it's very difficult to put anything new in place given the situations.

[shrek]

3 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

I think a key thing is not to beat yourself up about it. I have a good friend who is a 1:1 for a pupil and, right now, is having to provide that 1:1 support remotely. It's exhausting for both of them. Even she is not being able to deliver a full curriculum, even with parent support at the other end.

So if they can't get everything done then the rest of us are just going to have get done what we can. Right now, Little Ginger is meant to be following a timetable but, at this second, he has become distracted by something about dentists and I'm not getting him back for a while.

Its hard - the EHCP has worked well for him, he has an amazing teaching assistant for 19 hours a week and the progress he's made with her help has been amazing.  Not wanting to be the reason he stalls or goes backwards.

We're sticking to the timetable, but he's not able to do the standard work set for class which is all we have access to at the moment, diving into BBC Bytesize once the 9-10am fresh air and exercise part of the timetable is over!

Good luck with the dentist distractions!

[Northern Eel]

37 minutes ago, shrek said:

Its hard - the EHCP has worked well for him, he has an amazing teaching assistant for 19 hours a week and the progress he's made with her help has been amazing.  Not wanting to be the reason he stalls or goes backwards.

We're sticking to the timetable, but he's not able to do the standard work set for class which is all we have access to at the moment, diving into BBC Bytesize once the 9-10am fresh air and exercise part of the timetable is over!

Good luck with the dentist distractions!

DM me if you want to discuss this further. Happy to help out where I can.

[Northern Eel]

1 hour ago, shrek said:

He's a nice guy and has been great over the years, but it feels like running to the head at the first sign of homeschooling trouble, if the SENCO had been anyone else would have been much easier I feel to get there advice and help.

We were told the youngest could keep coming to school but it wouldn't be his school, it could have been any in the academy trust and he wouldn't be taught, he'd be "managed", so kept safe, but basically sat in a corner and occupied.  I knew we'd made the right choice when the teaching assistant broke down crying and that she'd not been able to sleep worrying about him.

Glad to hear you sound like your making progress in the right direction.  I was despondent yesterday, especially at the thought of no help until the 4th May which feels a lifetime away if every day is like yesterday!  Appreciate teachers have there own issues, some will have there own children to home teach etc but some support would be nice.

The expectations of schools is that they service this need for the entirety of the closure. You are right to expect that someone is there for you and your young one every day. The vast, vast majority of schools have done that over Easter too (although in a slightly less formal way), as was the clear expectation set out by the government.

Have you read any of the Government advice for parents regarding any of this? It might give you a clearer picture of what you should expect the school to be doing.

There may well be some local issues that mean I am way off the mark, I accept that.

[shrek]

2 hours ago, Northern Eel said:

The expectations of schools is that they service this need for the entirety of the closure. You are right to expect that someone is there for you and your young one every day. The vast, vast majority of schools have done that over Easter too (although in a slightly less formal way), as was the clear expectation set out by the government.

Have you read any of the Government advice for parents regarding any of this? It might give you a clearer picture of what you should expect the school to be doing.

There may well be some local issues that mean I am way off the mark, I accept that.

I've read them, but probably should re-visit.

Without breaching any confidences, only found out this morning the youngest's class teacher is working from home for the foreseeable as she's in the at risk group, so not sure if she's waiting on something happening to set this up or if there's more to it, but she's out until the school re-opens on the 4th May.

Sounds like other kids have all been farmed out to other schools in the academy trust - only reliable method of contact is twitter, which bizarrely gets a reply far quicker than e-mails seemingly do!

Been better today, although we're off piste, will see he we go.  Thanks for the offer of help, will take you up on that if we struggle, youngest is in mainstream but his diagnosis is hard to explain.