School pupils to repeat current year
Children should return to the same year group they were in prior to school closure and complete this year over two school years rather than one.
Why the contribution is important
School pupils from all backgrounds have undoubtedly been affected by the closure of schools and the variety of homeschooling available to each of them individually thereafter. Different schools have had varying approaches, parents have had a variety of demands from their own work affecting their ability to teach their children and IT is not universally available to children.
Children are facing returning to school in August most likely on a part time basis, meaning that they will also experience further disadvantage in terms of time in education compared to pupils who have gone before them. The aims of primary education and expected standard are thus unlikely to be met for many children; they will be continually trying to “catch up”, or worse still there will be acceptance that this cohort will simply not meet the aims. This is not the fault of the individual schools.
If children were to return to the year group they were in at the point of closure on a part time basis this school year could hopefully be completed over the course of two years, without the time pressure. If this were done for every child then no child would be facing disadvantage. In terms of further education, Scottish pupils are comparatively younger than their other British counterparts at the time of university entrance and so wouldn’t be disadvantaged in the the longer term; in fact schooling in the rest of the UK is 14 rather than 13 years, with one of these years referred to as reception.
Children are facing returning to school in August most likely on a part time basis, meaning that they will also experience further disadvantage in terms of time in education compared to pupils who have gone before them. The aims of primary education and expected standard are thus unlikely to be met for many children; they will be continually trying to “catch up”, or worse still there will be acceptance that this cohort will simply not meet the aims. This is not the fault of the individual schools.
If children were to return to the year group they were in at the point of closure on a part time basis this school year could hopefully be completed over the course of two years, without the time pressure. If this were done for every child then no child would be facing disadvantage. In terms of further education, Scottish pupils are comparatively younger than their other British counterparts at the time of university entrance and so wouldn’t be disadvantaged in the the longer term; in fact schooling in the rest of the UK is 14 rather than 13 years, with one of these years referred to as reception.
by fionawalker on May 08, 2020 at 12:22PM
Posted by LMD2020 May 08, 2020 at 13:02
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Posted by Eanni May 08, 2020 at 13:23
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Posted by Mandyintdesign May 08, 2020 at 13:26
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Posted by Dodley May 08, 2020 at 13:48
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Posted by monkey3margaret May 08, 2020 at 15:28
Also opportunity to reassess the difference in results for a P1 pupil starting school at 6 years old as opposed to 5 years old.
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Posted by Lucy1980 May 08, 2020 at 19:10
April - June - 3 months.
The idea of repeating the whole year isn’t going to happen. It’s not “simple” because you have a new intake of P1s, and P7s resitting the year. Do you think schools magically have the classroom space for that. My school has 5 P1 classes coming in August.
We don’t have 5 spare secret classrooms. We simply couldn’t find the space for this. If they remain in nursery, again, there’s 150 extra children in nursery. Schools simply can’t accommodate this.
Also I don’t think it’s a good idea (even if it were doable, which it isn’t). We have already completed 8 months of this school session.
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