Has the virus changed your views on which school to go for?

[Mummyzilla]

I was wondering if parents would be willing to share their thoughts on whether the virus has changed their views on school choices? In normal times, I was much more comfortable with a commute (on public transport or through car sharing) for my DC than I am now and tbh the superselective grammars seem to be much less agile in coping with this virus compared to the Indies.

[LJandCJ]

I wouldn’t say that it made me change my choice because I was concerned about the affects of covid, but I did end up writing a school off that we hadn’t been to look around/were only able to watch online videos of etc. The logistics to get to this particular school meant I had to say to ds that we could consider, but only if he absolutely falls in love with it - or else him having to leave the house for the bus at 7.30 to return at 5.30 just wouldn’t be worthwhile.

I ended up taking the decision out of his hands and said I wasn’t happy for him to choose that school because we just didn’t have enough information to go on.

[PerpetualStudent]

We started looking at an alternative 6th form because of the frustration and disappointment of the first lockdown. We chose DD’s school originally with the intention she would do all 7 years there. We might not have been prompted to look elsewhere if the pandemic hadn’t pulled the rug out from under everybody’s plans.

Although DD’s current school have mostly got on top of the challenge of remote learning, lockdown 1 was a real struggle for them. A lot of it comes down to stretched budgets doesn’t it?

Edited 2x for more detail

[sportsforall]

Same for us - we had expected to spend all seven years at the Grammar, but I think will now go private for Sixth Form. The application is about to be submitted. The Grammar is doing much better this time with lockdown and maybe also because she is in Y10, but compared with the private schools our friends experienced they have lagged behind.

[bridge]

If I could afford private for all my children that is what I would be doing. Parents sending their children to private schools got what they paid for results wise. I know of children that failed to get into the local selective schools who have far out performed what might have been reasonable to expect (given what their parents had said pre-lockdown). The parents were absolutely delighted. It was not surprising to hear university admissions saying that this was going to be the poshest ( ) intake they have ever had!

[ToadMum]

If I could afford private for all my children that is what I would be doing. Parents sending their children to private schools got what they paid for results wise. I know of children that failed to get into the local selective schools who have far out performed what might have been reasonable to expect (given what their parents had said pre-lockdown). The parents were absolutely delighted. It was not surprising to hear university admissions saying that this was going to be the poshest ( ) intake they have ever had!

Yes, not tarring all indies - or their parent body - with the same brush, of course, but last year was a complete godsend for those parents, wasn't it? Although there must have been the odd private school where the parents found that what they had paid for instead was the honesty and integrity of the teaching staff and SLT. But I expect they got over it eventually.

Universities are apparently expecting a higher than usual drop-out rate amongst the 2020 intake, so not necessarily such a godsend, at the end of the day, for all the students concerned.

[PerpetualStudent]

I hadn’t been thinking about indies and their ‘outperforming’ graduates last year in terms of the algorithm debacle. Though of course that was a factor. I was thinking of those indies that were able to keep live-streaming lessons, engaging and encouraging their students right the way through. In Lockdown 1 DD would find herself with a large information pack for a subject (spread across diverse malfunctioning platforms and multiplied by 10) and just have to get on with it, on her own, the best that she could. I only know of one grammar near DD’s that was able to match indie-level student support.

[hermanmunster]

it is very hard to see how online can ever be a "level playing field" - there is differential access to IT / quiet space / desktops / broadband etc etc
DD has been struggling with WFH for her job - the normally decent internet was just having a funny five mins - we normally get about 60mb and it was down about - just thinking good job we are in our old house and we were ecstatic to get 15mb, I remember Sally-Anne suggesting that I might do better with semaphore

[KS10]

I’d be interested in knowing how TAs are being used. Are they ‘sitting in’ on live lessons or do they teach live lessons?

[Mummyzilla]

Really good to know I am not alone. My DD's grammar school really struggled with lockdown 1. When they went back to school, the focus was predominantly on presenteeism as the government had instructed that it was 'safe' for them to attend school. The school seems to have upped its game for lockdown 2. But there are the odd lessons where the girls are given a pack and asked to figure it out. Also, they continue to insist on doing their mocks in January, which was fine in normal times, but now will invariably have an impact on their GCSE grades. Like others, we had originally intended for her to stay in the same school for 6th form, but we are now reconsidering this decision.