Back to the school run

This week parents of year 10 and 12 students have seen their children return to school, where this has been possible. The guidance only specifies some form of face to face sessions so this has been very much not a return to normal. I think it is dawning on parents that that might take some considerable time.
I have children in both year 10 and year 12. Keeping on top of the admin has been difficult. I can only imagine the scene at schools.

Daughter two is in year 12. She has been anxious to get back, but not quite anxious enough to get up on time on her first ‘day’ back. Her school, which is large, is operating a complicated system of two-hour sessions per subject area, plus well being sessions. We had to book slots for each subject until the end of term and then wait. I also booked a session with her Ucas mentor. We were sent information on how it would all work, with staggering of entry to the school, classroom bubbles of five, one-way systems, a new toilet etiquette, early closure to avoid the lunch hour and a new registration process.

The only thing we weren’t told was when we had to be there so earlier this week I emailed. It seems that, after months with no physical school, daughter two was double booked for English and the Ucas mentor at the same time on the same day and you can only be in one bubble on each occasion you go to school. We needed to book again. The problem was that parents are only being told of the time of each subject session around 24 hours beforehand, which makes it hard to book the Ucas session – and really hard if you are having to drop your child off and work at the same time.

So far so good, though. She has done English and Sociology this week and seems happier, though two hours exhausted her for the rest of the day, mainly because she had to get up significantly earlier than usual.

The fun increases next week when daughter three goes back for a one-hour face to face session and catch-up [no toilet breaks allowed]. Initially she will be in a bubble of three and timings will be carefully staggered. The following week the bubble will expand and after that I think they are envisaging the full year 10 being in somehow or another, but I have no idea for how long. I await the guidance with bated breath. With timing being everything, us living not that close to the schools and my partner potentially having to go into work from July, how the school run is going to work around a busy work schedule is a little bit mind boggling.

Earlier this week only son’s primary school emailed to say they were considering having some children from years two to five back for a few hours before the end of term. Would we like to do this? No way, said only son who is quite enjoying lockdown lessons and is a bit of a loner. To be honest, it was a bit of a relief. Life is already complicated enough with the different systems for the two secondary schools without another being dropped into the mix. Roll on September when everything will undoubtedly change again.

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