The point I made was less teaching happened a conservative estimate suggests a drop of c70% so what were those doing whilst they were still being paid 100% of their salary?

How was it that private schools managed near replication of the in house classroom yet the public sector only managed a fraction? Could it be that because private schools charge they had to step up? Sadly we all pay but that seems to be lost on the teaching profession.

In August the teaching unions were complaining that schools were ready to take pupils back - that's strange - the schools had had 6 months to prepare but actually did nothing for 5 of those months - most teachers enjoyed kicking back, partying etc.

You're so predicatble in your blaming of public sector workers. I actually think you have some sort of personal vendetta. Did a teacher or nurse once knock you back on a date?

The school where I'm based had 60 teaching staff volunteer to come into school, to carry on physical teaching, because they expected hundreds of kids would have nobody at home to look after them in lockdown due to work commitments. When the school was reopened for the kids of key workers and vulnerable children to attend, how many do you think turned up? Bearing in mind the school has a capacity of 2200 kids you'd expect a decent percenatge. The number of kids just about hit double figures. Now, see if you can work out whose decision it was for the other 2190 kids not being in school. The government closed schools to all but key worker and vulnerable kids. They also directed anyone who could work at home to work at home. Some parents could have sent their kids to school but chose not to. Are you suggesting teachers should have been round at kids houses, knocking on their doors and dragging them into school?

Utter claptrap.

The trust where I work set up an online teaching facility and staff taught on a rota. Staff who were not in school physically teaching kids were teaching lessons online. There was a vast online resource set up by staff within the first few weeks of lockdown. Some of our staff were even online teaching kids from other schools. There was an online academy set up for the very purpose. Of course, some kids struggled due to lack of equipment or access to the internet, but equipment was provided where possible. The free broadband was a vote loser for Corbyn. Imagine wanting to provide free internet access for kids up and down the country? The rotten old commie.

If staff were 'kicking back, partying', how did all the stuff happen which has made the safe return to schools possible? Classrooms have been reorganised, corridors have been rerouted, screens have been put up, hand sanitising stations have been implemented, the timetables have been rescheduled, the school day has been adjusted. Who do you think did it, the school fairies?

Our trust put all the measures in place, in line with government advice. It was up to the kids to get onboard with the new way of working. For someone who preaches self-reliance, you don't half want the kids backsides wiping for them.

So given they didn't have any physical kids to teach - from my experience of the drivers that worked for me - it was near impossible to get your kids into school, unless of course you are Keir Starmer - the only people deemed as critical were employees of the NHS in a clinical position - not many of them really so it is no surprise that very few in your school attended?

You ask most parents how much they enjoyed home schooling - not a lot - do you honestly think most parents - obviously not the woke ones - wouldn't have sent their kids to school if they could - seriously?

So your teachers weren't physically teaching - how many structured lessons were recorded and put on social media for the kids?

Perhaps it's because on the whole, the private schools try and keep their class sizes to around 20 and significantly less in the A level classes.
Therefore, they could almost carry on as they were, with a few "tweaks" here and there.

Compare this to the overcrowded local "comp" with 2500 pupils in cramped conditions and class sizes approaching 40.

You do the math, although, this one isn't too difficult.

Also, pupils at private schools have massively more access to on line services and it's way simpler therefore, to offer a very good standard of on line or "mixed" education.

Which teachers, private or state, do you think have the easiest job or, shall we all keep on kicking employees of the state, you know, like you used to do with NHS staff, until the Thursday evening clap became popular

So how was it that given everything you said that lessons were so scant i.e. 6 hours a week? If some teachers were teaching other school kids what were their teachers doing? So an online academy would have required significantly less resource - 1 teacher could in theory deliver a lesson to hundreds of kids - rather than tens of teachers delivering the same lesson to those kids?

So why by August were the schools not ready for pupils to return - they had after all had 5 months to get this sorted?

Kids are kids its up to the adults to show the way surely not the other way round - hearts and minds in management speak?

Are you seriously suggesting all teachers were working equally as hard as they were before lockdown?

I would suggest you are wrong about the class sizes Eton has close to 2,000 pupils in a building that can hardly be called modern as would be the case for the majority of private schools. Bradford Grammar my old school is in a building that is nearly 400 years old.

I take you point about the challenges of educating children - but that is no excuse by your own admission the teachers didn't have kids coming in to school so a good majority just switched off.

On the NHS you show me where I have said clinical staff are overpaid and underworked - if you can't could I suggest you refrain?

Jeez this is getting embarrassing now.

Not a surprise that the poster involved went to a second tier private school. I'm no psychologist but it would explain the insecurity, the seeming lack of awareness that they got a leg up from the start and the apparent lack of exposure to anyone who actually lives in the real world.

Sal Paradise wrote:I would suggest you are wrong about the class sizes Eton has close to 2,000 pupils in a building that can hardly be called modern as would be the case for the majority of private schools. How many physical lessons were taught in these schools during lockdown? How many kids physically attended private schools? You seem to be under the illusion that private schools just carried on as normal. https://www.etoncollege.com/blog/lessons-from-lockdown-a-springboard-for-digitally-enhanced-learning/

Sal Paradise wrote:I would suggest you are wrong about the class sizes Eton has close to 2,000 pupils in a building that can hardly be called modern as would be the case for the majority of private schools. How many physical lessons were taught in these schools during lockdown? How many kids physically attended private schools? You seem to be under the illusion that private schools just carried on as normal. https://www.etoncollege.com/blog/lessons-from-lockdown-a-springboard-for-digitally-enhanced-learning/

Sal Paradise wrote:the only people deemed as critical were employees of the NHS in a clinical position - not many of them really so it is no surprise that very few in your school attended? Just not true. Which alternative reality do you inhabit?! https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

Sal Paradise wrote:the only people deemed as critical were employees of the NHS in a clinical position - not many of them really so it is no surprise that very few in your school attended? Just not true. Which alternative reality do you inhabit?! https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision