I swear, I heard something about how Prince George and Princess Charlotte’s school – Thomas’s Battersea – had already closed down because of coronavirus and isolation and all, but I guess it didn’t happen last week or even this week. The UK is behind with their closing and cancellations, right? Because almost all schools (public, private, colleges) have suspended classes and are now offering online courses. But according to People Magazine, Thomas’s Battersea won’t be halfway closing their classes until next week. Which means Charlotte and George are going to be homeschooled, probably for the rest of the school year.
Prince George and Princess Charlotte are set to continue their lessons at home after their school asked parents to remove their children amid the coronavirus pandemic. The royal children will now move to “remote learning” and continue their lessons using online sources next week, their school said in a statement on Wednesday.
Charlotte, 4, joined George, 6, at Thomas’s Battersea, last September, proudly entering with mom Kate Middleton and dad Prince William. With the semester set to have ended on March 26, they are only missing four days of class — and some of the other kids will still attend if their parents aren’t able to look after them during the day. A spokesperson for Thomas’s London Day Schools said, “Due to the increasing numbers of children and staff being absent from school due to the Coronavirus situation, Thomas’s London Day Schools have decided to move to remote learning from Friday 20 March.”
“From this date the curriculum will be taught through online learning platforms and we have asked parents to keep their children at home and to access their lessons through this system,” the statement continued. “This will ensure that children have continuity of learning when they are unable to attend school. In cases where families are not in a position to keep their children at home (such as those who are ‘front line staff’ in the medical profession, for example), the school will remain physically open until the last day of term, Thursday, 26 March. We appreciate the support of our school community as we continue to provide the best possible solution for our pupils during these challenging times.”
That’s interesting that kids who won’t have parents at home will still be able to physically go to the school and be looked after and, presumably, taught. And the rest of the kids will be homeschooled by their parents or nannies. I don’t think for one minute that Kate will be homeschooling her kids. She’ll be too busy designing a button-covered log for a keen coronavirus charity. But Carole Middleton and Nanny Maria will definitely take care of it, right? Also: up until Prince Charles, most royal kids were “home-schooled” or privately tutored in a palace. This is not a new thing for royal kids, it’s actually a – gasp!! – Victorian/Edwardian throwback to how royal children were raised and educated. Kate probably loves that.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, WENN, Avalon Red.
yeah, homeschooling for George and Charlotte is going to look very different than homeschooling for my 7 year old, which right now consists of lots of workbooks that I found on Amazon.
Becks, exactly this.
My heart aches for all the working moms and dads that have to figure out how to cope with day cares closing while still needing to work – now add that there is no work. Like I said, my heart aches for them. Home schooling for the royal kiddos, that’s how it’s been for eons.
For all of their faults (and we KNOW just how many there are!) one thing I don’t doubt is that they love their kids, and want to keep them safe and healthy. Like any parent, they probably *are* scared of any contagion coming into their home (albeit one that is MUCH larger than ours!).
Will they have it easier than the 99.9%? Of course! Do they worry about making the mortgage, getting supplies, etc? Of course not! But that doesn’t make them bad parents. That’s pretty much the ONLY thing I give them high marks/credit for.
And please do NOT say it’s “all due to Nanny Maria, or Carole”. Those kids are VERY comfortable/attached to their parents, esp. to Kate. Children won’t be this way without interaction and feeling loved.
So very well said, thank you.
NO ONE is saying they’re bad parents. this will be easier for them than for others. Nowhere did I say they’re bad parents.
Lord, I just thought of something. The Christian Right sales-hucksters will probably use this as an opportunity to ramp up sales on those homeschooling toolkits & propaganda drivel they use.
Hopefully they wont get a corner on the market. Most school districts are providing the parents with their curriculum and providing some degree of instruction on line.
The school district where I work has detailed lesson plans online for all the kids. Teachers and admin are available online and by phone for parents. They really are trying to do their best in a horrible situation.
Our district will be providing either online resources or take-home packets starting next week. Even if I did decide to homeschool (again, we did it for two years), I’d be avoiding all the right-wing propaganda curricula with a 10-foot pole.
Good! Thanks. Hope all districts will be able to do this.
Becks1, try some virtual tours of science, discovery, art museums, Discovery Kid’s online has lots of fun learning,also NATL Geo for kids and I’ve found a ton more sources from twitter. Don’t forget our national treasure Bill Nye. Hope that helps.
PS. Yesterday Amy McGrath tweeted,
Homeschooling report from my husband today:
2 students suspended for fighting
I “teacher” seriously in need of classroom aide.
We’ve been doing a lot of the online stuff through the school, he loves discovery education, but I’m going to need to work in some virtual tours and such since this is supposed to last beyond the two weeks.
Bill Nye’s shows on Netflix are great. We’ve already gone through all of the episodes, but will likely revisit some while the kids are home.
My school district is doing a fabulous job with remote learning. Our district uses Google Classroom and all the work is listed on there. They also have a ton of resources to use.
Absolutely right! Nanny will look after all that or maybe personal tutor, and of course their education is top quality.
@OG Jan I completely agree. There is plenty to drag Will and Kate on, but love for their children isn’t one. Especially Kate who is obviously very bonded to them. Homeschooling education can be anything from reading a book or baking a pie. You can make anything educational and why wouldn’t Kate want to do that with her kids? And no matter how Privileged a child is this is such a Departure from their normal routine. Even if they live in a mansion like Amner they don’t get to go to school or see their teachers. They will need their parents to guide them.
Lil Louis will probably be thinking “what in the hell are they doing here; this is my time and my TV shows.”
They’re not all in the one room, Chelle.
😂😂😂😂😂
If you want to laugh ‘til you cry, @ShannonDingle on Twitter started a thread for people WFH with children (and pets), asking for reports on how it’s going with “co-workers” (kids) or “secretaries” (pets). OMG
And, yes, I’m sure Kate loves modeling the royal throwback of tutors for George (FFFK) and Charlotte at the palace (or Anmer, let’s be real).
“My coworker just argued with me about how he didn’t lie about changing his underwear and brushing his teeth.”
I love the responses in the thread … “this is clearly a matter for HR”
They’ll do fine, and I’m sure that the Cambridges have at least considered that if the shutdown goes longer bringing in private tutors to do the homeschooling.
It’s sad for all the kids missing school, but I don’t think there’s any doubt this is the right decision and George and Charlotte will do fine.
Long time reader, fist time commenter 🙂
Here in Switzerland all schools, restaurants, shops (except for food and pharmacies) etc. are closed, but daycare remains open as well because of parents who work “on the frontline”. I’m lucky my husband is a teacher and while there is a lot of “home office” work for him now, he can take care of our kids while I work at the hospital. Usually the grandparents look after them when we’re both at work but this is obviously no longer possible. Not everybody has neighbours with kids who are able/willing to babysit.
My husband is also a teacher and teaches at my kids’ school. So I am counting my lucky stars that he is able to be home with them while I remain at work. I work at a hospital (away from patients), so I am also counting my blessings that I still have a job.
Stay safe, Fluppi.
Just reading all of your posts and wanted to say a huge Thankyou to teachers and health care workers everywhere.My daughter is out of school probably until the end of the calendar school year (in Ohio and currently through 4/6/20-but everything points to the school year ending on line).
Best of luck to everyone!
Every other country offer online classes only my country does not bother with that.
I would just like to know who has the financial means to send their children to Thomas Battersea and doesn’t have the financial means to afford to hire help with the children when they’re out of school….
I was wondering this, too. It just makes these people sound cheap and irresponsible.
Plenty of parents prioritise their children’s private education more than anything else because they know what a great education can buy. There are many parents who sacrifice their own needs to send their kids to the best schools. I know for a fact there are many doctors who send their kids to Thomas’ These doctors are on the frontline in Britain and will be run ragged in the coming weeks. Many use out of school childcare which has also been closed. Sorry that you cannot relate but many parents do the best for their kids even if it means they go without. Nothing to do with being cheap but carry on. America seems to be the land of lost souls working the rat race with families having nothing to show for it. Education builds wealth. Enough said.
We are incredibly lucky that we have one child who is old enough to watch the two others while my husband and I go to work. He is a mechanic on search and rescue helicopters and I work for an airline. Neither of us has enough PTO to take time off to be with the kids since we just had the flu go through our house two weeks ago. George and Charlotte will be fine with their tutors during this time. If only all families were so fortunate.
OT: George looks like a spitting image of papa Middleton
Yeah, George takes a lot after his Grandpa Middleton, especially his eyes and nose, and his thick head of hair (which probably he won’t lose like his Dad). His coloring is Spencer though, and he has the Windsor knock-knees. George’s love of dance and his apparent joie de vivre seems to come from Diana. I hope he never loses his cheeky, mischievous, spirited, yet self-contained personality.
I think Charlotte takes a lot after the Windsor side of the family, with a bit of Diana in there too. Louis seems to have mostly Middleton and Spencer traits.
While W&K have seemingly been loving, well-intentioned and caring parents, I think the fact they are giving in so much lately to pap-strolling their kids may not be helpful. But who knows. Perhaps the Cambridge kids will be well-adjusted overall. It’s a dicey task though, growing up in the royal fish bowl.
Their stans (who tend to know more than RRs) were already saying that the kids were ‘thankfully in a break’ when it’s the middle of a school year! Another also added that they were bunckering down in KP when they were spotted shopping in a sainsbury’s store in Norfolk.
One thing for certain is that they will be far away from any danger not hassled with childcare costs!
Their lives will never be as difficult as the common person. I say they should have started last week, so no shade on the precaution..
My partner works in the education sector, in a secondary school to be exact and even though our area is considered ‘wealthy’ they still have children who are classed as vulnerable, those who are under a social service care plan, known abusive households, low income households, so the school will be open for them and for children of key service workers.
As we are just a small family of 3 (me, him & our 3 year old), we hope it will be low risk to us & we will always follow precautions, social distancing, proper hygiene, etc. We also have made the decision not to have any physical contact with his parents who are high risk, (mum in her 60’s with asthma and dad in his 70s with pacemaker & some other existing health conditions).
We are still in shock even though we both knew it was only a matter of time that schools will be shut and social distancing encouraged. It’s very difficult and I feel for those who have lost their jobs or find their income become less, I’ve left my number with my son’s nursery key worker in case she ever needs our help be it with food or anything.