My sons primary school have measured their classrooms...

[DonLewis]

And if social distancing is how schools will be able to open, they can fit 9 children in per classroom.

Reception is 3 form entry and totally open plan.

It's a virtually brand new building, so not like the school I went to, a tiny voctorain thing with portacabins in the playground as dinner huts.

So, how does this work? Most classes have 32+kids in them.

It can't.

I assume they will split the class up and have small groups on different days

I can fit less than that in mine if the 2m rule holds.
When they open schools I reckon they will bring it down to 1m, which is what I've read in some of the WHO recommendations for other social distancing.

Otherwise it will be only some classes in with others still at home, or part classes in on a rota.

Nobody knows and I hope we get centralised direction on this rather than to be told to work it out for ourselves, then coming under fire by comparison to other schools that do it differently to each other or to how people think they should.

In France they're limiting class sizes to 15 to begin with. I wouldn't be surprised if something similar happened here. It's not 2 metres per child, but it's better than sitting right next to someone.

The head teacher union sent a questionnaire. In it they asked if it should be a government mandate or for individual schools to decide. I’m sure this government will choose to pass the buck.

Denmark have opened with 10 to a class, including staff-sounds about right.

I have 12 key worker Childre. From Reception to Year 6 in a large classroom. There is no social distancing. They move around the room to get equipment. I have to get close to them to help them with work or to hear them read. If a child is upset or hurts themselves, I'm not going to stand 2m away.There would be no playtime with social distancing - are the children just going to walk around the playground 2m apart?

We can be as vigilant as possible about hand-washing and cleaning. We can cancel assemblies, eat lunch in the classroom and stagger playtimes and pick-up/drop-off. But we cannot maintain social distancing. Before anyone from the government makes any rules about how schools should operate, they need to actually set foot in one.

Is there any actual science behind the 2m rule?
Is it not 1.5m in Germany?
Physical distancing seems about as backed in science as face coverings are. There are no studies that show either of them makes a difference. Wash your hands.

I really can’t see social distancing in the younger years. It’s instinct to be together, they play next to each other without thinking. In reception it’s not learning by being sat at individual tables. It would be so alien to everything they know. To constantly be told they can’t would cause more damage than being at home.

Outdoor classes ?

My classroom would fit similar. High school. About 150 kids use that room throughout the day on a normal day. No idea how we will get 1200 pupils to social distance - let alone get them in to school on public transport

You cant pass in the corridor at 2m , or all line up for lunch (queues like behind asda snaking imto the carpark).

It isnt possible to socially distance in school, as those looking after just a handful of key workers are telling us. So iether well pretend social distincing isnt important or we'll just go ahead with the risks there are .

Its frightening.

Wash your hands is easy to say but difficult to do in a large comprehensive. We have 2 toilet blocks (5 sinks) for 600 pupils and one staff sink covers around 50 staff.

Best idea? Stop classes mixing with each. Create a 'social bubble' of 10/15 children in reduced classes you know the children are mixing with. Not perfect, but it reduces likelihood of transmission.

We have to play the long game, whether the children go back in June or September. Not just say it won't work.

Here is France classes are limited to 15 pupils who will not be allowed to mix with other classes at breaks. The schools are asking us if we will send DC into school and I imagine some parents will keep their children at home anyway. As it stands my DCs are due to return to school for 2 days a week.

There was an article yesterday about the 2m rule being arbitrary and the government having a rethink. In preparation for relaxing this probably. We are all being managed all of the time.

They have 90 reception kids in one room usually? Surely that’s completely unworkable?

Mummy, that and the "children dont spread it so much." In spite of it being obvious a sneeze spreads more than a metre and children touch everything...

We can’t social distance children, especially young ones who don’t really understand enough to go against their instincts of just playing with their friends.

We’ve had up to ten children a day at the nursery and I think it’s the fact we have the same limited number of children that is keeping us reasonably safe. They have all seemed healthier than usual so far! No colds or snotty noses to wipe for weeks. We don’t let parents into the building, everyone washes hands on arrival and frequently through the day. We have the same limited staff in and they are all following lockdown rules outside of the workplace.

If schools go back we are going to have to accept that social distancing is impossible and find other ways to make it safe.

It can't work. When schools go back fully social distancing ends.

Our largest classrooms can fit 8 children in with the current social distancing guidelines, which it the case for our emergency childcare right now.

my dc school goes back next week.
they split the class in 2 and teach them on 2 days a week.
they don't expect the dc to social distance, though they have devised a one way system in corridors and on stairs. teacher is behind a screen.

(not in UK)

I think the change in the governments thinking of 2m is to get us ready for the changes and to make is suddenly now okay to be closer. Because without the reduction in closeness nothing can really happen.

Interestingly my neighbour who would in this area of medical science has always felt that 2m was actually still too close, but that it would have been impossible to make it much more and still allow places to be open at all.

Before we closed washing hands took up an increasing proportion of our school day! 30 children, 20 second each time minimum, 5 tines a day.

Teacher behind a screen
How do I really teach infant classes from behind a protection screen?

I work in a high school of 1000 kids and we have a 2 week timetable so lessons are different depending on whether it's week A or B. Our corridors are not 2m wide and most of our kids come by public transport. Social distancing is utterly impossible and only having kids in on certain days would be a logistical nightmare.

Is it just me who finds it disturbing that those running educational establishments don’t have the sense they were born with?

Clearly the plan is not to socially distance in classes. For the simple logical reason it is not feasible for the overwhelming majority of schools.

There focus should be on understanding the risk that children pose, which could indeed be very very limited, and how to protect teachers, Ie the feasibility of Ppe and how teachers manage children, if they need to distance where possible.

In addition how to run classes smoothly depending on how many teachers in the school are shielded, and the same with TAs.

Measuring classses is batshit.