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.

@Biscuit0110 so no, it isn't that simple. And what pupils do when timetabled does those lessons if they've opted for dance, drama or PE GCSE ? And marquees ? We'd need whiteboards and internet access. I need access to google drive. I have several SEN kids who work on laptops.

I am just glad the conversation has moved on to how we open now, and we are not having the relentless threads about schools not reopening before September or even beyond.

At least we are now thinking of how it can be done, and for the sake of our pupils we really need to do what we can to be positive about the changes even if logistically it has been difficult, our pupils have been through more than enough already as it is.

I work in a hospital so have been coming to work throughout the pandemic.

I work in an office and we have space...but...when walking around the hospital, you can't see around corners to see who is coming and stairs are not 2m wide. Social distancing at 2m is not possible.

I have yet to find out what the evidence is for 2m but haven't read the whole thread so maybe it has been posted.

zap but that is only a few year groups! Not the whole school. I am sure we can work with it, if we want to and there lies the rub. Many simply would rather not bother, and it is totally unfair to the children!

I think the social bubble is a reasonable idea, split the class in two, so 15ish in each 'half.' Do your best to socially distance these 15 as much as you can, i.e. set them up on different desks, they eat their lunch at that desk too, but appreciate that it's not going to be perfect and they are going to mix. Half in the morning and half in the afternoon.

Parents drop off and pick up, maybe at staggered intervals, wearing masks. Perhaps the school day could be ever so slightly longer, maybe until 4pm to allow for the staggered starts?

Any which way, it's going to be a complete pain for everybody, and go on for a long while yet. I can't believe that September is going to be some sort of panacea when everything is magically fine.

This is just for primary, I can't even begin to think how secondary would work with different groups for different subjects, rotating teachers etc - total nightmare!

In my school that's 3 year groups out of 5 as we do 3 year GCSE. So those large spaces are already being used for a considerable chunk of the timetable. What about when 7 & 8 are supposed to have those subjects, what do we do with them, who teaches them ? And how do you propose teaching in a large space ? More than one class in at a time ? It's not that easy.

In Germany final exam years have gone back first (so GCSE and A level equivalents, our exams aren't cancelled), then on 11 May the year below the exam years plus last year of primary, but it hasn't been confirmed how they will go back - probably on a reduced timetable of 3 lessons spread out between classrooms with all teachers covering, which will be possible because of 3/4 of the school population will still be at home.

I can't imagine how sending whole schools back at once is a good idea.

Sounds like from listening to the news this morning they will change it to 1m for everyone.

And we're not saying you can't do it', we're saying it not as straight forward as people think

Again half the class in and those 15 won't mix with anyone else in school wouldn't really work. If you have multiple kids then those are mixing with 15 from their class. So for my 3 kids that's 45 kids my kids would mix it. If that makes sense. Plus if mine are in split days or mornings and afternoon . It would mean all of us on public transport 4 times a day. I know many in that position . Unless the school don't stop the school bus and it just runs multiple times a day. That would also mean my kids mixing on the school bus with kids out of their bubble. Widening the pool again.

Just to clarify the reception thing.

The EYFS space is actually massive. More like a block of three or four classrooms, and it's totally free flow. There are separate class 'areas' within the open space, but they are only used as separate class areas towards the end of the year to prepare the children for the transition to Y1 where they go into regular sized classrooms. It's difficult to describe. In normal times it's really lovely. (I volunteer in reception and see how lovely it is).

The measuring was for the regular sized classrooms, which is Y1 to Y6.

We're fortunate in that I'm between jobs, due to start my new job in September so if my ds is back to school one day a week or whatever, we can manage that.

My eldest is in Y10 in a big school where most kids travel by bus there. I have no idea what their thoughts are re social distancing if that's the requirement.

I don't think that it's school staff being daft about this. If the requirement is that schools can go back but only if SD measures are implemented, of course it starts with measuring space and looking at numbers, doesn't it?

Interesting to chat about all this.

It's also how we provide the online contents etc sufficiently for those at home as well as teaching in the classroom.

Will we have enough gel/gloves? Can we instigate a one way system as corridors are under 2m wide. Our canteen is tiny. How do we distance the staff serving and taking payments in there?

And transport....85% of ours come by bus. Will they run? Can they be distanced on there for the driver's sake?

Rather than extending the day to 4pm, they should make the morning shorter and bring lunchtime forward, so 9.00 to 11.30 and 12.30 to 3 (or similar)

@GuyFawkesDay our school is exactly the same . We have 6 school buses. All the drivers except one are retired . Who is going to drive the buses if all the drivers have to shield .

The UK was not built on a can't do won't do attitude, it was built on backbone and solutions. I am shocked reading some of the posts on here, if I didn't know better I would think some of us don't want to return even knowing the damage this is doing to the children.

peppa You do know that most of the drivers are at the supermarkets each week doing their shop! What is the difference!

You speak about children as if they are lepers, and yet adults are magically sanitised. It has already been shown that children are not super spreaders, and if they are catching the bus are likely to be heading towards adulthood anyway and would under the concept of social distancing!

One can only hope we have limited parents reading this thread, with so few positive helpful comments.

Strict hand washing?

There’s over 2000 people in my secondary. Only science, dt and art have sinks. There’s not enough toilets as it is. How can 2000 people wash their hands all the time? With about 17 sinks?

Lunch only for fsm pupils (although stigma then an issue) and shorter day for the others.

Ours are looking likely only to do core subjects until the summer, although the school system and exams are different and each block of secondary school children have an extra core subject according to the direction they've chosen (for my eldest core subjects are German, maths, English, French, for dc2 core subjects are German, maths, English, physics) etc. The thinking is that non core subjects will continue to be done at home and they'll only be in school for 3 lessons per day.

Transport is a big question due to huge rural catchment almost 45km across.

It has already been shown that children are not super spreaders,
No, it hasn't been "shown." It was "suggested." No one really knows.

And for the record, most children haven't been off even for the normal length of the usual summer holiday yet.

Who's catastrophising?

Biscuit0110 the difference is viral load. That's why people are encouraged to go to the supermarket once per week not daily.

Being in Scotland, we are just assuming it will be August we go back. That would give our hugely over subscribed primary time to maybe put porta cabins in the playground 🤷‍♀️. We have 3 classes of each year from p2-p5, 2 each for p6 & p7, with 4 or 5 classes of p1 due to start after the summer, along with around about 70+ nursery children AM & the same again PM. Not a hope in hell will our school be able to social distance & allow all the children back other than to make it along the lines of 1 or 2 days per week per year. Not an easy task for anyone to sort this out, a lot of people will struggle to work if their children arent in school, after school clubs cant operate nor breakfast club etc.

@Biscuit0110 if you can't see the difference between being in a supermarket where 2 m distancing is possible as they limit the amount of people in the shop. To being stuck on a coach with 40 children for over 30 minutes. Big difference passing by someone in the supermarket at 2m for a few seconds to the lather.

I just think that for those children who have a parent at home who can spend the time teaching them, have siblings to mix with, extended family etc. they would be better off at home away from the risk of the virus. It would also lessen the number of children who needed to be at school.

you can forget the 2m rule in school, that ain't happening, and neither would it make a jot of difference anyway.

schools going back = increased community transmission.

People need to stop believing that because the above statement is true, that means schools will not go back.

The question is the degree to which the local and national "R rate" will increase if open the schools, with (or without) additional mitigation measures in place. Nobody has suggested any which will provide any effective mitigation in my opinion. But I think something will be implemented in attempt to manage public reaction.

The objective is not to eliminate community transmission. We're not going to get rid of this virus. That's been stated many times. The objective is to protect the capacity of the NHS. That can likely continue to be achieved.

This would also allow at risk staff to stay at home and set work for the children learning from home.