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.

There are also children(many) for whom going to school presents severe MH issues . And for whom returning at present will cause huge anxiety. MH is not black and white.

On the subject of measuring which bluntness was so dismissive about: it is actually the DfE who asks schools to measure floorspace annually to calculate PAN. Usually with the end result of squeezing in a ridiculous number of pupils.

9 children a day and teach the same day 5 times over so they all get exactly the same education.

The kids are on holiday for a Chuck if the next few months. It just makes NO SENSE to send them back before the summer holidays!

I disagree. The summer holidays is an ideal break. 6 weeks summer half term of ironing out the issues, working out what's needed and how they will make the next academic year and monitoring the R value. Then a natural 6 week break to monitor again and get things in place for September. If everyone returns cold in September they run the risk of a winter second peak which they will never do. Also means kids at home for 6 months in total which they won't do - they can't justify kids being allowed to go out on day trips and play dates over summer if it isn't safe to be at school.

The government will throw money at schools to get them open. Things have been happening in my hospital that would never have happened without covid. The volume of money suddenly unlocked is phenomenal.

And I agree that 2 metres is too close if someone coughs or sneezes.

They sneeze in your face, wipe their noses with their hands and touch everything. They are all over each other and regularly (and unsurprisingly) come down with all sorts

You’ve just described children at secondary school there

Ok maybe less snotty...but not much

That would give our hugely over subscribed primary time to maybe put porta cabins in the playground

That's not going to work. Yes, if a dozen, or even a hundred, schools needed a couple of portacabins then that could be done.

There isn't going to be enough portacabin classrooms to put several in every single school playground in the country

we are strongly advised to keep dc at home if they have any cold symptoms or a fever.

if everyone keeps to that rule, there won't be much sneezing in school.

"The government will throw money at schools to get them open"

😂 yeah, course they will. The government that are counting individual gloves in their "stockpile"

The government will throw money at schools to get them open

That is by far the funniest thing I have read on MN in a long long time.

Biscuit0110
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.

Ah yes the old emotional blackmail angle.
You can fuck right off with that.

HT of the teens school has said they are looking into the feasability of a massive timetable rejig so that instead of moving around the building after every lesson the kids have double lessons in subjects to limit movement.

She also has said that in her opinion a morning and afternoon split of the kids won't work for cleaning and transport reasons. She thinks it would have to be a week on/week off or two days one week, three the next split. With a childcare set up being needed for the key worker kids (though it's a high school so they only have a couple - though the building is being used as a hub) for the whole week.

She said she also thinks that non-core subjects may not be possible for pupils outwith the exam years. So art, drama, PE, HE and the likes could be extremely limited.

Someone else asked if it could be the case that the current online teaching continues with half the kids doing it in school with teacher assistance and half at home. That seems to be the worst of all the options though, at some point the kids and teachers need to be able to interact and learn properly.

Careful there, Fripp!
"You clearly are indifferent to the terrible suffering these kids have been through. Surely the wrong profession for someone so uncaring."

CallmeAngelina

As I said emotional blackmail.

I am happy to discuss and debate points, but anything built on emotional blackmail isn't worth anymore of my time than that.

9 children a day and teach the same day 5 times over so they all get exactly the same education

So how is that going to be ANY use to anyone?

The kids would learn more at home
Parents still won't be able to work
School staff at risk.

For those so disappointed to be going back so soon, it might be worth considering that a second wave is pretty inevitable without a vaccine, so no doubt we will be locked down again as we move in the autumn/winter, which is precisely why we must give the children every chance of going back now whilst we still can.
The strain on hospitals in the winter will bring a whole new set of very difficult problems to come, and if the economy completely dies in the meantime we simply won't have the resources to deal with it.

Lets get the schools open, the economy moving, and the children back on an even keel. Then we will be in a better place to respond to the next spike.

@Biscuit0110 We ALL know you want to go back to work.

Irrespective of how safe it is for others

@redtickreturn So ironing out the issues and monitoring the R value is basically experimenting.
And any deaths are collateral damage.
This may be helpful to the government, it is not in the best interests of my family.

Biscuit0110
For those so disappointed to be going back so soon,

Another dig. which is a shame as some of the points you make are quite good but are lost in you digs at other posters.

biscuit Er I work in a village school, and yes I can not wait to go back! We aren't going to reach a moment where it is 100% safe, it just isn't possible, so along with the rest of Europe we will need to gradually and carefully reopen.

@Biscuit0110 Yes a second wave is inevitable if kids go back to school and everyone goes back to work, I agree with you.
And those people who die would have been unlikely to die if we waited until a vaccine is available this year, or even if we did proper testing and contact tracing.

Good grief, somebody's being a bit overly sanctimonious and judgmental. Hope you're not taking it to heart callme.

It does not matter what we think in reality, the government will either deem it safe enough to open slowly, guided by the latest stats and SAGE advice or it will decide to keep schools closed, and in doing so much of the economy and the fallout to the children themselves.

The smaller issues and nuances on this thread will be largely irrelevant, and solutions will be found no doubt. It is easy to throw up problems big and small, but really we WILL have to find a way whether that will is in June or September.

Of course an issue with a vaccine (if available) is that there have been a number of threads on here where people have said that they won’t allow their children (or themselves) to be guinea pigs for a rushed out vaccine... they believe that would be reckless.

@Biscuit0110 So do you work in a village with few infections where the chances of you dying are tiny?
Most of us are in cities with large schools, some of us are even BME with a higher risk of dying.
So privileged people at low risk tells people at much higher risk to ignore risks.

What works in a village school is not going to work in a large comp with a 1000 + kids and a wide catchment area that requires public transport.