Do you think any other years will be back at primary before the holidays?

[Florabella]

I know the Government originally said that they wanted to get all primary children back to school in England for a month before holidays, but with yrs R, 1 and 6 using most of the available space, is that really likely to happen now? And if any other years do go back, who do you think might be next?

I hope so but can see why it’s unlikely. I guess in our school (who has opened to all the year groups Specified so far) it could potentially open up to other Yr groups depending on numbers. Eg if only 40-50% of parents are going to send them in, they may have enough room (big new building, v few staff unable to come in). But in general, I can’t see it sadly

Not for all schools. Nursery, R, Y1 and Y6 aren't back for another week and there are no plans to accept other years.

My own children are secondary aged and schools are working on part-time for September.

Not for our schools.

Government will say that by September, there is no need for children to socially distance, R levels are unimportant and the pandemic didn't happen.

All schools will need to function normally again.

Typo - the teacers' children would be eligible for a KW place at their own schools. The teachers also can't choose not to go on even if they do like wfh. The guidance is clear that if a teacher isn't clinically extremely vulnerable or clinically vulnerable, or living with some extremely vulnerable, then they are expected to be at work. In fact some of the latter two groups can be asked to go in but only if the school can guaranteed strict social distancing is in place. It's not an individual teacher's decision as to whether they want to return or not. If they are not in one of the above three groups they should be sake to return.

I would like to say yes as my son is yr2 and moving to a junior school in September and so far zero transitioning which has been deemed so important for yr 6 (I agree it is important I had a yr 6 last yr). However, very unlikely I feel since a lot of schools aren't even able to fit in the current three priority years. Our two local schools are taking the priority years but because they are an infant school and a junior school the split means potentially one school has up to 66% back whereas the other is only up to 25% without the keyword we children which obviously must remain a priority.

I live in an area where we have a three tier school system, DD is in year 4 and will be moving to middle school in September. Her class mates are going to at least three different schools. The school have brought the younger ones back in while managing the space to mean they can get the year 4s back as well but as it stands they are not allowed. It is very frustrating as my DD would benefit greatly from a few weeks back at her school.

Our school are starting next week with those years going back (with start back staggered over a few weeks). The rest have been told they won't be back until September. Makes me so sad because children are really not a risk in this pandemic, and they are missing out so much on friends and normal interaction with their peers.

I don't think so. Our school is taking YR this week, Y1 added next week, Y 6 mid June, then they are out of space and teachers. We have a couple of shielding teachers now overseeing work for Y2-5 (180 children) so the quantity and quality of feedback has gone way down. They are saying once the government says they have to take the other years they will drop to 2 days a week per pupil. I'm so done with trying to homeschool, and so depressed that it looks likely to carry on longterm. I think 'the system' is massively failing these children. I'm not really cross with school as they are doing their best but I don't think sending out a few links and worksheets is a substitute for being educated by a trained teacher.

I also agree with the points made up thread that the Government are likely to just decide it's no longer necessary to have any measures in place irrespective of what is happening with the virus. Look how they have opened things up and let out the shielded whilst we are still on level 4!

Our school is full and all hands on deck to accommodate yN, yR, y1, y6 and KW. There is no building or staff capacity to accommodate any other groups under current guidence.

I could tolerate a return to part time, but working parents would find it problematic and the government guidence is not supporting it.

I woul love my y2 and y4 to go back. They don't have the skills to manage home working (y4 has SENs). The longer my y4 is excluded from large parts of society, the higher the risk that he will struggle with sensory and social input of the world. He's always masked quietly through school until now...although in silver linings, maybe school would finally see beyond his masking and take his autism diagnosis seriously...

No. Dds school have only taken half of year R, 1 and 6 because they can’t fit more in. The only way the whole school could go back is by reverting back to classes of 30, at which point social distancing becomes pointless. Not to mention the number of school staff who are absent due to shielding etc.

Our school wrote a letter saying they hope all children will be able to see their teacher face to face before the end of term. They didnt specify whether this would be within regular lessons, or a one off meeting (I presume they might still be working it our themselves) but DS teacher is shielding anyway so I doubt he'll see her outside of zoom.

Our school is taking Y8 back from next week. They’re not taking Y6 at all (and there are no YR or Y1s). This is because it’s the Y8s not Y6 that are transitioning and that was supposedly the reason for the year group choice. They had a parent consultation and pretty much everyone agreed that Y8 should be the group that were prioritized.

They’re struggling to accommodate key worker children and Y8 as it is, so it seems unlikely that anyone else will be going back before September. It’d be better to use the time to (try to) plan so that schools can function for everyone in September.

No I don't think other years will go back before September. Yet another example of bad communication by the government, getting peoples hopes up all primary years will be back for a month before summer holidays. I literally think someone has had to take Bojo and co aside to explain that schools don't have the space!

I assume all kids will be back in September in groups of 30, they have no other option to get all years back.

The only way that can happen, is if they ditch social distancing really. There's no building programme or recruitment programme to enable schools to offer half - size classes with double the number of classrooms going on! Our school is tiny with no real communal or shared spaces ie no library, no dinner hall. The assembly hall already gets used for all those things and is not big enough to start with. They've needed new building for years but no one is offering, even now. There's limited loos with a handful of sinks for the whole school. The only way they can have all year groups back is to accept that there are minimal infection control measures they can take.

In many ways I would prefer school to go back to normal (if the ideal of new shared spaces and classrooms and toilets is just fantasy) over trying to continue social distancing. My children would like to go back, and I wouldn't want them to go back to the weird set up that's currently proposed. I can't believe what schools/children are being asked to do and I'm not keen for my dc to spend hours in the same seat in the same room including eating there, when at home they're active and free to play.

Well that's all very depressing! Our school haven't said anything yet, but I was still desperately hoping my yr5 would get a little bit of time back.

I haven't seen any talk of allowing classes back part time (including switching R, 1 and 6 to part time). This seems like a fairer solution for all children, but maybe too much cleaning involved.

I suspect the government never intended any other years to go back, but don't want to announce it until closer to the summer holidays

It’s inevitable that the uk government will just ditch social distancing etc. You can see this already in the ‘make stuff up as you go along but keep referring to vague models/plans with stages and levels to pretend that you’re not just flying by the seat of your pants’ policy making we’ve got going on.

Our school is also tiny (one of those PFI nightmares from early this century). The communal spaces in particular are not big enough. They have to do 4 sittings of lunch on a normal school day, and being on 4th sitting means spending your break queueing and then having about 5 minutes to try to eat something. How exactly are they going to have everyone eat and stay in any way socially distant? And where is this socially distanced queue going to actually be - the corridors are not wide enough or long enough to spread everyone out like that.

The government plan is to get children back ASAP as far as I can tell. Schools must adapt quickly, measures implemented, new risk assessments done/updated, and adhered to. Every time the guidance changes.

If SD measures were taken back to 1m that would allow around two thirds of each class back. And mean rearranging classrooms again. Some children will continue to shield.

But if bubbles became 30 there could be no SD. That thought worries me, but extra hygiene measure will have to remain in place - this will cut into learning time significantly and I don't know if parents are aware how long these things take in class.

9 yr R children take 10 minutes to wash hands, with having the sink cleaned between each use. Toilet breaks take twice as long as the cubicle and sinks need to be cleaned between each use. Handwashing takes place at least six times a day, on arrival, before and after break, before and after lunch, before going home. Plus additional for sneezes, picking noses and coughs.

Toilet breaks are roughly before and after break, and before and after lunch. Plus any additional time a child asks.

My DC want to go back, and it will be great when they can, but I am under no illusions that it will be the same as before.
Nor do I want it to be. We have had a Covid death in the family, MIL. That brings it all rather close to home.

The sage modelling for schools going back looked at the potential impact of all children going back to school. They found that the risk would be considerably lower if the children went back on a rota system- half the class in for one week, half the class in the following week (I don't remember it mentioning if that was the same teacher for both halves or not). The risk of doing this didn't seem to be much higher than of only sending certain year groups back (although the modelling was for years 5 and 6 going back first, which the government clearly ignored).
My hope is that the government will do this as their next step, so that all year groups can go back, but for alternate weeks. They need to send the other year groups back somehow, and everyone in full time from September seems like too much of a jump.

Also primary parents are younger than those with secondary school kids , so less likely to be seriously ill when / if it spreads from these years going back ?

I doubt it. My DC's school opens for yr 1 and 6 next week, but it will only be one day a week for each child. That does not suggest that they will find a way to accommodate any more children within the few remaining weeks of the school year, sadly. I wouldn't have thought there are any schools that can create twice as many classrooms and twice as many staff so that the whole school can be in bubbles.

Not unless the guidelines change. The bottom line is that schools, even the largest ones just don't have enough physical space or staff.

Quite frankly September isn't looking good either. Not without change.

I haven't seen any talk of allowing classes back part time (including switching R, 1 and 6 to part time). This seems like a fairer solution for all children, but maybe too much cleaning involved.

Most schools in our area are doing part time with only the years you mention. In DS school half the class (of r, y1, y6) go in mon/Tues, school closed for deep clean on wed, other half do thurs/fri.

Our school hasn't been able to take back the full amount of children that should have gone back on 1st June. We're not sure yet what will happen in September as they don't have space for everyone if they have to maintain the measures currently in place