Year R and Year 1 back to school

[Justajot]

I know there aren't any details. But if you are a year R or year 1 parent, will you be sending them back?

YANBU - Yes, sending back
YABU - No, staying at home

I have a child in year 6. I need more information before I can make a decision.

Yes for their mental health.

But also because we’ve had it so I’m probably not the one to ask!

Undecided. It depends on the rules they will have to obey and whether they have prioritised the mental welfare of the children over academics (eg allowing plenty of play initially) and considered the impact of any new rules on the children

Also to add, for early years it's not just about disadvantaged families.

I live in an affluent area and our school recently sent out a newsletter saying that many younger pupils have been regressing with toileting accidents, tantrums, communication and eating.

Some families and children are fine. Please be sympathetic that many children aren't so lucky and that schools are fundamentally important to the welfare of so many.

You will get different answers depending on where people live so here in Cornwall it appears to be safer here at the moment. Should that continue then people are more likely to send their dcs to school. We're 3 weeks away yet though Yes alot can change in 3 weeks, it could be much worse than now or figures could continue to go down and it be really low. It is a guessing game really.

A friend's school have already been told that all staff need to be in school Monday to Friday from June 1st if this goes ahead. It's a large school, three form entry, so potentially could have 300 chn in this include key workers' kids. That's a lot of children, a lot of parents and a staff of around 80

I can't vote as on the app but yes, mine will go back as soon as she can.

Do you think the other primary years will be back before the summer? Hard to see how they can distance if the whole school is in

Yes. 100% yes. My 5yo desperately needs to go back. I am not a teacher and really struggling with teaching her. She has greatly regressed since being home and I'm afraid I'm letting her down and what the long term implications for her education. I think they have done too good a job with the message that if they miss a week in reception for a family holiday they education will be damaged. The reality is your five year will catch up, one of mine had to have surgery when he was in reception, a year later he had another operation in year 1. He passed his 11plus, got a degree, has a good job. Try not to worry, although we are all worrying now aren't we. Have you had a look at some of the educational stuff on TV and online, they can learn lots that way and through play.

I'll be sending my year 1 back. DH and I are currently both working roughly half time and swapping over kid duty at lunchtime, but DH will have more and more work over the next few weeks and will also have to go out to work some days. I find it almost impossible to get any work done when I am in charge of kids unless they are both on screens. However if the younger one goes to school at least some of the time, the older one can get on with his work on google classroom fairly independently and I can get my work done. Plus my yr 1 child is really missing school and needs the input from his teacher, plus he thrives on the structure and routine. I know it will be different but I trust our school to make it work for them.

Please be sympathetic that many children aren't so lucky and that schools are fundamentally important to the welfare of so many.

These children obviously need consistent routine, safe boundaries and warm relationships. They are going to get a terrible shock when are they have to walk across the playground without mum and come into a class and sit at a desk. No hugs, no playing. That is the reality of social distancing.

I haven't a clue how we will change children who have had an accident. It may be that we must phone home.

Articles about reopened school (e.g. Shanghai, Denmark) have the children eating at 2m distances, bringing pack lunches or having one choice of meal. Not great for picky children.

They may not be in the same group as their friend. They may not have their regular teacher. They will not be able to play with their friends or hug their teacher.

The best, most supportive thing for the majority of children will NOT be to confuse them with cold, hurtful social distancing practices, but to wait until Sept, when cases are lower and testing and tracking is in place. Then we wouldn't need to be as drastic.

Do you think the other primary years will be back before the summer?
No, I don't actually.
And I don't think people should be assuming that every Rec/Yr 1 and Yr 6 child will be either. No one knows what this will look like, but it's unlikely to be everyone in everyday until the holidays.

Some issues with separating Year R, 1 and 6 between all the school classrooms:

*Only about enough classrooms to separate in half, say 15 each room, which doesn't give enough space for social distancing.
*KS2 classrooms will be largely unsuitable for EYFS pupils, so lots of moving tables and chairs, plus trying to share out the EYFS equipment.
*Each classroom in use requires a teacher. That means remote learning/contact cannot really be provided as the teachers will be in class all day.
*Separating out may reduce the impact on the R value, but as soon as other year groups return the classes will have to come back together and there's the possibility of the R value rising again quickly.

Nope. Definitely not. I will not allow my child(ren) to be used as test dummies.

This was my exact thought. Not a bloody chance is DD4 going back any time soon.

It's all well and good saying that they'll be sat at desks 2 metres apart (even though Reception children hardly ever sit at desks anyway) but how the hell are they going to enforce social distancing at play time? Is the teacher going to stay 2 metres away from the children at all times? What about help with cutting up food at lunch, help with writing, help with getting coats on and off? It's nonsensical.

I do wonder if those who say 'my child isn't going at any cost' even stop to consider the children of NHS and other essential workers who have had no choice but to send their child to school?

If those parents had adopted the same attitude, who'd be caring for the victims of this virus and any other serious illness? How would they get their food if retail and delivery workers decided their children must stay at home?

Finally, another poster who ‘gets it’ @MossWalk

Fair enough if kids were walking into school like normal, but they won’t.

They’ll be so excited to see their friends and continue as they were before lockdown, but no. That’s not the reality and will further damage them. For what?
5-6 weeks of education before summer holiday? No thanks.

@Gran22 - you can’t compare this. Many of us don’t need our children to go back to school.

Key worker staff need childcare to do their job. Doing their job comes with risk, like what school comes with.
They don’t get paid if they don’t go to work.

@PurpleDaisies That’s why I think those children will be on a rota! If the plan is to bring in the other years over the term too then the teachers and classrooms will need to be available for them too, they can’t possibly be suggesting full classes of every year group by the end of term!

Nhs staff are risking themselves for us.
If we can limit numbers of children in classrooms when there isn’t a primary need for childcare, I think that’s great. No?

Especially when second wave is expected and hasn’t even started yet.

I can’t believe people are willing to send their dc to school. More people are dying & infected with the virus now than when lockdown began. I know it’s not ideal to wait for a vaccine but at least wait for the virus to come down-right down.

Absolutely not

Thank you @MossWalk. I'd already decided I wasn't sending year 1 DS back and you've cemented the decision for me. He's autistic and likes everything to be how he expects it to be, he's very much a "my terms or no terms" personality! Usually he manages fairly well in school but I think sending him into a school that is that is both familiar (usually buildings, etc) and also utterly alien (the school day you've described) will be awful for him and I can't put him through it.

Eyfs Teacher here. I completely understand about the need for parents to get back to work but, I haven’t a clue how we are actually going to do the this.

Apart from a few adult led activities reception children are learning through play and exploration of the many areas you’d typically find in an eyfs classroom: mark marking, water play, wet sand, dry sand, malleable, role play, deconstructed role play, craft, paint, reading, investigation, rolling snack, construction, small world, maths... then there is the outdoor provision and the numerous areas of provision there.

Even if by some miracle we manage to keep the children apart how on Earth are we going to keep everything clean between uses?

Maybe he invisages them all day at separate tables with a tray of resources to last them the day. Out of my class of 30 children I can think of two who might manage it (but even they would be miserable after a couple of hours). surely it would be better all around to focus on the older children. I am presuming people would still need childcare for 8-10 year olds.

I had to change a key worker’s child who’d wet themselves. Was told to wear gloves and put them into separate bag. Similarly when someone had a nose bleed the first wider said she had no ppe equipment and chucked over some gloves and said put them in the yellow bag to a fellow teacher.
Things like this need to be thought through as It’s hard to hear stay 2m away but change someone (obviously they needed to be I don’t want people thinking I’m being horrible) just practicalities of what’s not in place at the moment.

I have seen our (primary) schools plan for a return to school and it does not include trying to get the kids to social distance. It is sensible measures for the staff to follow eg distance from other adults, staff meetings etc, and then for the kids, hand washing, and things like staggering break and lunchtimes, start and finish times, assemblies, reducing congestion in the loos.... not trying to keep kids 2m apart from each other.