Headteacher has posted this to facebook

[NameChangeAgain111]

The headteacher at my DCs school has posted this to Facebook. He says that social distancing is impossible and unless we would be happy to let our DC play in a supermarket for hours to 'not even think about' bringing them to school. I have 2 expected back on June 1st. AIBU to keep them off after this?

m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10222994594279008&id=1403891361

Nice to see someone having a different opinion is now regarded as ridiculous. Personally I think your comment is far more ridiculous. Also I know your in Scotland the same as me so it’s not really any of your business when English kids go back to school is it?

He sounds pretty sensible to me. Trying to be honest and reassure parents while also letting them know the risks. Fair enough. I'd be happy to have that message from a head, and happy that he was prioritising people's health over being 'on message'.

@3cats but you're referring to viruses in general. THIS virus doesnt seem to be spreading because of schools. The evidence is there. Other countries have reopened schools without it causing an explosion in cases.

We need to use the evidence we have. It was ignored at the start of the outbreak and now it's being ignored again.

There is no evidence that opening schools will cause a second wave.

Not yet. Wait 2 or 3 weeks after they open and see how many people are dead. Add them to the stats.

Children being with the same group of children each day is not a high risk situation.
It's not about the kids, it's about the kids household and wh those households have contact with. Is that something people are failing to grasp?
A kid gets it at school, goes home, gives it their parent, that parent gives it to someone they work with who then goes home and gives it to their vulnerable partner.. partner gets seriously ill, dies.
Links in a chain, started at school with children who are the least likely to show symptoms, the hardest to know if they have it or not.

@buffyp is that comment at me? I didnt say having an opinion is ridiculous. I havent said where I live. And I didnt say it was my business. So if your post is aimed at me, it makes no sense at all.

There's also the issue of what to when teachers and other school staff get sick. In the absence of proper testing and fast results, it will be hard to know if they have got coronavirus. In normal circumstances agency cover would be brought in, but again this is bringing somebody new into the environment which again multplies the potential risk. As many have said only a small variety of children have become seriously ill - though nobody wants it to be their child - it's all those (longed for) family reunions with grandpa who asthma and grandma who is diabetic that start looking a bit complicated.

SpanishFly

That is because other countries have gotten the virus under control before reopening schools. In the UK, the virus is absolutely not under control and this particular virus is known to be especially contagious. I can't see how the UK is anywhere near ready to have this conversation yet. It needs to get the numbers down much more first.

Other schools in Europe haven’t been open long enough to gauge whether there’s been an upswing in cases. Can take weeks.

@MonkeyToesOfDoom I completely grasp the chain and the contact scenario. But we cant outrun the virus for months and months with everything at a halt. I'm not suggesting full classrooms go back. And I also believe 1st of june is too soon, but plans need to be made

Austria have just opened to age 14+ and under 14 on 18/5 but only 3 days a week. Their deaths are in hundreds-total.

@3cats I agree! 1st june is way too soon! I think England is being way too premature with all this.

Poster noting the need for ‘strategic’ decisions is right but it is reasonable for devolution of this to schools - give very different local context.
That was me 👋
I agree with you.

My concern is that as we saw on the hundreds of school threads to the effect of 'my child is getting too much work / too little work / live lessons on zoom / material online / paper material / why aren't teachers reinventing already done online resources/ teachers don't want to work / what are they actually doing?! / The private school down the road does...' that whatever schools do is going to be ripped apart by people who haven't a clue what goes into running a school.

Even on this thread there's a dig at the unions for daring to raise issues concerning workplace safety. There's a mad rush to the bottom for some that seems to rest on "person X isn't in a union and is going to work without appropriate PPE and adjustments, don't criticise the government, you should get on with it too". We see it a lot on other threads about work where someone thinks that because workers in sports direct have awful terms and conditions, nobody else should fight for better conditions. Divide and rule over the last 10 years has been working brilliantly.

It's a difficult situation to resolve and heads are best placed to work out a solution for their cohorts and their school sites, but I don't think it's right for people to be getting arsey for those running schools to point out the very real issues. Not that it matters because I guarantee that when schools do open we'll have more threads asking why the School A is doing X when school B is doing Y and countless threads raising the very real problems of having children in multiple years in/out on different days that causes a headache for childcare (probably from the same people who are calling teachers lazy for raising these issues now)

We are going to have to live with covid 19 for a very long time.

Children need an education and to socialise with their friends for their mental health.

The head needs to get on with it.

There’s more risk to children getting to school than from covid. Teachers need to get some perspective

@Notgoingouttoday how on earth is it an oxymoron?

To bleat: speak or complain in a weak, querulous, or foolish way

A diatribe: a forceful and bitter verbal attack against someone or something.

One is a verb, one is a noun.

An oxymoron: a combination of an adjective proceeded by a noun with contrasting meanings

Not an oxymoron.

Back to school for you!

This head has been incredibly irresponsible.
He/she is almost shaming anyone who wants or needs to send their dc into school.
I’d be worried about sending mine into their school....so I suppose they’ve got what they wanted really.

An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction. It doesn't have to be limited to an adjective proceeded by a noun. You said yourself to bleat means to speak weakly and a diatribe is to speak forcefully, so it is an oxymoron.

sadie i didnt find the HT ridiculous at all. and found him sincere. the supermarket was the nearest thing he could compare with.
i found your reaction very b....

@MH1111 agreed. It's worrying that people seem to think lockdown is to avoid all of us catching it. That was never the purpose of it all.

@LolaSmiles work in management capacity in public sector. Very aware of what it takes to run complex organisations. Think leadership needs to be responsive. Don’t think it’s good leadership to just put up barriers. Also think it shows a huge lack of strategic rationale to not see that in the remaining 8 months of this year there will not be a ‘safe’ point where no-one is at risk of catching it. You can read/watch whatever media you choose and pick that up fairly rapidly.

So we need to engage with the reality of cautious, phased return with safety measures in place

he just explained sincerely what parents can expect when they sent their child to school.

Sadie, 3Cats is correct.

'As a aside a head role can be 100k'

Oh dear. Minus about £30-40k and you're spot on. In reality it's mostly head teachers in London earning over 100k. A very small proportion in relation to the rest of the uk!

I'd like to think that HTs had the capacity to grapple with a big problem like this and to find some options. The timing (1st June) and the announcement might have been a surprise, but surely it wasn't a surprise that at some point, some arrangements would have to be made.

But I don't think it is the HT's sole responsibility. Surely, the HT, and the teachers, and the hundreds of parents, between them can come up with some innovative ways of having children in school or otherwise looked after. Maybe parent volunteers to help oversee activities, distancing and handwashing? Plus parents have a key role in helping their dc to understand about physical distancing, it's not just the responsibility of the school.

I think for many schools the Year groups going back first were a surprise. I’m sure most thought it would be Y6 and possibly Y5 not the youngest ones.