Headteacher has posted this to facebook

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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

Public schools have a lot of overseas pupils especially from a China. No point in them starting until September when they have pupils to teach.
Eton breaks up last week in June so not worth the effort restarting.

I put on a different post that teachers are going to gave a ridiculous work load to sort out. How can you teach when lots of the kids will be kept home, lots will be bunking off, lots will turn up in non school uniform claiming shops are open to buy new kit or parents are in a position to fork out for the last 7 weeks. Teachers will be on the phone for hours making sure safeguarding is followed. What do you teach? Where you left off or back to summer 2 plans. What about the kids that miss that.

No one has yet explained which professional standards have specifically been broken.

A few people have. And I stated that I'd be sacked if I bad mouthed my employer on FB.

sorry “aren’t open” and “aren’t forking out”

He's bad mouthing government policy not the LA. I doubt the LA want to reopen schools either.

Scaremongering is something that a head teacher should not be doing. he should be putting measures in place to protect them. Just as managers are expected to protect employees. The world needs to start moving soonish and things need to be adapted to deal with that, rather than whining publicly.

A few people have.

Have they? I must have missed it. Which ones?

And I stated that I'd be sacked if I bad mouthed my employer on FB.

So? He hasn't criticised his employer, quite the opposite.

Scaremongering is something that a head teacher should not be doing.

What was scaremongering about that post?

A head teacher who can’t spell queue?

I suspect you may have a new head teacher come September

He comes across as not posting this for the good of the kids but for his own reputation with the parents.

He can’t spell either.

There are so many debates / furious arguments on this subject. My child is secondary age so it doesn't affect me personally but I really feel for those who are struggling with this decision. I think Year 6's can manage it, though it will still be hard for them psychologically. But the little ones... I saw a post on Twitter today, from a school in France that has just opened their doors to young children again and to be honest, I found the photos quite upsetting, and this one in particular heartbreaking

@SpanishFly He isn't whining, he's stating that he feels it's impossible to keep people safe. He doesn't have enough classrooms. He doesn't know how to make a 3 year old keep 2m away from all the other 3 year olds for 6 hours at a time. He doesn't have enough staff. He can't magic solutions out of thin air. What is your solution? What would you do? How do you propose to keep people safe in that environment?

@WordInYourShellLike that is heartbreaking.

@donquixotedelamancha are you a teacher or HT?

If so are you familiar with 'keeping children safe in education' it refers off to lot of other documents. One is internet safety. There might be no law on have a public rant on SM and linking that to your role as HT, but its conflict with what that document says that pupils should not be doing on SM if they dont want to end up under MASH radar.

So, your a pupil. You have a open public SM account and you, as a child talk about your school saying it's a unsafe space for children. Its public, someone sees it and flags it to safeguarding. Everyone says "bravo brave child, heres three rounds of hes a jolly good fellow". Nope. It gets taken seriously whether it's TRUE or not and MASH get a call.

So. Why is it ok for the head to do this? He works ultimately for the LA unless its private in which case this conversation is moot. The LA work for the Dfe. Dfe work for Gov. Your ranting about your top boss. SM isn't the place to bad mouth the CEO.

Also your telling your pupils to lock down SM whilst showing them its do as I say not as I do. That's two examples ofc the top of my head. I'm just a volunteer I have to know I couldnt do this in my role. I would be removed. So again why can the HT do things the govoners cant? We do the hiring and we also do the firing of the HT

Is the world just going to stop indefinitely? When will people be happy to send the kids back to school? No school can ever guarantee safety.

@donquixotedelamancha of course he is bad mouthing his boss. He's saying do not send your children to school if you have any doubts. That goes against the LA, council, government advice.

OP I dont have the answers, but the world cannot just stop indefinitely.

I heard something on the radio yesterday about elderly people having glass boxes installed so they could see relatives, it was in Holland.

I think some people won’t be happy until we are all in little glass Boxes or behind glass screens.

to bleat a completely unfounded diatribe

Is it possible to bleat a diatribe?

My understanding is that it is from 1 June if the conditions at that point allow for a safe environment (i.e. not earlier than 1 June).

Mine too, I listened to Boris' speech in full.
He never said that pupils were expected back on June 1st, where has your headteacher got this from?
Sounds incredibly unprofessional and gun jumping.
He said IF infections stay down, IF people stick to the guidelines, then pupils could start to be phased back at the earliest June 1st.
So where's your headteacher got expected back from June the 1st from?
FGS, just take it as it comes.

First two lines are a quote, forgot to bold oops

I have to come up with solutions for when my colleagues return to work. It isn't easy or practical but it has to be addressed.
He is whining. He is not behaving like an authoritative figure should. If a pupil bad mouthed or whined about him or school policies on FB, theyd be in real trouble.
It is ludicrous to suggest no children can return because it's a but impractical for him. There are many ways to implement things, if only he/the LEA would google what they're doing in France or Italy

Oh and the "scaremongering" I mentioned - hes twisted what has been said and presented it as fact, when there are no definites yet

@SpanishFly I think we should lockdown until we're having substantially less than 627 deaths a day yes absolutely. Personally I don't want to send my children back until we are at the point of track and trace (which this easing of lockdown now means we will never achieve) or have a vaccine or an antibody treatment. Several antibody based treatments have been produced and are in the testing stages. If they prove to be effective they could be licensed for compassionate use by October. The economy can recover. Dead people can't. I would rather my DC have their grandma than an extra few months in school.

"to bleat a completely unfounded diatribe"

Is it possible to bleat a diatribe?

no it isn't but that particular poster has been on several of these threads tonight trying to use "big words". Sometimes with a very amusing end result!

He's saying do not send your children to school if you have any doubts. That goes against the LA, council, government advice.

I've not seen any LA or council advice to that effect. The government is certainly not his boss.

If every public sector employee was prohibited from criticising government policy then all the doctors and nurses we've seen bemoaning the lack of PPE would be sacked.

You may not wish to hear the opinions of headteachers about the holes in the government's plans, but they are allowed to give them.