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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

It’s week 8- why haven’t schools looks at plans before now?

178 replies

hopefulhop · 16/05/2020 00:01

Just this? We have bee. In lockdown for 8wks. That’s 8wks of social distancing etc. Why is this a sudden shock to schools? Did school leaders and unions think we could return as usual after an international pandemic or just never go back? I appreciate this is unprecedented times, and that your regular school leadership team aren’t six sigma logistics gurus, and more so that many schools don’t have space etc for social distancing- but the move to bring kids back. is not a shock- it was going to happen sometime and would need to be different in some way. There are literally 1000s of teachers ‘working from home’- they cannot all be marking, many are on Rotas for key worker children support- hasn’t ANYONE thought or wondered what to do when kids return?

OP posts:
kazzer2867 · 16/05/2020 01:19

More teaching bashing.
🌷🌺🌸💐

ballsdeep · 16/05/2020 01:19

@hopefulhop

You're full of shit. Of course you wanted a teacher bashing thread. It's clear from your op.
At least have the balls to own it

PickUpAPickUpAPenguin · 16/05/2020 01:19

OP- schools haven't been given any extra money from the government to make modifications and purchase cleaning supplies etc In March schools had no loo roll yet expected to pay for social distance markings etc?

Government should have spoken to the unions earlier (before Sunday). They could have at least had the government explain how the science has changed since March and what risks the staff and children face. There is too much info on the Internet for a lay person to understand which studies to trust etc

LaProfesora · 16/05/2020 01:23

@SachaStark

It just fucking goes on and on and on. And we take the blame for everything. Like we have any say in the decisions that are made 🙄🙄🙄

SusanneLinder · 16/05/2020 01:24

Because Councils try and plan things and then Government throw spanners in works, and then everyone has to rip up their plans and start again..🙄.
There are people working 12/14 hour days to try and move forward, but its very easy for people to sit behind a computer screen and complain about how things should be done.
And yes, I DO have inside knowledge of this.

Colouringaddict · 16/05/2020 01:24

They only issued the guidance last week, and changed it again yesterday.
Unless they had a crystal ball, they had no clue what reopening would look like, the Govt still don’t.
Many teachers have been work as hard at home if not harder.
Unions are also stepping in.

SE13Mummy · 16/05/2020 01:26

Lots of classroom teachers are school management. Our school bursar, caretaker and catering person don't double up as classroom teachers but everyone else on the staff is involved in teaching or supporting with teaching.

My school has had three draft return plans for the past three/four weeks. All were speculative because no scientific advice has been given to headteachers about the safest way to return. Schools across England are coming up with their own possible plans that aren't based on anything scientific and are written by someone who probably hasn't done science since the age of 16. Two lots of guidance that has undone lots of those plans has been released this week, still without any science behind it, and headteachers still don't know why Y6 across England is a priority when some areas transition at Y8 for example. It's not that plans haven't been made, it's that schools didn't know until Sunday evening what Boris had in his plan. Or that within 24 hours that would change again and nursery were to be prioritised over Y6. Or that two days later, a rota of attendance would be off the cards.

AllesAusLiebe · 16/05/2020 01:26

OP, I will cautiously agree with you here.

This is a senior leadership issue. Headteachers should have been working on a plan along with their senior management staff. This is tricky when many of the senior leaders will be teaching remotely, but ultimately not beyond reasonable expectation.

Having said that, Boris's announcement of which year groups are to return first seems to have been written on the back of a cigarette packet and not part of a consultative process.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 16/05/2020 01:27

Except schools aren’t responsible for the timeline. They go back when the government and (hopefully) epidemiologists decide it is right. And obviously you can’t plan unless you know what rules/guidelines you have to follow.

It might be June 1st at the earliest, depending on how the testing/tracking/tracing is going. But given the government’s incompetence on that score and their tendency to fudge the stats to hide their incompetence, it’s not exactly a surprise that trust is an issue here.

BramwellBrown · 16/05/2020 01:32

Schools didn't know which years would be going back first, or numbers (lots of parents are saying they won't send children in) which staff will be available as some are shielding or live with someone who is, some are ill, some have childcare issues. Or even what the government guidelines would be.

Schools also weirdly assumed they would wait til it was a bit safer to go back and start with children who were old enough to at least sort of understand social distancing.

hopefulhop · 16/05/2020 01:39

Thankyou you have articulated my query much clearer than I.

To all the responses telling me to go fuck myself???? This is a voting post. Say yes or no 🤷‍♀️

OP posts:
TonytheDog · 16/05/2020 01:40

hopefulhop

I fucking give up.

You go and teach 120 kids a day - from home - and I'll do your job. How does that sound? By Monday 5pm you'll need to have individually set work for each student, emailed said work, email back the marked work (that you've got to Mark this weekend), read 8,000 reports, updated every other member of staff on concerns/progress etc, replied to parents emails. Also, don't forget to eat, feed your own kids and get them to do their school work. Repeat for Tuesday, Wednesday etc etc etc until you decide it's actually really fucking hard and you go back to your easy job/ being furloughed and sitting in your garden drinking wine.

ineedaholidaynow · 16/05/2020 01:41

Our local schools can’t afford caretakers so it will likely be the Head clearing out the classrooms and taping out 2m squares on the floors.

And on Sunday there was no mention of school nurseries being included in the year groups coming back, that was a little surprise hidden in the guidance received late on Monday!

qweryuiop · 16/05/2020 01:47

Apologies- I don’t want to ‘teacher bash’ as some say, I respect the professions those who have chosen teaching as a vocationall, but regular classroom teachers aren’t school leadership, so called school management which in many cases includes ‘Business managers’ ‘ operations managers’ and others dotted throughout trusts and academy’s.’ Most definitely not teaching staff. Other industries have had to step back and look at operations, and make the call on how & when they can resume work - major employers in manufacturing, distribution- many have done so. They have said what can be done, what can’t be done practically, and when they can resume operations. Some are now, some are soon, some are weeks away from what could be deemed reasonable. Either way there is proposal, there is a timeline.
@hopefulhop

I'm partly highlighting because your follow up post was actually very well-thought-out and certainly not what I expected from your original post (I actually thought you decided to throw a little vitriol into the internet and head to bed!). I'm still not totally sure why you think that schools haven't tried planning in the last 8 weeks.

But your post actually really highlights how industry have it different to schools. I believe I'm right to say that private industry have a reasonable level of say in when and how they go back to work. Obviously some sectors have not been allowed to until a certain time, but none have had government dictate when they had to open (except, I presume, supermarkets).

State education is different. Schools have been tentatively planning, like industry. But this week, primary schools have had a date set when they must be prepared to open. Not just open, but open in a certain way, to nearly half of all pupils. They only had that date set this week, and (what I think are) the final guidelines were only released yesterday. So plans are now accelerating.

hopefulhop · 16/05/2020 02:04

@Tonythedog I’m sorry that sound awful and I hope your school and their parents appreciate the support they are receiving.

@ qweryuiop
The thing is, Yes industry has The right to say when to go back but not the luxury of time to ponder this when , even if staff are furloughed, rates, insurance and cost of operation still has to be paid for businesses needed to work it out to get back to work asap.

OP posts:
hopefulhop · 16/05/2020 02:05

But yes I do appreciate schools are different

OP posts:
BilboBercow · 16/05/2020 02:16

Just signed up and knows all about voting buttons and everything...

BoomBoomsCousin · 16/05/2020 02:17

I think you're a bit unreasonable and a bit reasonable.

I do think the teaching profession as a whole fails to show the sort of leadership that should be expected from a profession that often claims to want to be seen on a par with doctors and lawyers.

There are no professional bodies that have come up with plans and recommendations that the government or the public could get behind. Almost all pronouncements from teaching bodies have been negative responses to government (or sometimes just Daily Mail rumours of) announcements. They don't even seem to have any respected, independent bodies that push professionalism.

At the same time, the government have provided schools with little leadership and a lot of requirements at short notice, so I can see why individual schools may not have much in the way of developed plans. They had no real idea what the government was going to require of them, in what time frame or with what resources. When they've been stretched so thin in recent years they probably had few resources to spend on endless contingency planning for the vast array of possible requirements they could have been landed with.

Mintjulia · 16/05/2020 02:19

Our school has been planning for return since they closed their doors in March.

And that’s while they’ve been looking after keyworker/at risk children, and remote teaching the rest.

teaandajammydodger · 16/05/2020 02:19
Daffodil
TildaTurnip · 16/05/2020 06:52

Our school has been planning for return since they closed their doors in March. And that’s while they’ve been looking after keyworker/at risk children, and remote teaching the rest.

For every possible outcome? Really? Sure some loose plans can be put in place but you’d need to know which year groups and the guidelines to actually make workable plans.

Firstawake · 16/05/2020 07:15
Shock
Pegase · 16/05/2020 07:19

Some of us still teach a full day at home via video so haven't exactly been awash with spare time given we are simultaneously home schooling our own children... Hmm

Plus the time scale for planning isn't the issue. Three weeks' notice is enough - the concern is more whether it is actually logistically possible to carry out the plan full stop (when the whole school returns more so than when it is just the first half).

Hercwasonaroll · 16/05/2020 07:19

FYI OP the government released its latest piece of guidance at 7.30pm LAST NIGHT. This guidance stated that schools shouldn't be using the a rota system and instead should have all pupils full time but with classes of 15. If you can find the magic classroom fairy who can double the size of a school please send her to England.

There's barely any point in planning because the government keep moving the goal posts. Better to see what the final guidance is and then plan. Otherwise you've wasted hours.

Pissed off I've typed a reply that will probably get zapped.

Dinnertime22 · 16/05/2020 07:35

I completely agree. I along with many others have worked frontline from the start. We had to adjust and adapt immediately.