To thinks something like this would be a good option for schools going forward?

[Notplannedforthis]

Like most on Mumsnet, the topic of Covid and schools has been on my mind recently.

Whilst suffering from another night of insomnia, I was musing about how we could reopen schools safely and came up with the below plan.

Have any of you been sat at home thinking "If I was in charge, this is how I'd do it" If so, what suggestions have you come up with?

My thoughts:

1. Schools don't go back until September.

1. All of the young and fit TAs and some of the teachers are allocated the job of providing childcare for key workers children that can’t manage with them at home, AND for people who will lose their jobs if not at work (they'll need to provide evidence for this). No rota system for staff. Their usual working hours.

1. Companies must be told that if their employees CAN work from home, they SHOULD get them the equipment to do so, and should allow FLEXIBLE WORKING where possible. It’s bloody hard trying to work from home with kids and allowances need to be made for this.

1. All teachers not working in the hubs are responsible for providing quality home learning for those at home. They can fit their hours in flexibly around their own children, but work their usual number of hours where possible, doing things such as:

-filming themselves teaching lessons (if more than one teacher for a year they should communicate and divide up lessons for the year rather than for the class)
-having a system where kids can submit work and have feedback
-posting work packs for children with no online access (with stamped addressed envelopes so work can be returned for marking)
-ringing children and parents to see if they’re managing to access work etc.

1. Parents will be advised that all work provided is optional. So kids have access to high quality home education, but there’s no pressure.

1. Senior leadership teams in schools have the time from now until September to come up with how they will manage a September return for ALL children with some degree of social distancing. This is likely to involve using playing fields or even land on different sites to put up porta cabin classrooms and hiring more staff. I appreciate this will be an extremely challenging task but having observed the mammoth effort and innovative solutions that NHS leaders have come up with to change their working over the past 3 months, I believe it can be done. Not perfect, but workable. The NHS have managed by doing things including: -people who have left the profession returning – staff changing their roles -students qualifying early. Needless to say this will require a large injection of cash from the government who will HAVE TO SUPPORT TEACHING LEADERS to do this.

1. When schools go back in September, children will go back to the year that they were already in.

1. New reception starters start in January, year 6 kids move up in January, new university entrants start in January.

1. The country changes permanently from a Sept-Aug school year to a Jan-Dec school year, but keeps the age cut off date as is. Meaning the age of reception children will change from ‘4-5’ to ‘4yrs4months to 5years4months’ which is much more sensible anyway as there's plenty of evidence that starting school at JUST turned 4 is detrimental.

10. Teachers who will need to shield for the long term work with Oak Academy to continue quality home learning for children who need to shield long term.

The reason for a return to school is not about education, it's about removing isolation, nothing that you're talking about does anything to solve the serious isolation issue facing every child at the moment.

What do you propose to do about that?

No need to use portakabins. What about venues that are currently going empty, like sports venues, conference facilities, conference rooms at hotels, and so on? Many of these industries will need to be bailed out by the government. May as well make use of their facilities in the meantime.

Some of what you suggest would work fine if no children have special needs and all children lived in a supportive, safe environment. Unfortunately this isn’t the case and plans have to prioritise vulnerable and at risk children. If schools don’t open until September this will be a serious problem affecting the development and safety of many children.

Senior leadership teams in schools have the time from now until September to come up with how they will manage a September return for ALL children with some degree of social distancing.

Just can't happen. Classrooms too small for social distancing, Maximum of 15 in each class, less in some school.

We have to work on the prospect of about half of school age children in part time education. On line lessons and workbooks to supplement the loss of classroom time.

So portacabins seems to be an unworkable suggestion.

Unless there are any industries currently redundant, due to Covid that could turn their skills to manufacturing portacabins?

Has anyone else dreamed up an "if I was in charge" plan? Please tell me this isn't something that only I do...

But the guidance on how to make them safer is confused at best. You can see this from the varied responses of Head Teachers to the guidance and parents differening responses on sending their kids back. I'm not prepared to put myself, my students and my family at risk on a "let's try and see what happens" basis simply because I chose a particular profession.

Let's not forget that the people making these decisions will have kids at public schools, the majority of which are not reopening at the moment, don't have to make the decision.

One child from millions I know, but my Y6 has for (fortunately for her and me) coped brilliantly.
If she was told she was staying in Y6 until September, her mental health would take a battering.

*until January!

Notanotherusernumber but those children are already prioritised. They have the option to go to school now.

Unless there are any industries currently redundant, due to Covid that could turn their skills to manufacturing portacabins?

We don’t have room on our school playground for portacabins.

Decades ago I was fascinated by the children in Australia who learned by radio. Before we’d dreamed of the internet.
It’s a big adjustment, sure, but look at what we have now... all the online content, all the technology based tools... if they could teach primary remotely in Australia 40 years ago, I’m sure it can be done now. I’m not saying no direct social contact and playtime is ideal...

But all my friends using private primaries are very happy. About half my friends using state primaries are - but only in short term as it’s “just enough”. And half have found provision really poor.

I’d focus on remote learning before building portacabins. (Or both, of course)

I do like your school year adjustment - no one is Losing any time, they've just had a super long holiday which of course has been hard for some but will have benefitted others in one way or another. Some Scottish kids could be 6 or nearly 6 before they start, which isn't a bad thing with good quality early years provision. They will all be a bit older and more mature when leaving primary, sitting exams etc. No one will be leaving at 15.

DD's secondary in London has no catchment and nearly 3,000 students - how would you get them all there and back on public transport?

A lot of school lsnd was sold off years ago.

The part time school thing scares me (DS1 due to start reception in September). How on earth are parents supposed to work in these circumstances for much longer? Are we expected just to lose our jobs? 😔

People are talking like kids will never go back to normal full time school!

@Witchcraftandhokum but only around 5 to 10% of them are being reached at the moment. The schools are trying their best, but it just isn’t possible to persuade many of the at risk families to bring their children to school when other children aren’t.

You’ve missed out the need to continue off-site provision for shielded DC, and all those who have to go into 14 days isolation from time to time. The shielded DC are the ones who really need a way to ‘belong’ to their school even when they cannot physically be there - they’re on their own, without even the OK for daily exercise - so any sense of community from school
Is disproportionately important for an exceptionally vulnerable group

No idea whether this would work OP but it's nice to see some positive suggestions rather than just constant 'no it's not possible'!

The part time school thing scares me (DS1 due to start reception in September). How on earth are parents supposed to work in these circumstances for much longer? Are we expected just to lose our jobs?

Schools aren't childcare. There may be an opportunity for someone enterprising to open daycare settings for school age children. But then the parents would need to ensure school work set is done in the evenings. And the day care settings would need to be large enough for social distancing.

It's going to be a nightmare, especially for small schools with no spare space at all.

@Witchcraftandhokum

I think it is unlikely that the people involved in these decisions have children at public school. I tried to google whether Gavin Williamson’s kids go to public school but couldn’t find an answer. I think his wife is a primary teacher, so I doubt they are loaded.

Most of the senior civil servants working on this will have a net take home income that wouldn’t cover private schools fees for two kids (even with no other living costs). Some of the Sage members earn enough, but not sure which ones have school age kids.

Notanotherusernumber. Exactly. A number of our EHCP kids have underlying health conditions, and the parents of kids who are classed as 'vulnerable' who we're trying to persuade to come in see it as us saying they should put their kids at risk because they have SS input. They see it as a 'further punishment'. Schools have prioritised them, we can't force them to send their kids in.

notanotherusernumber All four of Boris Johnson's children by his ex-wife attend or attended private schools.

And while it's difficult to get data (and rightly so) two thirds of Boris Johnson's current cabinet attended private school, so it's not a huge leap to suggest their kids do.

No need to use portakabins. What about venues that are currently going empty, like sports venues, conference facilities, conference rooms at hotels, and so on? Many of these industries will need to be bailed out by the government. May as well make use of their facilities in the meantime.

Many schools are in areas with no such buildings anywhere near them. I'm a governor at four rural primary schools (each of 2 governing bodes oversees two pairs of schools) and there is nothing of this kind within reach. The secondary school in my small seaside town has nothing of that kind nearby, either.