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.

that maybe true, but swedens children are still getting a good education, ours are not.

It feels like every excuse is being found not (by some teachers /schools and by the unions) to educate children and it is pretty astonishing and is going to have a devastating impact on educational attainment for state educated children for a generation

I think you'll find it's the government guidelines that limit class sizes. But have a go at the teachers, why not? Shielded children will still need to be taught and teachers set aside to teach them.

Lemon this isn't what's best for the majority though. What we are doing is to protect the minority. The vast majority of children and indeed adults won't die from coronavirus and it would be better for them to be in school and going to work. Let's not pretend this is what's best for the majority.

I'm sickened by this attitude. The weakest in society should be protected. I have no time for anyone who thinks otherwise.

Lemon I never said they shouldn't be protected. But depriving children of a proper education and rendering people unable to work, destroying their livelihoods and plunging them into poverty isn't the way to do that.

lemon I don't mind whether they are educated in school or on line it's the refusal to countenance doing either that I find so unjustifiable

Children are the weakest in society ffs.

And there are other ways to protect the weakest in society which don't include denying children an education.

Deaths are not the be all and end all here. If we focus everything on saving lives and nothing else we will be in a much worse position as a country. It needs to be a balance. We shouldn't be saving lives at the expense of other lives which is what this is now becoming.

Children will suffer and you're totally ok with that I find it abhorrent.

lemon I don't mind whether they are educated in school or on line it's the refusal to countenance doing either that I find so unjustifiable

That isn't happening, though.

Children are the weakest in society ffs.

And medically weak children the weakest of all. They matter.

Yes of course they matter. Who's said they don't?!

I'm not saying vulnerable children should go back to school and they should have home learning and one to ones from teachers online if possible and all the help they need.

Children who CAN go to school should be going to school.

It is idiotic to say school schools be part time because of medically vulnerable children because realistically they can't attend anyway so it matters not a shit to them.

It is idiotic to say school schools be part time because of medically vulnerable children because realistically they can't attend anyway so it matters not a shit to them.

It is idiotic to think schools will be going back to normal. 15 per class. That's how it's going to be. Hopefully not forever but for now and probably still in September.

That's how it's been decreed to be safe for children and staff.

So you know that for certain do you?

No. No you don't.

It's not idiotic to want better for your child. You clearly don't give two shits about education but I do.

lemon it is exactly what is happening to my children. And many of my friends children. No going back to school and no teaching happening either.

(as in no online teaching)

Unless all teachers ever did was dish out a twinkle worksheet once a day?

And I have two medically vulnerable children and am not remotely offended by the push for children to be taught (whether in school or remotely, I don't mind). They were at just as much risk from many other childhood illnesses.

It's not idiotic to want better for your child. You clearly don't give two shits about education but I do.

There is no need to be so aggressive. Very stupid thing to say. Of course I care about education but I am also aware of the problems caused by the virus. It is here and we have to deal with it.

I do know for certain there will be no return to normality in schools any time soon unless a miracle vaccine appears. You must know that as well. No classes of 30 for quite some time.

I'm sorry that people feel let down by individual schools but we have no idea what is going on in every school. The guidelines from the government have been worse than useless and constantly changing. That's not the fault of schools.

I would hope that those who are able to return will be able to offer a better service than some have had up till now. And even better, come September.

I have friends still in the job doing all they can to offer a quality education after June 1st. I have others whose schools cannot go back either because of logistics of staffing or very old buildings.

Quite a few have had enough of the sort of attitude expressed by some here. And will probably resign. Which will make a bad situation even worse.

So do tell us your ideas for opening swimming pools, or restaurants or gyms.

How can you offer better service when you're still only offering part time? You can't. You're offering 2 or 3 days of teaching. It doesn't matter what you offer online because some kids won't be able to do it.

I wouldn't be so sure that schools won't go back to normal if we can get a track and trace system in place. It will damage the economy too much if part time schooling is enforced long term. We have a Conservative government. They want the economy going again.

How can you offer better service when you're still only offering part time? You can't. You're offering 2 or 3 days of teaching. It doesn't matter what you offer online because some kids won't be able to do it.

Better than is happening now, obviously. Part time and structured is the best that can be done for now.

To be honest if you add up time usually "wasted" with assemblies, long lunch breaks, play times, and PE then 3 hours a day would be enough to deliver an excellent education.

I still have no idea what you think can happen. All you are doing is ranting.

Nevertwerked you still have no answer as to what we do for kids that don't have the technology and clearly no understanding of safeguarding. You are blaming teachers who are telling you why these things can't happen, yet you have no answer as to how they should.

Why is September magic? There's no reason not to start using the the capacity we have sooner than that.

You can run video lessons so only the teacher sees all the videos! And what do you think the rest of us are doing? There are children popping up in my video meetings all the time

Some teachers, and their children, are vulnerable themselves. Think domestic abuse and restraining orders, re-location etc. Children, in their infinite wisdom, think it utterly hilarious to take the piss out of teachers. We work very hard (or most of us do) to keep ourselves as anoymous as possible on social media (including many who have dispensed with it all together or who use fake names and are not friends at all with anyone they work with) but still we have incidents of our heads being attached to naked bodies...you get the idea. It is not good and potentially career-ending. Some of us hide for other reasons as well. We cannot have a situation where a vulnerable teacher and his/her children are exposed to an abusive ex through a video 'innocently' published online by students - simple things like ornaments, the view from the window etc. are enough for those looking to cause trouble to suddenly be aware of where their ex is. No way on earth would I allow myself or my children to be exposed in this way.

You will be additionally aware, as a parent, that you sign paperwork in schools about photos and whether or not you consent to photos being used for school publications, the website, or the local press. The safeguarding of children is absolutely paramount in these situations and what you probably aren't aware of is that we cannot, under any circumstances, take photos of children who are in local authority care. There is a reason for that. The same as teachers who might need protecting, some children also need protecting and a school cannot, under any circumstances, risk some idiot with the ability to edit photos releasing stuff photos and other information into the public realm.

Presumably, in a professional environment, people are not keeping, editing and uploading videos of their colleagues. It doesn't have the same appeal when once you get past about the age of 16. You also know and understand the risks you are taking as an adult. However, I would be prepared for a rise in attacks that have come about as a result of video-confrencing where a colleague posts something online and an ex sees it - if you know your ex works in X profession, it's not hard to keep an eye on such workplaces through social media and so many people are lax with their settings, it doesn't take much if you are determined.

And some schools are doing it. And very successfully
Yes, I agree. Videos are not the only way. I am teaching online 3 days a week from home for a private school. I am able to chat to students but they can't see me, nor me them. It is safer that way. Zoom and video conferencing is not the answer and it is worrying beyond all reason that some schools continue to engage with it.

One of the issues that it's becoming apparent is the gulf between what is being provided by schools.... from virtually nothing but Twinkl worksheets to almost full curriculum.

We have had very little from DD's school, which before Easter was understandable, after Easter was a bit less so, and now inexcusable. I suppose my question is.... why are there in fact no minimum standards as to what should be provided by schools during this period? The rest of the time, the quality of education is an absolute priority, now we're left with a widening gap between schools that are adapting and those that aren't. This is what I find difficult to justify.

The issue about online access for all isn't resolved by providing nothing for anybody.

One of the things that might have been an idea, when schools first closed, was an immediate survey to understand what facilities people had at home....wifi, devices, printer etc. Nobody has even asked us that.

Nobody asked the teachers what they had either. I wonder how many are working on equipment they have bought themselves. Some I expect specifically because of this?