So sad for the lack of innovation in uk regarding schools reopening

[emptyfridge]

Watching newsnight about schools reopening. So sad to see the contrast to the approach here in the uk and how they’ve dealt with this abroad. We need to start thinking about the impact of all this on children and drop all this crap about home learning for the next year.

I'm pleased with the guidelines set out by Nicola Sturgeon for our schools here in Scotland. When you say UK I take it you mean England?

When the first child is lost, injured or worse while being taught in one of these innovative locations, suddenly the same people will be shouting about the lack of safeguarding.

it's about making use of local resources...and that will not always be a museum - it might be a town hall, a park, a generous farmer's field, a forest etc.

Do you honestly think you can simply re-locate school children to a field?

Do you really think the measures of sticking to small tight pods, no parents on site really accommodate trips out to parks and museums?😂😂😂

It's absolutely dreadful what a decade of underinvestment in schools can do

This is so funny! Schools havn't changed for a lot longer than a decade. They're basically the same as they were in the 70s/80s. Yes, a bit of tinkering around the edges with white boards instead of black boards, but I've been amazed at how little things have changed for my son whose just left secondary compared with my secondary school in the late 70s/early 80s. Back then, resources were scarce but still wasted. We had times when we had to take our own paper because some depts had run out whilst others had bulging stockrooms.

A socially distanced crocodile moving classes down busy streets. We couldn’t afford coaches before social distancing. You’d need double the coaches if you could get them. You wouldn’t be allowed the extra staff for safety as they wouldn’t be in your pod..... Do we send staff down early and cordon the area off to deep clean before they arrive?😂😂😂

Ylvamoon - If we are going to pretend to give a shit about the vulnerable we need to acknowledge that a huge chunk of the LAWS around safeguarding, equalities and health and safety in schools are about letting the vulnerable access education. That's before you hit the guidance about the actual pandemic.

I am all for solutions and outside the box thinking but some of this is silly to harmful and as usual miss out the disabled.

Of course you are right - we should do nothing. No point in doing anything, it's too hard, fraught with problems, it would never work. Innovation is not for the likes of us, we should know our place, no one would allow it.

@RitzSpy oh yes... let's abandon all safeguarding then shall we. I wouldn't want to be accused of having a can't do attitude!

I have no idea what the answer is. At present, my dc attend school on average twice a week for childcare. They do no work there, just play but it is working really well. DC and staff all seem happy.

I am panicking a bit about what happens next. Teachers on here have talked about stripping back the classrooms, removing all art from the walls and all toys and books etc, rows of little desks spread out and say the children will be sitting there all day but not learning. So I don't understand what they will be doing. Reading the posts here has absolutely given me anxiety about what is to come.

I would definitely say it doesn't sound very 'innovative' but I don't know if these teachers are being honest. This is the total opposite from our experience of the keyworker childcare, I cannot imagine my school suddenly becoming like these teachers are describing.

I am not in England though! I appreciate the guidelines in England are grim, I don't think they will be implementing the same where I am in the UK.

@grumpyorange no you're right, we should do nothing, we'll be safe then. Schools are innovating anyway - they're doing online meetings, it's amazing what you can achieve with all those bright minds in one organisation.

@RitzSpy I think teachers and schools have done increasingly well. The speed in which they set up online resources and many have been doing online learning for kids etc.

It will never please everyone but it's far more important that children can be brought back safely then stick them in a field all day. Most children don't even walk to school in the rain let alone sit outside all day in it.

Also who's funding all these ideas? Schools are seriously underfunded are you expecting teachers to pay out of their own pockets which is what they are having to do already?

I'm not saying there are no solutions or not to try. I am saying 'out of the box thinking is a waste of time if it isn't based in reality.

My out of the box thinking is that every child should have a tutor for an hour a day who only tutors 4 other children. The tutor then goes from house to house and tutors from the back of her VW campervan which she disinfects between each child.

I'm not saying there are no solutions or not to try. I am saying 'out of the box thinking is a waste of time if it isn't based in reality.

THIS. The current government have got away with so much crap, so much ignorance and such astounding laziness because all they have to do when someone points out that their plans won't work is to accuse them of being negative or refusing to think out of the box.

So assuming a vaccine isn’t found by September what solutions do you think could work in the U.K other than kids staying at home indefinitely?

@Tellmetruth4 I think in that case we may be looking at better provisions for home learning along with at least 1 contact day a week. So Monday to Thursday is home learning with proper online timetables etc (better provision made for those in need) and Friday is a full school day (classes split down on day they come in)

As it has been provision is constantly provided for key workers etc and I would suggest that years 6, 11 and 13 have more contact than others so maybe in 3-4 days a week with then online learning.

*and those who can't work from home should get places the same as key workers. This would be allocated by an official letter detailing they cannot work from home so you can't abuse the system

Tellmetruth4 - i don't know anything at all about secondary.

But for primary government guidance will have to find new science that says its now safe to create bubbles of 30 children with all the other infection control measures in place and that pretty much solves the problem! Especially if they increase funding to put in more handwashing and toiling facilities so they can be linked to bubbles.

Or government will have to accept that for many schools (not all) part time schooling mixed with online learning is a solution if they feel 15 is the biggest bubble you'd want at that point in time and they don't want to increase funding for handwashing and toileting facilities or teachers.

or if they feel that all children should be taught in bubbles of 15 full time then any temporary buildings have to be sensible and inclusive and at some point parents will feel that a TA lead by a teacher in another building isn't providing the same education as a group led by the teacher so the government needs to fund more teaching staff.

And right on cue, I believe are planning to rush out the evidence that the modelling shows it’ll be the right time to go back on the 1st June.

This obviously has nothing to do with the Independent Sage Group are releasing their modelling about schools returning today and it’s not likely to be good.

They’re nothing if not predictable.

So assuming a vaccine isn’t found by September what solutions do you think could work in the U.K other than kids staying at home indefinitely?

You change the forms/groups, so that pupils who are staying at home are taught in "home school" groups taught by teachers who can't go to school due to being vulnerable.

Kids who can go to school are in "school" groups/forms and taught by teachers who aren't vulnerable/shielded.

So you have two distinct groups of teachers matched pupils under both options.

You really can;t have Miss Smith who is in school trying to teach half a GCSE group Maths in the classroom and half the group at home, and at the same time have Mr Jones who is working from home trying to teach half his GCSE Maths group in school and the other half at home.

Even if "schools go back" in September, there'll still be large numbers of teachers and large numbers of pupils who are vulnerable/shielded who won't be going back - it makes sense to stream them away and match teachers with pupils.

As for toilets and hand washing, there must be huge numbers of portaloos and portable toilet blocks sat in compounds unused - they'd usually be used for festivals, carnivals, horse races, and other outdoor events which obviously aren't going ahead this summer. Get them moved into school playgrounds and you've got a quick short term solution.

THIS. The current government have got away with so much crap, so much ignorance and such astounding laziness because all they have to do when someone points out that their plans won't work is to accuse them of being negative or refusing to think out of the box.*

THIS. Over and over again this government don't consult with people who actually understand the situation in order to come up with the best solution, but instead press forward with their back of a fag packet bodge whilst trying to silence anyone who points out the obvious flaws. And there are an alarming number of people supporting whatever old bollocks they come out with. To the detriment of the safety of our children and our entire country.

@RitzSpy @Ylvamoon

There's a massive difference between having a "can't do" attitude and being aware of the need to follow safeguarding guidelines, surely? We can't just do away with safeguarding policies and procedures, you must see that?

As I've said @RitzSpy, there's nothing wrong with using temporary buildings. Except that they are temporary. Our town hall, for example, is licenced for weddings. Now, when they open, are they supposed to tell their wedding parties that they can't use the building because the school is? Or our local museum is supposed to turn people away because the school has it.

Using a field or park is fine (forgetting safeguarding for a moment), but as soon as it rains what happens to the kids? Told to stay at home? Our secondary has children travelling by bus for 45 minutes. What happens if they arrive at their field and the rain starts? How do they get home (if home is where they need to go).

All these temporary things are fine (to some extent or other) but there is a need for permanent solutions. We could be like this for an academic year. Firefighting has got to stop and proper plans put into place. Our school easily has room for a row of 'nissan' style huts like the RAF/Army used during the war. But they don't have cash to buy them.

That sort of 'innovation' would also help with the scenario of having teachers next door to TAs rather than one working in one building/one in the other. And if each set of porta-cabins had a loo block, your handwashing problem is sorted out. But cash needs to be found.

If we can furlough people to the cost of billions, we can find some to rent porta-cabins or other semi permanent buildings for our schools. Asking for rooms/fields/parks to be used is fine for the next couple of months, but October? Mid February? In a field? Really?