To think this is wrong (schools)

[Wilberforce1]

Received a message this morning from kids school about them returning on Monday (year 1 and 6). Kids are really excited and I'm happy for them to go but I'm not sure about the schools rules around their "bubbles" I've attached a photo of part of the message but it's the part about the teacher moving and teaching both bubbles. I wouldn't have thought that was allowed? The guidance from the school is that if a child or adult tests positive for Covid then that entire bubble must self isolate for 14 days, so if a teacher tests positive surely that's going to wipe out two bubbles?

Am I right or am I just not understanding this correctly?!

Some schools are very small. Ine form entry or mixed year entry. They would only have 6 or less teachers and still teachers to supervise key workers from other year groups and set work for those not in school.

Prosper

Send them to school. Teachers are key workers.

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland The school guidance says clinically extremely vulnerable should shield; clinically vulnerable have been advised to work from home if possible and teachers living with someone shielding should only work when strict social distancing can be applied. It is not expected young children can do this so advice is to work from home. So it slightly bigger than just the extremly clinically vulnerable covered.

Slightly bigger but still not huge?

Statistically, there should be some schools who onlu are missing perhaps one staff member or even none.

Teachers have to teach more than one group. There just aren’t enough teachers trained and with lesson plans made to suddenly double the teaching workforce. So yes, they will have to isolate multiple groups.

Ps schools should be allocating home school provision to the staff who need to work from home.

It's not that hard. There's a lot of schools and teachers out there simply determined to make this hard/make it fail.

They need to suck it up and get back to work.

.

In our school teachers from other year groups will be taking bubbles. Every bubble will have their own teacher and TA. No crossover between bubbles at all. As soon as you start people mixing between bubbles then you lose the purpose of the bubble.

I think it's all a bit moot though given the bubbles of 15 are just not going to be possible once the rest of the school come back. I suspect at that point guidelines will change to say bubbles of 30 or back to normal but with staggered start/finish/break/lunchtimes and no assemblies.

i am sure there are schools with no missing staff. Its just most schools have 1 teacher to 30 children for the eyfs/ks1 and anything up to 38 for KS2. And TAs have been cut to the bone. So having just one teacher off could affect 3 bubbles if its the larger class size so you dont need half the staff off for a big impact.

The vunerable group including pregnant, diabetics and certain asthmstic really could affect a lot of school staff.

It's not that hard. There's a lot of schools and teachers out there simply determined to make this hard/make it fail.
Right, and you'd know that how? You've been into every school premises and assessed the conditions under which their highly experienced Head Teachers are having to make decisions that follow guidance AND protect children and staff alike.

They need to suck it up and get back to work.
I think you'll find that school staff have been at work all through this. Mot of us would probably have infinitely preferred to have been furloughed, rather than deal with the kind of shitty attitudes from some posters on here.

Heads need to submit their plans and risk assessments to multiple people including their Local authority

Think it’s hilarious that a few busybodies on mumsnet think they know how to run a school in a pandemic better than teachers, headteachers, councils, unions, scientists and the government all put together

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland
Send them to school. Teachers are key workers.

aren't we all.
Realistically, increasing the number of key worker children in schools is not going to help at all, it is.

Think it’s hilarious that a few busybodies on mumsnet think they know how to run a school in a pandemic better than teachers, headteachers, councils, unions, scientists and the government all put together

to be fair, none of these groups have remotely the same interests, goals or concerns, so none of their advice are compatible with each other.
Hence the current mess.

This is against the DfE and union guidelines. I wouldn’t be happy if I was working there.

I feel for schools right now, saying this as a teacher although thankfully college so I don’t need to go return yet.

They have been completely thrust into an impossible situation and are trying their best.

Two of my dc are teachers. One is unable to go back to school as he has an autoimmune disease, had cancer which involved the removal of a kidney last year and is pre-diabetic. Although he won’t be in school he will be continuing to work setting and marking work for the yr 7, 8, 9s who will not be in school.

My dd is back in school with 8 yr5s who are either the children of key workers or vulnerable and she will share the class with another teacher and a ta. She is a maths teacher (middle school) but will be teaching all subjects to her bubble.

Just to make it clear this isn’t a teacher bashing thread! I was just questioning the message that they had put out, I know that would have come from the head and not the teachers.

I’m not sure what to do, do I just ignore it and send the kids anyway? Do I say something and sound like I’m moaning when I’m not?

I wonder if the adults are not necessary teachers. One bubble may have a PSA. The other a teacher and switch to ensure equal access to both teaching and support

Call me cynical but it won't be long before someone has 'symptoms' ...

@Wilberforce1

Just to make it clear this isn’t a teacher bashing thread! I was just questioning the message that they had put out, I know that would have come from the head and not the teachers.

I’m not sure what to do, do I just ignore it and send the kids anyway? Do I say something and sound like I’m moaning when I’m not?

I would query it and see what they say. I think it's reasonable to query things that go against the guidelines. They should be able to justify it.

You might be happy for 15 children to be taught by a TA on just above minimum wage, but it’s hugely unfair to the TA. Not only the teaching but the behaviour management, additional needs and level of responsibility.
A teacher supervising two bubbles is a reasonable solution, and as everyone keeps pointing out, the risk is minimal. So minimal that distancing and PPE is not necessary.

Many schools can’t fit 15 pupils in a class with social distancing so are having bubble sizes of 7-8 so you need even more staff to cover these bubbles.

Key worker provision is useless for me because my school finishes 15 mins later than ds and after school club isn't on.

No bloody way is it half the population, so why are teachers apparently so affected?

By the time you count teachers that are pregnant, live with a partner or child that is vulnerable, or may be vulnerable themselves, then include the fact that teachers in the year groups not coming back still have to provide home learning, and you need double the number of teachers than normal for the year groups that are coming back because of the bubbles, it’s not really that surprising that schools have shortages.

Schools have been directed to allow for staff that are vulnerable so heads aren’t forced to force them to come in, rightly so. Nor is it fair to expect TAs to teach full time.

My friend told me her school won’t be doing any teaching from the curriculum, they’ll just be babysitting