To wonder about how all primary school year groups going back before summer holidays would work?

[Coffeebiscuitsrepeat]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-52844043

Apologies if there is already a thread on this.

I don't see how 14 x classes of 15 be phsyically possible in terms of space/safety, if all school year groups were sent back for the last 4 weeks of term 6. Are the government banking on half the children not being sent in? It sounds like there are already calls to scrap the plan anyway.

I'd be interested to know your thoughts!

Also, until this article, I was under the impression that the only year groups going back before the summer hols at all were R, 1, 6 and perhaps 10 and 12.

Ours aren't taking any back this school year and are only having the keyworker children back into the classroom.
I'm worrying they won't be back in September either going on the headteachers attitude

It won’t happen unless the government abandons social distancing guidance and tells us to have 30 in a class again. My school is going to have key workers and vulnerable children, year 6, year 1, reception and nursery. That takes us to absolute maximum capacity. We won’t have any other year groups back as there are no more rooms. We’ve already got groups in the hall, the foyer and the staff room. We will be running it as all of those children in full time and we have used every member of staff. There are no spare staff members left.

However, if we have to take back the other year groups for a month then either we have to scrap the bubbles of 15 and return to 30 or we have to offer part time to everyone. There aren’t really any other options.

I really think they will see how it goes for a fortnight, then announce they are reducing social distancing in general to 1m in line with WHO.

Then a week after that announce it is safe for schools to have bubbles of 30 retaining social distancing according to their new guidelines.

Our school is already at capacity without Y1 going back. The only way they and others can go back is if the bubbles are are scrapped - but I thought social distancing was supposed to be in place for the long term? Already resigned myself to the fact my Y1 and Y4 DC won’t be back in til Sept but now I am thinking what will happen in Sept?

I think they will reduce the social distancing size and increase bubble size.

We're the same, we've run out of space and we run out of staff. We can't do full time for all without abandoning social distancing completely. Where in earth the government thinks these schools are that can miraculously conjure up double the space and double the staff I do not know.

if we have to take back the other year groups for a month then either we have to scrap the bubbles of 15 and return to 30 or we have to offer part time to everyone. There aren’t really any other options.

This. Either lip-servce is paid to the bubble concept for a few weeks and it's back to normal, or all classes (including the ones that are supposed to be going back this week full-time) will have to go part-time.

My primary school isn't taking year 1 or 6 back before Sept as they say they have 75 key worker's children. I would imagine that the chances of the other years going back are v slim in many school.

I think junior schools that are only having year six in may be able to have some other year's back before end of the summer term though.

In all honesty, I can see the idea of bubbles/2m distancing etc. Being scrapped in schools in September.

Long term, it just isn't a viable solution. The school I teach in has 1500 pupils. We are at maximum capacity with a waiting list a mile long. Not a fancy school either, we are a good, standard comprehensive. There are times when we struggle to room all lessons even though we have a large, modern building. An extension is planned which should be started soon. We have neither the space nor the staff to accommodate bubbles of 15 children.

It's the same at my son's primary school. They are full to capacity. Not enough rooms/staff for the full school in bubbles.

I don't know what the answer is but I can't see the government keeping to the current idea in September.

They will suddenly decide that social distancing and all the other measures that appear to be non-negotiable in other settings, will no longer apply to schools (a bit like now, really). The only thing that will be necessary for schools will be hand-washing, and if we're lucky, they may even be some soap available.

For it to happen it would have to be part time hours, but that would have it's own problems of course. The rooms would need to be deep cleaned in between and there may not be the staff or the time to get it done.

You can have social distancing/bubbles or everyone back but you can’t have both, that’s clear.

My best guess is they will scrap the social distancing/bubbles within schools in a few weeks.

They will wait till they've got more data. See how many kids, staff, families get sick. Then decide. They're basically an experiment right now.

SAGE thought that a 1 week on 1 week off model looked promising as a way to manage numbers and transmission risks (presumably those exposed would go through the peak infectious period and start to show symptoms during the off week allowing pods to be isolated). But it appears that the government hasn't been considering this.

It could only happen if they either abandon social distancing altogether or (possibly easier) have half in at any one time.
Our head thinks it’s extremely unlikely at our school due to staff issues (many shielding). So for example due to having year 1 staff shielding year 2 are teaching year 1. So nobody to teach year 2 If they are going back.
I think schools should be encouraged to make their own decisions and I imagine some many have enough staff/room to make it work; most won’t.

I can't see it happening. We are at absolute maximum capacity and growing in our area already, with no new schools being built. My DC's school hall can't fit the whole school in and every couple of years they build extra classrooms. There is no additional infrastructure to go with them, so no additional space to move children.

The Tories persistent underfunding of public services t really needs to come back to bite them on the bum, rather than throwing the public into the lion's den. What I mean by that is quickly stump up the cash that should have been spent on schools and issue very clear guidance on how schooling can work, or accept that it cannot work and give us some other solutions.

It can't work on current rules so either they'll have to be changed or the other years won't go.back. Ds's school have already said that they can have keyworker children, reception and y1 but can't work out how to fit in y6 with the space and staff they have. If they are struggling to fit in 3 year groups then adding y2-5 would be impossible.

I think the government will be watching closely to see what happens when the first lot of kids go back. Provided it doesn’t increase the numbers too much I think they will then say bubbles of 30 now ok. In any event it seems like a lot of parents are not planning on sending their kids back until September so I would imagine that the most likely scenario is something like an average of maybe 20 kids back per class, so not actually that different to 15. Obviously there will be variations on that but certainly based on my reception class WhatsApp it seems like not even half the children will be going back just yet.

Either classes need to be on a part time rota or there needs to be 30 in each class again.

There's no other way to do it.

I think it’s just an aim im not expecting it. Also most wont send their kids back for 1 month as they won’t see the point. I think they will reduce 2m to 1m soon as there’s been a lot of pressure around reducing this and that could mean schools can take more children if they want to.

Our primary have allowed for this by doing a part time schedule for the first year groups to go back - 2 full days in each week.

It's not even just the space in the classrooms. It's getting them into school in the first place. If you've got a 3 form entry primary school with a nursery too, how the hell do you get everyone in the door in the morning without the parents breaking social distancing?

Depends on your school. Ours has the space and the teachers/TAs, so should be allowed to!

It’s just not workable in the long-term unless there is an element of part-time schooling which would in turn have a big impact on the ability of working parents to work.

Children need an education and they need to find ways to provide that. I’d much rather one week off, one week on or partial days for all than some groups (obviously still a pain for working parents) having nothing. In reality, I think the government will abandon social distancing in schools. The numbers don’t add up and come September we’re unlikely to be as lucky with the weather so you can’t assume it’ll be easy to get them outside for long periods of the day.