To want to have a September plan for schools by end of July?

[Echobelly]

I think it's kind of inevitable that kids will have to be all back at school in some way in September, but presume that form will not be full days/ every day.

I also presume we'll get confirmation of what this is a couple of weeks before they go back, so we'll have no idea until then of what our weeks are going to look like or be able to plan our work around it, or childcare if we need it/if it's available. As I imagine it hasn't occured to anyone in government that parents (read 90% mums) will have to contort their lives around this and might need more than a fortnight to plan this.

I appreciate things could still change a lot in the next few months, but if they could outline even a minimum likely provision that would be a huge help.

I think it's kind of inevitable that kids will have to be all back at school in some way in September, but presume that form will not be full days/ every day.

I also presume we'll get confirmation of what this is a couple of weeks before they go back, so we'll have no idea until then of what our weeks are going to look like or be able to plan our work around it, or childcare if we need it/if it's available. As I imagine it hasn't occured to anyone in government that parents (read 90% mums) will have to contort their lives around this and might need more than a fortnight to plan this.

I appreciate things could still change a lot in the next few months, but if they could outline even a minimum likely provision that would be a huge help.

Absolutely agree my pre-school age child is being offered nothing currently and unless he is offered his previous hours in September I will need to move him and will need time to find somewhere, along with all the other parents it will affect.

Totally agree would like to know how our school is planning if they say schools can all go back then I would want to know my child’s school was on board with this and taking them back full time. My nieces/nephews school is taking back all children full time mid June.
If the schools don’t go back full time in September then we are really stuck. I really have no plan for after September in regards to child care. I did manage to sort child care with a grandparent since lockdown started and that will continue until September but after that I have no plan as literally will be out of options.
Currently our school are only taking year R for 2 days every 2 weeks and years 1&6 2 days a week, from certain letters sent out by the school they want to continue this until the end of the year

As a last resort I may end up changing my child’s school to one that is having them back full time

I agree. All I can suggest is we all email our MP. The current government (well any government) clearly have no idea of how childcare works nor do they care. All we can do is keep telling them via MPs who can at least ask questions and check on the situation locally.

I'm a teacher and would love to know.. all I've been told so far is I'm in one day a week to monitor the key worker kids and I should see my year 10s at some point

It's still 3 months away, almost as long as we've been dealing with the virus. If you think about how much has changed in that time I'd be wary of any kind of prediction about what things will look like after the summer.

Living with uncertainty is hard and unsettling but I'd rather wait for something I can rely on than a constantly changing plan.

The thing is we don’t know what the situation will be in September. It’s a changeable situation.

They could probably give a very tentative idea but they’d have to be very clear that it wasn’t final and was subject to change. Even then I doubt that would stop schools halving to deal with complaints from a barrage of parents who said they were told x and have arranged plans around it and then have to change them in September.

Obviously the situation is changing and nothing can be guaranteed, but it would be really helpful to know if they are planning for blended learning, so you should only expect your child in school three days a week, for example. Scotland has already said they are going back part time in August with blended learning, so it doesn't seem like too much of a push for England to explain how it plans to work.

They have no more idea than you do (probably less tbh) Though given they're giving SAGE advice a stiff ignoring, they might as well just decide what they want to do and stick to that.

Living with uncertainty is hard and unsettling but I'd rather wait for something I can rely on than a constantly changing plan.

Yes and yes but. There's no plan. Not in the sense of a coherent one, even with different pathways. There are tiny steps and numbers and levels thrown around but I couldn't summarise it in a paragraph.

I think the problem is that all schools are doing things differently. 2 secondary schools in my area are welcoming back year 10 on a part time basis from June 15th whilst a third one is not opening at all until September and is giving just one phone call to each year 10. I assume that Primary’s schools are also doing things differently and expect this to be the same come September. How can the government set out a plan if each school is doing things differently?

The thing is if they do and then they have to change it the plan wont really have helped at all will it.

At the moment no one can plan anything more than a week or so ahead as we have no idea if or when we might have a second wave.

It's unrealistic to plan that far ahead given we have absolutely no idea how things will be then. You are asking for a crystal ball that doesn't exist - and nor should it at this point in time.

This is what Scotland have done. Teachers back in June to prepare to start the new year with ‘blended learning’. People are still moaning.

At the moment it's very difficult for head teachers to plan September as at the moment the only guidance they have is for the current reopening and they have no idea what the governments view is for September.

That being said both the primary I work at and my DCs primary both have confirmed that all year groups (obviously except year 6) will go back to the class/teacher they had this year for the first week to support transition. At the moment we don't know what this will look like, half the class, small groups etc. Again because the government haven't planned for what school looks like with more year groups than reception, year 1 and 6.

Our new reception children will start slightly later than this only by a week or so but again some transition sessions and been thought about and if possible home visits (although this can't be truly decided due to current advise).

As we all things related to schools during this crisis we find out what the government want along with the country.

The secondary my year 7 daughter is at hasn't communicated any plans for September yet but again no guidance has been given for what their reopening would be like. My daughter is quite worried about returning as she only completed half of her first year at secondary school and doesn't feel prepared for year 8.

It also seems mad that schools are expected to make their own decisions. They are not scientists or statisticians.

It’s a catch-22 situation because the government can’t really lay out a plan because every school will be different but schools can’t really lay out plans without knowing what the government guidance will be.

I also think that until the first wave of children have been back in school for at least a few weeks we won’t know how successful that has been or how much it has affected the infection rate. We don’t even know what education will look in July so I think wanting a plan for September already is a bit optimistic.

I do worry that lack of clarity and communication is going to make it easy for companies who will be looking at redundancies to make their decisions in a climate when employment laws will not be as strong. Having no secured childcare when furlough is reducing then ends is going to be awful.

Every school will be different, but surely not that different? Surely the government gives (or should give) guidance along the lines of:
X number of people in X amount of space
X number of people per toilet
X number of adults required per X number of children

And then the schools can work out the space and staff available, to decide how many children at a time. It is reasonable when businesses are given time to plan for the future, schools should be too

I think that the the government’s plan for tomorrow which is ‘get some children and staff back and see who dies’ will run for a few weeks and then they can start to make more plans depending on how that goes.

Schools individually cannot make plans until they’re told what they MUST do. My infant school spend ages planning the return for year 2 only as that’s who the head suspected they’d target and all those plans had to go in the bin!

I suppose if BJ and his gang had a crystal ball then you could get the school plan for Sept in May but we are still only just past the peak and they have no idea where we will be in 3 months time - all depends on whether there is a second wave - we are experiencing a worldwide pandemic never seen before in our lifetime and surely we all need to be flexible in this situation?
Yes it will cause last minute childcare planning for everybody with children under 12 but there will inevitably be leeway and wfh offered in most workplaces, just like there is now.

And once they've decided space per pupil, pupils per washbasin etc they'd have to make sufficient capital budget available asap to add space/plumbing for the schools with inadequate facilities. I suspect that's the real sticking point!

@ColouringPencils this makes a lot of sense however the guidance from the DfE has been changed and added to many times in the 3 weeks Boris gave for planning wider school opening. It has been a complete mess to be honest.

I have little confidence childcare and work issues will be taken into account unless those affected tell MPs because the pre-virus system never did really (no statutory requirement for schools to provide wraparound, provide sufficient spaces or even to tell new parents what there is).

A lot of parents cannot do their jobs long term without wrap around and every one (mostly women) that loses their job, that's one less tax payer. Plus it will make staffing schools and hospitals even harder. It does matter even if purely from an economic standpoint.