To think the idea that schools won’t be back full time by September is an absolute disgrace?

[LovingLivingInLockdown]

The government and teaching unions need to pull their fingers out. There should be no excuses.

The effects of 6 months out of school is going to be damaging enough, both educationally and mentally for hundreds of thousands of children. Not to mention the unnoticed abuse and neglect.

Teachers should be wearing PPE with spit screens if they are vulnerable and this should be being organised now. Temporary classrooms should be being built in playgrounds and school fields. Random testing routines in all schools should be being devised as well as guidelines regarding children’s contact with others outside of school and home. Whatever it takes, it must be done.

Our society expects parents to work while their DC are at school and if they want to get the economy moving again, schools being back by September should be non negotiable surely?

Something needs to happen the effects on wellbeing and mental health of children has been so damaging. Academically the legacy of covid-19 will be felt for years to come :(
I hope something can be done because there are many children suffering right now and missing out on so much.
Someone far brighter than me needs to come up with something but government needs to work with unions to think outside the box- schools open 7 days a week wouldn’t need extra accommodation space but obviously would need staffing recruit more temporary staff etc. Use peer to peer teaching between parents and teachers - then parents rota teaching smaller bubbles. We do assemblies on teams so not sure why some teaching could not be recorded and shared digitally? ( I know that raises the issues of digital poverty for some though).
It’s all a mess isn’t it :(
Looking at my dc school they are working so hard to do everything they can I have no doubts that at ground level teachers are working harder than ever especially heads/deputy positions.

It's funny how I started a thread where I said it might be helpful if those who were coping well with homeschooling and lockdown if they kept their kids out of school for a while longer to reduce to the strain on schools for those who really do need to go back. Apparently I was very very unreasonable.

Clearly I'm not

Actually, I am quite sick of being around my child 24/7 whilst also attempting to work and I don't see why that should be shameful to admit.

@pigeon999 hmmm maybe I'm just very cynical but that statement is a long way from confirming full time attendance for all year groups to me. I'd want something a lot harder and tighter than "expecting" all pupils back before I made plans with my work.

I just am not clear why any school could be sure about plans at the moment although I can think of reasons why private schools especially will want to assure parents that they will be open as normal.

If your school is state with 30 per class I am keen to know their source of reassurance.

Actually, I am quite sick of being around my child 24/7 whilst also attempting to work and I don't see why that should be shameful to admit.

Of course it shouldn’t. It’s an impossible situation to be put in and it can’t be sustained long term.

@user8558 no, I think you were being U to suggest that because the low numbers returning nationally have prompted the government's u-turn on more year groups returning.

The polls suggest parents don't largely want school to reopen more widely till September. If more had come in initially, we might see a different attitude.

LaurieMarlow

Generalisations help no-one.

We’ve been through all this, but it is of course heartening to see how much of a shit the education sector gives about parents losing livelihoods

The education sector as you call it is not there for parent employment. It's taken you some some time to show your inevitable schools as childminders colours, LaurieMarlow but join the queue.

@NowImLivinInExeter good point! I think I will 😊

laurie there are people on this thread that will fight tooth and nail to keep the schools shut indefinitely.

They don't care about your children or mine, they don't care about the mental health impact. You hear radio silence the minute you talk about distress to the children, those that are being neglected and abused, even healthy children that are now struggling. This is irrelevant because there 'might be' shielding teachers that need 'protecting', or they haven't been supplied with enough PPE to run a medium sized hospital, despite the fact there are zero infections in the community as of two weeks ago.

You talk clearly about solutions, they just shut it down with 'it can't be done'. No, no no we don't want to hear it. Schools must stay closed to 'be safe'
Well that narrative will not hold up when there are no infections in the country anywhere come late summer, no doubt we will have a new stream of excuses by then. It is futile to try and reason with people like this.
We have to wonder WHY they are so adverse to going back to work? When every other sector has worked all the way through or is now returning....There lies the answer and it is nothing to do with the safety of children!

@pigeon999

I emailed my MP four weeks ago, she said she knows it is a causing distress to children and parents, and the gov are doing their best to reopen schools. My impression is that the unions are making it very difficult for them.

Was that "impression" reinforced by your (I assume) Tory MP?

You talk clearly about solutions, they just shut it down with 'it can't be done'. No, no no we don't want to hear it. Schools must stay closed to 'be safe' Well that narrative will not hold up when there are no infections in the country anywhere come late summer, no doubt we will have a new stream of excuses by then. It is futile to try and reason with people like this. We have to wonder WHY they are so adverse to going back to work? When every other sector has worked all the way through or is now returning....There lies the answer and it is nothing to do with the safety of children

Tell the prime minister:

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/13/government-risking-basic-right-to-education-warns-childrens-tsar

Parents are told to wash children's clothes daily. If the chance of infection is that high then teachers and other school staff have to be protected, as do the children.

I can assure you this is not happening in my bubble, despite parents being asked, uniform rules relaxed, children still come in with very obviously the same clothes day in, day out.

@SleeplessWB, I feel your pain and suspect that that is precisely why the government are so keen to blame teachers/unions - anything rather than admit that the government themselves are blindfold in the fog on this.

Where I live, the LEA closed an unpopular primary school a few years because of falling rolls, despite loads of development being planned for the town. As the houses were built and occupied, the school age population grew and they've now extended schools as much as they can without buying land, which they couldn't afford. Fuck knows how they can spread kids out any more without building a new school.

Maybe they can set up temp classrooms in some of the high street shops that will never reopen.

The education sector as you call it is not there for parent employment

Except that it is of course.

That’s not it’s primary function, but we have organised our society to facilitate it, as the most efficient approach.

No alternative childcare is available in the hours between 9-3 termtime as children are in school therefore don’t require it.

The lack of this provision is causing enormous problems for parents who both work and will get worse as more and more are required back in the office.

@pigeon999 all of your post is factually incorrect. You are resorting to a tired narrative of "evil teachers" that has been debunked many times here on this thread. It's especially offensive to the TAs and teachers who have been describing the lengths to which they have gone to keep children's learning going. Are you not going to answer the points raised?

PIGEON

Schools are NOT shut. i don't know how many times we have to say it. They are open as far as government rules allow. no-one is adverse to going back to work in schools because that's where the vast majority of staff currently are.

When people say ‘money and finance’ do they actually understand that translates into feeding, clothing and housing children?

Yes, yes I do. I have my own children to feed and clothe. My husband is on his thrid lot of furloughing which makes me worry he will be up for redundancy especially as he is our main bread winner. I could go back to teaching but then I'd end up really ill and that would be a disaster for us all.
I agree children need to be back at school, I really do.
But at the moment the SD requirements make it very very difficult and without a serious amount of funding those difficulties are hard to overcome.
The best solution is 2 days per child with a day for deep cleaning as far as I can see or a total relaxing of SD rules within school.
And I know the economy needs to get moving again but at what cost?

Totally agree with you pigeon999

The education sector as you call it is not there for parent employment

Except that it is of course

It really really isn't. I can see you and others like you would find this definition convenient. But it isn't.

"Laurie there are people on this thread that will fight tooth and nail to keep the schools shut indefinitely.

They don't care about your children or mine, they don't care about the mental health impact. You hear radio silence the minute you talk about distress to the children, those that are being neglected and abused, even healthy children that are now struggling. This is irrelevant because there 'might be' shielding teachers that need 'protecting', or they haven't been supplied with enough PPE to run a medium sized hospital, despite the fact there are zero infections in the community as of two weeks ago."

Evidence for Zero infections please? I'm pretty sure they're in the rise in NW England.

I think every teacher on here has said they want life just to go back to normal.

All they have done is point out that reopening with 2m/1m and other regulatory compliance put in by government makes it impossible to open for everyone. It's a very complex system, not sided by the fact large chunks aren't run by local government any more.

Anyone can see halving class sizes means double the spaces and teachers needed.

I don't think the schools need to be shut.

But I think the only practical and sensible way forward would be to take a roll call of kids who would be sent back in Sept or August so that teachers have a clear idea of the numbers they're working with.

I can't be the only parent for whom home schooling has been going OK (it's not for us a solution forever but we could easily and happily do a year) and will be keeping kids back longer.

If schools knew they were accommodating lower numbers, surely this benefits everyone, more hours for the kids who need them etc

It is okay for all of the rest of us to be 'at risk' all the way through the whole pandemic. Police officers, fire officers, healthcare professionals, the judiciary, food production and distribution. Many, many sectors at real risk of infection working day in and day out throughout.

And yet for some strange reason teachers think they are above everyone else, they are a special case, that even FIVE MONTHS after the peak they STILL can't manage to work or open properly.

You simply could not make it up.

But they still expect to be cared for by doctors, have food in the cupboards, police officers to respond and everyone else to carry on regardless, just not them????

But it isn't.

I find it extraordinary that teachers like yourself can’t admit that we’ve organised society in this way as an efficient solution that among other thing facilitates working parents.

Where’s all the 9-3 childcare for school aged children if this isn’t the case?

pigeon999

As you well know very few schools have actually been shut.

They don't care about your children or mine, they don't care about the mental health impact. You hear radio silence the minute you talk about distress to the children, those that are being neglected and abused, even healthy children that are now struggling.

Where have you been over the last ten years or so?
This "I care about children's mental health" is frankly bullshit, You only care because it now affects you. we have been dealing with this for years.

You talk clearly about solutions, they just shut it down with 'it can't be done'. No, no no we don't want to hear it.

Just because you put it forward as a solution, doesn't mean its feasible or workable.

Schools must stay closed to 'be safe'

That would be why schools are opening to provide wider provision!

It is futile to try and reason with people like this

Try facts instead of bullshit it might help.

When every other sector has worked all the way through or is now returning....

Once again schools have worked through this and are returning, just not at the pace that you want.

There lies the answer and it is nothing to do with the safety of children!

If you actually gave a shit about this you would have been doing something about this over many years just not the last 12 weeks.