Anyone got ideas on HOW secondary schools can go back full time in Sept?

[Fizzysours]

I am a teacher and I want schools back now. Many of my pupils are getting really low and lonely and about 40% are not managing the work we set. I just don't get how full time will work in Sept though because....
-with one metre distancing we can fit 20, not 30 in a class
-kids will have to sit at one desk all day, to reduce transmission on objects, teachers would rotate
-so if we 'set' the class for english, the setting will be totally wrong for maths, and vice versa, so what level do we teach them? They won't get good appropriate work, but a 'one size for all'- shockingly hard for them
-what about their options? Half of each bubble doing geography, half history etc.....
-how do they get lunch? We can only stagger it so much, with rotating teachers.
Anyone else thinking this is just going to be so hard? Do we give in and have school as normal, with the really high infection risks? If it's as above, these kids cannot be expected to perform at GCSE.

Have I missed some really simple solution? It just seems impossible. But they must come back. Home is just so hard for them.

Daft isn’t it? Especially when they all leave and walk home with friends/siblings or get on public transport.

They just need to be back, as normal. This is getting ridiculous. Teachers to wear PPE if they insist (which isn’t massively necessary since they spend most of the time at the front of the class).

The simple solution is that they will announce social distancing isn’t necessary in schools.

Why do think going back to normal is ‘giving in’ and why do you think the infection rate will be really high? It’s lower now than it was when schools were open in March and there were no major school based outbreaks.

Mask wearing all day when inside apart from lunchtimes which should take place in a set room with a fixed bubble of a tutor group each day. Clear masks or visors for teachers. Bigger budget for school cleaning and many more hand wash stations

I think this is set another announcement that has happened before they have consulted anyone working in education. I expect a U turn when people working in education start to explain why this is imposdible just like the Uturn in getting all primary years back before summer.

"Bubbles" of 30 and no expectation of social distancing in the bubble. Packed lunches at desks and rotas to use playgrounds.

Wrap around care will be a sticking point because bubbles won't be maintainable and yet without wraparound care people still won't be able to work like normal.

I suspect that it will be decided social distancing isn't required in schools.

I teach secondary and even the groups we have had back so far are walking to/from in groups, going to the park together after etc. So not fully social distancing.

I can't see any other way. Infection rates and deaths are decreasing and providing that continues over the next two and a bit months, they really need to get kids back in.

@RNBrie

"Bubbles" of 30 and no expectation of social distancing in the bubble. Packed lunches at desks and rotas to use playgrounds.

Wrap around care will be a sticking point because bubbles won't be maintainable and yet without wraparound care people still won't be able to work like normal.

In secondary? No. Maybe you think this would work in primary but how do you manage GCSEs and A levels in the same bubble all day? Also wrap around not needed.

We are almost as far from the start of term in September as we are from the start of lockdown, when infections were much higher than they are now and schools were not the centres of infection clusters. I think by September the levels in the community will be even lower than they are now and schools will be able to open without any social distancing, and teachers and students can wear PPE if they want to - the only rule I would put in place is being super aggressive about staying home and getting tested if any symptoms of covid19.

DH is a teacher, they're making contingency plans for no return, various partial returns and full return. He's been told he has a meeting in August two weeks before the start of term when they will decide what to do. It's impossible to know right now what the status of covid19 in the community will be so it makes sense to wait until then.

All your children will be mixing as normal outside the school. There's still no evidence of high levels of transmission in schools (unlike factory hotspots) so I would expect you will be told things like this and left to get on with things. Maybe a routine of wiping down tables.

To be fair they did say they were going to be working on how they were going oing to do it over the next few weeks and then build on it from there.
They seem to acknowledge something has to happen and they need to work out how, this takes time. It seemed clear to me and it seemed reasonable what he said.

I am puzzled how people need all of the info now, that's impossible, having a goal to work towards isn't impossible, it does however take time, patience and consultation to figure out how and then adapt it once it starts to iron out any issues.
They don't have some magic formula, they are just wanting to work towards what does need to happen, the problem will come from those who won't work with them to find a solution practically and just find problems and obstacles. Stuff like this is hard to figure out so I hope every one tries to work with them or it may take much longer to get kids back where they need to be.

They're talking about this on the Today programme right now actually

Misread the title @32GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat! Sorry!

Thanks for that. Tuning in now.

I think the schools will go back as normal.
The teenagers I see around our town and on the park are not social distancing so I don’t see why my child is getting only 6 hours of actual school time before the summer holidays. It seems pointless.

In China the children clean their own desks.
Would it be so wrong to hand the children wipes to do their desk for a min or so when they enter and before they sit down.
To get them all to use sanitizer as they enter the school.
To be heat checked as they arrive at the gates and stagger arrival and leave times over 30 mins.
This would be for their own protection.

Steely correction. Some teenagers are not social distancing. There are lots of us parents who don't allow this and have genuine concerns about social distancing and schools returning. We are not prepared to risk our kids because some teenagers are not sticking to social distancing.

Social distancing in schools won't be a thing by then.

I think the hope is that the virus will continue to diminish over the summer so that the current measures will not be needed. We're at Level 3 now, but the virus is diminishing by 4% each day in the UK currently, so by September we should be in a very different place, as long as track and trace and quarantine works.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat I agree that we just have to accept the risk. Teachers spend most of the lesson walking round helping and assessing though so I feel like we ought to be given ppe.

@my2bundles

Steely correction. Some teenagers are not social distancing. There are lots of us parents who don't allow this and have genuine concerns about social distancing and schools returning. We are not prepared to risk our kids because some teenagers are not sticking to social distancing.

My teenager is also following the rules, but I’ve seen very large groups of teenagers around me sitting on the park together, playing football. I know many of these teens and their parents. If you don’t want to send yours back fine, but I’d like mine to have more than 6 hours in school.

@mummmy2017 Ilike the idea of them having their own kit and being responsible for cleaning their desks. They would spread the bug in corridors though I think. We are currently teaching our year 10's and they are marched carefully around school by senior management. Obvs we can't do that with five yeargroups

@SteelyPanther I think you are right to insist that they need to come back. They need school. They need to be taught properly and they need their friends. This is getting to be too hard and sad for kids. I want my classes back :(

Ok. But seeing groups of teens not social distancing is not a valid reason for kids to go back to classes of 30.

I think they'll just open as normal.