There’s now a strong chance schools will NOT go back full time in September

[Redolent]

Schools have been set up to fail by the careless summer relaxation of lockdown.

• No mandatory face masks in shops and indoors. The UK is an international outlier here.
• Reduction of 2m rule to 1m which is basically the normal distance people talk to each other. Factor in alcohol and social distancing is now non-existent in pubs and restaurants. Oh, and nobody cares about the 1m ‘plus’ bit. They just hear 1m.
• Reopening of too many indoor venues at once, including things like places of worship which are high-risk for transmission anyway.
• Bypassing the idea of social bubbles straight to unlimited two household meet-ups indoors. You can visit different pubs/restaurants over the weekend and go inside multiple households throughout the week. Zero attempt to break chain of transmission.
• No functioning app and poor test/trace system (see SAGE’s Stephen Reicher on the latter)
• ‘Pausing’ of shielding in August

All of the above will led to a rise in cases.

Meanwhile:

• Shit is absolutely hitting the fan in the United States, India, Pakistan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, other parts of the Middle East. Our quarantine policy is so terrible it may well be scrapped anyway. Will see more imported cases.
• The weather will turn cooler and allow perfect conditions for the virus to thrive

So by end of August/early September, our cases and hospitalizations will be rising significantly. Flu season will kick in. The NHS is already groaning under the weight of its huge 10million waiting list - another shut down cannot happen. A full time return to school under those circumstances will be untenable. Blended learning will see a turn as will part-time schooling.

YABU: we need to get the economy going in all its forms as quickly as possible, and schools will also go back with no issues.
YANBU: you cannot have things both ways. This summer relaxation is setting us up for an autumn/winter spike and more part-time schooling.

But larry there is no causal link between puns and schools . They are separate issues. Pubs may be overrun if the weather stays good. But your local village pub, not so much. They have booking systems, PPE, queuing systems, queues for toilets. Pubs are smaller community hubs than schools . I agree pubs should be closed . Access to beaches should be controlled as it is in Spain. But note how Spain is keeping schools closed now to avoid spikes , precisely so they can get their economy going by getting tourists back.
As it goes, in my town , pubs have all decided not to reopen unit the end of July at the earliest. And no one is slagging them off for making a PH decision.

After this no school will presumably ever be able to fine a family for going on holiday in term time. Evidently missing school has a tremendous impact on the child's academic performance

Yes! I've always done as I'm told by the schools and government. My dc have not been late to school once. Every absence has been for a genuine illness or a medical appointment, of which there were many (sn) and I received an unpleasant letter telling me of the dreadful repercussions of my dcs attendance dipping below a certain percentage. Reading between the lines, I may as well have given up on my dcs future entirely based on their apocalyptic predictions. On the other hand, if I hadn't taken my dc to their medical appointments, ss would, quite rightly, think I was neglecting my dc. So I can't win. Now, here we are, my dc won't set foot on the school premises for six months and that's absolutely no problem.

I feel totally betrayed.

Piggy,

The safety of school will depend, in large part, on the total number of infections in the community. This will, in turn, depend on pubs, cinemas, beaches etc.

So police the leisure seriously in order to protect teachers, who will need to be teaching.

It's going to be boom times for British resorts for a while.

'Airbridge' ie quarantine-free routes may be subject to change at no notice, and that will be an uninsurable risk

Never mind schools, parents won't be able to get 2 weeks additional quarantine leave. So holidays abroad in half terms or the last two weeks of a longer holiday will be out (and indeed those with late August hols already have a headache)

But I think dealing with part-time schooling is a necessary task for schools. There will be the normal teacher and pupil sick absences, 14day isolations for those with known close exposure to confirmed cases, the possibility of local, regional or if really unlucky national lockdowns (on no notice and of no fixed duration)

The government has left this to be bottom up from schools. And there doesn't seem seem to be considerable variation in response

Pubs may be overrun if the weather stays good. But your local village pub, not so much.

In our village, the police had to come and order the pub to close on that Friday evening when Boris had just announced pubs had to shut that day, Literally hundreds of people came for "one last pint", aided and abetted by the landlord who posted all over the local Facebook pages that he was staying open to closing time. There were fights, the road was closed because of people stood drinking in the road (as the pub was so small, the crowds quickly grew outside. Police were called and ordered it to close at around 8pm.

Even in quiet rural areas, there are still people who are basically stupid and have no common sense. Village pubs won't be immune from the chaos of the pubs re-opening.

I have a horrible feeling that we are being groomed to accept part time schooling as the norm. The notion of a free, full time education will be the exception rather than the rule. I have already been called entitled for wanting my dc to go to school and just after free childcare I'm a sahm ffs. I predict in the future the parents whose children go to school full time will be viewed as entitled scroungers

Tbh I'm coming round to thinking that many kids would benefit from a half week in smaller classes of 15. Several secondary and college kids I know have been in for the odd day so far now and have said they feel more able to contribute to the class and ask questions when they don't feel intimidated in the bigger lessons. Even ds's teacher said he was engaging more with his work on line. I explained that was because he felt he felt he could, for the above reasons.
So much time in a normal day is "banter" or fire fighting kids misbehaving or distracting each other, that actually part time, smaller classes might not be too unpalatable.

My eldest is back in year 6, they are LOVING school. Prefer the smaller class and are learning loads more than normal. Admittedly they are with most of their friends and their teacher from pre-covid, they are also academically very level pegged.

Its not full time, but thats ok as they are learning better and more efficiently due to the smaller class.

It's going to be boom times for British resorts for a while.

Only if people stay for a week, spend locally, etc. If it's all going to be day trippers who bring their food/drink with them, leave a trail of litter behind and block the roads with illegal parking, then that's certainly not going to be a boom time at all.

Yes, KazzyHoward I was thinking of actually when people are going on holiday.

Because a week in a British destination is going to be considerably more achievable than a week abroad plus definite 2 weeks quarantine, or reliance on no change to airbridge.

But yes, people might decide a series of day trips is preferable. Once in July and with at least some attractions open, it's less likely to be as sordid as the hotspots yesterday

So much time in a normal day is "banter" or fire fighting kids misbehaving or distracting each other

Teachers have been saying for years that they can spend more time controlling behaviour than teaching some groups. Was it yesterday or the day before, a teacher was saying they planned different kinds of lessons for the "just after lunch" slot due to lack of concentration etc.

When you look at the syllabus for some subjects, and the text book/study guide etc., it is hard to understand how it can take so much time to teach when you look at the maximum number of teaching hours available. (Yes, I know there are also some subjects with a truly ridiculous amount of content!).

I do wonder whether there is scope to move to a "quality rather than quantity" approach where fewer subjects/topics are taught, but with more emphasis on skills etc rather than learning loads of facts that you just don't need to learn anymore (due to google).

But yes, smaller classes mean less chance for the idiots to dominate and ruin the learning chances of their classmates. I remember a "kid from hell" in our form at secondary school. She was an attention seeking nightmare and constantly being suspended, given detentions, referred to the head, etc. For GCSE, she chose history which I also chose and my heart sank when I saw she was in the same group. There were only 16 of us and I thought it was going to be a nightmare, but no, we had an old-school teacher who quickly got the measure of her and knew just the right amount of attention to keep her engaged without dominating the class. She was still a nightmare in other groups, but quickly calmed down in history. In the end, History was the only GCSE she passed - all down to a combination of a small class size along with an experienced teacher. Doesn't always work though. In our Maths A level class, there were only 12 of us, but the teacher was truly hopeless and we all really struggled. At the end of the first year, she left, and rather than giving us a new teacher, they merged two classes and we ended up with a class of 25 (which is high for A level) but our original class really improved by having a much better teacher, despite the bigger class and less individual attention.

There is more to it than just class numbers, though it's almost inevitable that smaller numbers are better if all other aspects are also good, i.e. a good teacher.

My yr 6 loves the small classes. It really has made a huge difference to her enjoyment of school. I'd love for that to be feesable longer term. I can't see the government paying for that though?

Smaller classes sound great but it’s only because the other half at the school is stuck at home with no classes.

So crap the difference. Fabulous for half.

Smaller classes sound great but it’s only because the other half at the school is stuck at home with no classes

Exactly, so whilst the chosen ones are deemed worthy enough to be educated thanks to their key worker parents, my dc gets to sit at home, refusing to do any work and feeling isolated.

Brilliant system

My DDs school is majority vulnerable kids in. I don't begrudge that at all.

We seem to have random kids going into our school. Year R, 1 and 6. Key workers. And random others-invite only. But mine cannot and are stuck at home.

@MarshaBradyo @formerbabe

My comment about my year 6 being in wasn't a boast at all, it was in response to the comments about all schools being part time from September, and whilst yes there will be alot of negatives. My comment was that there could be a positive, in that if all the children got part time education come September, so they would all benefit from the smaller more concentrated lessons.

Lets face it the year 6's of this year will be the year 7's in September and wayyyy down the priority list of the secondary school

I didn't think you were boasting at all! At the moment though, it's not a part time, fair split...at the moment some kids are in and some aren't even allowed to set foot on the school grounds. My dc is receiving no education whilst her peers are. It's incredibly unfair right now.

I don't like the idea anyway of part time learning as I see it as a slow grooming process to get us to accept this as the norm.

I agree it is incredibly unfair. And I also don't want part-time to become a norm. How are parents supposed to work if kids are not at school in the way they were when the parent started a job?

I'm not confident that schools will go back full time come September. I hope they do.

I have no control over it and not much control in my life any more. I was going to apply for a TA role in Sept but decided not to in case my kids have no school or wrap around care. Right now my own kids come first. I might get in tutors for my 5 year old who hasn't read to read or write yet. the longer it carts in the bigger the gap will get between those in worse socio- economic poverty and the rest.

Evil -

Sorry yes also was making the same point. My year 6 is loving small classes and I was thinking ahead to september. Im assuming my then yr 4 and yr 7 will likely be part time. We've been told all will be back so If half the class are taught half the week/ other the other half or similar mine would actually love the benefit of the small class. More learning seems to take place, its more relaxed and happier environment.

I think doing "homework " the other 2 days isn't anywhere near as bad as 6 months with no school.

It doesnt work for childcare obviously though....

No I don't want part time school for my child to be norm either, I want decent full time. But I have to admit, the provision being received at the moment in smaller classes, is more relevant, bespoke, tailored and concentrated learning.
I think what i am trying to say is I am not sure this part time they are currently getting is worse than the normal full time with 30 kids in the class.

I hope that makes sense!!!

But your right, it doesn't work for childcare, getting people back working (and paying taxes). We are repeatedly told school is not childcare. Yet the government claim it is for benefits and getting people back to work.

Yes of course, smaller class sizes are preferable...one of the reasons why people put their children in private school. However, right now, some kids are in school in these smaller classes and some are at home doing nothing meaning the playing field is not level.

I really think the government need to DO something.

This link is scary, and schools aren’t even back properly.

inews.co.uk/news/health/uk-coronavirus-cases-covid-19-outbreaks-care-homes-schools-450595