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.

So three quarters of secondary heads, and I would expect all primary heads - ie the vast majority of heads overall - are NOT receiving 6 figures.

Definitely not 'no heads coming to work for less than 100k these days'.

www.tes.com/jobs/vacancy/principal-medway-1340995

www.tes.com/jobs/vacancy/headteacher-wiltshire-1337912

Well, there are two state school head ads closer to 100k+ and one offering private medical insurance and other excellent perks.

However this is a bit off topic, really.

The topic is about getting kids back to school (or not).

Cant it was 2013 it may have gone up now.

But inner London is where the difference will be.

I personally don't see covid as all that scary larry but I am scared that rushed decisions, inept leadership at all levels is not protective of staff (I think leadership Is a moral issue : not enough moral leaders - and yes, overpaid MAT execs are some of the least moral leaders and the worst bullies I can think of). I think covid becomes scary when mishandled or handled without respect. My DH (also a teacher) is medically vulnerable so , yes, every decision does directly affect my family.

Talking of governors , apparently our CoG is a biophyisicist working in the field of epidemiology...

@Piggywaspushed

Sorry but that elf and safety line speaks volumes. Health and Safety is extremely important. It is reprehensible in a public health emergency to sneer at public health.

The NHS closed whole departments down, changed PPE rules (not entirely successfully due to various procurement issues), reallocated staff, and were fully funded (and supported by businesses and the army) to build the Nightingale hospitals.

Education gets nothing like that attention or investment.

Where does your information on health come from Piggy?

How is this different from others claiming they know more about education than schools do?

The second winter wave issue is worrying as the current advice is to isolate if you get cold symptoms, then book a test and wait for a result.
So your a week down the kind before you find out it wasn’t it.

And repeat for the next time.

How many times will employers, schools accept that?

Schools will be fine, I hope that is why Oak Academy has been funded for another year, for students waiting.

Not sure about employers.

That info about the NHS is in the public domain. I didn't say I know more about the NHS than an NHS employee would. that would be ridiculous. But I do know that schools have no extra budget to fund any changes they have to make to comply with guidelines : let's not kid ourselves that this lack of funding is why the government will not help schools to fund any creative measures they might have found to expand provision.

But, if that irked you, then you can see why it irks teachers when non teachers claim detailed expertise on schools and schooling. You just said 'Boris' changed the law on schools.

Anyway, I agree heads are often paid a lot and with that comes HUGE responsibility. What they sometimes forget is most of their staff are paid nothing like that amount.

A lot of what piggy has said was in the news - nightingale, ppe. I know departments have closed as appointments have been cancelled. I know staff have been redeployed as its happened to friends.
This is different to what is often said re education as piggy has made no comment about the effort or otherwise being put in my staff, no mention of a "can do" atitude.

Not irked Piggy, just pointing out that you appear to think it’s OK for you to do this but others are not, because, well, I don’t know really as obviously I am not you!

And who believes everything the Press say?

I am speaking from my own personal experiences, which is all any of us can do, really.

Well so am I, but have repeatedly been told by posters that I am wrong about, for example, there being 180 different versions of the DfE guidelines.

Are you telling me it's not true that the Nightingale Hospitals were fully funded?

(Which I think is right and proper, btw)

Thanks quiz, appreciated.

@Piggywaspushed

Are you telling me it's not true that the Nightingale Hospitals were fully funded?

(Which I think is right and proper, btw)

I have no idea re Nightingales!

I am sorry you have experienced people claiming to know better who may not actually have any real knowledge, but I am hoping for intelligent and sensible debate on the issues.

Honestly have not had much chance to engage before now as I am nhs staff!

Well I definitely know of schools (like my own) who are preparing at least two versions of the timetable for September. Version 1 is akin to no Covid - back to old normal. Version 2 is full lockdown with slight changes to the school timings. Version 3 is with some SD and bubbles. Version 4 Is a year group at a time. So versions 3 and 4 will involve blended learning.

Our timetabler has said no one has any idea. He hates the Dfe with a passion as they keep issuing new guidelines and then trying to blur history with comments about old guidelines. Knowing him he probably has 10 versions on the go with exam groups featuring heavily in the other options

We will not get a finalised timetabled until about 2 days before the start of term as we do not know what September will look like.

Our high school has already warned us that its very likely that come Sept they will only be at 50% capacity if the 1m rule is still in place, less if it goes back to 2m.
They expect to be doing a combo of in school and online lessons for quite some time

Primary has at least 4 too:

• Struct 1m social distancing (class size less than 15)
• 15 person bubbles + keyworkers
• 15 person bubbles plus no keyworkers
• Class size bubbles (over 30, but less than 35), but other controls in place
• Normal class sizes, some controls relaxed (e.g. no need for fully staggered start / lunch / break times) but others still in place (e.g. no PPA cover to minimise numbers of adults, no assemblies)
• Normal

[quote Babesinthewud]@echt

And you’re suggesting schools don’t?....[/quote]
Schools don't, at least the ones I have seen inside (online). You see shops, takeaways etc etc with screens to protect their staff but then you go in a primary school and they have nothing of the sort, the classrooms look just like they always do except the children are not wearing their uniforms.

Yes cover will be interesting in secondaries. Our timetabler manages cover as well. I guess a couple of staff off will tip him over the edge

raspran,

To be fair, schools don't look as they normally do - there are half or fewer of the children in each classroom, and secondaries have between 1/20th (a quarter of 1 year group in 11-16 schools) and 1/14th (a quarter of 2 year groups in 11-18 schools) in at once, while primaries have a maximum of half.

That means that there IS more space, both between pupils and between pupils and staff, all around the school than there would be on a normal school day.

I am in a bubble of 15 upper KS2. The children are arranged at desks, in rows. Each desk that would usually contain 2 children a few cm apart has 1 child. Although I come less than 1 m from them when moving around the room, that is only briefly, and there is enough space to stand 1m away or more when teaching from the front. When moving around the class on a normal day, I have to physically brush past seated children, and I have to have the front desks less than 1 m from the front as i teach, or else I can't fit them all in.

One of mine (yr 10) has gone back one day a week with home schooling the rest of the week. I think this might be the way to go - mixture of home and school. They get the motivation from teachers in school to boost them during home schooling part. Not perfect by any means but lowers the risk by minimising contact. It still carries all the disadvantages of home schooling but is a bit better.

We have been advised to consider several plans for Sept.

Stay the same
Reduced social distancing.
No social distancing.
Differing full/ part time arrangements.

@cantkeepawayforever

raspran,

To be fair, schools don't look as they normally do - there are half or fewer of the children in each classroom, and secondaries have between 1/20th (a quarter of 1 year group in 11-16 schools) and 1/14th (a quarter of 2 year groups in 11-18 schools) in at once, while primaries have a maximum of half.

That means that there IS more space, both between pupils and between pupils and staff, all around the school than there would be on a normal school day.

I am in a bubble of 15 upper KS2. The children are arranged at desks, in rows. Each desk that would usually contain 2 children a few cm apart has 1 child. Although I come less than 1 m from them when moving around the room, that is only briefly, and there is enough space to stand 1m away or more when teaching from the front. When moving around the class on a normal day, I have to physically brush past seated children, and I have to have the front desks less than 1 m from the front as i teach, or else I can't fit them all in.

In the primary school I have seen inside the children are working 6 to a table with no social distancing.

raspran,

But there still won't be 30 in the class, so the next table will be much further away than normal, and for example there will be no 'everyone sitting together at lunch', no whole school playtimes, no assemblies, no choirs or sports clubs that cross classes.

Staff do not have to distance from the children in each bubble, and in younger classes they are much more likely to have to be in close contact. I am a medically vulnerable older teacher, so I do tend to keep as much distance as I can, teaching more from the front and offering any individual advice from behind, or at worst alongside, a child, not from in front of them.

That's the point of bubbles - fewer children, who don't socially distance from each other, but who are in a classroom with MUCH more space, have specific controlled routes around the school and in the playground etc to prevent contact between bubbles. Staff from different bubbles will avoid contact with each other. Everything will be staggered.

So if you look at 1 table in a classroom, it may look as normal in some schools (though not others - because we have brought back the maximum number of children per bubble, we decided that individual desks was the way to go, on balance), but if you zoom out to class and school level, it won't look normal. Books are quarantined before and after being marked. Equipment is individual, not shared, or is cleaned between uses.