School will be closed at lunchtime one day a week from Sept

[Ilovecranberries]

The school (primary) had just informed the parents that they will be closing at lunchtime on one day a week from September to facilitate "planning".
I don't even know what to say. AIBU to think it is ridiculous? I am a single working parent, not sure how I am supposed to work around this. Extra childcare for these 3.5 hours at the local childminders rates will be £56 a week (two children here). Or two grand a year post tax. I probably will be told I am BU (I probably am), just very anxious right now.

Also, with the huge potential for school staff to need to self isolate at times from September (or have time at home to care for self isolating dependents), plus the guidance that staff shouldn't come into school even with non-Covid illnesses, the cost of supply cover this year is likely to be astronomical.

One head who closed a school on Friday afternoon was quoted in a newspaper article I read that it saved the school £35,000 in one year.

School spending per pupil over time at the school (primary):

2016/2017 Spend per pupil £7,341
2017/2018 Spend per pupil £6,390
2018/2019 Spend per pupil £6,200

The sensible suggestions made by BigChocFrenzy seem to be too much for our pathetic government. How hard would it be to give teachers visors and get kids to wear masks when moving in corridors?
I am a teacher and it gets more and more bizarre to be told that I don't need a face covering and yet in shops and public transport I do! Are schools magical buildings where covid cannot go??

My dd's school announced today no more breakfast club any more so that will leave loads of us up shit creek - ok so l can buddy up with another mum and try and help each other out but that means having other peoples' kids in my house when l am trying to get us out the door - so crossing bubbles for a start and extra stress in the mornings that are busy enough. And for pp who have said school isn't childcare, breakfast club is exactly that - paid childcare. Wouldn't even care if l had to send her with her own food in.

You're lucky, our kids are supposed to go back in September, in school 2 days and home schooled the other 3. I'm due to start a full time degree in September. I don't know what I'm going to do.

And I was going to use breakfast club and after schools but both are provisionally cancelled

I just hope things change before September

Schools are doing the best they can to keep our children safe. Things are different now and we all have to adapt and look for solutions.

The number of people who conflate teaching and childcare on here is frankly staggering. The number of people who seem to think that PPA can be knocked out in half an hour over lunch is almost as bad.

The number of people who conflate teaching and childcare on here is frankly staggering.

Nope. The number of people who do not consider the wider impact of reduced hours is staggering.

I have not had a job since August 2019! Struggling to find something. job descriptions are not addressing changes to Jobs, factoring in working from home and office based workers! I am guessing after school clubs and morning clubs will not start up again for a while? Public Sector and Private sector are just square pegs in Round holes, It has been for years there is not going to be a perfect fit for a long time I don’t think.. Full Time hours, if you use friends to look after each other’s children, won’t there need to be The same process of bubbles I guess there won’t be a cost if you doing each other a favour!! Childminders will have to do after school Clubs moving forward or in the future!

I was with you until you said that it would mean you can’t have a holiday
For some single working moms and indeed families they would struggle to afford this additional childcare for a few hours each week, particularly if they have more than one child. Not all jobs permit you to work from home, I.e. such as warehouse and supermarket work. Many women will have to balance the costs of childcare with the costs of a reduction in hours and that’s if there employers allow them to reduce their hours in this way, some employers have very set contracts. For some this is a real problem indeed.

Out of interest Buffalo Planning what does PPA time consist of? When my children were at primary school ten years between them, it consisted of pretty much the same curriculum.

It's shit.

But your problem isn't with the school. It's with the government who have reduced school budgets to the point where this is the only option 😔

Ppa is typically spent marking and then using this to adapt/change what you then do.

I often mark, then realise there's misconceptions or gaps j need to revisit before moving on.

PPA time is also spent creating new lessons and resources.

When my children were at primary school ten years between them, it consisted of pretty much the same curriculum.

So it must have been delivered in exactly the same way. Or do you not think teachers review their plans year on year?! Approaches and pedagogy change even if the knowledge content doesn't.

Marking needs doing too. Data entry, phonecalls home, pastoral stuff, evidence for EHCPs, writing assessments, marking assessments, CPD are just a few of the other tasks I undertake during that time. (most of this stuff is done in the evenings too).

PPA is about 2.5 hours per week. It doesn't scratch the surface of the amount of time needed to plan, prepare and assess.

Not sure if you have looked at the DfE guidance OP but your school isn't following it. It should be a full time offer with no loss of teaching time and PPA teachers can be used, as can peripatetic teachers across schools.

@Xenia yes teachers would also need to pay for childcare. My child isn’t allowed in the same classroom as me in school even if the room is empty as we are in separate bubbles. This will be the same in September.

In my school staff children are treated the same as everyone else. This has caused me childcare issues since June as my child can only be in a year group bubble not a key worker bubble. I teach a key worker bubble so have been providing care from 8-5 but my child can only be in school from 8:30-3:15. I had to source alternate childcare. I don’t think I’m alone in this situation either. Glad we are not having to do this in September. School will be having an earlier finish on Fridays due to PPA time. Staff will have to source childcare from 1pm.

It should be a full time offer with no loss of teaching time

Many schools only offer this amount of contact time out of a pandemic, unfortunately, so it is "full time" in the sense that all the contact time is given.

Looking back we are all going to be really grateful for what we had in a couple of years, aren't we.

Problem with our local schools is that not enough parents use breakfast/after school clubs to make them viable. The cost of providing staff/food is not covered by the amount parents pay. If schools have sufficient funds they could cover the loss somewhere else, but when your budget is already overstretched that isn't possible.

Then bring in the issue of COVID, bubbles, extra cleaning etc, it just isn't practical never mind whether it is viable.

I don't know if it has been covered above, but have the schools shortened the lunch break to cover the lost class time?

My kids school have been doing this on a Friday for the past 5 weeks. Partly for planning and to deep clean the school. So they close at 1pm after giving all of the kids lunch (which has been fully funded by the school). From September they are opening half an hour early each day to make up for the time lost on a Friday, (they carried out an online parent survey) but are still providing care for those parents that can’t get there from 1-3 and usual after school care until 5:45. I think this is a difficult time for all, and I’m grateful that whilst I don’t need to access these services, that they are available. They are also going to put a summer school on for the week before they return in September to get a bit of a head start on teaching. (All subject to change of course given none of knows what will happen going forward with the virus.)

I think the issue is also the fact that there is no stipulation on how many hours form part of a session.

It simply says there has to be a break in the day.

I know in Scotland it's between 25 and 27.5hrs contact time but I don't know what the average is in England.

My school runs from 8:30-3:15 with an hour for lunch and 15 for break time. Thats 5.5 contact hours per day whereas my children's school runs from 8:40-3:20 and my nieces school runs from 8:50-3:30 daily.

If there was clarity around expected timings I think it would help. As it stands, I have no idea of after school or breakfast club will be running in September for my own children so will be in a similar predicament being expected to teach at a time when my own children need dropping off at school.

"Not qualified to look after several five to six year olds" ? You are the parent of a five to six year old, yes? I get that as a working mum you may not have made close friendships at school, but presumably your child has friends? I'm sure other parents would be interested in round robin play dates.

But your problem isn't with the school. It's with the government who have reduced school budgets to the point where this is the only option.

The primary school in Birmingham again (couldn't afford to open Friday afternoons);

"Back office (inc. staff costs); Includes administrative and clerical staff, administrative supplies and bought in professional services for administrative functions such as finances or legal."

Back office spend per pupil: £1,779.00
Local authority median: £1,012.00
England median: £413.00

289 pupils -
1 ICT Operations Manager, plus 2 ICT Network Managers.

Not forgetting: 3 Assistant Head Teachers.