Disappointed secondary schools are reopening

[wovengrass]

I'm hoping for a sensible exchange of ideas on this.
I understand the importance of children missing out on learning, but I can't help but feel that a full reopening of all secondary schools in the UK at the same time is madness.
I strongly feel that it would have been better to spend time/money on making home learning a realistic and standardised solution, as well as putting plans in place for the children that need further support. That way if any future outbreaks happen we aren't just hoping for the best and blindly following this idea that "schools must be the last place to close no matter what."

I also can't get my head around the logistics, locally. The local secondary that my nephew attends (there are several large ones near to me) has over 1000 students, many rely on public transport to get there. With reduced space on transport due to social distancing, I wonder how children will actually all make it to school on time? Many schools are also not allowing children who are late to enter, to avoid the crossing of year group bubbles.

Throw also into the mix that many adult will be relying on the same transport to return to work. I'm genuinely wondering how on earth it is realistic?

I think primary and nursery schools are a different thing entirely, and obviously childcare is a factor then also. But putting 1000 teenagers/young adults + teacher staff into a building with no masks and no country-wide home learning plan if things go wrong, seems absolutely nuts to me.

Just wondering what others think about this?

@FilthyforFirth

So home school your children then. I do not understand this need that some have to not only decide what is best for their children, but for all other children.

Kids have bourne the brunt of this god awful situation so far. They 100% should be in school from September onwards. If that makes people uncomfortable then the option to home school has always been there and should be used.

I agree

I am heartily sick of people on here (presumably teachers) advocating 11 year olds staying home alone for half their working hours, with no real-life interaction, just a screen.

I don’t know any parent who would be happy with that. It’s neglect.

Yeah. Teachers. Lazy shits.

Why don't people understand the difference between

"What I want"

and

"What is safe, practical and likely in the circumstances"

???

Have you never heard the saying "hope for the best but prepare for the worst"?

So let's all hope that our bubbles and our schools don't get a Covid cluster but let's make plans to minimise the disruption to our children's education just in case.

OR

Should we just keep repeating that the schools must be open?

@Comicstar

All schools need to open and all children need an education.

I reckon only a about a third of posters on this thread have read / understood the opening post.

As CallmeAngelina said, it's like 'cancel the fucking cheque' all over again.

Cross post with Chavvysexpond.
I think that we are in agreement!

I think after the shit show of exam results, schools need to open in order for children to get a good education and a fair crack of the whip regarding exams.

Why don't people understand the difference between

What I want

I’m heartily sick of this kind of bollocks too. It’s not about what people want, but what we have decided as a society is important.

Educating children fell into that bracket last time I checked. Therefore it needs to be done. Remote learning is terrible substitute for the real thing and in many cases it was being delivered very badly, to the point that it was useless.

I’m not sure where we’d be if police, essential health workers, food production staff, rubbish collectors all thought they could be supported to do their job ‘remotely’ on full pay for months and months. Time to crack on.

And absolutely there should be a plan B as backup if it gets bad enough for closures. Certainly some teachers on here have reported that their schools are preparing them. Why aren’t all of them.

A more solid plan B would be good but I have a child start Y10 and her GCSE courses so she desperately needs to go back for that reason. My child going into Y7 I’d not mind staying home longer if needed.

I would love for all the children to go back to both infants, juniors and secondary school but I just think it's all too soon. There are so many children who are going back, whom havent been adhering to the social distancing and their parents and relatives also. I really believe it will all flare up again in autumn. And am scared to let my children go back. I have 2 in infants and 1 child in secondary school and am really not wanting to let them go back until after october half term. I dont know if that will be allowed. 2 of them are vulnerable as well as myself.

@ineedaholidaynow

Every supermarket I have been in have social distancing rules, screens at tills, employees wearing masks. I have never spent more than 15 minutes in the same area as anyone in the shop.

It's not been like that the whole way through though has it?

@LaurieMarlow

I am heartily sick of people on here (presumably teachers) advocating 11 year olds staying home alone for half their working hours, with no real-life interaction, just a screen.

I don’t know any parent who would be happy with that. It’s neglect.

Totally agree. A year ago, If anyone had advocated routinely leaving an 11 year old to wfh all day, people here would have cried neglect. Not "leave them food, they'll survive"

If my soon to be year 11 child's school provided proper online lessons between 9 and 3 I would actually be ok with homeschooling.

I am not ok with "here's a few worksheets, now crack on by yourself" attitude which was the reality.

I'm 100% sure that many secondary school aged children could be trusted to "crack on"; I would've been one of those children myself. But that is certainly not the case for many DCs including my own sadly.

But there seems to be a lot of threads on this vein on MN now. If the OP is for real (and not a troll paid for by Russia lol) then feel free to home educate your own DCs. If you are a teacher fancying another 6 months at home then resign.

So many of these opinions flying around. So many people confidently proclaiming how unsafe it is, and how it is madness to open schools etc. I’ve even seen people put arbitrary dates on when they think it would be safe for schools to open... based on absolutely no experience whatsoever.
You are not an expert. None of us are. People are espousing opinions as fact left, right and centre over this covid shite and it is nearly always based on newspaper headlines and Facebook memes. Pisses me right off.

I think the previous posters that stated only a small percentage actually understand the post are 100% correct. I'm actually very alarmed at how poor some adults comprehension skills/critical thinking skills are after taking part in this post...

I will say it one more time, for those who (clearly) need it spelling out.

THIS THREAD IS NOT ABOUT KEEPING SCHOOLS CLOSED. As I have said many, many times.

It's about the worrying fact that we are opening schools fully, straight away and seemingly without any consideration of logistics for getting the kids there and a country-wide plan if we need to lock down again. It should not be down to individual schools because that means inevitably some children will end up missing out, this requires government leadership. If all children don't get access to an equal plan B in the case of closure, but all still have to sit the same standardised exams in summer, that is not fair. Then maybe some of you will understand the meaning of the original post.

This is NOT an open vs close schools argument. This is NOT an argument of physical Vs online teaching.
Also, to clarify, home schooling from a parent and remote learning (being left to complete tasks independently) are not the same as being taught online by your class teacher or creating a plan to adapt the way that we deliver additional teaching to ensure that secondary age children don't miss out on months of being taught by a qualified teacher.

Some of you are arguing that IABU because remote learning didn't work last time, THAT IS EXACTLY MY POINT. If we lockdown there needs to be an agreed country-wide plan in place for schools with an alternative to the current 'buisness as usual' strategy. Full closure will hopefully never need to happen again, but it's daft to not have a plan in place (share with schools) to reduce the amount of bodies in school if it is needed, which it may well be.

Onlineschooling, however improved in how its delivered, in supports provided etc will always be far below what students experience from actual school. It cannot but disadvantage the financially poor and those with less resources of all kinds available to them at home every day, to provide assistance. It will disadvantage those who are less academically able, less motivated etc. It will discriminate against those students who have mental health issues. Even those students with good living situations, supportive family, good motivation will suffer from loss of normal social contact.

Online schooling should never be regarded as a good enough option. Resources should be directed towards mging school running.

As a matter of interest OP, what do you work at? Do you have children?

@saoirse31 Oh right. Of course. It all makes sense now. Online learning isn't as good as physical, therefore if schools need to close/reduce hours we won't bother with an alternative plan, we will just leave the children with no teaching input at all because online is pointless anyway.
RTFT.

What do other people suggest then if schools go into a cycle of opening and closing due to positive tests in the school? What provision do you think there should be in the closed cycle?

It's about the worrying fact that we are opening schools fully, straight away and seemingly without any consideration of logistics for getting the kids there and a country-wide plan if we need to lock down again
^^
The government will not do another national lockdown. They can not afford to. It will be local restrictions, therefore it will be up to the local councils to make decisions based on advice given which none of us will know until it happens.

@Pebblexox But it shouldn't be up to local councils, and it shouldn't be last minute advice, this is the education of the next generation not a whimsical decision. Doing as you suggest leads to inconsistencies in the quality of education young people receive, if there is no direction/funding from government.
I'm assuming that ofsted will still be inspecting schools the same way across the country and children will still be sitting the same exams across the country also, so what is the plan for our children if some of those schools have to close down bubbles/reduce hours due to local outbreaks? It will end up being some schools doing more than others, and some doing nothing at all, which is an unfair postcode lottery.

I cant help feeling that a full reopening of uk schools is madness

In the first section of your OP.

So I would keep your "alarm" at peoples comprehension skills. I think people know exactly what you meant. And if you genuinely want a discussion about methods of remote learning/what should plan b look like you could start a thread about it.

@GabriellaMontez Yes exactly. A full reopening, as in business as usual with no back up plan for them if things go wrong or a significant consideration of how children will physically get there. Not that schools should remain closed, but that they should be adapting as other sectors have. That's the important skill with compression you see, inference and consideration of context of the quote.

*comprehension

Resources should be directed towards mging school running

What resources? Schools have had no extra funding to help deal with Covid in Sept.

But also in the first paragraph the OP says that if schools have to close again we have something in place so we are not just hoping for the best @GabriellaMontez

So parents just saying they want schools to be open is not covering that point, what needs to be in place?