Independent schools are more likely to open and remain open in the autumn term

[fishywaters]

Just that - please vote.
Reasons: - smaller class sizes

• larger premises

• more money for sanitiser and cleaning, handwashing facilities
• many have put in place safety measures. Sanitiser, optional masks, one way systems, staggered lunch time, optional use of masks, testing
• parental expectation
• they can set their own rules and make parents sign up
• can insist on temperature checks

Cons: - richer parents more likely to have holidayed etc. Cannot think of any others.
The reason I am asking is because I know 2 people who moved their kids over the summer holidays from state to independent.

Most likely will be having the ability to keep distance and manage crowds.

I don't know many private schools but I don't know manny where they travel to school with 80 students on the same bus and walk down corridors that are completely over crowded.

Also the indi I know best locally already has students in their main class and they move for specialist subjects only.

I work at an independant school and we have the same duty of care to our pupils and staff as any other school.Nothing is certain and we face all the same stuggles as any other school.If not more so for if our parents loose their jobs etc they remove their children...its not as rosy as you think OP We are not in some glass bubble I promise you .

I agree.

Though on a bus with 50 others, in yr groups and with masks.

They had sanitiser everywhere by the end of Feb half term.

And if they do close or kids need to stay off, there are live feed cameras to MS teams in each classroom so tjmetable goes ahead for all as normal whether at school or home.

I think you’re probably right. I’m in the US, and my children’s public elementary is opening in two shifts, with children going to school either 9-12 or 1-4, with a remote Zoom lesson for one hour a day while they’re at home. This entire protocol will be reviewed after four weeks.

Whereas the two local private schools will be opening in full. I don’t believe they are above governor’s orders, however, so they will have to shut in line with the public schools if there’s another surge in numbers.

This seems a question which is just stirring up trouble for the sake of it...However, I'll bite:

: - smaller class sizes - but still same as before. This is what you pay for.

• larger premises - not necessarily. And what about boarders?
• more money for sanitiser and cleaning, handwashing facilities - I'm sure all schools will have hand sanitizer, and few if any private schools are likely to be building new sinks in the next two weeks
• many have put in place safety measures. Sanitiser, optional masks, one way systems, staggered lunch time, optional use of masks, testing - all schools, except most are not using masks
• parental expectation - the rules will be the same for all schools
• they can set their own rules and make parents sign up - as above
• can insist on temperature checks - schools already doing this

Cons: - richer parents more likely to have holidayed etc. Cannot think of any others. - private schools do not equal rich parents. Lots chose to spend what they have on education
The reason I am asking is because I know 2 people who moved their kids over the summer holidays from state to independent. - And you are jealous perhaps?

Following with interest as I work in the sector. I think it's possible that a lot of small private schools will be able to implement the guidelines successfully.
I think they will try to stay open where possible.

The reason the independents couldn't fully reopen after May half term (even when they had enough space, teachers etc) was because their insurers wouldn't cover them if they went against government advice. Private Heads don't have more room for manoeuvre in that regard than state/academy ones.

As someone said above boarding houses etc are a huge issue day state schools don't face. although if Oxbridge with the college system is letting everyone turn up in October I suppose boarding schools can find a way even with so many people who fly in from abroad.

i was speaking to one man who is considering the private option - he boarded and his children are at a state school so there is a big of a gulf there but I am not sure they can afford it. I was talking to someone else whose child is going to a private primary in part because the considered state one ( supposedly a very good one) has given no education since lock down

there is a demographic bias in infections to make poorer people more likely to be infected.

in general a lot more high-paid jobs can be performed either entirely from home, or with excellent social distancing. With some exceptions (e.g. Surgeons) most parents of kids at private schools will not have had to go to a workplace where they have to risk possible infection in order to make ends meet. by contrast, among the lower paid there is a much higher prevalence of jobs where it is impossible to work from home and very difficult or impossible to follow strict social distancing rules and other safety practices.

Therefore as well as the points you make in your OP, the community level of infection which will then get spread around among the kids transmitting asymptomatically is going to be lower, so it will take longer for infections to spread to a point that the school needs to close again (and in some cases measures short of closing the school may get things back under control)

Having lots of international students flying in and staying in boarding houses is a major con. Especially when the Indies have to tell parents that their children are not allowed home over the October half term. Or for exeat. And they probably don’t yet know who’s actually going to cough up for the next bill

I would think the biggest issue is the level of support for children if they are sent home because of an infection in a bubble.

Private schools have a greater incentive in terms of parent pressure to get it (Zoom etc) up and running quickly. Last time, many state schools seemed to have to work at the level of the least technologically advantaged child to make it "fair".

I think probably YANBU but that not all of what you said is true.

Just answering for the independent school I work in:

smaller class sizes
Yes - but this does also mean our classrooms are correspondingly smaller. And also we have chosen to use our small size to allow us to make half key stage bubbles rather than year bubbles to enable us to fulfil more of our normal curriculum. We could have chosen to use the small size to allow for greater safety instead but we haven't.

larger premises
To an extent, yes. We are quite a small school but have a lot of space, especially outdoor space. I think that's more because we're rural than because we're private though. Many urban private schools are tiny.

more money for sanitiser and cleaning, handwashing facilities
Yes. We've just had wall mounted hand sanitisers put in every classroom and children are going to have to use them on the way in and out of every class. We don't have endless money though so we haven't built extra toilets/sinks.

many have put in place safety measures. Sanitiser, optional masks, one way systems, staggered lunch time, optional use of masks, testing
Only sanitiser from your list. We have 2 lunch sittings already but haven't gone further than this. In this way I think state schools are safer as many have said children must eat packed lunches in their classrooms. Our parents pay for lunch as part of the fees and wouldn't be happy with children eating in the same room they have lessons in so that wasn't an option for us.

parental expectation
YES!! This is the big one. We charged about 90% fees last term. Parents won't stand for that again. We did give full, interactive online education, clubs, assemblies etc for that but it was still so substitute and parents know that. We will do everything possible not to close this term.

they can set their own rules and make parents sign up
I don't think so?? We still have to follow the guidance. A lot of the guidance is terribly woolly though so schools can vary a lot.

can insist on temperature checks
I suppose we could. Not currently in the plans though.

richer parents more likely to have holidayed etc
Not sure about this, tbh. Most of our parents are only richer than the average state school parents before paying school fees. After paying them they are often significantly cash poorer. The most common holiday destinations for our pupils are Cornwall and Norfolk. There are the very rich who are often on exotic holidays around the world but that wasn't possible for anyone this year. I don't think our parents are any more likely to have been to Spain/Italy/France etc than any other parents.

Re international boarding school children, I had assumed the schools would ask them to test before flying in to mitigate risk somewhat? I would want my child tested rather than ill abroad and I assume there would be high compliance in this regard among Asian parents in particular.

sorry, I didn't see that you said optional masks in your safety list, not compulsory. We do have that, yes. But so do most state schools, I think (or at least, they are likely to by Sept if they don't now.)

DS’s school is termly boarding.

• all o/s kids to arrive two weeks before start of term.
• any uk kids holidaying abroad have the option to join the o/s students early.
• any uk kids holidaying abroad but arriving back just before term starts will be in a separate isolation house for two weeks/tested.
• all kids will be staying in their boarding houses for two weeks and have remote learning for these first two weeks of term.
• no end of Sep exeat (long weekend off).
• school still undecided about Sunday parent visits.
• school still unsure re Oct half term.
• parents to supply washable masks and hand sanitiser to keep in school bag.
• in boarding house dining (no central dining hall).

About as good as it gets really. Whole school bubble?

Yes, if a school is full boarding with no day pupils I think it is in a far safer position than schools where children are mixing with their families and others outside school.

But not many schools are boarding only, are they?

A lot of private schools are in v v old not built for purpose buildings. Think rabbit warrens! It will
Actually be v v hard to socially distance and spread out with standard class sizes.

The issue of boarding houses means year bubbles are impossible.

Everyone has their challenges

Re international boarding school children, I had assumed the schools would ask them to test before flying in to mitigate risk somewhat?
Testing before flying is irrelevant by the time they’ve spent 14 hrs on a plane if they’ve come from Asia. Actually, at one of our local Indies the plan is they will fly in, be collected from the airport by coach hired by the school and transported to a large (expensive!) hotel in the city and they are going to be quarantined for 14 days there. They are not allowed to leave. The school has hired the whole hotel. It won’t be big enough for all of their international students but as of last week they were basing it on numbers who had confirmed they were returning, if more confirm before start of term (Which has been put back to 8th September) they will have to try to arrange the same at other hotels). The school is paying. I can only assume as they rely so heavily on international students (Asia, Africa, and Russia mainly) they feel it’s their only option to ensure that they come back. I also imagine it will result in higher fees somewhere down the line. There’s two other Indies, one if anything relies even more on Chinese students in particular, no idea what they’re doing. The other has more local and day pupils. I imagine they will be the most financially secure going forward.

You are probably right - apart from the holiday one. most parents in independent schools have fairly high responsible jobs, so many had to use annual leave to cope with lockdown. No annual leave left means no holidays....

Our boarding school is quarantining in boarding houses from mid August.

Some big indies are chartering a jet from China etc mid Aug and will quarantine when they get here.

No exeats. No half terms home.

My dd is due to start reception at an independent school. I am expecting them to have less issues than the local state schools for 2 reasons. Firstly the class sizes are only 2 forms of 10-12 so whole year bubbles are still very small. Secondly they are moving to a brand new huge campus with large airy classrooms and loads of outdoor learning spaces. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they do get to stay open because of this.

I think you’re probably right. I’m in the US, and my children’s public elementary is opening in two shifts, with children going to school either 9-12 or 1-4, with a remote Zoom lesson for one hour a day while they’re at home. This entire protocol will be reviewed after four weeks.

Similar in our US school.

I do think they'll open fully in 4 weeks though. They are planning 3' spacing with everyone wearing masks, which they can manage with our building size.

The challenge is lunchtime when they need to keep everyone 6' apart because they're not wearing masks. They're looking at eating outdoors - not easy in Maine in winter though...

They are also more likely to have spare staff or budget for supply cover in the event of staff absence.

Our prep school was fully open before the summer holiday for a few weeks. No masks or ppe, but all of the other things listed by the op.
Lots of new pupils have joined over the summer, although with the recession & a fear of job loses, some may leave. It’s a worrying time for all teachers in whatever school they work in.

@actiongirl1978

Our boarding school is quarantining in boarding houses from mid August.

Some big indies are chartering a jet from China etc mid Aug and will quarantine when they get here.

No exeats. No half terms home.

Having worked in boarding this sounds an absolute nightmare. Boarding staff will be in their knees. I’d resign at the very thought of it...