To be shocked at yet another last minute gov announcement.

[wantmorenow]

New guidance for schools just announced on a Friday night before schools return. Breathtaking incompetence.

Well I suppose it's slightly better than it being published at 10pm on Monday night . This Govt do like their 4 point scales that never get mentioned again. I feel awful for all the staff that now have to go through this, digest it & get everything sorted on what should have been a long w/end of trying to relax before September 1st having worked almost continuously from March-July & probably most of summer too.

Business leaders aren't stupid, they know that this school year is going to be a shit show because many of them have children themselves

A good part of the reason they're still happy with everyone working from home is that it's much less disruption and risk to continue WFH than to bring everyone back and then have people in and out all the time needing to cover picking up kids with symptoms and then isolating without all the WFH equipment they need

Hmm, as altruistic as some business owners are I suspect the main reason for continuing with such arrangements is the cost savings they are making. Allowing you to continue working perched on your kitchen table in an unsuitable chair with patchy internet connection, whilst your partner is also WFH trying to make confidential phone calls at the other end of the open plan kitchen/diner isn't because they are being nice about the potential school disruption. Given the unemployment boom that is about to occur people with childcare issues will be very easy to replace.

@cdtaylornats

Lots of complaints - no solutions.

I suggest each and every school does a survey now to see what technology would be available at home if home learning is required. This way they could be ready to plug gaps quickly. They could then let the DFE know how many children won’t have access to laptops/tablets. Of course one problem may be parents saying they don’t have devices when they do. But this would be better than the local secondary school having to beg secondhand devices from local businesses months down the line when the Government promised laptops had failed to materialise.

There’s likely to be some learning from home so schools and parents should get prepared for it.

@RoseMartha

As we are in a pandemic we are going to get countless short notice announcements, it is to be expected really.

I know they are not usually convenient for us but we are just going to have to roll with it. Doesnt mean we have to like it or agree with it. For example although I comply and wear a mask, I hate it as it makes me feel claustrophobic.

I am fully expecting more restrictions and short notice rules as autumn and winter sets in.

'Wear a mask in shops' ...is a slightly different level of last minute advice, than reams of guidelines that affect staff, families and pupils and need huge amounts organisation, planning and funding. (I am using 'slight' in an ironic way)

Lots of complaints - no solutions.

The guidance is literally what the unions have been asking for since June.

Exactly, surely all children who were on the same bus would have to isolate too

That's why the mandatory wearing of facemasks on public/school transport is in place - to avoid such a scenario

@Lovemusic33

How is this going to work? As soon as a child or member of staff has any symptoms they have to stay at home until they have a negative test? Winter is coming and most people have some kind of cold during the winter, some kids have continues cold symptoms, so lots of kids are going to be off school for many days whilst getting tested, waiting for results and possibly isolating for 14 days, then if more than one child tests positive in a school many children may have to isolate for 14 days? there will be a shortage of staff and kids will be miss g out chucks of education whilst waiting for test results or after being in contact with someone who tested positive?

It won’t work. Hugely disruptive. School will be a 💩 show at best over winter (despite the sterling efforts of staff), unless your school is in a very isolated location, when you might escape with less chaos. All pretty predictable really.

@Mumratheevergiving most schools will have done that to work out how many laptops they needed under the Government scheme, which never materialised. I agree they need to do it again as will have new pupils in the schools.

The fact that schools aren't allowed to ask for evidence of a negative test result before allowing children with symptoms back to school seems to me to undermine a lot of what they're putting in place. We all, sadly, probably know families who will say they've tested when they haven't. Particularly the second or third or fourth time their child gets a cough.

School is already back in some areas. Yet again government forgets there's a world outside of London. School went back last Wednesday here

The fact that schools aren't allowed to ask for evidence of a negative test result before allowing children with symptoms back to school seems to me to undermine a lot of what they're putting in place

Probably because they know that at the end of the day a negative test results means nothing. You can test negative but then take the test again a couple of hours/days later and test positive. The problem is, they have gone on and on about tests so much and how they are one of our weapons in this pandemic in order to get the public on board that they have to carry on going along with the mantra.

for a child with complex needs, learning disabilities, macroglossia (large tongue) and an incredibly sensitive gag reflex in part due to chronic reflux...it really would be quite a challenge.

I’m not disputing that @Bupkis, but most kids don’t have complex needs so the majority should be able to be tested quite easily. Appreciate it’s tough for some parents and children though.

I don't have an issue isolating my child with an assumed positive as she can't be tested just wonder what this will mean for the schools and bubbles.

How does this work for fe colleges? The one my dd will go to has 2000 across years 12-13.

They have said (pre this guidance) that they are doing one week in one week on-line switching cohorts into two groups and switching them home/in school every other week.

I’m happy with this arrangement as from last day on a Friday to going back in a week on Monday is 9 full days - hopefully by then symptoms would have started to appear in any of these young adults. But that’s not great for the teaching and admin staff who presumably have to be there full time - unless they are finding a way of switching them out too- if they have the capacity to do this.

@BKCRMP

I don't have an issue isolating my child with an assumed positive as she can't be tested just wonder what this will mean for the schools and bubbles.

Exactly!

This is typical DfE behaviour and hotly predicted. No wonder teachers have no respect for them. Total bunch of muppets!

What upsets me the most is that by sending all kids back at once we are going to see school closures, even the guidance is now saying schools will close. Corona hokey cokey will be much more damaging to students learning than a planned blended approach which the teachers could have been preparing for. Instead they have wasted their time planning for whole school attendance even when they knew that continued whole school attendance was unlikely. Priority should also have been given to those in exam years, they need to be back socially distanced for as much of the year as possible but this shitshow government couldn't get past the popularist slogan of all kids back in September.

@morfin but that would have been sensible! I read but can’t substantiate that the Italian Gov have spent a fortune installing recording equipment in classrooms (and I assume supplying those homes without laptops) to live steam classes. Apparently they’ve put a lot of thought and money into problem as they realise face to face schooling won’t be sustainable.

I worry that it seems to be the same approach for primary, secondary and sixth form. 2 confirmed cases in a class of 30 at primary is a lot riskier than 2 confirmed cases in a year group bubble of 200+.
In a secondary/sixth form bubble of 200+, if they all have to go home for 2 weeks if 2 people test positive, the pupils will never be at school, they will be permanently at home.
Really to be statistically consistent, the proportion should be the same in primary/secondary/sixth form. I.e. 2/30 is equivalent to 13/200. So for consistency in a large secondary/sixth form, the pupils should be kept at home in the event of 13 positive cases not 2.

[quote veza09]@Lilybet it's not working in the whole of England my family booked a test Sunday, went to drive threw on Monday at 11am, we're still awaiting our results. Doesn't bode well for schools around here, mine included as I'm back next week.[/quote]
Similar here. People are waiting 5/6 days for a postal result (from requesting the test), no drive through or walk through tests available within 150 miles for 5 days.

If one student tests positive the whole bubble should be tested. Why the fuck have they not got the testing sorted 6 months later?? Why can other poorer less resourceful countries test everyone but not the UK??

Not that I want to increase the risk to pupils and teachers, but in terms of the level of risk versus benefit to being in school, the large secondary/sixth form bubbles are at much greater risk of missing out on education than primary bubbles because the threshold for isolating at home is statistically much much lower (2/30 versus 2/200).

It's worse if just 1 positive case is required: 1/30 in primary or 1/200+ in secondary/sixth form.
The ratios should be the same.
I just don't want my sixth former to be told he is in full-time education while the reality will be he will be doing permanent home learning for the next few months/year.

This type of policy is only enforceable with quick and reliable testing. These do exist - it's just our government didn't get them (or waited until they were all sold to other countries). The pupils in secondary/sixth form will be learning from home permanently. Which is fine if that's what's needed, it just needs to be acknowledged.
Plus of course the threshold is far lower for secondary and sixth forms than primary since one child out of 30 in primary is 3% whereas one child out of 200 is 0.5%.

@askinfforfriend

If one student tests positive the whole bubble should be tested. Why the fuck have they not got the testing sorted 6 months later?? Why can other poorer less resourceful countries test everyone but not the UK??

Because our politicians who make the decisions

• are stupid

-are poorly educated in science

• DGAF about the lives of ordinary people
• just want to shove all the workers in offices and kids in state school to keep big business going in a way that they think suits them and their backers
• and we fools have voted this absolute shower into power.

take your pick