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.

Also Leicester is in local lockdown, detailed guidance for schools in lockdown being published after schools have gone back is not overly helpful.

In scotland whole bubbles aren't bring seng home. A pupil in my daughter's class tested positive. A few of the others were deemed close contacts so have been asked to self isolate, but all others at school as normal.

@cdtaylornats

Lots of complaints - no solutions.

Aaaaaaaah

Lots of solutions. (See all the threads about this over the summer).

Denmark. Optional home schooling for parents who can.

Teach older teens largely remotely. From the start.

Use other buildings to allow social distancing .Like Italy.

Reduce group size.Blended learning to allow this.

Beef up Oak Academy.

Draft in more buses and coaches. Like in Germany.

So so so so much that could help,but it would take a) resources b)a Government that can GAF

news.sky.com/story/new-guidance-for-schools-one-coronavirus-case-could-see-whole-year-group-sent-home-12058923

Coronavirus: School leaders attack government for last-minute guidance on COVID-19

Education leaders have criticised the timing of the guidance, which comes days before schools reopen in England.

Saturday 29 August 2020 11:49, UK

'Leicester schools have already returned'

Ok, most go back next week. Also the guidance surely isn't much different to what schools would be doing, having a worst case scenario plan in place.

What is shocking about this guidance, did people really think it would be business as usual?

Loads of workable solutions have been proposed by schools and some schools have been extremely pro active in trying to find good solutions. Government not listening, and some schools have honestly been really crap.

Anyway there was a report yesterday of 25yr old Nevada man reinfection (worse outcome). Little is understood re immunity. Hopefully an outlier but if not elimination not suppression will be Gov’s only option. French President (who categorically said no further National lockdown) now warning may be necessary. We’re just at the beginning of this.

'Education leaders have criticised the timing of the guidance, which comes days before schools reopen in England'

Except Leicester. Someone please let Sky news know.

Guidance at 11pm on a Friday night of a bank holiday weekend confirms the governments (lack) of regard for the teaching profession. In my school we have had senior students back already. I cannot understand how it will work when KS3 returns on Tuesday. The photos on news webpages with these headlines are laughable - children sitting with a desk between them implying social distancing in schools is simply false. This is impossible - 32 children are backed into my classroom and I have tried my very best to distance their tables however it is simply impossible not to have them sit side by side.

I taught four classes yesterday so I had contact with 128 students in a poorly ventilated room. However the students did clean their desk (poorly in some cases and having to be reminded to do again) before their lesson. Some students are doing their best however others simply don't care. Teachers have a taped 1m line at the front of the room - so helping students is challenging at least as you are directed not to go to the other side of this line. Everyone is encouraged to wear face masks as much as possible.

Students are turning up without equipment and again we cannot lend anymore - in a poorly managed room I can only imagine the behaviour that will follow with this if you have students without pens you can not go within 2m of. A colleague had a 16 year old boy fall asleep and could not go near him to wake him - another had a class full of students opting to wear masks and kids swearing behind their masks but he could not work out who it was. Yes the teacher has behaviour issues in this case however this is sadly a reality in some schools esp in subjects with a teacher shortage and in a deprived area. I have seen kids drop masks on the floor and pick them up and put them on.

Students are in their year group bubbles however all students currently in school share the same bathrooms - KS3 will have another set but again it will be three year groups sharing the bathrooms. Pupils come in different doors however many arrive on the same bus.

It a ridiculous set up - secondary schools should have opened on a part time basis - split classes and do a week in and a week online for each. Give the students a chance to socially distance and keep the number of people in the building lower.

We have also had parents send children in with a temperature because 'they have no other symptoms so it is probably just a cold' and parents been extremely rude when these kids are sent home. We have had students in who have just returned from countries requiring quarantine on return and again parents have argued this is optional and we have a duty to take their child.

Absolute mess and it is not even September yet. If I was a parent of a secondary aged child I would have reservations of sending them in. It is glorified childminding. Guidance and bubbles lends itself so much better to primary where children are not set across subjects and spend the majority of time with one teacher in one classroom.

@GetOffYourHighHorse

'Leicester schools have already returned'

Ok, most go back next week. Also the guidance surely isn't much different to what schools would be doing, having a worst case scenario plan in place.

What is shocking about this guidance, did people really think it would be business as usual?

No teachers didn't, people that were capable of coherent thought didn't, but there have been hundreds of posts that show that people did think it would be back to normal, plus a whole fb group. I've seen the hilarious line 'children need to be back to school in September no ifs or buts' posted loads of times. I've been constantly blamed for scaremongering when I've said that schools are unlikely to remain open whilst the government continues with everyone back like it's 2019 approach.

@pennylane83

Its ridiculous that everyone seems to have forgotten that there were viral infections before Covid - all of which have a cross over of symptoms yet suddenly no-one can now have a sore throat without having COVID screamed at them and being forced to isolate at home for 2 weeks.

There are 2 people being treated in ICU for Covid in my local hospital....2......yet my children will potentially be forced to endure a test every other week because a child/family member has a sniffle (during cold/flu season) or face constant disruption of being in and out of school isolating because of the irrational fear that has been created around this illness.

Irrational

65k excess death in 3 months.

Can't really see how you can both both those in the same sentence.

But if your not worried carry on.

@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.

But back in April and May when HT and unions and teachers were calling for this guidance they were subjected to a hate campaign from government and MSM outlets.

Now government has released the guidance late in a Friday night just before a BH weekend.

Why? Because the guidance was always needed. And probably to punish the HT for being right.

'What's wrong with giving updated guidance on a Friday evening before a bank holiday weekend with 0 working days before schools open? Goady or clueless?'

I'm neither goady nor clueless thanks.

If you read the article instead of going all Piers Morgan about it, it clearly says it is last resort guidance for areas with significant rises in cases.

Why are some of you panicking about that?!

We want contingency plans surely?

If I am a keyworker, does this mean my secondary school aged child can stay in school regardless?

@whirlwindwallaby Not necessarily. As previously, I expect the government will either provide such a large and extensive list of key workers that schools will have to devise their own priority list according to staffing, or they will simply say it is at ‘school’s own discretion’ and later insist that whatever schools decide was wrong.

I didn’t make our nursery’s key worker list, despite being a primary teacher. We had to use grandparent childcare as normal throughout lockdown.

"But back in April and May when HT and unions and teachers were calling for this guidance they were subjected to a hate campaign from government and MSM outlets."

I must've missed the hate campaign from Government which is odd as I do watch the news. Ignore the MSM though, they do not offer balanced views.

Tbf they couldn't offer guidance in April as no one has a crystal ball. It seems cases spike in specific areas that can then be brought under control as we've seen in the Northwest.

It is a contingency plan! I could understand the outrage if it had been announced that all year groups had to go part time or something.

Schools have been asking for the Government’s contingency plan for months, so they can write them into their plans. Why wait until the Bank Holiday weekend, and they failed spectacularly to proof read it

@ineedaholidaynow

Also *@maddening* how would you interpret point 2 in this section and then the sentence "numbers 1 to 5 must be in place in all schools, all the time"?

"Prevention

1. Minimise contact with individuals who are unwell by ensuring that those who have coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms, or who have someone in their household who does, do not attend school.

2. Use of face coverings in schools.

3. Clean hands thoroughly more often than usual.

4. Ensure good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach.

5. Introduce enhanced cleaning, including cleaning frequently touched surfaces often, using standard products such as detergents and bleach.

6. Minimise contact between individuals and maintain social distancing wherever possible.

7. Where necessary, wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

Numbers 1 to 5 must be in place in all schools, all the time.

Number 6 must be properly considered and schools must put in place measures that suit their particular circumstances.

Number 7 applies in specific circumstances"

I know how I would interpret it on first viewing, and that Point 2 had not been included in earlier guidance.

Maybe its a typo in that they have shoehorned point 2 into the hastily issued revised guidelines but in their haste they have forgotten to adjust the numbers referred to in the points below because 'numbers 1-5 must be in place in all schools at all times' would have been a reasonable expectation when you look at the list and what the numbers of each point would have been prior to point 2 being added.

Intelligent contribution, well done @itsgettingweird

@pennylane83 but doesn’t that just show what schools have to put up with, shoddily written guidance published late on a Friday night. Surely someone should have checked that

@GetOffYourHighHorse surely you can see there would be less room for complaint if the Government had issued this guidance in good time not like a fresher feverishly submitting it just before the midnight deadline on a Friday thus giving the staff no time to look at it and address concerns!

@herecomesthsun

So so so so much that could help, but it would take a) resources b)a Government that can GAF

Or, to echo this, perhaps a Govt. who GAF first. Compared to how other country's Govt's are handling this crisis ours is just a shit-show. Too little, too late, not enough focus on preventative planning, not enough skill to arrange a piss up in a brewery between all of them put together.

I wouldn't pay a quid to see them perform in a circus.

@GetOffYourHighHorse - the thing is that most teachers are really pissed of at the DfE and their levels of incompetence and negligence. They have been pouncing about since March issuing missives and then rewriting them a couple of hours later. They couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery! In the meantime we keep tweaking our plans so we can deliver lessons to students ....

What is shocking about this guidance, did people really think it would be business as usual?

My school knew it wouldn’t be, so our management have spent weeks drafting, consulting and publishing policies on how to open school and what will happen if / when individual students, bubbles or the whole school has to close. Almost every policy in my school has had to be amended in addition to the new ones. The release of new guidance at the 11th hour means every single policy will now have to be reviewed (before Tuesday?!) to check it meets the updated version. That’s a lot of work to expect of people over a bank holiday weekend. Especially when the teaching profession has been asking for the guidance since JUNE.