To wish we could be honest?

[Crackercheese]

I don’t mind going into school today. I know it’s a PITA for working parents when we close.

But I hate the bullshit. Why can’t we stay open for convenience, encourage anyone else to stay home, and watch some videos in a dark room?

But as it is we have to go through the farce of learning and the curriculum.

We’re open if you want us, but feel free to keep your kids at home if you feel safer” would be a much better message.

this is exactly the message my DCs HT has gone for. (Primary)

Make it look like learning but on paper, not in books. Chuck it away afterwards. The head walking past will be happy . Set them a 'making ' task in small groups of their own choosing. If they are engrossed they will happily sit and chat. Get each group to tell the others what they are doing at intervals during the day. No running about, absorbed so they will focus on that ,not on being hot. That's what I would do if I was still teaching.

I’m a HT (though in Scotland so we are all finished for summer). Of course we would put that sort of message on Twitter 🤣 but still support a very ‘loose’ school day.

Quiz based on the curriculum for this term. Let them choose teams. Surely with the marking each others at the end you can fill 40 minutes.

How is it not safe outside?!!

Im putting the washing out in a bit and then going litter picking.

Totally agree, OP. Calming activities which the kids want to do - so, yes - screens large or small really. Or a room for reading and another for colouring in, drawing etc. No earnest 'educational objectives' - that's not the game we're in over the next day or two. Maybe even a classroom with gym mats to just lie down on! Anything safe, calm and quiet goes with me. Teacher in each, but just sitting and getting on with own end-of-year work - no pressure to be stimulating or make them do things they don't want to do.

Is this specific to your school? Or a recent thing? Most teachers couldn't be arsed by the time the last week of school rolled in so they let us watch films all week.

Don't think any learning goes off in the last week of the summer term. Unless, as happened to us once, Ofsted arrived.

I'm not sure that you and @Harridance have read the OP.

The OP has not said that her school should close. She's said that it's unrealistic for her head to insist that the curriculum is followed as normal.

Are the schools still on in the uk? I’m in Ireland and secondary schools have been closed since end of May….. primary end of June.

I also teach secondary and definitely don’t let kids watch movies for the last week, I’d be v pissed off if I were a parent and that’s what my kids were doing for the last week. They have so much access to movies , games etc outside of school, it isn’t like years ago where movies were a treat.

Agree agree agree

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I checked on the weather around the world, only to find temperatures in the Canary islands, Majorca etc are also in the high 30s and hundreds of us stream there like lemmings for our summer hols (for 2 weeks or more). OK so the activities are different and the pace of life is slower, but eating, breathing, getting around is the same and yet we don't hear all this hysteria about staying the in shade.
I was teaching in the hot summer of 1976 and the temperature in my classroom by 9.00 was 90 degrees. Yes really!! I taught my lessons in the corridor sitting on the floor.

I'd appreciate the honesty as I could happily keep mine at home but appreciate from a safeguard perspective the school open is necessary. Being open and not being honest is difficult as I then think I should send mine as it is expected even though it's actually not!

I've just heard from a friend that OFSTED are indeed visiting her DS school tomorrow.

What an absolute joke. So the poor teachers who had planned a relaxed film afternoon in the hall will now be scrambling around trying to organise classrooms and plan lessons before tomorrow morning.

@SkyLarkDescending I don’t get it , why shouldn’t they be just teaching as normal ? What’s the issue?

@justdontkno1 I'm not sure if you are genuinely asking so I'll answer as if you were...

Looking after 30 young children in a hot, poorly ventilated classroom is not easy on a normal day. Children who won't drink water, who won't sit still, who are sunburnt from being outside all weekend won't be on their best behaviour. The teachers will be under huge pressure to get the best out of them to impress inspectors.

Keeping them safe, calm and happy should be enough today!

Agree 💯