Schools Reopening?

[Liveforever86]

When do you honestly think it will happen? And when do you want it to happen?!

And the comment earlier that private schools will be under pressure to open, well that is a factor of course, because parents may well stop paying the fees or take their children out. It will be the case for every independent school, and if some of the more poorly funded schools collapse because of this, then the pressure will become the problem of state schools.

The government will be aware of this. It is not breaking news that parents paying huge fees may not feel inclined to do so if their child is not in school for six or seven months or longer.

We all know that the state system would buckle overnight should independent schools be forced to close, increasing the workload on everyone in the state sector.
A reasonable decision based on the safest time to return for the children will be made and confirmed in due course, and although we are uncertain of the date, it is hard to imagine it will be six months away.

A reasonable decision based on the safest time to return for the children will be made and confirmed in due course, and although we are uncertain of the date, it is hard to imagine it will be six months away

Is quite different to we will be opening in 7 weeks

cornish come ON 😂😂😂

Purple that’s definitely what my team are doing. I’ve currently been up since 6 differentiating a set of resources for LAP students. Team meeting in a mo then juggling work and DC until bedtime.

Head at our school said if the spike happens when they expect and then calms, she hopes they can be back mid May/beginning of June.
I bloody hope so. I now remember why I hated bloody home school.

I can’t understand why exams have been cancelled if we are back in may/June

Because we haven’t finished teaching the syllabus. Children with parents not able to facilitate learning at home would be at a massive disadvantage. Those are usually the children who are already at a massive disadvantage relative to their peers.

Surely most have done most in 2 years

What’s your subject syncrows. I bet it isn’t science. Lots of schools cover the triple science course in two subjects worth of lessons. It’s a massive struggle to fit it all in.

The other thing is we don’t know whether we’re back in June or not. It would be awful for the exam classes to have that uncertainty, especially during a time when everything else has changed. Those results will be on their cvs forever, potentially determine whether they get into college/university and it wouldn’t be right to throw them in with them having lost so much of the key time at the end.

Syn
Because pupils need certainty to focus.
Because exams start early May.
Because you need loads of invigilators and markers, many of whom are in high risk groups.
Because some exams have practicals like food and drama which are done in March/April.

Because ultimately it is less fair to do exams after an extended closure period impacting preparation (that will impact disadvantaged pupils most) than it is to award results using teacher assessments backed up with usual school performance data, cohort info from KS2 etc.

Fair enough purple

I can’t understand why exams have been cancelled if we are back in may/June

We won’t be back in May because that’s within the 12 weeks. The exams start in May. That’s why.

What’s your subject syncrows. I bet it isn’t science. Lots of schools cover the triple science course in two subjects worth of lessons. It’s a massive struggle to fit it all in.

Purple do your triples not get extra lessons over combined?

A reasonable decision based on the safest time to return for the children will be made and confirmed in due course, and although we are uncertain of the date, it is hard to imagine it will be six months away....Is quite different to ‘we will be opening in 7 weeks’

Definitely .

No m @Janemarpling and never in any school I’ve worked in. It’s really common for schools to just select the top sets for triple science but it’s always a sprint to get everything done. A fair few kids end up getting booted down to double.

Our school used to do 'accelerated triple'.
Then it moved to accelerated triple or use an option block.
It now runs on 4 additional lessons per fortnight instead of ICT.

It also used to start formal science GCSE syllabus summer of y9 and now starts autumn y9. (Other subjects run a 2 year GCSE).

smile You are being a bit annoying. We were emailed yesterday to plan for a return after the May half term, it did not say we are definitely under all circumstances returning in June, it simply stated the aim of the school is to reopen in June, and we should plan to return then. The school have been in constant contact with PHE and other agencies, and that was the conclusion.

Should a meteor hit earth, or an earthquake, or the coronavirus for some reason peaks two months later than expected, that may change, but for now that is the plan.

Why on earth are you wasting your life on a profession you clearly hate so much fedup? Why not retrain? You are doing neither yourself nor the children you teach any favours by being so negative and unprofessional. You seem to have lost your moral compass, it is our responsibility to provide a sound education for all children or have you forgotten that?

Seriously do step up or ship out.

No m @Janemarpling and never in any school I’ve worked in. It’s really common for schools to just select the top sets for triple science but it’s always a sprint to get everything done. A fair few kids end up getting booted down to double.

Purple. Wow! My experience is opposite. I see how hard that would be.

We have 15 hours a fortnight for triples ( 5 h of each) Three teachers get 5h each.

Combined get 10 hours a fortnight.( 2 teachers)

I could not get my share of triple Physics into 3.3 lessons a fortnight. That's not good.

Cornish, that is the second time at least that you have taken it upon yourself to profess that, based on a few posts on here, a complete stranger to you is apparently unfit to be a teacher.
Are you this judgmental in real life?

@cornishdreams1 I have to ask, are your more recent experiences of schools based on private schools or local inner city comps? I ask genuinely (not to be snarky) as a class of 45 or so children in my school (comp in a 'tricky' area) would be a war zone. Even in a 'normal' day I can be breaking up fights within the first 5 mins of the lesson.

I haven't read all posts in this thread, so forgive me if you've already said what you do, but I'm assuming you are a teacher in a very different school to mine if teaching 45 would be beneficial to the children's education. It just wouldn't be in mine.

If people with children in private schools think they're doing everyone else a favour - 'the state system would buckle overnight should private schools be forced to close' - I honestly despair.

I'm mentally prepared for September but hoping for earlier, not for my children in particular as they have resources and tech at home and parents who can wfh, lots of contact with their friends, but for the vulnerable children in lower socioeconomic groups.

I particularly worry about the early years and KS1 children who 6 months of not reading and having very little access to anyone speaking English will set them back so, so far.

And the young teens particularly in rural areas who will be so vulnerable to getting caught up in county line drug dealing.

And children living in a home where there is domestic violence, and children living in inadequate, overcrowded temporary accommodation, children whose only structure and interaction with people who have the headspace for themis school.

Kids whose glasses get broken and will remain broken for months because the opticians isn't open. Kids whose illnesses are usually picked up by the school.

Etc, etc etc.

I'm desperately hoping that it's before the end of the school year, even if only for a week or so, but recognise that that may not be possible.

bflatmajorsharp you’ve posted some very sad reasons for concern. I have been thinking a lot about less fortunate children than mine, for whom school is a lifeline. My father (teacher) was the nominated counsellor at his school and the things he would tell me (we lived far from his school so not a breach of privacy) would make your hair curl. Often it was children from families where on the surface everything was fine - behind closed doors life can be intolerable.

It is so difficult, because we are having to balance the needs of so many different people and groups.

Some children with health conditions will die if we return too soon.

Some will die or be seriously harmed by abuse at home if we return too late.

Some adults will die if their children bring home the virus by being at school too early.

Some adults will die through suicide, malnutrition or lack of treatment for ongoing medical conditions (e.g. undetected cancer) if lockdown continues too long.

The economy will be further damaged if schools do not return for 'normal' levels of childcare, leading to additional harm over a longer term..

There will be preventable deaths from the COVID virus if schools return too early and cause a high spike in cases that overwhelms local or national NHS capacity.

There is no perfect answer. Locally, the private schools - including boarding schools - switched entirely over to full-time online learning immediately after closure or from the start of next term, with no suggestion that any children will return (many have overseas, often Asian boarders) in the medium term.

And I will say again - I remain a full time teacher. Online learning, following up vulnerable children and families, setting and marking work, moderating safe ways for the children to interact socially online, ensuring that families already ill have the supplies and support that they and their children need. It's not that I 'don't want to be in the classroom' - I desperately do. However, my work as a teacher is different at the moment, and I'm doing my very best for the children and their families over this period. That does include paying attention to the instructions I have been given to maintain my own health, as a dead or seriously ill teacher is (obviously) less useful and supportive to their pupils.

callme If you had read the thread you will see that every single post from fed up literally comes with a 'can't do, won't do' attitude. Why bother? It is utterly futile anyway, as we will all reopen as soon as possible for too many reasons to list again, so why keep saying it will be September on a loop. It is fake news.

Harry my niece is working in London in a very big comprehensive, and her classes are enormous. The school is pretty much still open due to the number of children registered still to attend, they are managing. They are mostly working alongside ss and other agencies.

I am based in the south west, it is true we are blessed with space and lots of it, and can be flexible how we teach - we could run a forest school pretty effortlessly for instance. We don't see any fighting in our classes, so it depends on where you are based? This will need to be taken into consideration of course. Do you have security at your school? I think we may need to work outside the normal limits for a time, but then so will most other sectors. We need to be flexible and open to doing things differently for a while.
I have not seen much problem solving on this thread, and that alone is very depressing given what is at stake.

as a dead or seriously ill teacher is (obviously) less useful and supportive to their pupils

And there we have it, just pure exaggeration in its finest form. One would assume you will actually make it to June, naturally you will not be expected to teach if the above happens to you!!!

God give me strength. I am now wondering how many posts on here are teaching professionals or the dinner ladies not looking forward to another stint in the canteen in the summer. You are doing the profession a disservice with your posts.