Schools Reopening?

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

I know that this view will not make popular and am prepared to be shouted at.
However, a lot of the children didn't even make it until half term before their schools were shut.
So, they have only had one term and a little bit.
Why not wait until September and start them again in the year group that they have been forced to miss. Obviously this would take an immense amount of planning and organisation but it would give the children the time that they actually need in each group.

No they won’t but that is separate to schools.

However, a lot of the children didn't even make it until half term before their schools were shut

I don’t know if any schools that didn’t make it till mid February before closing-where was this?

The problem with making children repair the year comes with those in y11/13 who have already got their gcse/A level grades. They can’t resist the second half of their courses when they have already been given the qualification. Universities will go bust if nobody starts in September as well.

Plus all the parents of preschoolers who will get their school places for September

I expect the government don’t even know the exact plan. They have projections and scenarios and an idea of what they are likely to do but it’s not all set in stone and depends how this all,progresses and how diligently people follow the rules or guidance they give.

Cornish, I don't see your school as being "ahead of the curve."
I see it as wishful thinking - pick a date that will give people something to hope for.
Yes, it may be June. The point is NOBODY HAS ANY IDEA, least of all the Head of your school.

It is likely private schools have good reason to be optimistic. They need parents to pay fees now.

But as Angelina says no school knows.

I'm just thinking of what would be necessary to get schools going again, in terms of full time 'in school' education for all. Obviously from an education standpoint, we want children and teachers back in school as soon as we possibly can, if this can be done safely. By 'safely', I mean within acceptable risk levels for children, for school workers and for the community around a school (ie parents, grandparents etc), which obviously has an interaction with the local capabilities of the NHS.

I think the basics are:

• Government to state that schools can open to more than just key workers' and vulnerable children.

• Current peak of cases and deaths to be demonstrably past, and NHS to have sufficient ongoing capacity to cope with new cases caused by greater mixing.

• If in under 12 weeks from the start of the current lockdown / shielding phase, sufficient supply staff recruited to cover those still being shielded. Different schools will have very different numbers of these.

• Modification of existing self-isolation guidelines OR capability to test all those who show temperature or new continuous cough very quickly (as it was this, rather than shielding, that caused staff shortages in the run-up to closure. Many staff are parents and / or carers for the elderly or vulnerable, so family isolation for 14 days can reduce the workforce very rapidly)

• Either relaxation of infant class size restrictions / staffing ratios OR rapid availability of an extra pool of supply teachers to replace those staff who inevitably have to self-isolate during the period after school re-opening due to new transmission of the virus.

• Sufficient 'not in school' teaching resource to continue to offer full on-line education (as currently offered) to those children who have ongoing health conditions that mean they cannot attend school.

This is obviously slightly simpler for Primary, where teachers teach all subjects and thus one trained teacher is (at least in theory) exactly the same as another. It will be harder for secondary, because there will need to be sufficient teaching resource for each subject - a mini outbreak in Maths or Physics, for example, could easily decimate the teaching capacity in a particular subject for the whole school.

I hope that all these conditions can be met very quickly. However, we are some way short of peak and very short of testing capability at the moment, so it may take a little while.

Nichola S after her Cobr meeting with Bojo et al

She said: “People should not assume that schools and nurseries will open after the Easter break. We will of course keep them closed for as long as it takes and I cannot promise that they will open before the summer holidays.”

So nobody knows. It changes all of the time.

The government/schools could attempt partial reopening, e.g.

• Primary classes in for say 2 days per week each, which covers for fewer teachers and starts getting children back to normality
• Send older primary classes back first so y5&6 and then 2 weeks later 3&4 as well etc
• Similarly at secondary, start back with just y10 on some kind of compressed timetable, so face to face with each subject once per week (i.e. in for 2 days only)

These kind of measures could enable partial getting back to normal without the full load of everything all at once. However no doubt this would give logistical problems too.

I do think that a partial rolling opening would make sense - in primary, this could be a week in, two weeks off (for children in a given class and their class teacher) with a third of the school in at any time to allow time for development of illness / self isolation in between, and decnt social distancing while in school.

However it would be chaotic for parents, especially with siblings in different years, so I think it is unlikely to happen.

Schools are not necessarily first even in China.

I hope this poster won’t mind but the best source of what is happening is someone who lives there. Posted one week ago.

China is opening schools in provinces that had very few cases eg Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia - about 76 cases in each province.
Given that we are not testing as much as China, tracking contacts or implementing strict quarantine protocols I think it’s going to take longer here.
Dd’s School in Jiangsu closed on 23rd January and possible opening date is 7th April, but needs to be confirmed by local educational authority.

And says longer here given all that it takes.

So not as simple there even, with lower proportion in population with cases, as just opening schools first.

As an aside if people want to believe in the positivity of their schools they should go for it. But those schools do not have extra inside knowledge.

My school believes we will get told at 7pm on the news, at the same point the genersl public finds out, that we are reopening the next day at any given point in the year, with no refence to the standard school year.

cornishdreams1 a very close friend of mine is Head of a very large, famous, independent boarding school. She has no idea when they will be back. She said she is preparing for best and worst case scenarios, and everything in between. I’m surprised that your school has information that she hasn’t been privy to.

My school believes we will get told at 7pm on the news, at the same point the genersl public finds out, that we are reopening the next day at any given point in the year, with no refence to the standard school year.

I probably agree! I certainly think that a return through what would usually be the summer holiday is entirely possible, especially on a phased, rolling or optional basis to spread infections, in the same way as virtually all schools are open through the Easter holidays to offer the same childcare / access to online schooling facilities as they have done since last Monday.

A rolling opening is an absolute nightmare for teachers who are also parents of children in different key stages. Would lead to a large amount of staff absence for that reason alone so probably not doable, especially as the wrap around care at my primary school can only operate if all children are in otherwise they run at a loss.

Agree, Michael. I think that what is 'sensible' from a disease control point of view and what is 'possible' on the ground are very different for all the reasons you say. the question will be whether the government decides on the 'possible', but at greater risk of avoidable harm from illness, or the 'sensible', but at a greater risk to the economy.

CallmeAngelina my reference to Deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries normality could be six months away or even longer was said in a press conference

Not we as myself and colleague/partner/sister’s friends cat

The issue that teachers have is that the leave can’t be moved whereas other leave for other professions can be have them at other points in time. So if it’s cancelled they can’t happen at another time. I know the teachers that I work with are working longer hours than usual at the moment.

Won’t before September and be lucky if it’s then ☹️

Over the peak in April ? People have their heads in the sand. We have a long way yet to go.

September, optimistically

I hope they keep them closed as long as needed .children are starting to die let's not wish them back to soon .

I work for an LA and with 100 plus schools, I also have friends working in the Health Service, in long term planning.

We are assuming 1/9/2020 at the absolute earliest, providing the death rate and infection rate are on the decline.

I vote September also