Schools Reopening?

[Liveforever86]

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

I think it would be better to send the children back in June/July even if only for a few weeks. Realistically sending the children back to school at any point until a vaccine/cure is discovered is going to result in a new wave of infections. I would rather see this happen in July/August than in Oct/Nov when the NHS will already be under more pressure.

I don't think it's worth them opening for a few weeks before the summer holidays.

Educationally, I agree. To artificially create a new virus peak to then improve levels of immunity in the wider community, at the cost of some deaths - possibly. Certainly July - August would be a better time for this new peak than Oct / November, which is when it will fall if schools are closed right through to September.

Need to reopen when weather improves, as there will likely be another rise in September onwards.

X post, sorry.

In Scotland we finish school at the end of June. Normally return to school in August so I'm hoping August...but I think it will be September for Scotland too.

To all those saying they can’t afford to pay teachers to work in the summer holiday etc .... I’ll repeat .... the Government are pushing through more emergency legislation...the same type that means that a policeman can now pull you over a demand to know where you are going for no reason. One part of this new legislation is that it can require schools to remain open. So (if this passes and it will) they can keep school open for the summer holidays, they wouldn’t need to pay anyone as it would be against the law for school Staff to not go to work.
And I want to laugh at the people saying the unions won’t have it or teachers will strike. Teaching unions are the weakest, most pitiful unions in the world. They roll over to the slightest bit of gov pressure. And of course teachers won’t strike .... can you imagine. The general public mainly hate us anyway ... they all think the holidays are too long and teachers do fuck all. We’d be attack in the street if we strike.

It depends on when the tests arrive so people can test at home if they've had coronavirus.

If they could start testing now, we would begin to get a picture of the spread in the population.

However it looks like the tests won't arrive for another 6 weeks at least.

The delay in getting the tests out will dictate when/if schools can reopen.

Once it's clear who has had it and who hasn't, then those people who have had it, can start to get back to normal. If for instance enough people in London had had it, like 60%, then herd immunity theory could follow and London could open up again.

And potentially even if only 40% had had it, then they may open up anyway and expect another wave of sickness but know that it would come to the end 12 weeks later but allow full opening knowing that once the danger had passed for those that are vulnerable, life could carry on again mostly.

The sooner the tests arrive the sooner we can have some answers. Right now I'd say no one really knows, there's just not enough reliable data to make any predictions.

I do think that the emergency childcare responsibility of schools will persist through all holidays until schools reopen fully for education, or until all 'normal' childcare - e.g. holiday clubs - are allowed to reopen. Thus a proportion of all school employees will work throughout the year, but hopefully on a decent rota since numbers are small.

I work in a school and they say September at the earliest.

Certainly July - August would be a better time for this new peak than Oct / November, which is when it will fall if schools are closed right through to September.

I agree from a medical viewpoint, however I don't think it's that easy to just essentially decide to cancel the school holidays! Otherwise teachers are going to be working without a proper break from February (last half term) until October. They're already working through Easter to keep school open for the children of key-workers. It's just not realistic. And children need a proper break too.

September. They could probably go back sooner but think it would be so close to the summer hols that it won't be worthwhile.

I was envisioning a situation where all restrictions were relaxed by July - so holidays could go ahead. Teachers too - maybe that would mean children could only do 2-3 day weeks to allow for teacher/staff holidays. DC go to a large primary school with 3 forms of entry so there’s more scope for this kind of class sharing - in fact they had to do this for most of last term due to an unexpected teacher absence in year 1. I appreciate it might not work well - I just think if businesses etc are to reopen in the summer, it would be better for some schooling to go ahead too, even if not perfectly organised. And as for teachers not being paid in the summer... well if businesses reopen meaning the gift stops paying 80% of furloughed employee salaries, maybe they’d have a bit of spare to spend on teachers?

I mean, maybe none of this is workable. The govt probably won’t have any money left by then! But six months without any formal schooling is really not great for children.

I'm hoping 6 weeks (5 to go) this lockdown can't last forever. The kids could all do with being tested before they go back. They can't do that though as our country doesn't seem to be testing people much. If it's a nice summer they could definitely have more outdoor working.sitting in the shade. Desks could even be outside in the shade. Doors open. Staggered lunchtimes. Maybe even stagger the school day. To give the kids some normality for a few weeks. Some years could do the morning. Some could do the afternoon? All windows open. Washing hands. All fevers, colds etc should stay home. Outside of school children should continue to stay away from grandparents etc.

I think cinemas etc should stay shut for longer. But kids really need their social life and they will all be so bored soon. They need interactions with others. My DD used to have salads and jacket potatoes and roast dinners etc at school. Then she'd have a light tea at home. She's now having alot more sandwiches fruit and pasta. Absolutely fine and We have an evening meal with veg etc. But even her diets changed. I felt like she was healthier for the school meals. She was having veg and stuff twice a day.

I think it's really important for schools to return soon. Just my opinion. I don't care about my social life. I don't care about going for days out. But I know my child's mental health will suffer if this goes on for too long. I can't bare the thought of her never seeing her old class and teacher again. It's so sad for a 5 year old just settling in for school. We've not got round to talking about new classes and year one. We have just let her get used to her first class (which is full of toys and has pets) year ones going to be alot more classroom time. It's a huge change and she's not going to be prepared after five or six months off. I can't even imagine another ,21 weeks of this. It's crap!! X

I really want to know what the DfE are going to do about GCSEs for the current year 10s. No matter how hard they work at home they are still missing so much coursework
I was also wondering this, as not just current year 11s that are doing GCSEs, year 10s will potentially miss a term of classroom learning. While much work can be set remotely (and this is no judgement on teachers) there will be practical stuff that cant be done, collaborative work with peers etc

I'm one of those that support teachers but I think some on this thread are unrealistic. The government has created a new hospital with 500 beds, retired NHS staff have been asked to return, final yr students have been drafted in, 500k plus volunteers have signed up to help, medical staff are risking their lives, the RAF may have to bring people back from overseas, airline staff have been asked to pitch in & volunteer, the gov has pushed through legislation changes, these are not normal times & although I'd love it I think it's unlikely that my Aug holiday in France will happen.

Otherwise teachers are going to be working without a proper break from February (last half term) until October.

I doubt that will factor into most parents’ calculations, especially exhausted keyworkers or parents who’ve been trying to work full time from home while also homeschooling with zero experience. Everyone is making massive sacrifices.

Teachers will have to suck it up like the rest of us.

I think teachers have already “sucked it up” more than many other people!!

I actually don’t think the government know (they didn’t know when they were to close them). So I don’t know how all the schools know that it will be September?

I doubt that will factor into most parents’ calculations,

Luckily it's not up to the parents.

Of course the government don’t know. They don’t know how our numbers are going to pan out. They can make models and estimates and plan to some degree based on that... but they don’t know. And the schools themselves definitely don’t know.

I teach in FE and we have been told not to expect to be back in college before summer.

It depends how quick they can roll a vaccine out. If they can do it in the summer - HIGHLY UNLIKELY, then possibly September. I can see this going on until next Spring 2021.

I do think those who are expecting teachers to work their summer holidays because parents have wfh and homeschooled have a point, but are forgetting infectuon control.

Families wfh and homeschooling their children are effectively well distanced from the virus and thus relatively unlikely to become infected.

As soon as a teacher takes a class of 32 all day, every day, in a school environment where social distancing is virtually impossible, that teacher is hugely vulnerable to infection - and those children take the infection back to their families.

Teacher illness and deaths are inevitable, much as for healthcare workers, especially as teachers will have no PPE.

I too would like to know what will happen with next year's GCSEs as DS is currently in Y10. At the moment he is plodding on with all the work his teachers are giving him. He is currently on Easter holiday but has been given a huge chunk of homework, which is keeping him busy, but it does not replace classroom teaching.

I hope special consideration is given for the current year 12s, I feel they are the worse affected. My dd is doing hard A levels and having to teach herself now. That’s going to be bad enough if she can’t go back until September, but if schools are closed again in the next academic year, they can’t teach themselves year 13 work as well and then be expected to do exams on 2 years worth of work with a lot of it having taught themselves. At least the year 13s finished or nearly finished the course and they’re not doing the exams now. My dd wants to do a science course at uni and will gaps in her learning that universities will have want them to have covered. Also, they can’t do mocks now in June to get their predicted grades to apply to uni in October or go to university open days.