The exit plan and schools.

[NeverGuessWho]

I know this whole thread will be hearsay, but I’m just interested in hearing people’s opinions of where schools are likely to fit in to the exit plan?

A friend thinks they will be opened early on, as this will free up more people to work, and hence enable furloughed workers to return to work. This will crucially save money.

IMHO, schools will be one of the last restrictions to be lifted. Once schools are opened, there will effectively be multiple mass gatherings in every town and city, all at the same time. Surely this will result in a surge of cases of the virus.

Unless of course, they pursue the antibodies/certified passport route?

What do people think?

[pinkrocker]

@Appuskidu I never get texts or emails from them! Ah well I'm pleased I've seen it now

[Appuskidu]

I was emailed that NEU letter earlier-they are asking members to sign it in support.

[pinkrocker]

That's a great letter. I hope it gets a reply that answers all the questions.

[LaProfesora]

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-stop-speculation-about-schools-reopening

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

It would be a massive ‘fuck you’ to the HCPs that looked after him to reopen too early.

[Piggywaspushed]

To be fair I don't think anyone knows what Boris thinks now.

[DBML]

@EYProvider

Oh dear! I’m either going to have to film myself at each set lesson and teach fully remotely or the schools will have to be immediately reopened!!!!! 😬

EYP! I didn’t realise you were now in charge!

How about no to both 😏. But I’ll tell you what I’ll do!...I’ll follow my school’s instructions as far as providing an education is concerned and I’ll follow the governments instructions as to when the schools go back.

I find it so funny how you stamped your feet and told me as a teacher, ‘it’ll be either this way or this way’...when you have absolute no say and no impact on any form of decision made. Your comments are about as influential as the banana sat decaying in the fruit bowl, that I’m about to throw out.

[Sostenueto]

Half the cabinet want it lifted first bank holiday in May ( including the pm) the other want the last bank holiday in May.
China has now reported more cases after lifting some of their restrictions and both Italy and Spain have started to lift theirs partially. We would be wise to see what happens in all 3 places in next few weeks. Testing will never be up to the testing taking place in those countries. Open too early can have huge consequences. The real death toll much higher as figures are lagged. I would rather wait to be sure than open up too soon.

[TalkingIntoTheEther]

The Guardian is reporting that Dominic Raab suggested restrictions will continue for another 4 weeks which would take us to 11th May and 2 weeks before half term (in England), so similarly to cantkeepaway I'm speculating a phased return from mid-may with everyone in from 1st June. Hopefully there are plans for mass testing to happen concurrently, as is the case in France's exit strategy. Not holding my breath with that one though.

[DBML]

One of the memes was a very smiley male teacher and a reference to the joys of teaching young girls. Forever shared on Facebook and Instagram poor sod.

[DBML]

Our school is using video or sound only. Not all teachers want their face on the screen. The main reason was that when it was trialled just before we broke up, pupils screenshot the teachers faces and turned the screenshots into gifs/memes that were uploaded to the internet.

[cantkeepawayforever]

(After half term has the advantage of being pretty close to the end of the 12 weeks)

[Piggywaspushed]

Not sure but my cousin hates him. Stuff to do with school closures but also previous things about pay and conditions. De Blasio is also unpopular mind.

[cantkeepawayforever]

We have copied France on a lot of other things so I expect Boris to do a bit of a Macron-inspired mea culpa speech about PPE then reopen the schools on a similar timescale.

I suspect the same - but that our date will either be half term OR the 'phasing' will start mid-May and it will be everyone in after half term (ie start of June) .... and the inevitable illnesses and deaths (of pupils, teachers and families) will be collateral damage, sacrificed to the economy.

[Saladmakesmesad]

I don't think they will protect them forever, no. I don't think the government personally care that much about individual lives. But 'shield for 12 weeks' and then 'Oh no, never mind, go back to school and take yer chances' would be an odd combination of messages one after the other @MeadowHay.

[MeadowHay]

@Saladmakesmesad actually I think it's entirely possible the government may not support the 'shielded' population and certainly not the 'vulnerable' category to shield or stringently social distance after a particular point in time. For example perhaps when schools go back even. This is because a vaccine could be years away and the risk for vulnerable and shielded individuals in particular will remain significant until a mass vaccination programme is rolled out. And there is no way either public or private sector employers could afford to pay workers for say 2 years of not working. If you really think the government would protect those people to shield for potentially years on their salaries I think you are really naive.

[nellodee]

I know Rupert Murdoch has always had a huge interest in online teaching, so I would not be at all surprised to see some kind of monetization of the current situation going on.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/feb/26/schools-crusade-gove-murdoch

[Saladmakesmesad]

...there would not be some children taught at home and some in school. Instead they would all be back eg on Tuesday 5 May

No they wouldn't. Unless you think the government are going to suddenly say that anyone shielding who is either a child or in contact with a child, or is a teacher no longer needs to shield, and that they're going to abandon the idea of isolating for cough or fever, because if not then what happens to the shielding or isolating kids? And teachers?

But we all know that opening the schools is abandoning social distancing. It's the absolute end of social distancing because employers will expect employees back once schools reopen, parents will not keep children apart outside school (and why should they?), grandparents will resume school pickups and childcare because schools are back so parents are back, parents who see hundreds of others on the school run won't draw the line and not go and see friends or family. It's the absolute end of social distancing, not a 'measure' that can be lifted on its own.

[JackChaffinch]

We have copied France on a lot of other things so I expect Boris to do a bit of a Macron-inspired mea culpa speech about PPE then reopen the schools on a similar timescale. They only locked down on the Friday before our Monday night I think.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

elsewhere the kids log onto the schools network as they walk in to register their attendance but also means whilst at school they cannot access any nasties easily.

Surely the first thing any self respecting year 7 does is learn how to bypass the school filter.

Piggy, it’s been a while since I was in NY, what did Cuomo do to the teachers?

[refraction]

France also says it would have testing available for all by 11th May.

I think that's important.

[Piggywaspushed]

The second link above is interesting. It shows how slow we were to close schools!

[Piggywaspushed]

I think that is from a total shutdown though. Ours are already 'open' compared with France and Spain.

[Typhoonmarie]

Rarely has a thread made me so angry.

The week leading up to the schools closing was horrendous. New and changing information every day. Trying to prepare for the next few weeks/months whilst keeping things going for the children in school, staff off self isolating, changing classes every day...

And then the realisation that our school (special) wouldn’t be closed at all, that many children would still be in and we would be working in very close proximity to each other and children without any protection.

When not on the rota to be in school I am setting work and activities for families to do at home which will be meaningful for the kids but doable for the parents. Videos and worksheets aren’t suitable for most of our children.

All whilst helping my own children with their work (brilliantly set and sent by their state school) and keeping myself relatively sane and well.

How is it fair that it’s ok for children and teachers to go back to school when I can’t even stand next to someone in a supermarket queue for 5 minutes?

[TalkingIntoTheEther]

After closing schools on March 16th, France plans to start reopening them from 11th May.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-52266235?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=5e94b181eac8420673fda262%26Macron%E2%80%99s%20TV%20address%3A%20What%20did%20he%20say%3F%262020-04-13T18%3A43%3A17.228Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:a5b287a4-3acd-4098-bfc1-f30e9e954476&pinned_post_asset_id=5e94b181eac8420673fda262&pinned_post_type=share

www.politico.eu/article/europes-coronavirus-lockdown-measures-compared/