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?

I suspect she may mean this list:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-online-education-resources/coronavirus-covid-19-list-of-online-education-resources-for-home-education

or perhaps

www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2020/coronavirus-education

Oh..... I thought is was a news link [government source] she was banging on about

Anyway @EYProvider have a read of this thread to try and get some fucking perspective
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3879328-I-m-a-doctor-on-a-corona-ward

To be fair, we're keeping a close eye on the BBC initiative, and will be linking to bits of it that fit into our plans.

Obviously one of the hard parts of this period is trying to keep our longer term plans in mind so that we know exactly what each year group has and has not covered - where they are ahead, because of available content, and where they are behind because of the lack of personalised teaching or the difficulty of teaching specific subjects remotely. That's one of the reasons why we are planning specific weekly plans, containing specific English and Maths lessons - we know exactly what our children have covered already, and what they would usually be learning next.

Where offerings like the BBC, Twinkl, celebrities etc etc are creating educational offerings, and where we can make use of existing tools such as times table Rockstars, wee're using them.

There's also the question of how teachers simultaneously teach the children in the room and provide distance learning for the ones isolating or shielded (or whose parents aren't prepared to send them back yet) at home. Or does a return to school mean that children who can't return to school stop getting their education altogether? How are you going to work the double workload for teachers here? And now deduct a good percentage of teachers who themselves are shielding, isolating or simply quitting the (already extremely understaffed) profession with no notice because they don't want to be forced into danger. And now, with your much smaller group of teachers, all teaching both in the classroom, virtually and covering for the other staff that are off, start deducting them in large numbers unexpectedly day by day and week by week as they or their own children (who have returned to school) either get the virus or something else that gives them a temperature and means they have to isolate. Sounds a bit chaotic to me.

I presume as the Mayor of New York said today about when they will restart things schools opening is part of that process as is a full transport service so workers can get back to work so there would not be some children taught at home and some in school. Instead they would all be back eg on Tuesday 5 May.

From the BBC, re the situation in the UK...

There are certain interactions and activities that are overall less risky," said Dr Kucharski.

He argues lifting different restrictions can be put into three broad categories - those with low, moderate and substantial risk of increasing transmission of the virus.

Low risk includes exercising outdoors, which has been restricted in some countries.

Moderate would include letting some non-essential shops re-open or having occasional gatherings with people outside the household.

Substantial increases could come from lifting advice to work from home, reopening schools or isolating sick people and quarantining households.

"I think the order things went in will be reflected in the order things will be lifted," he says.

I presume as the Mayor of New York said today about when they will restart things schools opening is part of that process as is a full transport service so workers can get back to work so there would not be some children taught at home and some in school. Instead they would all be back eg on Tuesday 5 May.

Seems he is arguing with the mayor for September.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/11/cuomo-de-blasio-new-york-schools

@EYProvider

Find a solution like everyone else has to? Everyone... like who?

Because as far as I can see, everyone apart from the NHS staff, transport workers, delivery drivers and supermarket workers, is sitting at home on 80% pay.

Cuomo is generally well regarded by New Yorkers. But the teachers hate him.

You have to have internet to run a computer. Virtual learning isost unfair to the poor and disadvantaged. There are thousands of children who do not have access to broadband at home. If you all want schools back may 1st then there would have beenno need to cancel gcses and A levels. It ain't going to happen yet! Open everything too early and the second wave will be worse.

@LaProfesora - To be fair, I do agree with that and I wonder how long ‘essential’ workers will put up with it before downing tools themselves.

It’s almost unseemly for them to be carrying on while everyone else sits at home on 80% of their salary enjoying themselves (at least going off what I read on here).

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/

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?

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

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

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

I think that's important.

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?

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.

...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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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