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?

[Wormthatturned]

Would be lovely to be back to normal with kids in school. Others have said that children generally less at risk from this virus but I fear that the real issue is that they are very good at spreading it - little children have no sense of personal space and crowded classrooms make social distancing virtually impossible. Then they take it home/on the bus/to grandma/ to all the vulnerable people we're trying to protect.
I'm not very worried about my kids but a premature school reopening could negate any benefit of this painful lockdown.

[Rhianna1980]

Schools will/should be the last to open.
Why? Because kids are:
1.super germ spreaders / poor hygiene

1. confined to a small space with a big amounts of people for a long time during the day
   
2. Will bring bugs back home and share it with the family.
   

Schools are a hot bed of bugs. Anyone with a child at nursery or school knows that.

[Newgirls]

We know kids spread things but adults need to work. Some families will be able to work from home but many of us can’t.

We can’t all stay home for months however much we’d like to.

[TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince]

Rhianna could l just add to that?

They sneeze/cough without covering their mouths
They pick their noses and bite their nails
They spit (secondary)
Doubtful personal hand washing hygiene
They snog
They spit on a tissue and chuck it around. It’s a game called Corona.
They chew communal pens and pencils

Hopefully this is why they will be the last to return.

[TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince]

But Newgirls, I assume your fine with your child catching it and infecting school staff and bringing it home, and then infecting you.
Because that is what will happen. Or are teachers just disposable?

[Newgirls]

Of course they are not disposable! If in a risk group then definitely shouldn’t be at school and round here the teachers I know are being v sensible about that.

But I don’t think people realise how serious the economy is finding this - the gov cannot pay for people to eat, get heating, have a home for months on end. The money does not exist.

I would hope kids only go if temp ok and checks take place. We will need to learn from other countries and VERY fast.

[Everyexitisanentrance]

Crumbs posters on another thread wants teachers sacked! There simply is not enough time for us to rank all the students for GCSEs and A levels, do everything associated with on line teaching, (including the latest request for us to upload clips of us cooking favourite recipes in order for students to copy), then get sacked, everyone reapply apply for jobs, interviews to be conducted and DBS checks done for September let alone May.

[TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince]

Which thread Every?

[Newgirls]

The teachers at my kids secondary school are doing an excellent job of the online teaching and I trust them completely to sort out the a level grades. They are ace.

But the gov is already overwhelmed with people trying to get universal credit, get furlough pay and as a freelancer I cannot get any money til end June earliest. None of it is a ‘good’ option.

[Everyexitisanentrance]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3853455-why-do-teachers-still-have-jobs

[Laiste]

School returning spells the end of social distancing.

It really is true and as simple as that really.

It's a fantasy to think that we can have kids going to school at the same time as maintaining any pressure on infection rates.

Soooo ... to be clear, calling for schools to go back on x date is basically also calling for an end to social distancing on x date.

[DownstairsMixUp]

I think they will open for a couple of weeks so maybe last week in June. Even just perhaps for the benefit of final year students (year 6 and 11) transitioning from primary to secondary is scary, my sons school has a whole week of transitioning for students to prepare them.

[fortunatelynot]

Yes exactly Laiste - spot on - schools will open in the normal sense when social distancing finishes. Until then they may open (or not actually) but when they do, on very different terms.

DownstairsMixUp - with respect I think that Year 6 and Year 11 will be the last children to set foot in schools. It is very said that they may not return to their school but as their SATS and GCSES are being decided on different terms, it will not be essential for them to do so. My feeling is that it will be the younger years who go back first.

[Hannah021]

i love how parents think the world ends outside the school doors lol !!! As if every house has children, as if both parents need to be home for the kids, as if there are no housewives/husbands who dont work anyway, as if all couples r living together and both caring for kids... The number of parents who need to work but will be home for the kids is minority... Wake up.

[Appuskidu]

to be clear, calling for schools to go back on x date is basically also calling for an end to social distancing on x date.

Yes!

I think they will open for a couple of weeks so maybe last week in June. Even just perhaps for the benefit of final year students (year 6 and 11)

But Year 11 going back for a few weeks in July will be pointless. They will have no work to do and no timetabled lessons.

[refraction]

Microbiologist that Sky have on a lot just said that the biggest surprise for him is the amount of young people dying.

I don't want my dd to go back.

[cantkeepawayforever]

Soooo ... to be clear, calling for schools to go back on x date is basically also calling for an end to social distancing on x date.

Exactly.

I think, depending on capacity of the NHS at that point, they may well open schools at the end of June for 3 weeks, then shut again. If infection / death rates soar, then they will impose stricter controls again, and that mini-peak will go down in time for term to start in September.

Then rinse and repeat - alternative loosening and tightening of controls to get slightly more controllable waves of infection, until a vaccine is found.

Better testing would allow this to be more sophisticated, but with very much the same aim - just about controllable waves of infection.

[TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince]

It’s my Year 10 and incoming 10 (current 9) that I’m concerned about.

Year 9 will have missed a term yet will go straight into y10.

Y10 l just don’t know where to start. They will have missed a term AND are meant to start a non examined assessment (coursework) on 1st June. If they are not back then, they they won’t be able to do it. 😢

[LaneBoy]

I was wondering if they’d do staggered starts like only having particular year groups. That’s what DD1’s school did before the official closure as they had so many staff off - it was only open from year 10 up.

[BertNErnie]

I'm desperate to go back to work but I'm not sure if be particularly happy going back with 900+ students all in quite a small space without PPE or at least a face mask and some sort of idea in terms of deep cleaning etc. Social distancing doesn't occur with 50 nursery children all in one space...

It's very easy for us to say well children don't tend to be affected as much and the schools just need to reopen but what about the adults who are teaching them? WE are the ones at risk, no?

[DownstairsMixUp]

Lots of year 11s would like to go back even just to have a few days to say goodbye to friends and teachers (I work in education by the way) it would be nice if this could happen for them but obviously If it's still the way it is now it won't happen at all.

[cantkeepawayforever]

It's very easy for us to say well children don't tend to be affected as much and the schools just need to reopen but what about the adults who are teaching them? WE are the ones at risk, no?

I did try pointing that out on a thread last week, but was told I was clearly a lazy and terrible teacher (or at one point, I seem to remember, a dinner lady) who hated children and my job and should be made redundant as quickly as possible. Apparently we're not sufficiently dedicated or good at our jobs if we don't believe that we should simply re-open schools as soon as we can because the children are suffering....

[DownstairsMixUp]

Fortunately I wasn't thinking about exams, was more thinking about the year 6s being able to have their prom/signing shirts. Not educational but a massive part of leaving primary school that most British children get

[Appuskidu]

Lots of year 11s would like to go back even just to have a few days to say goodbye to friends and teachers (I work in education by the way) it would be nice if this could happen for them but obviously If it's still the way it is now it won't happen at all.

I have a year 11. I can see them going back for a day to say goodbye and talk about transition into the sixth form if it’s safe-but going back for any longer than a day would be difficult to coordinate and plan for. They would need to be in classrooms doing something (but not teaching as they will have finished) as they couldn’t have 200 odd kids just milling hysterically around the building for any length of time.

[NotAnotherUserNumber]

It will depend on the disease spread projections and various other factors related to how damaging the current closure is (especially to vulnerable children) and the worrying extent to which it is widening the gap between those who are already disadvantaged and those who aren’t.

Schools will likely either open in mid June or not til September.