May half term or September?

[Ricekrispie22]

Of course, nobody can say for sure, but if you had to hedge your bets, based on what other countries are doing, do you think schools will be re-opening and the end of May or September?

1st June for key year groups such as current year 10 and 12. September for the rest.

Schools have given away all their hand gel etc and so need to get it on order (if they can)

Social distancing is a major challenge in schools as classrooms are small and corridors may only be a metre wide.

I'm hoping it's not May....too soon. Will probably be 1st June. Personally I would prefer September but that's not likely in reality...

Gone I think Sturgeon actually has the most difficult decision.

Mid August is still a long time away. Its a long time for kids to be out.

But end of May only gives a few weeks.

1st June for sure. Any longer is absolute madness.

There will need to be planning, routines and organisation

Not really. Furloughed staff don’t need more than a week’s notice. Same routines and organisation as usual surely?

After May half term
🙏🏻

Depends on guidance from DfE. Being a furloughed worker is not the same as a school kicking back into action

Well yes, a week’s notice would be good, rather than the two days notice of the shut down.

Also, people will need to get into their classrooms to organise and set up, especially if their classrooms have been used for key workers children. Lessons will need to be replanned from the ground up. You can’t just pick up summer term 2 planning and get on. You’ve got to squeeze two terms teaching into one term for children who will be very unsettled.

Same routines and organisation as normal surely?
Er, what about the small matter of planning for some sort of social distancing, as far as is possible? That will inevitably involve changes to timetables and lunch routines, for a start.
And we would need to organise things like individual named stationery packs and so forth. These might seem like minor considerations but they're nonetheless time-consuming.

Whoops this is going to descend into a teacher bashing thread! Need to find my hard hat quick👷‍♀️

I think we overreacted to the threat this virus posed, now that the true position is becoming clearer, I see no reason not to start getting back to normal.

And here we go. The reason things are working out and the NHS is not overwhelmed is BECAUSE of the measures we have taken . We absolutely did not overreact, we took appropriate action. I think we do however need to start loosening restrictions soon, though I'm not sure I'd call it 'getting back to normal'.

I think the government need to decide what's the new ' normal' will look like and we will need to start moving towards that soon. A staged restarting of schools May sometime seems a good place to start.

If I was religious I’d pray for May for my autistic son. Because he’s so complex and challenging he has a 24 hour curriculum. After a month at home I am starting to lose my mind. Actually tomorrow would be better!

What Random18 said. The virus is not going anywhere. It will still be around in September.

@ChrissieKeller61. I understand you want to protect your family but the virus isn’t going anywhere. It’s part of life now and will still very much be around in September. We need to be in contact with it to acquire immunity. You can’t keep your children home forever x

I'd like it to be after half term so my Y6 daughter can say a proper goodbye to primary school and her friends and teachers. That will give her a better transition to secondary school I think.

32nd Julember

"My point is more that we all need to catch it eventually in order to develop herd immunity*

That's the misunderstanding of herd immunity the government mistakenly took as guidance back in the beginning when they didn't act fast enough.

@ChrissieKeller61

what like the NHS inions won’t let the staff work without PPE ? Unions have no teeth these days and if teachers don’t provide childcare they’ll be lynched by Tory voters

The teaching unions are one of the most active and powerful that exist, probably on a par with the RMT that regularly calls out Tube drivers to strike. So yes, they absolutely would stop their members working if they thought it was unsafe.

Also, FFS:

if teachers don’t provide childcare they’ll be lynched by Tory voters

Schools are not childcare facilities! They are places of education. It staggers me how many parents on MN think it's a teacher's job is to provide free childcare! They are there to teach your kids, not do your job for you! Plus, most teachers couldn't give a rat's arse about Tory voters because the Tories have already decimated education, so what's the worst they could do to them now? Other than push thousands more of them into quitting the profession. 🤷‍♀️

Long so what do you think the Union will do?

I do want schools to reopen after half Term. It seems the reasonable time for this to happen.

I don't need the childcare per se although my working life is a lot more difficult and less productive at the moment.

I do want my kids educated.

Random18 What the union has already done is written to the Government asking them to share its plan for getting children back to school safely. No one is disputing they must return, and soon, but it has to be done in a way that can safeguard the children and teachers. There's talk that 2m social distancing will have to be maintained in classrooms - but most schools don't have enough room! Also, that children should not be allowed out a break times so they can't come into contact - frankly, I'll be keeping my child at home if that happens, because I'd much rather they can play in the garden than be locked up inside school all day.

So the unions are seeking clarification the Govt won't make a knee-jerk decision to reopen schools without a coherent plan in place. If the Govt doesn't, they can advise their members not to work if they feel unsafe. I doubt they'd call a strike - it's hardly the time for that kind of thing - but they can make things awkward.

And yes, I agree, after May half-term seems most sensible.

Also, please don't refer to schools as childcare! It's such a fallacy to describe them that way. Schools are places of education, to teach your kids, not a place to send them so someone keeps an eye on them.

Long the union would be failing its members if it didn't do this.

I don't know want the answers are but I do expect things to be as safe as possible for teachers and other staff.

so what do you think the Union will do?

Make sure proper systems are in place to protect school staff.

If shops are being protected by having masks/1 in, one out, deep cleaning and social distancing-why should school staff have 30 children (more like 45 if there’s inadequate staff) at close quarters and no masks, or even soap/hand bac in many cases.

Appuskidu Exactly! It would be madness to say supermarkets and shops all have plastic screens/2m distancing/1 in 1 out etc but for schools to return without the same measures in place. The problem is, it can't be done! My OH is a primary teacher and his classroom simply isn't big enough to push the desks 2m apart and still have all 30 kids present. Plus, trying to keep kids apart is like trying to herd cats, especially when they won't have seen each other for six weeks or more.