Schools

[Carrotcakeforbreakfast]

I know this has been done 1000 times but my search function isn't working.

With the extended lockdown and daily numbers, when do you think the schools are likely to go back.
I believe lockdown won't end anytime soon but just wondering if anyone thinks schools opening will have changed?

We’re not allowed to get close to them so I’m not sure how much benefit there is educationally. I can’t sit close to explain,discuss,draw or write things out. Can’t get close to check answers. I find it really frustrating. If it was more chalk and talk with kids listening all day I guess it would be better.They can’t share resources. Have you see the threads re handling paper and food packaging etc?

I'm not saying this isn't true but this definitely isn't happening everywhere.

Ds primary schools are posting lots of photos online of key worker children in school and what they've been up to. They have a smallish group in and they are definitely not social distancing.

There are lots of photos of staff and kids sat close together working on joint projects and even sharing food.

Teaching outdoors might, possibly, work, in warm weather.

Teach through the summer, then have a really long winter break instead?

😱

Not sure I’d be happy with that as a parent or for my own safety. They are key worker children with family members on the frontline.

I guess it will boil down to whoever is in charge saying what safety precautions need to be taken on board. It will only take one child or teacher though to die from lack of social distancing and there will be a huge furore.

Teaching outdoors might, possibly, work, in warm weather.
Lots of schools have very limited outdoor space.

User if the schools all have adequate outdoor space, many have limited outdoor resources now.

My guess it’s is a numbers game.
When the death rate looks like it’s going into double rather triple numbers they’ll open schools again.

Sadly the bottom line is teachers and nurses will not be paid nor any other state workers unless parents can get back to work to earn to pay tax so even if another extra 20,000 or 40,000 die schools will be going back at some point either May or September.

Children are not that much at risk and we could take temperatures of teachers every day and try to ensure no one over weight was in school as that is another risk factor. My son delivers groceries and they take temperatures every morning and do more cleaning than usual.

The furloughed scheme has been extended until the end of June so I can see many organisations reopening again before then at the earliest.

Missingminieggs

That's scary really though isn't it. No social distancing for those staff and children means a greater risk to them all, and their families, of speeding Covid. The advice is that, even in school, social distancing should be happening. Those children are likely to be in contact with their parents - many of who will be working in hospitals and even directly with Covid patients.

Teaching outdoors might, possibly, work, in warm weather

660 children in my DC primary and very little outside area. 2700 in the local secondary.

Knowing what the phone calls from some of our parents are like when we go outside on hot days-I can’t imagine that being outside for any length of time would be popular with some of them!

Xenia - a third of our teaching staff are in the greater risk categories. Not shielding, but have health conditions which puts them more at risk if they caught Covid. If we add in our lunchtime staff and other support staff we will have more. We were struggling before schools closed due to this.

Surely once someone has a temperature its a bit late really?

Yes socially distancing and education doesn’t go hand in hand. Chalk and talk is a positivist approach to leaning. Children learn better in a socially constructivist environment. That cannot happen with social distancing, especially if teachers cannot get close enough to pick up misconceptions. Education as people expect it to be or would want it to be, will not be possible until things go back to normal. Everything else is just holding the place.

We aren’t Denmark, we are understaffed, over crowded and have tiny spaces in comparison.

Quite.

We are in an old Victorian school building. High ceilings but now not large classes. With social distancing we can fit up to 8 children in our biggest classrooms. Its already a push to have 30 children in a classroom in normal times.

We don't have spare teachers to cover double the number of classes, if we split them. We could manage with TAs to an extent, but then we'd not have the classrooms.

Our playground is a concrete playground with no grass. It is not level. Half of it is on a proper slope. We have no excess space. Its already crowded if all are out together, hence we already split playtimes normally. We'd struggle to have too many classes outside - and thats before we consider shade provision, and any traffic noise - in normal times we are on a busy road so its not quiet outside.

With social distancing based on our classroom sizes and the available space we could probably fit around 85 children at a time in school, spread over 9 classrooms, 1 computer room and maybe two classes in the hall.

So we'd need at least 3 'groups'.
Guess they'd get 3 full days over 2 weeks.

I'd like to hear from homeschooling parents about homeschool coops and how they work.

Because once we are out of lockdown, there is actually nothing to stop parents from privately grouping together and having one parent supervise the education of several children (who are doing remote learning and working through workbooks) while the other parents work. Parents could take it in turns to be the one supervising the group. Or one parent who is not working (let's face it, this will be a lot of us) could volunteer to be the one in charge.

Desperate times, desperate measures.

I live outside the UK, but I suspect that me and some of my friends will start something like this if our school closures go on and on for months.

(Yes, the virus could still spread among the group, but it would be a relatively small group. Plus, not everyone is deathly scared of the virus from a personal point of view. Vulnerable children and children with vulnerable family members would have to avoid such arrangements).

Vulnerable children and children with vulnerable family members would have to avoid such arrangements

What about staff?

There wouldn't be any staff. I am talking about homeschool coops among parents. Supervising the remote learning and homework packs which the schools are sending out.

So just to ask, do people think that children are going to have to be kept inside until there's a vaccine programme in place?

Because from what I can see social distancing isn't possible with children whether that's in school or in other things such as going swimming or playing with other children.

So potentially months/years of no proper education, exercise or socialisation for children?

Because even if schools stay closed but other things open such as leisure centres or parks, how could children go there?

How could holiday clubs run?

Even if they keep the schools closed, they can't keep kids locked up inside forever with no contact with other children---people just won't stand for it.

My dc are ok for now but I think if this goes on until September with no school but ALSO no swimming, sports, playground, playing with other children, they will start to suffer.

We are lucky that we have a decent home, a garden, money, two parents but other children don't.

Even if they keep the schools closed, they can't keep kids locked up inside forever with no contact with other children---people just won't stand for it.

Exactly

It will only take one child or teacher though to die from lack of social distancing

There will be a furore about the first child (adults who are teachers have already died, although it is not clear whether they were part of the in school rotas before they fell ill, and i genuinely think there will be very little fuss about teachers, though some about the risk they posed to the children they taught....)

There will be less of a furore about the tenth child, and very little at all about the 50th.

Think of how desensitised we have become to the daily death toll, and the potential death toll in care homes for the elderly.

It will be seen as the cost of 'getting the country working again', and for those not personally affected will become 'normal'.

People don’t usually get desensitised about children dying though. Look at the huge public backlash regarding the lack of Men B vaccine.