Government reportedly considering schools going back in 3 weeks

[FiveFootTwoEyesOfBlue]

On BBC News 24 now, article in tomorrow's Sunday Times says that ministers are considering schools going back in three weeks time. Plus allowing some shops and social gatherings, but not pubs and clubs.

I totally agree with you bluntness. This is about managing the rate of infection, not eliminating it. It isn't the only risk factor to consider.

lemon I suddenly find myself liking Gove.

There is something wrong with me.

Everyone is on about the fact that opening the schools will help the economy but no-one seems to answer the question:

If you have a year 7 and a year 10 child, the school open just to year 10. How do you go back to work? You have the more age vulnerable child at home for the whole day, alone.

Or, they allow schools back with all students BUT (as seems to be the way with Denmark etc - there was a thread about this yesterday) they practice social distancing by having children in for three days every fortnight. That reduces the class sizes by a third or thereabouts. Which means 10 children to a class. But are businesses going to be happy with parents who say 'I can only work 3 days every fortnight'?

So then it's all children in as normal and off we go again with a lockdown every so often to clear up the dying.

Gosh no. Main reason is I'm sheilding. My kids know we haven't left the house for 5 weeks, they'd be terrified to go to school right now!

And second reason, they're managing at home more or less. I dont want them to go to some strange place where teachers wear ppe and they cant see their friends :(

Read it neuro : it's interesting. The children are in very small groups all day, even for play and they are still separated from their best friends etc. One girl describes how sad this makes her feel.

I would take anything the NY Times says about any easing of lockdown with a grain of salt. Whatever Trump wants, they will automatically set about discrediting, forgetting entirely about the broken clock that is right twice a day.

@moomoogalicious It wasn’t my intention to make it sound obvious,easy or patronising. And not being rude, but I saw on your previous post your child has autism, I hope their school/education establishment is offering support as they are in same category as key worker children’s and some sort of routine for him/her is being maintained.

Why not keep it open for childcare for key workers and add in the option for pupil premium and at risk children?

Kids tend to have mild symptoms. Although some will be very ill and a small number will die.
But they tend to be super spreaders of viruses. Covid 19 is very contagious, much more contagious than flu.
Kids in schools will spread it to each other, spread it to school staff and to everyone they live with.
The reason another lock down would happen is because too many school staff would have caught covid 19 and be off ill for schools to remain open. And some of those will school staff will die. As will some parents and grandparents.

We needed to do it to allow the NHS to increase capacity and to stop exponential growth. Now that's happened

Has it? You sure?

The Nightingale hospitals are not staffed by magical new NHS staff. They have to travel form their usual hospital to the Nightingales. That is not an increased staffing capacity .

I think they probably will.

They need to weigh up the situation, the pros and cons. They can’t close business and schools indefinitely.

The detrimental long term consequences of keeping society closed for months, will far outweigh that of letting the majority get back to normal.

The elderly and vulnerable would still have to stay home and be very careful but not the rest of society.

It doesn’t matter what parents want.

But they tend to be super spreaders of viruses

Can. we please have a link?

A theory does not need to be backed up with evidence. You have a theory first and then gather evidence to see if it's correct.

marginal that is not what the article is about at all. It doesn't mention Trump, or even America. It is an entirely curious article about what it looks like in Denmark. Your comment reveals you didn't read it.

Allout exactly! Our school was awful with all the high risk teachers off. Schools, like nhs, are run on a shoestring as it is. They cut lots of the TAs etc, so there really isnt the staff to supervise smaller groups.

Im not michaela school's biggest fan but even rheir founder said lets not kid ourself that this can be dones safely/with social distancing and they're ast the strictest school!

I still think mid-June is most likely if we are back at all this term. My school would be highly unlikely to reopen before then due to staff who are shielding. We had already closed before the government announcement due to staffing issues.
I don’t think opening early for year 12 and 10 makes much sense either. Those are exam years. If you have in just one or two year groups and then socially distance them and spread them out it doesn’t make much sense for it to be those year groups, who need specialist subject teachers. Sixth Formers would ultimately be better off at home taught online than in school, spread across multiple classrooms and taught by whoever happens to be well enough to be in school.
It just wouldn’t be worth the risk. If I was in school I’d be more than happy to cover whichever classes needed covering but, educationally, an A Level Maths class would be better off at home in contact with their Maths teacher via Teams or email than in a room being babysat by a history teacher or TA or librarian. And our A Level Maths teachers will definitely not be in until shielding ends. If you’re going to have only one or two year groups in then year 7 makes more sense, but if you divide up all your staff to teach year 7 then who is teaching the online lessons for year 10 and 12? I think at secondary level, online schooling makes way more sense until you can open properly than getting kids in when large numbers of staff and students will still be absent. We are doing a full timetable of online lessons.

So one theory is children and superspreaders and the other is that children do not catch and spread corona.

At present , no one knows

SquashedFlyBiscuit- ?! Schools are already also open for vulnerable children, not just key workers’ children.

marginal that is not what the article is about at all. It doesn't mention Trump, or even America. It is an entirely curious article about what it looks like in Denmark. Your comment reveals you didn't read it.

I did read it, not sure why you think that I didn't.

@LondonJax I agree it is nonsense. I imagine they announce only some kids go back but everyone has to return to work. They know most parents will not be able to return to work in that situation so parents kick up a fuss. The government says ok in that case all kids go back. Kids go back to school, social distancing impossible, 5-7 weeks later we are back at 800-1,000 a people a day dying. We go into lock down again.

That is supposedly somehow a better situation. It certainly means a lot of old and ill people dying. I usually see cries of social engineering as hyperbole, but at this point it is hard to see it as anything else.

where teachers wear ppe : oh, you don't need to worry about that bit. We have been ordered told we don't need to.

I'm also.interested to know what happens if you teach secondary and have primary kids who stay at home. And, as I teach in.England, wtf do I.do if Welsh schools stay closed?

And will parents be kicking off if kids aren't taught properly? Cos I can't see teaching going back to normal.straight away. It'll be childminding.

The article in the sum this morning said nurseries back May 15 and schools early June. That's six weeks before compulsory school age go back. If the deaths drop to tens rather than hundreds by then that seems sensible. Delaying until September would be worse as the peak would rise as winter sets in.

Well, you reading of it is strange then marginal. I can't see any bias at all : just an objective reporting.

@Piggywaspushed So you just accept you will catch covid 19 and if some of you die we will clap for you?