Finally some news about schools

[pontypridd]

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/may/03/revealed-year-six-primary-school-pupils-may-return-on-1-june

I think it's a little soon.

In a three-form entry primary school that's potentially 90 children, plus the vulnerable/key workers' kids.
That's the size of some primary intakes in total.

You'd need at least nine classrooms for the Y6s so they could SD, plus classrooms for the vulnerable/KW's kids.
Already, you've got a full house, you're using most available space.

If they come in on different days, that may support SD more but logistically, would be difficult to plan and staff.

Even just Y6 going to school would mean the end of SD.
Some would walk to school on their own.
Some would walk with parents/ GPs.
Some would get the bus on their own.
Some would get the bus with parents/GPs.
Some would be driven...etc etc
= a mix of journeys at the same time each day.
In busy areas there's a primary school every few streets. That's a lot of children and adults out and about.

I agree this is a test to see whether parents send children back, children get infected, and parents and school staff get infected and any die. They will be expecting some infections and hospitalisations, but they want to know whether many adults get hospitalised and die as a result of year 6 going back. If they don't all kids will be told to go back.

We keep being told other countries were at least 2 weeks ahead of us in terms of infection rates. No other country has sent kids back to school. But we are.

We already have a much higher rate of death than most countries. So why would you trust a plan that is different to other countries?
It is an experiment. It might turn out okay, it might not. If it does not turn out okay then some school staff and parents might die.

I’m in Scotland, so maybe this 1st June thing doesn’t apply here. But if it does, and if those in power really are reading to see public opinion ...

I won’t be sending my primary school children back to school until mid August. Sending them in for four weeks? No way. By the time we’re back and into any sort of routine what sort of educational gain will they get from those four weeks? I am a primary school teacher at the same school my children attend. I will go back, if I’m asked to. We’re lucky as DH can look after the DC when I’m at work now he works from home. But this thread has actually clarified things for me. My kids won’t be going back until August, what’s the fucking point in them doing that?

HTH some government advisor.

@stellarsky My relatives in Scotland said they have been told schools are not going back until after the summer holidays at the earliest.
Apparently children in England are different to children in Scotland? Or maybe the Scottish government are not as willing to experiment with children, school staff and parents?

Anyway my kids are not going back and I will lie to enable that. My kids will be off ill and I will be off ill from work if I need to. I put my family first.

@Randomnessembraced Back when this started I would have agreed with you. I really felt for DS having to miss out on all that stuff. But honestly over the lockdown period, he's already moved on emotionally. Out of sight is out of mind for this age. He's made some new friends online through his gaming, and with one exception, has barely given his primary classmates a second thought.

So aside from everything else, I feel that going back to that school would be a retrograde step mentally because he feels like he's already left. If the govt is really going to force us to send this age cohort back now, then I'd honestly prefer that Y6 be given the option to go straight to high school for a few transitional weeks before the summer, if the actual current Y7 aren't going back yet.

No other country has sent kids back to school. But we are

Erm....we’re not? And Denmark?

@Dinoctoblock I agree they won't get any educational value out of going back.

It is also an age group that can listen and wash hands reliably, makes sense from that perspective.

Agreed. By Y6 they can and will. They're old enough to take it seriously.
But many schools just don't have adequate facilities, even for just one year group.

I think schools should be given a grant/ extra time to arrange for hand washing facilities to be fixed/installed/ built and windows to be fixed so they can open properly and ventilate classrooms.

Nope. Not sending them back yet. I work outside the home, so it’s not laziness on my part, I’m already working and not refusing to work.

If anything were to happen to my kids I wouldn’t live with myself. My duty as a parent is to keep them safe.

@Howaboutanewname If you google this the internet is full of news reports that many or most parents are refusing to send their kids back to school in Denmark. It may be government policy to send kids back, but many are not. Kids also have to be 2 metres apart at all times. That is not possible in most English schools. It is not comparable to here.

And yes the UK is proposing sending at least some kids back on the 1st of May. The only way they can do this is to abolish the 2 metre rule or make it a 1 metre rule.

It is also important to note that Denmark have only had 484 deaths in total. We have had lots of days where more than that have died in 24 hours.

I wonder what this will mean for nurseries? I think the assumption is they will open as soon as possible, so potentially in line with this June 1st target.

But surely social distancing is completely impossible with babies and toddlers? It would be confusing and distressing for them if it were possible.

Since having a child in nursery we've been bombarded with every bug going, ever winter. It's just part and parcel of it, along with chickenpox and nits doing the rounds.

I just fail to see how you could keep a virus like CV out of nurseries, when you think of each child's parents and who they've contacted etc etc. But equally see many can't return to work without them (especially without the help of older / vulnerable grandparents who normally provide some childcare).

It's a hard problem to solve and I don't envy that task, but I agree with PP, the minute they go back trying to preach social distancing will feel a bit futile

I’m sorry, @cantory, but I’m a teacher. I am fully aware of the limitations of UK classrooms. I am very concerned that teachers will be allowed to die en masse.

But my point was answering the two points made: that we’re sending kids back to school. We aren’t. It’s all speculation. And that no other country has done. And Denmark has. Maybe not in full, but some children at least are back in school and there has been a rise in R.

It is also an age group that can listen and wash hands reliably, makes sense from that perspective.

My Y6 child bites his nails - hands in his mouth all day long - and then touches everything your kids are going touch. Soz.

@Howaboutanewname It is speculation, but I think the government really want to do it and are testing reactions. The TV news said they are talking to teachers unions about this. I don't know if that is true, but it is what they said.

And yes I think it would be throwing school staff who are vulnerable under the bus.

If there is a staggered return it’s not going to help those of us trying to WFH much, as still trying to look after siblings, and also fit in a school run twice a day, and I presume they’re will be no after school clubs etc.
And Whilst I accept my children would like to be back and school with friends I don’t feel their education is slipping too much at present. So the ‘urgency’ to get back to school is less about enabling me to work, or furthering their education, and more about 1) getting to kids stimulated and 2) ensuring we spark that tinder enough to get the virus running through the population again at a controlled rate.
Also, whilst my kids are supposedly unlikely to get/ spread it at school (I’m dubious), I don’t rate my chances so much waiting in the playground twice a day.
I’ll be thinking long and hard about whether to let my kids be a part of an experiment, to be honest.

IF they open on the 1st of June, but you decide its "safe" to send them in Sept, Nov or even next June there is nothing to say your child won't bring it home then.

Tbh if some of their classmates have had it by rushing back in June then yes, it may well actually be safer for the children who wait till September.

Year six only? What a waste of time. Plus the younger kids are much less at risk so they can go to school first. Why not nursery children, they are the ones who need the most supervision so can let parents off. Teenagers can stay online!!! Can't see the rationale really, what they announce on Thursday may be completely different from the rumours

@Passtherioja

I'm an education welfare officer. I highly doubt we will be fining anyone for the foreseeable future given the circumstances. Certainly not those who have kept their children away due to medical vulnerability within the family. It just isn't what we would do. However, your info about 20 sessions / 10 days is incorrect, there is SO much misinformation about school attendance sanctions and fines, it's really unhelpful when people make comments like this that aren't accurate.

Conveniently, six weeks would be just long enough to start off the second wave of infections and peak, due to schools being closed again for summer, just in time for the first knockings of Flu Season.

There is no way I will be sending my children back in June. This virus hasn't just disappeared. ...
My DS is I'm Yr 8 at prep school (final yr before going to secondary in sept) and my DS is in yr9 at boarding school. I'm certainly not sending her to a house of 63 other girls!!!

Those of you who are saying it's all speculation are ignoring the fact that the Guardian has had Downing Street confirmation that the target date is 1 June

I agree it's unconfirmed but do agree with the above. One of my friends works for Dept of Education and she told me a couple of weeks ago that the target is 1st June. But that it was only a target and could easily change if circumstances dictated.

If it is true that it is Y6, I hope schools where the leaving age is different are free to adapt the age. We would want Y8 in as they are our leavers. Y6 are just a random year group in the upper middle of the school (we take Y3 - Y8).

@cinnabuns I agree fines would not happen. A court would never agree to a parent with medical vulnerabilities being fined for keeping their kids away. Anyone medically vulnerable is advised to get a flu jab every year.

The headlines speculating about schools reopening feel very economy-driven which isn't what I want to read as a parent or as a teacher. I want to be back at school, my DH wants to be back at his school and my Y10 DD wants to be back at hers. My Y6 isn't bothered; the fun of Y6, the carrot they've had dangled in front of them whilst they've done yet another maths paper or edited their writing to feature a completely pointless fronted adverbial, has been withdrawn. No theme park trip, no residential, no disco, no production, no being the year group to run sports day... there's little academic value in the Y6s going back and a lot of the emotional benefit will be undone because adults they've trusted for the past 7 years can't give them a goodbye hug or sign their shirt.

The Y6s deserve a decent transition to their secondary schools and I would much prefer that was prioritised for them. I would like to see the Y6s attend their allocated secondaries instead of their primaries, possibly in batches for half days for a couple of weeks, maybe every Monday for the rest of term but to give them an opportunity to start Y7 already knowing how to read a timetable, whether or not books have to be covered in sticky back plastic, meeting some of the teachers, knowing how to get round the school etc. It could be hugely supportive of their mental health to have something concrete in the future.

I'd like the reopening of schools to be based on scientific understanding and evidence. I would like any decisions about year groups to attend to be based on science, likewise the patterns of attendance e.g. one cohort per week vs. half days for different ones.

I'm high risk but not in the shielding group, My 3 children (Yr1, 3, yr, 6) go to a small one entry village primary, until this year it was mixed year groups. The school has one tiny playground it would be very difficult to maintain adequate social distancing. Ds1 said there's never any soap in the toilets, I pulled them out a week before lockdown was introduced.

I can't take the risk, we've lost one family member to covid 19 so far and having to watch the funeral on a live stream because they limited attendance to 5 people only, was horrific. Two of my children are Atopic, I won't be sending my year 6 ds back in June. I'm not happy sending any of them back yet, so I won't. If they threaten fines, I'll de register them.