So the school guidance is out...

[Norecallpup]

Sorry if this has already been done. I could cry, I really could. Absolutely nothing. Just wash your hands, wipe down surfaces and encourage kids to cough into tissues! I don’t know why I’m shocked. Our government are a bunch of twats!

The reason the UK has not said masks are required by law is they don't work and are utterly pointless and if they made them legally compulsory people would sue and win to have the rule removed.

Some of that guidance is ludicrous. "Secondary schools should operate lunch halls at half capacity". Well, each year the school does Christmas lunch for a whole week. Every day of that week there is no room left at all, with just one year group per day. There is going to be no scope to run at half capacity.

Children in other countries seem to cope with seeing people wearing masks, and indeed with wearing them themselves. Are British children really so different? I doubt it. If anything, children adapt to change far better than adults.

Maybe they could be encouraged to personalise their masks with funny and endearing pictures.

That does exist just : it is called Oak National Academy.

Basically clear, manageable and concise guidleines so staff and parents know that what they see in their school is replicates across the country.

This is the thing. More guidance so that there is some consistency. If there isn't there will be parental complaints and worry everywhere.

@Piggywaspushed so what do we do with 15 three year olds for 6 hours a day then?

(especially as some teachers will be doing online teaching presumably I'm assuming those of us who don't send them in will be fairly abandoned

It's up to schools to interpret but we will be implementing a part time option as it's the only way we can keep groups to 15 due to lack of space and classrooms to house pupils in.

I'd expect this to be the case in all schools unless they have additional classrooms to use.

We are also not expecting or planning for all pupils to be back full time by June 22. The guidance clearly said where feasible and I'd expect most schools will be saying it isn't feasible to do this - particularly if you can only have groups of 15 together and no space to house the others.

DD1 goes to school 10 miles away. The local authority already had to pull her transport a month before lockdown, because the escort needed to shield. They had 80 routes they couldn't cover because of vulnerable workers, even before social distancing was in place.

No idea at all OP! Sorry !

@Hercwasonaroll at last some common sense, well said!

This proposal is not like what we are told Germany and Denmark are doing though. Muchblarger classbsizes from the get go, far less indivudual school risk assessment, different school cultures and parents doing drop offs etc.
I want back in, but at least be honest, we don't know the risks to anyone in schools, it's a chance we are taking and that's fair enough but don't try to make out we have evidence to say it is safe for kids or staff. Hopefully it is and we are all over reacting, hopefully no parents would ever knowingly send in children that were known to be exposed to the virus, hopefully no schools will refuse the use if cleaning agents that will actually kill virus from surfaces.

Schools have been given flexibility to offer part time/change school hours etc.

Divide the toys. Half used by one class, half by the other. Leave them over the weekend for the virus to die then swap back.

I will not be sending either of my DC back until there is a significant decrease in new infections. I feel like the government are using the little ones as guinea pigs to see what happens. They’re the least likely to understand and keep to social distancing. And why is there suddenly no mention of the other serious virus connected with covid-19 that only children seem to be affected by? My year 1 dc will not be returning on June 1st!

Learning in EYFS will be completely different to what we are used to. The guidance said they were aware it is very difficult to socially distance young pupils and I don't believe there is any expectation to do this. What they have said is that toys etc will need to be removed unless we can adhere to a strict cleaning regime.

Schools are lucky if they have soap in the toilets so the toys will be the first to go.

Schools have been given flexibility to offer part time/change school hours etc.

Can you quote from the guidance? I read it through twice, looking for the mention of part time / alternate days for each half class, but I couldn't find it?

I had presumed that space for the 15 had to be found in the empty other classrooms, then we'd be back to 30+ when the rest of the school was meant to return 3 weeks later, if we ever get that far?

And even if the danger to health weren't enough, it's awful pedagogical advice: classes should be split in half, the halves should never mix, and the same adult should always supervise each group. Which means that, following the advice further up to use TAs once you've run out of teachers, at least 50% of primary school kids will be exclusively taught by TAs and never see their teacher, or indeed any other qualified teacher. I am vastly appreciative of TAs and the great work they do, but they absolutely should not be replacing qualified teachers as the principle educators. What's the point of forcing kids back to school for a month if they don't have any contact with a teacher during that time?!

How on earth would a preschool look without toys?

We’re not seeing an uptick from Denmark doing a similar thing.
Why do people not understand that our situation in the UK is not comparable to Denmark which locked down much earlier and therefore has a much lower infection rate? The UK's position is much more akin to that of Spain and Italy. Not sure what Italy is doing, but Spain has only just started letting children leave their homes at all, let alone go back to school.

Many experts are saying masks can make things worse if they are not used properly . Same with gloves .

I can’t see an answer tbh unless if you have any suspicion a child’s is ill you have a quick available test and isolation .

It might be worth looking at other countries to see what they are doing ?

I am glad to read (on bbc website so hoping it's true) that parents who choose to keep their children home won't be fined. I certainly don't feel like I've read anything so far that convinces me it would be in my 5 year old's best interests to go back to school for the last half term rather than with until September. All these guidelines sound very unsettling for both pupils and staff.

Better strategy in my opinion would be to keep the existing system going whereby vulnerable children or children of key workers from all years can go to school but open that option up for anyone else who is happy to take the risk or really needs to send their children in. I still think very few would take it up.

@Klouise777 - it will probably end up being part-time and very education-focused. All the play interactions will be limited to start with. Different heads will interpret things differently so not all schools will be doing the same thing in terms of splitting classes, who comes in when etc.

BoJo said tiny steps

Children have been at home for weeks and it is nearly summer why do you think children will be coughing?
Teachers need to calm down.
I would be happy to work in school.
If I lose my job because of coronavirus I will try to get a job in school, I left teaching a few years ago.

Apologies if I have missed it - but are there any numbers of reported cases from schools currently open to key workers?

Seeing as many of these parents are frontline, isn't there a strong chance they'd be potentially infecting their kids, then these kids are infecting others?

Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not hearing anything about cases happening in schools right now? I know there are other things to consider, but I'd be looking at this first?

Knowing that would help me decide if I should send my Y5 son back this year...

talk to staff about the plans (for example, safety measures, timetable changes and staggered arrival and departure times), including discussing whether training would be helpful