Did anyone else see the really positive news about primary schools reopening on BBC this morning? at 9am

[bigbananafeet12]

They were asking advice from a lovely primary school teacher in Denmark on how the'd approached it. She was so positive and encouraging it gave me hope for our dc for the first time in ages. Worth a watch if you can.

I can't get my head around this . 3 years are asked to be in out of 7 on June 1st but this is not possible... So if 60 children in each year 180 children are expected in out of 420...yet the school can't cope? 14 class rooms for 180 children? Can teachers who teach yr 2,3,4 and 5 not teach year 1? I make it 13 children per class

Not all staff will be in.
Most schools are not saying they can't cope per se, they are wondering how even 13 kids in a room are going to distance themselves.
Many classes have teaching assistants who work one to one with some kids...
Staggering play times
Staggering lunch times
Protecting staff....

Those 13 kids are not living in a bubble, they will come into contact with one another and over a few weeks, there is genuine fear that they will spread the virus like wildfire, especially since they are asymptomatic.

No office will have 13 adults in a small space, let alone children who will cough and sneeze and touch each other far more than adults.

What PPE should teachers wear? They dont know. And can they obtain it? Not necessarily 1000s of other schools also want it.

It is genuinely difficult and worrying because the government IS saying we need to distance, but making an exception for schools.

Even in a prison, at least there are adults either side of the system, but in schools children just dont behave like adults... they play, they forget, they dont distance.

The government is only just starting to experiment with relaxing the lockdown, and death rates are still high suggesting the virus is still very much alive... and yet the government is also proposing to populate schools before it can even fully measure the results of the new rules.
Admittedly, those early results might stop schools opening anyway, but 3 weeks is still very quick to be sure the new rules haven't caused increases, and by then we will have opened schools and it will be too late to undo any damage.

I would say most just want a bit more time to plan, to obtain whatever Ppe is necessary, and to approach it very tentatively indeed, it we could end up with a similar crises to care homes (less vulnerable people, but far more exposure to the virus)

I’m starting to think this thread was started by a journalist

www.facebook.com/molekloadedfries/videos/679483542834732/

Maybe we should go for the Chinese rather than the Danish approach

@BertNErnie

Thanks for sharing this. I’ve been trying to share this data.

Worth noting it’s showing the number of deaths per 100,000 in that profession. Not the total number of those in teaching and childcare. The total will be higher.

Staggered opening and closing will be an absolute nightmare for school transport.

Even a class of 15 won't only be mixing with that bubble. When they have siblings so all those bubbles are mixing too.

@excitedmumtobe87 thanks for the info.
I'd be interested to see what the actual number is as I think it may shock a lot of people.

I’d be interested too. It’s a high number compared with many occupations.

And that’s just with a small proportion of children in and most teachers in on a rota.

We are just so negative in the UK..

Totally agree. I keep telling people this on the ‘will my summer holiday go ahead’ threads.

Let’s get back to school and let’s get on our vacations!

@BertNErnie

Sorry forgot to tag you in last reply.

Statistics say there are 450,000 teachers in state schools and 260,000 teaching assistants. Then there’s private schools too.

Just noticed on the ONS table that these are only deaths up to 20 April.

The real figure is definitely higher.

Not blindly following orders and using a bit of critical thinking to question what we’re told isn’t negative. It’s just the way some of our brains work.

Some people like to get on with it and do as they’re told and that’s ok. I totally get that we’re all different and support all peoples ways of living their life.

But please don’t assume people are negative for analysing stuff.

That lady post wasn’t aimed at you Bert just anyone calling people negative for being questioning.

I think it’s very healthy to question, however, there is a definite trend in here at the moment that parents of school children are not allowed to question anything without being accused of teacher bashing.

Arguably, some threads I’ve read have descended into teacher bashing, however there was also a corresponding degree of parent bashing, which is why a lot of posts seem to eventually get pulled.

It’s a two way street, surely.

I agree @Daffodil101 . I always try to understand both sides.

We all have unique situations and it’s important that we all understand each other’s views.

I’m definitely not knocking anyone trying to stop questioning being shut down. That’s not healthy.

I was asking others not to shut questioning down by calling it negative.

It is healthy for us all to question and be questioned in equal fair measures!

I’m in agreement with you on that. And I also understand other parents with different views to me.

It's not a teacher stays at the front with children at individual desks system that some countries have

I'm afraid that " teacher stays at the front with children at individual desks system" is exactly what the UK will need to do for a while.

It's OK. Other countries cope with school being like this. My daughter was in rows from age 4 (international school). She wasn't traumatized.

Positive for whom? Only one lot will be relieved kids are back to school. The government.
A) they can't afford or don't want to pay furloughed workers much longer so get schools open
B) June is the month that is deadline for asking for extension to Brexit ( which government won't ask for) so economy needs to be up and running by then.
C) they don't give a fig about education like they don't give a fig about carehomes ( ask my Dgd whoose whole future hangs on what grades they decide to give her for her A levels using a completely unfair system.)
D) economy before lives.

@littlefox they don't need to source more classrooms, the whole point of sending less children is that they can spread out over the classrooms not used.

I would love for my children to go back in June and for the teachers and parents to collaborate on ways to make this safe but still a nurturing environment. I have volunteered to help in school one day a week alongside my p/t job. Unfortunately all I hear is negativity and people saying "no way will my kids be going" without even any attempt to understand the plans or support the schools. Just constant complaints.

We can't work on a model of all teachers teaching the three year groups listed, because all the other years are going to be back within the next few weeks too. All children to return for a month before summer. However we work it, it will have to be done with the current staff allocated to one class.

The most sensible idea I have seen is groups with breaks for cleaning in between, but this does nothing to address the question of risk. For YR and Y1, there won't be social distancing, so really the risk factor is the number of children in with the adult at once. Just saying "half a class is fine" sounds like a number pulled out of thin air. We should all move to a metre social distancing if that's the case. Then a lot of workers wouldn't need the adjustments workplaces are currently making.

That's why it doesn't sound like there's been safety first here.

Hooray some positive news. Of course schools need to be safe but there's so much negative news and shutting down of ideas on here. It's weeksaway so maybe focus on what schools and teachers need and can do rather than all the negative posts. People need to get back to work and they required children to be at school for this to happen

poster Chipperfish Tue 12-May-20 23:16:41

@Chipperfish. Thank you for your post. I hope more people actually bothered to read it. Too many are too busy insisting teachers are just whinging!

I'm not a teacher (thank god) .

The Govt are using this as part of their herd immunity view. Plus, of course, get childcare for their 'rush everyone back to work' strategy.

R rate is still too high, rate of deaths is still too high, & they've loosened the rules up re meeting people. It's a clusterfuck.

I hope the unions stay strong & refuse. It's not sensible, safe or wise to have 3 year groups back 1/6 let alone all the others 2 weeks later.

Teachers aren’t the issue here. The government is.

They have mandated full time from the get go and no PPE or social distancing.

Because they know school is childcare and they want the maximum number of parents possible back in the work place.

They know this isn’t the safest or the best practise. But they don’t care.

@Commons3ns3 @Barbie222

I think you missed the most important bit from the ONS data. The death rate amongst educators is the same as most other professions and lower than many! Damned statistics eh?

The rate of COVID-19-related deaths among teaching and educational professionals, which for the purposes of the data collection excludes TAs, educational support assistants, lunchtime and crossing patrols, school secretaries and advisers and inspectors, was 6.7 per 100,000 for men and 3.3 for women

This is roughly the same rate as those classed as business and public service associate professionals (6.8 and 2.8) and corporate managers and directors (6.4 and 2.6), but much lower than those in elementary trades and related occupations (27.8 and 12.5) and those in textiles, printing and other skilled trades (24.6 and 7.0)

@Flamingodial
No, you're missing the important bit of the conversation, which, once again for the hard of hearing, is that teachers aren't recommended to adopt the same social distancing measures as those professions - despite dying st the same, too high, rate.

Honestly, have you read the advice for businesses and offices, and the advice for schools, and compared the two? Do that and spot the difference.

I can't get my head around this . 3 years are asked to be in out of 7 on June 1st but this is not possible... So if 60 children in each year 180 children are expected in out of 420...yet the school can't cope? 14 class rooms for 180 children? Can teachers who teach yr 2,3,4 and 5 not teach year 1? I make it 13 children per class

You’ve missed out Nursery. So 4 years.
On Monday we were working with the plan to have classes in groups of ten. Which just about worked and then nursery were added Into the equation. So another 3 rooms and At least 3 more adults (ideally more).
Then Boris said that they are planning that all pupils are in for the last month. So the 4 years is just a matter of weeks anyway. It definitely can’t be managed when everyone is back.

IT should be the government providing a positive and workable model. Most teacher and school would love for it to work here as it does in Denmark. We just don’t have the space and the money.
I wish that they’d announced that all pupils were due back, but many schools would need to introduce part time teaching to achieve it (or similar). The flack schools are going to get from trying to fill in the gaps and work out what’s doable is ridiculous!

I’d say 95% of the staff at my school are keen to come back to all children in some way. And 100% of them will be positive and upbeat when talking to parents! Most of us were keen when we thought it was just yrR,1 and 6. Like I said up thread even the addition of nursery has made this much harder.