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.

@bigbananafeet12 Do you know what time it was on? I've just checked iPlayer and Breakfast seems to run from 6-9am.

Sorry - above I should have said we were planning to have them in groups between 10 and 15.

My DH is an Office Managing Partner, he looked at the guidance for offices and told everyone to carry on WFH as it was much easier and cheaper to do that than reorganise the office to comply with all the new rules. But none of those rules seem to apply to a classroom.

Surely the death rate for teachers is impacted by the schools being closed?

I have a bright idea from Denmark: don’t send kids to school until they are 6 years old. There is not the space in UK schools to enable younger children to learn through play safely whilst we have a pandemic going on - they should be in different settings altogether, not hogging the entire school so that older children never have any space to go back.

As for older children: to fit 15 children in the average sized primary school classroom, you are already breaking the rules on social distancing. 10-11 children would be an absolute maximum - provided they stay put in their seat. So where are we going to find the space and the teaching staff for this? Mobile classrooms are not sufficient - buildings not designed as schools will need to be taken over and adapted.

Along with lack of IT and broadband connections in poorer households is the problem of inadequate clothing - children coming to school without coats, holes in shoes, etc. This needs addressing if children are to spend more time being educated outside. Who is going to fund this? How will borrowed clothing be kept clean?

Currently, cleaning is an issue in schools - primary schools in particular often find it hard to find reliable cleaning staff who turn up every day, so constant cleaning, sterilising of toys, unblocking toilets, etc, has to be done by people not employed to do it - not so easy once they are all back in the classrooms teaching tiny numbers of children. More money is needed to help keep schools clean, because clearly at the moment pay and hours offered for school cleaning staff is insufficient to attract people to do it (same with lunchtime supervisors, many of whom also call in sick with great regularity even when there isn’t a pandemic to worry about).

Provision of school meals will be an issue - if cooked meals are provided, where will they be eaten? Even if having constant meal sittings all day in the average school dinner hall, you won’t safely feed an entire school of children. So will it have to be sandwiches in the classroom/in the fresh air, even for vulnerable children who may not be getting much nourishment at home?

Something tells me most teaching is still going to be taking place from a distance, not in school, for a long time, even if there are increasing opportunities for children of all ages to pop into school for a few hours once or twice a week.

All chairs and tables need to be ‘thoroughly cleaned’ daily. We have one cleaner for the whole school. I doubt our budget will increase to pay her an extra hour to scrub every chair used!

Surely the death rate for teachers is impacted by the schools being closed?

The schools are not closed, key worker children and vulnerable are in, the former possibly exposed to more virus would have though and have not heard stories of people dying have you?

Surely the death rate for teachers is impacted by the schools being closed?

Presumably many other occupations were wfh at the point the data was collected, too. Either way the data shows us that teachers occupational health is the same risk as other groups, and presumably the measures that need to be taken to reduce risk are the same?

I think a lot of people would feel better about sending their child back to school if, for example, there were no restrictions on meeting with groups of children outside school, or meeting with family. Once we were at that point people wouldn't feel that their children were taking on the family risk without the adults going first. There are quite a few birthdays coming up in my class, it's sad that the classroom will be the only place they can see their friends on their birthday.

@Orangeblossom78 hardly any children in. Very different.

@ritzbiscuits it was the news that follows Breakfast news. So wish I could find it.
I do think vulnerable teachers shouldn’t be made to go in at the moment. The reason I would hug a child is because I’m 45, healthy and not overweight so not worried about catching CV. I’m currently staying 2m away from my elderly parents when I take them shopping and assume this will continue for some time. I suppose it depends on your outlook but I’m assuming the majority of us will probably get CV at some point (unless vulnerable and isolating hopefully). I think we’re just trying to slow the spread not prevent it altogether.

bigbananafeet12

Understand that lots of teachers are probably quite tactile people but I’d much rather you didn’t hug my children whilst this is going on 😊

bigbananafeet12 I’d be more than happy for you to hug mine

....highlighting again the need for clear guidance on risk so parents can make their own decisions about whether they would like their child to be subject to hugs, or not.

As the virologist on that BBC item said that children can spread the virus just like they spread norovirus as they are little germ monsters, hugging them might not be such a good idea!

Obviously I’d only cautiously comfort them if they’d hurt themselves etc. Not randomly go around hugging all the dc 🤗
I don’t think screens are necessary. Little kids are not going to be upto your waist not breathing in your face. They often sit on the floor while teachers are stood at the front. It can’t be that hard to keep a distance most of the time.

Yes, our school is still open. Less than 5 children on average in on any one day - not 130. Teacher and TA's is on a rota - so in once every 9 days. Social distancing still a problem - but at least there are sufficient sinks and a whole playground for them!

But not the same as multiple classes and staff back.

So I think the data that others are saying saying school staff are at less risk than others is flawed and unreliable.

I'll say it again I'm so keen for my kids to go back I've ordered a load of summer uniform! But I think minimising concerns of staff is really unhelpful.

I'm secondary. I turn myself inside out not to accidentally touch a kid, let alone hug them. Had that drilled in t o us many years ago when training.

They often sit on the floor while teachers are stood at the front. It can’t be that hard to keep a distance most of the time.

I am not going to be artificially keeping my distance, I will be looking after the children as they best need at the time. Lots of the time I am close enough to touch, helping with work and explaining. I don't think anyone is proposing separate desks and Y1/R children left alone as they are in secondary. How would this work for nurseries? Better to tell parents the situation as it really stands, which is that they face a similar level of risk as if there were 15 people in your family. This may be an acceptable risk, in time, but if it was the case now, why are other businesses being told otherwise?

The hugging is irrelevant then if none of the teachers do it anyway. I was just considering reasons why you would need to be in very close contact with dc.

@lilgreen exactly. There are 15 children in my son’s class at the moment. And that is the kind of level we’re talking about going back at. The same level that’s not impacting teachers

The death rate among teachers who are all in school, all mixing without social distancing with at least 15 children, is going to be a lot different from the present rate where most are working from home and those in school might see 5 children from whom they are more able to keep their distance some of the time

We currently work on a rota to minimise contact too.

There’s a lot of parent scaremongering going on which is incredibly irresponsible. Parents really need to look at proper statistics regarding risks to their dc and themselves and make a choice on what is best for them based on that. It bordering on reckless to discourage some parents who at absolutely minimal risk and are now at breaking point and really need to get back into some semblance of normality for the sake of their MH and economical situation.

Not many have 15, we have 5!