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.

@TinySleepThief @GrimmsFairytales

My kids are aged 10 (year 5) and 12 (year 7). All infants and juniors have gone back, also here in the Netherlands in their local schools, year 7 is juniors, so they decided to follow suit and send back our Year 7s as well hence why my DS is in. Note the Year 7s have to socially distance from each other, the younger kids only from their teachers (within reason).

Year 7 isn't having specialist teachers in yet - they are all following timetable but in zooms in the classroom with teachers remote - sounds weird but means they see mates and interact at break times. This is temporary.

Plan is for all year groups to go back from June 2nd. Still only 50% live attendance until summer hols. In June specialist teachers will start to come in for the seniors, with the home school kids listening into lessons on their home days. Not ideal, but a decent compromise.

Yes kids are with their teachers. Some didn't get their normal teachers as the teachers are shielding/vulnerable, most however did.

The TAs are not in the junior school yet - for the kids at home, they are offering drop in zoom classes so they can speak to someone if they are stuck with anything.

As for how they are arranging the classrooms for the really little kids (our school is 3-18 years), I'm honestly not sure as we only got details about our own year groups. I imagine it's more flexible than for my kids.

God forbid, we actually listen to the teachers and headteachers who have actual experience of how a school works on a daily basis. If they're saying its unsafe and unrealistic then it is. You wouldn't dismiss a Doctor telling you how an illness/disease works.

Comparisons with schools in Denmark don't really work. The whole education system, schools and classrooms are nothing like most British schools.

If you want to make comparisons you need to find somewhere which has a similar system to us and the same type of buildings, etc.

OP:
If you can find a way for 90 reception, 91 year 1s plus up to a dozen year 2s (KW children) to fit, following the half class guidelines, across 9 smallish classrooms (and one additional room) and a concrete playground on a slope in a northern city (so weather can't be guaranteed for being outdoor) then let me know. Because that's the challenge facing our infant school, that plus other factors.

Our headteacher has mooted each child going back for two days a week and everyone is supportive of that.

I can only assume the government is relying on parents choosing not to send children back. It's the only way schools like ours can manage it really, especially if you following all the guidelines about not swapping classrooms, staff etc. And the cleaning between groups.

It's not negativity.
It's trying to think how on earth it will work for many British schools, which are usually much different to those in places like Denmark.

69% of parents at our school have said they will send theirs back as soon as they open. 22% have said they would rather wait a couple of weeks but want them back before the end of term. 9% have said not at all before the summer. We have 1 shielding pupil in our school, interestingly they said they’d like them to go back before the summer!

As an 80s/90s child a few portakabins on a school site was pretty standard so could some be bought on school sites now to cope

They still are in lots of schools.

We have two in our playground already. They are two permanent classrooms for our school.

We would struggle to fit more in the playground as much of it isn't level and isn't wide enough, plus we'd need to chop down some fairly old trees to do so too.

How is anything that creates a second peak 'positive'? Maybe you just can't wait to catch Covid-19 and be part of that second wave?!

It’s positive to have a second peak in August versus October? Or shall we just all stay on for a year?

Bigbananafeet12

How old are the youngest children in school on Denmark?

How many children are in each classroom?

How large are the rooms, how much space do the children have?

Are staff wearing masks or not?

Are the danish children expected to social distance or not?

Looking at what I've seen online re Denmark and it's return : well, most of it is what British teaching staff would like to see in place to make their workplace a safer place. The guidelines set out by our Government does not offer staff those protective measures at present. Yes, there are solutions put forward - including by teacher staff - but unfortunately the Government and the DfE don't seem to want to hear them.

Even as someone who is clinically vulnerable (so at greater risk but not shielded) I think I'd feel okay returning in Denmark, not so much in England right now though.

The BMA don’t seem so positive that it’s a good plan

We’ve been told we can wear masks but it’s not advised by DofE. Why isn’t it?

It’s positive to have a second peak in August versus October?

What stops a third peak in October anyway? Odds are we won't all get it in the second peak- it's not like there's a limit on the number you can have.

We’ve been told we can wear masks but it’s not advised by DofE. Why isn’t it?

Well, for many pupils, watching someone's mouth move when they speak is very important for understanding them. By removing that ability, you hinder learning. Also, don't masks primarily protect others, rather than the person in the mask? So if we're taking as written the idea that children aren't at risk from this, and we only need to protect the adults, then realistically all the children should wear masks. Obviously, that idea is a non-starter in our culture.

Exactly, that’s my point!

It’s not about teacher safety at all.

So if we're taking as written the idea that children aren't at risk from this, and we only need to protect the adults, then realistically all the children should wear masks. Obviously, that idea is a non-starter in our culture

Well really everyone would have to wear them i suppose, as adults are equally as at risk from the other adults they work with (if not more so). But as you say, that would make teaching difficult, especially for reception.

Patrick Vallance said they will gauge any uptick in R after we go back. Cheers Pat, always liked a guinea pig.

True, if they work with other adults. I'm basing it on the small group sizes, which would make it virtually impossible to actually work with another adult in my setting, due to staffing numbers. The other day, I legitimately found myself wondering about the toilet situation for teachers. How do you get relief to go to the toilet if there's no one to cover your group? Unless there's someone who's job is to cover toilet breaks, but that person is at much greater risk. And if they're having lunch in class, presumably teachers are also on duty then- there's not enough duty staff to cover and even if we hired some, coming into contact with them would increase the risk for everyone. With staggered playtimes and lunchtimes, presumably the group teacher would always be on duty for that group?

I’m not sure how our school are actually planning to staff it but they have sent an email saying ours will have class sizes of 15 with one teacher and one member of support staff.

We will have 15 year 1s and 1 teacher , a TA and a1:1 in one room all day.

Ah, we didn't have a member of support staff per class before all this, so I highly doubt we will after!

Our reception class of 40 had two teachers, two TA’s and a 1:1. Still not enough though!

FFS. Just been told my daughter isn't really sad about not seeing her friends, it's probably something else. I don't know what to say to that. As she was fine before lockdown and I ask her how she's doing I'm pretty sure she's upset because she's missing her friends.

Not many schools have a TA for every class, so the idea of splitting classes each with their own staff member is going to be tricky, and that's before they try finding the spare classrooms or the fact that staff who are clinically vunerable (but not shielded) shouldn't be doing the face to face teaching either.

If the government wants all primary back for a month before the summer that only takes us to mid June. And the latest guidelines seem to now say that there shouldn't be part time/roars for children returning. At that point they will have to be back to full classes in one small classroom.

For us as an infants, we can't even manage just reception and year 1 under the guidelines.

We have 181 reception and year 1s, plus there will be around 10ish KW year 2s, though that may well increase as a result of the other changes. No more than 15 to a group gives us 13 class groups.
In the whole school we have 9 classrooms and one other spare room.