Government backs down on primary school opening 1 June

[peridito]

Just heard headline on Radio 4 .

Daily Mail seem to be only News agency reporting .

The reason given for youngest returning first is the SAGE advice on opening primary vs secondary link

Hi, I haven’t been following this board (I find the corona virus quite frightening and we are completely social distancing) , so sorry in advance if this is a stupid question or if it has been answered.

Has anyone looked at evidence from Sweden with regards to the danger to teachers? Sweden closed schools Y10 and up, but year 1-9 has remained open through this. They are discouraging play dates and do some effort at distancing I believe, but there is no PPE. Shouldn’t there be some data on percentage of infected teachers from Sweden? If so, that would be quite helpful I think.

It's odd that people keep going 'but Sweden' and then not producing any facts about Swedish schools etc., I agree. I think the scientists don't model from it because they haven't locked down completely and educationalists don't refer to it because there is no 'return' to examine but I agree sickness rates amongst staff and parents would be worth looking at.

The one thing I have seen was a tweet from a Swedish teacher who said the profession was on its knees. Constant rotation of staff in and out due to self isolation and low attendance from students. They also have split larger classes in two and are using bigger buildings (the closed schools) to spread out.

Also relevant to this thread : secondaries are shut in Sweden and unis are doing distance learning so the idea that everyone is swanning around freely is inaccurate.

tilder

The message from unions was not to engage in the planning.
So different from what was reported.

The Releasing of scientific evidence is part of what unions have been asking for. They have been asking for this since Boris made his announcement.

I think the important thing is to pick things out of the actual SAGE document, not media reports thereof. Here is a key bit:

'SPI-M cannot say with consensus, which combination of
useful policy changes will result in R remaining below 1." The estimates suggest the measures proposed will increase R by c. 0.3. Given it's estimated to be between 0.7 and 1.0 now, best case sees R close to or above 1. 2/2'

I think this is why the gov seems to know be moving towards an area by area approach. It would be madness to reopen schools anywhere where the R is anywhere near one.

Our school is open from 2 June, 5 days a week. My child will be attending

I'm in Derbyshire and the council has blocked the opening of schools on June 1st as of yesterday. Now it will be June 8th at the very earliest.

Piggywash, happy I am not the only one. They should look at it to see if there is any data.

I think absence is higher because in Sweden you are asked to stay home if ill (regardless of cold symptoms or corona symptoms), so many more people are home at the moment.

They are taking social distancing seriously in Sweden. Apparently a major reason the primary schools remained open was that they worried about vulnerable children dropping out of school and an increased divide between higher and lower socioeconomic groups.

Our school is open from 2 June, 5 days a week. My child will be attending

• unless govt advice changes on or before the 28th.

@SmileEachDay what I’m saying is stop being a judgy old hag. You think your an absolute expert “I know several schools...” “information suggests” you clearly know nothing and are a simple keyboard warrior. Perhaps read the independent SAGE reports linking evidence together, I’m sure you “know something” about them....or you could know nothing and just come online to judge and talk crap... I think we all know what the truth is. Take your own advice with your name and try smiling instead of smirking

I’m not sure what I like best about this. It might be your use of “judgey old hag” or it could be the irony of you saying I’m a keyboard warrior.

@FrippEnos that's what I thought. Leaves me curious about what the Union does want to engage with. Am assuming that means the only want to engage with when schools return.

It's the lack of engagement with planning that I find difficult.

Wow, what an incredibly rude personal attack on SmileEachDay that was.
I’ve always found you much less judgy than me on all sorts of threads. Including this one.

Thanks, Midsummer 😊

I think I’ve found my next name change though.

Parents and staff have a choice.

Parents can choose to send or not send their children in.

Staff can choose whether to work or not.

Wow

What an extraordinary post, QueenofCarbs, and try as I might, I'm not seeing SmileEachDay as lording it all on this thread.

I’m more concerned that someone has only posted 4 times under this name and 3 of them are attacking me.

Perhaps too much stress and not enough sex.
Or denying yourself the joy of excessive carbohydrate indulgence.
Or too much indulgence has imbalanced your humours.
Have you tried yoga?

Why has my post been deleted?!

Doesnt look like it is going to change that much if a school has already made plans