Stop scaremongering about schools. All dc will be back before 2021.

[whenthejoyreturns]

There’s no way they’re going to implement home learning for another year. It’s completely unsustainable, the economy will collapse, they’ll be horrific consequences for millions of dc. At some point soon sense will prevail and we’ll all have to start living with the risks of coronavirus.

It depends on allowed group sizes.

if the guidance says 15 is maximum - less than half normal class sizes for many schools - then double the number of staff AND double the number of teaching spaces will be required, at a point when not all teachers (even at normal staffing levels) will be able to return due to medical conditions and shielding.

Maybe this will lead to an overhaul in education. They should bring in other industries to educate our dc. Ex army, business pioneers etc. (Don’t actually think this is possible but I wish it was).

@cantkeepawayforever I think the fact that the guidelines from the government have been quite vague and the reaction of unions and parents makes schools nervous to say ‘sod it, we can’t social distance’! But until they do, how can they possibly fit every child in school.

I personally am not sending my son back in June, but not because I am worried about the actual spread of the virus, more because the social distancing measures our school have taken are far from an emotionally positive environment for a 5 year old. I know my son will find it extremely difficult to accept the changes proposed. I would actually be more likely to send him back if it resembled normal schooling. Of course this all means that I have a difficult decision to make in September.

The Scottish government has already said that children won’t be going back full time in August but that it will be a blend of home and school. I expect it will be similar elsewhere. They can’t suddenly magic up more space or teachers so it’ll have to be part time. Much as you might favour a ‘they’ll just have to get on with it’ approach, I think it’s clear that the majority of parents and teachers won’t accept that.

My hope is that we do get back in on 1st June, and that it has a small enough effect on infections and R to give everyone confidence that more normal re-opening will be possible.

My worry is that people will use the re-opening of schools as a signal to cease social distancing outside school (they can meet in school, what's wrong with a playdate?) and so the R will rise rapidly, meaning at best that very restrictive rules for schools will have to be retained for the next re-opening, and at worst that lockdown has to be re-imposed in full.

Social distancing won’t be the same in September.
I can’t understand why primary schools are so obsessed with socially distancing pupils when they have been told it’s not expected. Can someone explain that to me?

I think the difficulty is that, from the point of view of a primary teacher, there is very little to keep me safe in school EXCEPT social distancing.

I am in a group of 15 children, whose hygiene habits combined with their natural instinct to flock together mean that any virus coming with them into the school environment from their homes (even if they have maintained perfect social distancing in all other aspects of their lives) will rapidly be shared. If i worked in a factory, I would be protected by social distancing. if i worked in a hospital, i would be protected by PPE. However, I am told that i don't need either - and while the children are likely to get a very mild illness, because of my age and medical background, i may well get it severely.

No wonder headteachers, surrounded by social distancing images from the whole of the rest of the environment, and wishing to keep their staff safe, try to impose social distancing as well as the 'bubble' concept in their schools - especially where siblings link bubbles into a continuous network of children throughout the school.

I don’t get this either. Mine are at nursery. Nursery have been very clear, no social distancing but children to remain within their own rooms and not mix. Their plan is perfectly sensible and I’m not sure my DS will realise anything is different.

I agree, I think a degree of normality in schools will be back next academic year, because having children at home all the time is unsustainable on so many levels.

My biggest concern is the rumour that children won't be allowed to move between school, home and childcare, because of the idea of social bubbles. Our afterschool childminder is hugely worried about this, and for a lot of parents, not being able to access wraparound care as well, even for some days a week, will still have a massive and potentially detrimental effect on their ability to work.

I also agree that sending children back to school also means the end of keeping households apart. It’s like the cleaner or estate agent in your home but not your parents situation, people will think ‘well they are mixing with other people at school so might as well mix outside of school’.

Our school actually released a list of the questions they had been asked by parents.
One parent had asked - ‘how will the bubbles be established, will I be able to request that my child be with the people I intend to socialise with outside of school’!

I have a feeling today's briefing will be all about the risk reducing therefore a little more relaxing.. so the schools can actually open. As it stands most will not. The tone of the email from the head this morning suggests unless this briefing is to the unions liking the school won't be doing much. They've already stated they are not taking back yr 1 children on yr r .. if at all.!

There really seems to be no answer to how this is going to be managed post summer. Teachers are worried for their own health if class sizes are too big and children aren’t socially distanced. Parents (or, let’s face it, mother’s) won’t be able to get back to work if children are only able to attend for two days a week, especially if having two children in different years, on different schedules. I can see their being riots if people are prevented from doing their jobs for much longer. Already the tone from employers is turning nasty, judging by the threads on here over the last few days.

@Worriedaboutthefuture1 and the resentment towards those who are furloughed is growing. I'm in a shit position as a single parent wanting to go back to work but I work in a job that isn't possible to do from home. If all my co workers are having to do my job while I stay on furlough for childcare reasons I don't think they will be happy.

@whenthejoyreturns I would love this, I think it Ould be great to have people with life experience in schools teaching.

As the daughter of a teacher who had a career and then turned to teaching later on, I sometimes sense her frustration towards the teachers that have never left an education setting, so went to school, went to uni, became a teacher. Limited life experience and understanding of professional and business settings, they also don't seem to fully understand life outside education settings sometimes.

This doesn't apply to all career teachers, some are exceptional and can apply wider thinking, but like all walks of life you get the odd one who just doesn't get it. When my mother tells me off whats going on in staff rooms and stuff I just think to myself "some of these people are teaching children how to behave! really?...pot kettle black"

It’s unsustainable to continue. Education is vitally important. As is work & the economy. Employers are going to grow increasingly annoyed at patents doing half a job as they try to home school & furlough cannot continue forever.

Look at everything being replanned for next year, major sporting events, music/dance/comedy tours, films etc plus on personal levels holidays, weddings etc .. the amount of pressure to return to normal is going to be enormous!

I think that by September people will realise that those who are going to die will die unless they shield. Lockdown measures will only prolong the length of time that they will need to shield.

It’s not scaremongering the government have said social distancing will be with us for the rest of the year, schools don’t have enough space or staff to accommodate pupils who stay 2 meters apart. Until one of those two things change they cannot go back.

You might wish, want or believe but they won’t unless something changes - either relaxed rules on social distancing or a dig if any investment in school infrastructure. The economy simply isn’t the factor here it is really only those with primary school children impacted and even then only one parent in a two parent house who will not be able to work. That is not a huge proportion of the workforce by any stretch not enough to destroy the economy! (And remember some with older primary children who can work from home may be able to manage). Of course it is shit for those impacted but they have basically just destroyed the airline industry and admit they cannot save ever job etc so Yes I think this will be a small enough group to not see as significant.

Our headmaster has already worked out how all pupils can be back at school by the end of June. He just needs the ok from the govt.

I get the feeling he HATES not working

Yes @Qasd just throw working families under the bus. The economy might not need us but it's fine we'll just have our homes repossessed and let our children starve because we don't matter.

Not to mention the enormous step back for women this will be but hey never mind eh.

@Qasd you are aware that some households need both parents working to pay the bills? And as a single parent shall I just go on benefits then until school opens properly?

And the government haven't said social distancing will be here for the rest of the year. They said it MAY be. It will be an ever changing situation, we don't possibly know where we will be in a couple of months time. Look how much things have changed in the last 3 months.

I would send my children back tomorrow if they were welcomed back (they’re in yr 2 and 5 so no plans to return). I would love to believe that everyone can just skip merrily back into school in September but given the debate raging over schools in the last week or so, I just can’t see normal education happening until there’s a vaccine. People are just too frightened. I desperately want to be wrong but if you’d told us all at the beginning of the year what would happen no one would believe it so although it seems implausible to keep the children off for the next...god knows how long...I’ve just lost hope that we’ll be able to get the children properly back in school for September.

I just can’t see normal education happening until there’s a vaccine. People are just too frightened

That might be never though!!

Those people who are scared have the option to home educate their DC. Everyone else's kids shouldn't miss out because some people are "scared"

I take it you have a crystal ball? @whenthejoyreturns

But just because a decision has the potential to cause significant hardship (and yes that includes extreme poverty) doesn’t mean it will not be made or they would not be proposing the quarantining of travellers since it kills the travel industry (many who will be thrown under a bus, have their homes repossessed and not be able to feed their children).

Ultimately the problem is can the government combat the virus and health risks while saving jobs and livelihoods and there are difficult decisions. But I don’t think “oh no I will make sure schools go back full time because Otherwise It might harm progress on female equality”..will be top of boris Johnson’s priority list no!

Just to say I am deeply worried about the possibility of no full time school for the foreseeable. I think it has the potential to do significant damage to the next generation whose education will be very badly effected..you know right at a time when we realise we need doctors, scientists and researchers to get us out of this mess! But I am seeing nothing in the messaging to suggest that they think full time schooling is possible given the 15 child limit. Unless that changes pointing out the long term consequences is not scare mongering and thinking blindly “oh it will be ok by September” does not provide an answer to the very real or the county faces.