No space at school

[PinkDiamond1]

This is outing so have NC.

Our school is a large primary 3 form per year.

They've offered alternate weeks starting from the 8th June for year groups.

We were undecided on sending our DC back.

However we got an email yesterday saying they were at full capacity for key worker and Nursery R, Y1 and Y6 and can't accept anymore children!

Is this allowed?

If you said no then I don’t think you can do anything but the school should def have made it clear that they were going to cap numbers and how they were going to choose.

They did send out a questionnaire and we said No - which is fair enough but we should be able to change our mind?

I disagree. If everyone changed their mind what was the point in asking? They asked for a reason - it’s a logistical nightmare and there simply isn’t enough space/staff.

What is the alternative you want them to offer? I’m sure they have thought carefully about it but if you have another solution which schools/LEA/DfE haven’t yet thought then now is the time to share it with them.

My DC are at a split infants/juniors and both of them are taking a different approach. One is working on a rota so if you haven't gone in already you have to wait until the rota is up and they'll reassess whether they can have more in. The other is asking for less notice but have said they may say no if they haven't got the staff/demand.

They aren’t ‘capping’ numbers. They are doing what they have been asked to do.

More classrooms required, so if it’s full already of key workers, then there is no room for anyone else.

I’ve heard of a coupe of schools doing this. It seems odd, I’d have thought it would be better to only allow two of the eye at groups to go back rather than half of all three.

You said no to going back, then with 0 working days until reopening you have changed your mind. I’m not surprised the school can’t accommodate you. Perhaps 50 other parents have also changed their mind - surely you can see this would change their plans drastically?

My school asked to be told by X date, and then planned accordingly. If parents change their mind we require 3 working days notice as we may need to start up new bubbles to accommodate extra kids, meaning extra staff have to come in and so on. However it’s a private school, so we are unlikely to turn away eligible children, and we have tiny clssses and extra staff available anyway. Large schools with 30 in a class have a much harder time organising it all.

If you were desperate to get them back in school - ie because your job is at risk etc then you would have ticked yes. You said no so presumably you don't have that issue/pressure?

No you can't just change your mind - the schools are under a lot of pressure to conform with social distancing as well as the negative response from a lot of councils and parents who think it's too soon. They've got to plan for the numbers of students they expect to have.

You either needed the place yesterday or you didn't.

OP the school asked, some people said yes, they made plans for them. You can’t now change your mind and expect them to change the plans to incorporate an extra child!

It's frustrating for sure but schools cannot magic up extra spaces.Our local school (1 form entry and includes Nursery) can only have 9 in a bubble to be safe, using extra spaces not usually used for classes allows them to have 11 bubbles, so 99 children. There is around 200 on the roll. All children in bubbles are in all week, every week.

I think it was pretty obvious it would be a first come first served basis for the majority of schools due to the size of them. Some bubbles may not be at capacity so there is always a chance extra children could join a bubble. But once the school is full it's full!

There are 3 classes in each year at our primary. Due to the need to put desks 2m apart, each class has to split into 3 so 1 year group that would usually use 3 classrooms will now need 9.

reception, year 1 and year 6 would usually be 9 classrooms. Now if everyone returns it would be 27 classrooms.

They don't have that many classrooms in the whole school, as usually R- yr6 is 24 classes.

The only way they can do it is to ask who isnt returning, set that as the number and then allocate the rooms accordingly.

If you'd said yes you'd probably have got a space. You said no so you don't have one

Yes they can and there is nothing 'outing' about your post whatsoever!!!

Offer an alternative?

The guidance is quite clear - and freely available for you to read for yourself which surely you did when coming to a decision about whether going back was the right thing for your family? What alternative do you think a school is able to offer? Any alternative would require additional staff. Where are they going to come from and who is going to pay them?

Typically it's poor comms on their part

They asked you if you wanted to go back? You said no? The rest of it is freely available. Even if you watch the news with one eye on the iPad, it has been clear that nothing was the same as before.

I wonder about the legality of them refusing to accept children in the permitted year groups.

So do you want to send your children back now? Or do you just want the option to change your mind in a couple of weeks?

To split my year group into classrooms with 2m distance will take 5 classrooms out of the 8 we have.
Key worker children would easily fill the other 3.

Imwonder about the legality of them refusing to accept children in the permitted year groups

Yes, schools should follow the guidance and if that means head teachers should magic up new staff, DBS check them, train them and pay them out of their own pocket, so be it.

It's not poor comms on the part of the school at all - you said no, how did you expect them to know that meant maybe if I change my mind?

Our primary hasn't room for any of the 'promised' year groups because their entire capacity has been filled with extra key worker and vulnerable children.

It is what it is.

If they can’t space them out or they don’t have enough space, what do you expect them to do? Scientists think it’s too early anyway. Count your blessings.

Yes it is allowed. Many schools are doing this or not opening up to more children at. If they don't have enough space or staff to accommodate the children safely and according to the guidelines I don't see what choice they have. Many schools already have a lot of key workers children in. They are allowed a maximum of 15 children per class and if the room and if the rooms are small the classes will have to have fewer children. Most classes normally have 30 children which means they need at least 2 rooms per class and 2 or more teachers per class. Many schools just won't be able to do that

'They did send out a questionnaire and we said No - which is fair enough but we should be able to change our mind?"
Well obviously they will give priority to parents who said yes to their children returning. If they are then full, based on the measures in place to protect the children and themselves, what do you want them to do? Say yes to you and ignore safety? As you said, what they are doing is fair enough. If you wanted your children to return then you should have said yes.

Our school sent out a survey two weeks ago to work out how many DC would be sent back to school in the event they reopened on the 2nd June. 50% of DC are returning so they are continuing to focus on remote learning and using TA in the school. 15 to a class. I will send my DS in on tuesday but will make a decision at the end of the week whether he will continue going. As my worry is he will still have lots of work to do at home when I pick him up.

So you're undecided but actually told the school no, they've undertaken the massive task of making the school safe for the numbers they possibly can and when they've said that there are no more spaces (that you told them you didn't want) you're outraged as you wanted one just in case? Seriously!! This has been a massive task for schools and they're literally having to squeeze out classes where there wasn't any but you want them to save spaces just in case (even tho you said you didn't want them) crazy!!!