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?

@penguinsbegin thanks. I stand corrected. What a mess.

@Delta1 if schools neither have the staff or the space how do you think they should accommodate all the children in the eligible years, bearing in mind staff are meant to be allocated to a specific bubble?

@PinkDiamond1
I think SD guidelines will be lessened in schools
While you've got your crystal ball out to know this, could you just give us all a heads up for the winning lottery numbers this week please?

If everyone in the eligible years wanted to come back they'd have to accommodate everyone

Saying this makes about as much sense as ‘if everyone needed hospital treatment when they contracted coronavirus, hospitals would ‘have to’ accommodate them and put them on a ventilator.’ You cannot bend the laws of physics by magicking up things, be it classroom space, teachers or medical equipment because someone says you ‘have to.’

It isn't terrible and it isn't the head teachers fault.
Given constraints it's reasonable to ask who will send their kids and then look at how that demand can be filled.
No doubt what will happen next is little Martha and Ezra will go to reception and come home saying how fun it was and there will be howls of indignation from parents who want their kids to go now as well.

They will absolutely have to accommodate everyone come September anyway .

Why? If R goes above 1 and there is a second peak, why will we have to open more in September than now?

I hate to tell you, but I think part-time schooling in September is a genuine possibility - my best guess (crystal ball) is alternating weeks with half a year group in each week for at least 4 'trial' weeks. By not being willing to stick properly to lockdown in this phase, we have reduced our chances of driving infections down low enough to make full opening in September safe. it's so short-sighted.

I reckon they will use the next few weeks to test the waters and then if there's no notable increase all yesrs will be back in groups of 30

The attitude of the head and teachers in the school to want to make things work

So if headteachers and teachers have the right attitude then twice as many staff and twice as many rooms will magically appear? Nice bit of subtle teacher bashing there, well done

@cantkeepawayforever that's thoroughly depressing. Resorting to prayer.....

I don't agree that the problem was/is people 'not being willing to stick properly to lock down' cantkeepawayforever.

There were very, very high rates of compliance in the first weeks (give or take a govt advisor or two).

The problem was that the lock down was too late, not hard enough (lots of non-essential workers like construction workers had to continue to go into work or not get paid) and that people entering via the land and air borders weren't required to quarantine.

Since then, the public guidance has become more and more vague, and more and more workplaces are insisting staff go into.

Bflat,

Sorry, I should have been clearer.

I mean that our leaders have, throughout, not being willing to srtick to it to make the lockdown really work, because of exactly what you mention, and because they are now not willing to risk the unpopularity that comes from continuing to impose it once people are getting tired of it.

i agree that personal compliance with lockdown has been good unless sabotaged by the government itself.

So it is the lack of political will to impose and maintain a lockdown that really works that has, from the start, been a problem.

My dd is in year 7. I have no doubt that in Sept it will be 2 days a week attendance and 3 days home school. I can't see how it can be anything but that.

Given the levels of discussion about 2m and that a lot of countries seem to have 1m that will probably change before September meaning half a class in most schools would be feesible

I don’t get this. If only half the kids are back they should be able to accommodate all children in those year groups. Plus not all kids will come back. 50 is rubbish as maximum in a bubble is 15, unless they have made bubble sizes smaller

If you don’t get it you should read the thread as it’s been explained over and over again.

@897654321abcvrufhfgg not all classrooms will accommodate 15 children 2m apart. Each classroom needs a teacher/ta. If rooms are small so only 8 can be accommodated then more staff are needed. Once you used all possible staff/rooms that’s it, no more children can be in school

Given the levels of discussion about 2m and that a lot of countries seem to have 1m that will probably change before September meaning half a class in most schools would be feasible

Exactly that. I think we will be instructed to take half a class at a time (like the secondaries are instructed to take only a quarter at the moment) and the social distancing will be reduced accordingly.

50 is rubbish as maximum in a bubble is 15, unless they have made bubble sizes smaller

Most schools have made them smaller. Ours is 8. The number 15 seems to have been plucked out of thin air by someone who’s never actually been in a primary classroom.

The guidance already states that 2m social distancing is not necessary in primary between children in the same bubble (I can understand why schools are aiming for bubbles AND 2m distancing, but its not in the guidance), so as long as they state that a bubble can be half a class even in a typical KS2 class of 32 or 33, then it will work for half a class.

Many schools seem to be basing their "bubble" size on the number of people they can fit in a classroom and maintain the 2m distance, which is not required in the guidance. Are they to be applauded for putting additional safety measures in place ot criticised for not accommodating as many children as they could have if they'd followed the guidance to the letter?

You said no. It's not the schools problem that you've now changed your mind. It's pretty entitled behaviour to now blame the school when you could've just as easily said yes