Key worker kids mixing

[Scottishgirl85]

My YR daughter's class is being split into 2 groups of 15, group 1 will attend school Mon/Tues and group 2 will attend Thurs/Fri. The key worker children (3 of which are in my daughter's class) that have been attending since the start will attend both sessions. So surely this means it is not a bubble of 15 kids, it's a bubble of about 50 kids across the week ie 30 in daughter's class and about 20 key worker's children? The school sent some very depressing class photos for us to show our kids, with the classroom completely gutted and replaced with individual desks spaced 2m apart. It just seems they're picking and choosing which rules to follow. In my mind it would be better to let the full class of 30 return together full-time, rather than the bubble of 50?! Am I missing something?

I really can't see any sense in this returning to school business. It's nuts.

Don't send them back if you are relying on the imaginary bubble concept to protect them as part of that though.

Bubbles are to protect others as it makes the track and trace system possible. They're not to protect you. If people in are "bubbles", the other people in the bubble can be easily traced - the bubbles they're in can be identified and others in those bubbles can be easily traced, and so on. When someone is identified as having covid, all the linked bubbles can be quarantined.

I really can't see any sense in this returning to school business. It's nuts.

What, so you don't want them to go back at all, or you want them all back as normal??

I really can't see any sense in this returning to school business. It's nuts

Why? Plenty of happy children walking back from school yesterday, plenty of teacher friends who are delighted to have children back in, and I'm sure plenty of happy parents who have had a bit of a break, or an easier day working from home.

Bubbles whatever. I'm not keen on the idea of parents and DC's being part of this at all.
Keyworkers' DC's is risk enough without other DC's in the midst. I think it's a recipe for disaster.

Im vulnerable (not shielding letter but thoight I would be.) Our school only has yr6 and they're going back today.

As they're not little, 7 per class, lots of outside time time, washing hands, 1 way system. I think my child will love the small groups/less noise/more order. And stationery!

And it sounded like our school had put lots in place to protect them so I wasnt a sworried.

My DD has been at key worker school and had to choose between keeping going to that or going to Yr6 bubble three days a week. They are NOT allowed to switch between key worker bubble and the new year group bubble.

@Scottishgirl85

The situation you describe isn’t ideal but I’m not sure what the alternative is if there are so few key worker children. It still reduces the risk though. For instance, if a child in one bubble was infected and spread Covid to 30% of his/her contacts, the chances is are one of the KW children will contract it. If that KW child wasn’t a “spreader” (which i understand is quite a likely scenario in children) the other class would be protected. Even if the KW child was a spreader, the chances of a child in the second bubble being infected are lower.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparing-for-the-wider-opening-of-schools-from-1-june/planning-guide-for-primary-schools#creating-and-staffing-your-temporary-teaching-groups

The guidance for schools says that they should including key worker kids from reception/year 1/year 6 with their own cohort. So they are not doing anything wrong. Whether it's wise is another question, and I know many schools are ignoring that and keeping all key worker kids together.

The problem is that the keyworker provision is childcare and the year group provision is education. So children of keyworkers are not being educated at school so would miss out on that if they were kept in their keyworker bubble.
They have presumably already been disadvantaged as parents are at work so have less time to follow any work set by school.

• I bigged up to my kids that it's nice they get a whole desk all to themselves and they also get a 'resource pack' of their own pens, pencils that they were quite excited about too!

I would have been very excited about this too at that age, especially the resource pack!*

I've been taking the same approach and my YR daughter is very excited. She also thinks it's like being "in the olden days" which appeals (we have spent lockdown reading/watching Malory Towers!)

@stressbucket1 I just came to say exactly the same. My son attends (part time for now) as a key worker kid, if he remains in the key worker bubble how will teaching work? There are key worker kids (presumably some may be vulnerable rather than key workers, I know) from YrR - Yr6, how will they be taught? Such differing needs & levels

People suggesting to keep kids in bubbles based on weather they are a key worker is a bit lame in fact very lame indeed. Are you under an impression that one group (bubble of kids) are more at risk than the other. What about the physiological impact on the children. All the stress and fuss the teachers are going to just for a few year groups.... but what will happen when all the children need to be back in school hopefully September.

Our school is keeping the key worker children in separate bubbles, but some staff members are teaching more than one bubble so there is mixing in that respect. Also I don't think ANY school that I've heard of is keeping all siblings in the same bubble, so there will be mixing between bubbles from that source. L

Basically OP it's a logistical nightmare for schools, because of the number of teachers needed if they follow the guidelines to the letter. Some teachers may be shielding too.

So you have to decide - if you're not happy with the level of risk, keep your child at home. Personally I'm happy to send mine in, but you might make a different choice.

I work in a school and went back yesterday, having previously had a complete wobble over it. Yes, the classrooms are decluttered but it was nowhere near as bad as I thought. The teachers had been using the whiteboards, children had a tray full of work books and sheets. Some had left a drawing out on their table or on top of their trays. The children I saw from a distance seemed happy.

@Kazzyhoward makes a very good point. The bubbles may help prevent the quick spread of Covid if a child or adult brings it in to school, because in theory the bubbles should not have any contact with each other. But within a bubble, especially eyfs and yr 1, it's pretty much impossible to stop the spread because social distancing is so difficult to achieve, you just have to self isolate to protect others and hope for the best.

Its about mitigating not eliminating risk. Its better if the key worker bubble remains seperate rather than key worker children attending two bubbles as they are linked and two bubbles could end up isolated instead of one.

We have 2 Keyworker/Vulnerable bubbles but they are only for children in Years 2,3,4,5,7 and 8. All Nursery, R, Y1 and Y6 children are in their own bubbles regardless of their 'status'. It would seem mean and almost like we were treating them as social pariahs to separate them from their own peers. I wouldn't want children to have a less happy experience at school just because their parent/s happen to be Keyworkers.

But all of our 'bubbles' are in full time (or have the option to be) so I suppose that makes a difference.

Only our Y6 and Keyworker bubbles are doing social distancing. The little ones aren't. And even the older ones can play together outside (aiming to keep separate most of the time but not worrying about running past each other etc).

Our cleaning team usually works during the day anyway but they are now amazing supercleaners appearing everywhere - playground equipment is being cleaned after every break and classrooms cleaned whenever the children aren't in them. Toilets cleaned every hour I think.

Consider nurseries. Mine has opened fully to all children & on your normal days/hours. My daughter goes twice a week & her ‘bubble’ will simply be the room she is in as they are only expecting 10-12 children a day. But those 10 children may be completely different kids on Tuesday than Thursday.. it’s impossible in nurseries.

But as above, the bubbles are to mitigate risk not remove it. Yes, the children are mixing with various children through the week but they are not mixing with the other 30 children or adults split across the rooms at nursery. Adults are distancing. Children are frequently washing their hands. Playing outside. Toys are being rotated in and out for frequent washing. Even the climbing frame outside is being washed between each group of kids using it.

If you are concerned about your children’s health in regards to catching it or you don’t agree with lockdown easing etc, don’t send them. The virus isn’t going anywhere. But if, like me, you are happy with the risk to children being very low plus for us & thus happy to take steps to keep risk as low as possible but resume a little normality (in our case, for our daughters mental health), then do. As you can see from this thread, I think most children are way more adaptable than we give them credit for. They accept the new normal & are just happy to see their friends! It’s obviously all quite novel at the mo, which kids also like! And when the novelty wears off, it’ll just be the norm!

My children are being split up into three bubbles. I assumed they would be together