Schools fubared till November?

[Clemmieandareallybigbunfight]

Disruption to schools could continue to November, MPs told www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-52895640

Is this a dystopian joke?

Are we actually trying to fuck up our kids?

Schools need to be instructed to open fully five days a week with enhanced on day cleaning, increased buses to allow distancing, staggered start and finish, covered but open refuge areas allowing distancing whilst outside in all weathers for breaks and no assemblies. Relatively low investment needed, huge gain economically but more importantly for our kids education and mental health. Some of these kids will never get back to school if they are out for so long. Some will fail to achieve their potential. And all for an illness with a tiny mortality rate overall?

@Beawillalwaysbetopdog

Nike, is this a typo?

There is no need, there has not been a single death in the u9 age category, and only 300 in the under 65 category.

ons has 11% below 65?

Listening - no teacher is turning pupils away

The government closed schools, they'll decide when and how they're opened.

Teachers will do what they are instructed to do or they will resign.

The unions were not consulted before any decisions and have very little power.

Yes, you're right, I meant u45.

Apologies, that is indeed a misleading typo.

@redsky75

I heard what Chris Whitt's said and yes, on paper it's the elderly who are more vulnerable but if parents of school age children can get it from their children then the adults will then in turn spread to granparents/ people on the bus/people in the supermarket etc etc particularly if they are asymptomatic. Being back at school must increase the risk of this surely?

Well as we are supposed to only be seeing grandparents from 2m away outdoors (unless you live with them which is an issue), and wearing a mask on the bus, and social distancing in supermarkets then that risk is low.

When the lockdown came in, the list of keyworkers children ran to 30%
but they did not go in ...
so much fear has been created
to so little purpose
WASH HANDS
would reduce not Covid but the bulk of school germs

Teachers should lobby for their charges

Nike I disagree it's sophistry. The union had no say in the policy that's now being implemented – the first meeting they had with SAGE to discuss how schools were going to return was the Friday AFTER the June 1st date had been announced. If they were being obstructive, they'd be advising members not to return at all but they're not and teachers are now getting on with welcoming pupils back as best they can with limited space and resources under the guidelines set by the Govt and its scientific advisors. Yet still teachers are being hammered.

Boxachocs, just to make clear, when I said teacher making decisions, I didn't mean a decision as school, I meant as an individual choice to go back or not according to their circumstances.

@NikeDeLaSwoosh the schools are accepting key worker children, year R, year 1 and yr 6 subject to the direction of their LA or academy lead and also subject to the number of staff they have to teach. If they ran out of space or adults, it's tough, until the guidance changes.

This is nothing to do with the unions, "Blob" or teachers and everything to do with government decisions. Don't know if I can make it any clear, but I'm stepping back now as I'm getting the sense that you are feeling backed into a corner with all the pesky facts to take on board.

regardless of what happens with covid over the next few months, it does depend on how willing your school is to engage with the process of home/school balancing. my primary child has been given a tiny amount of work by his school who yes have opened reluctantly to the 3 years they have to but have stopped taking and more key worker kids. it depends what work they set surely how the kids are learning? and how able parents are to teach them, feel so sorry for kids from deprived households with nowhere to study. I just hope my kid's school has been doling out laptops to them. I have to juggle work and a bored uninspired child and feel like I'm failing at both. whereas a neighbouring school is inviting kids on for hour-long individual sessions with each kid, presumably outside, we've not even had a phone call.

@redsky75 isn't that true of anyone who has the disease from anywhere?

But actually, no, because you shouldn't be in close proximity with people (inc) grandparents) from another household and if your child comes home from school with symptoms however mild, the whole household isolates and gets a test.

The scenario applies across the board.

ListeningQuietly I agree with you. It's so weird. Some people are not able or willing to see the bigger picture. It's all about opportunity cost at the end of the day. We have managed not to overwhelm the NHS, which is good. I would have preferred a better planned return to school.

The Welsh policy seems much more sensible.

@Longwhiskers14

Nike I disagree it's sophistry. The union had no say in the policy that's now being implemented – the first meeting they had with SAGE to discuss how schools were going to return was the Friday AFTER the June 1st date had been announced. If they were being obstructive, they'd be advising members not to return at all but they're not and teachers are now getting on with welcoming pupils back as best they can with limited space and resources under the guidelines set by the Govt and its scientific advisors. Yet still teachers are being hammered.

The unions are very predictable in this, they didn't need to be actually consulted to know how they would react.

They have called for 'safety' measures that they already know are unachievable, thus vetoing the idea by the backdoor.

Many schools are not even accepting YR, 1 and 6.

Again, not teachers who've decided that. It's the councils, the LEAs, who've stopped schools taking any pupils back.

Nike:

The influence of The Blob is a huge factor in determining government policy.

If this were true schools wouldn't be woefully underfunded to the point where I can't photocopy, TAs have all but disappeared, EAL provision has all but disappeared,I have 8 gluesticks for a whole year unless I buy them myself, class sizes have gone up from 25 to 32 (A level from about 16-26) and non-contact time has gone from 3 hrs a week to 2.5.

Teachers real terms pay wouldn't have been cut over the last few years. Performance related pay wouldn't have been introduced. The automatic going up the pay scale wouldn't have been removed. UPS wouldn't have been turned into TLRs on the cheap. PGCE mentors would still be given time off timetable to support their trainees. HODs wouldn't have lost some of their TLR time.

I'm sure there's other things I've forgotten, but teaching has changed beyond recognition in the last 10 years and if the unions had any power this wouldn't have happened.

Bah ahaha!

That is my response to anyone who thinks the government that has be deliberately under funding schools for a decade will pay to upgrade them because of coronavirus.

Have none of you been paying attention to the huge crisis is education.

Here’s a list- playing field sold off for housing, PFI funded school buildings that have tiny corridors and classrooms, over crowding because of the boom in secondary children, loss of lots of small primaries causing others to be massively over subscribed, budget cuts that lead to cutting off TA positions.

I could go on and on.

My school was build to house 600 pupils. We have 1200 and tiny corridors. It is like a meat grinder at lesson change over. I’m genuinely surprised we haven’t lost a Yr 7 yet.

The unions are very predictable in this, they didn't need to be actually consulted to know how they would react.

If their reaction was so predictable, why haven't they called for an all-out strike? That's what unions do, right? They're militant agitators who want to cause chaos. And, actually, the measures they've called for are pretty much what's been agreed.

redsky75
I heard what Chris Whitt's said and yes, on paper it's the elderly who are more vulnerable but if parents of school age children can get it from their children then the adults will then in turn spread to granparents/ people on the bus/people in the supermarket etc etc particularly if they are asymptomatic. Being back at school must increase the risk of this surely?

But just think about what you're saying! For the vast majority this virus doesn't not have a notable impact. And it is the vast majority. Why in god's name are 8 million children languishing at home to protect people who should be taking every step to protect themselves? I don't understand how anyone could possibly justify this.

"Well as we are supposed to only be seeing grandparents from 2m away outdoors (unless you live with them which is an issue), and wearing a mask on the bus, and social distancing in supermarkets then that risk is low."

By the time our schools go back in August in Scotland we will be into a different phase where we can be inside another household so the chances of spreading particularly if asymptomatic are far greater.

I also love how the English are always ready to settle for the crappest version of everything.

Instead of demanding investment in technology to help extend distance learning or making your kids actually complete the school work they are being set (shout out to the 5 students in my class of 31 who have handed anything in these past weeks) you are demanding we all get shoved back into schools.

So short sighted.

If teachers showed greater restraint in their demands re pay & conditions, perhaps there might be more budget for the actual teaching?

FWIW in the private sector, everybody's pay is performance related to a degree, and nobody can rely on even an index linked pay rise.

This is part of the problem IMO, the public sector is blissfully unaware of what the real world is like.

(and no, it's not a race to the bottom, it's the harsh reality of life outside the public sector)

By the time our schools go back in August in Scotland we will be into a different phase where we can be inside another household so the chances of spreading particularly if asymptomatic are far greater

I’m not sure I understand your point? So schools shouldn’t go back to allow for people to enter other households without risk?

By the time our schools go back in August in Scotland we will be into a different phase where we can be inside another household so the chances of spreading particularly if asymptomatic are far greater.

So children should remain out of education so people can go round to their friends' houses?

@snowballer beyond mental isn’t it?? 8 million children.... wow

Fwiw I am not justifying any of it! I am keen for children to get back to school and only wish it was going to be more than the 2 days a week that's being proposed for August onwards. I'm simply curious about what has actually changed to make it possible for children to go back when the virus is still around

I think so many people have enjoyed having that precious time off the hamster wheel and just having time to spend with their loved ones.

Well I haven't been off the hamster wheel - I am not missing my commute but I am still working.

I have 3 dc, the middle one with ASD and the youngest have a very strained relationship, siblings don't always get on.

As I have said before, it cannot be all about covid, other people need assistance and at present they are not, more people will die from other things and things that can be prevented.

Instead of demanding investment in technology to help extend distance learning or making your kids actually complete the school work they are being set (shout out to the 5 students in my class of 31 who have handed anything in these past weeks) you are demanding we all get shoved back into schools

Absolutely agree we should be demanding extra resources. However there is no amount of technology (that I can think of!) that will help me home school my 6 and 4 year olds while also working and looking after a 16 month old.

If their reaction was so predictable, why haven't they called for an all-out strike?

It amounts too the same thing - their demands are not achievable, hence the schools cannot open.

Its just a strike dressed up in a posh frock.