Sec of State for ed on now presenting about schools

[greenstream]

parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/8b18268d-531e-4d77-82bd-e363bbf50993

@hippy your anecdote - one lesson - is merely one single anecdote For such a vital subject as education of the whole land during an emergency, we can do far better than that. There are massive live stats available now from a whole body of schools who've educated 1000s and 1000s of pupils online live now for a whole 3 months with massive success. Dig into that data instead of your one off anecdote.

No plan of when pupils will be back but he was clear to state that exams will go ahead next year! The current year 11 + 13’s missed 2 months and exams were cancelled. Current year 10 and 12’s are on their 3 month of no school with no full time return planned but their exams will go ahead, yeah that seems fair!

Primary pupils don't all have phones that are suitable either nor should they.
We have had to print a lot of work off as families simply don't have the facilities to do so, children have old phones or tablets that can't do everything. You can't reasonably use a mobile phone for lessons. Family laptops are being used by parents working from home. Families with more children can't access live lessons at the same time.
We aren't in a particularly poor area either.

@iVampire

Did they say anything about the educational future for pupils who have been asked to shield?

And those who come from a household where someone is shielding and isolation within the home is not realistic? Or who are medically vulnerable?

Or for any pupil who is required to quarantine for 14 days?

@vampire Yes, just suggested Virtual learning for pupils who'd still be shielding

Wonder when they will set out the plans for what the minimum curriculum provision should look like

Without wishing to be morbid, was the Glasgow MP implying that the two pupils that died in Scotland died from Covid?

Yes that's something I was wondering about too. I presumed she was on about Covid.

I am merely pointing out what could happen on zoom. It happened frequently in USA. I am allowed to share my one anecdote. :-)

Given the amount of complaints on here about the lack of support from schools, I am amazed that you think 1000s are being taught successfully. What measure of success are you using?
Pupil engagement? My DIL had 7 out of 40 odd students access her online learning last week.

Scottish parliament took steps apparently to combat digital exclusion

Here’s an article about the two boys who died in Glasgow. It appears at least one of the deaths was either an accident or suicide. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/glasgow-school-pays-tribute-two-22161280.amp

Thanks!

Anything on how schools will be expected to deliver that?

Because it’s quite a major task to have both virtual and classroom learning going on in parallel

I do agree that it should be possible for senior schools to allow Year 6 pupils to have some connection before moving up in September.

To be honest, I thought that the Government would say that unused senior school rooms could be used to take Primary children in order to get more people back to work.

I mean I thought that when they first started talking about schools going back

@Hippywannabe

Primary pupils don't all have phones that are suitable either nor should they. We have had to print a lot of work off as families simply don't have the facilities to do so, children have old phones or tablets that can't do everything. You can't reasonably use a mobile phone for lessons. Family laptops are being used by parents working from home. Families with more children can't access live lessons at the same time. We aren't in a particularly poor area either.

Start of lockdown and I ended up going through the electronics graveyard in the shed reformatting and setting up every old computer and laptop we had that would run the school's online learning platform stuff so kids could get online - as no one had bothered to check if they could beyond "do you have a tablet or phone" questionnaires.

They did - but one OK to run emails and messaging - but too old to run the provision the school was using. No one in the school or further up in Government had thought about them.

I think that he is possibly hinting that they are going to advocate that Primary schools can use Secondary schools for additional classrooms. Will be interesting to see the next published guidance

I think @Hippywannabe makes a very good and relevant point about safeguarding online. Many schools are worried about this - the implications for the safety of their staff and students and that's holding them back from full engagement with online learning. Moving classrooms to digital would require an investment in IT hardware and software, staff training and skilled IT support, trained in safeguarding issues. At a time when schools have had their budgets slashed for years, many don't have adequate IT resources or technicians who have the skill to make a safe online school space.

@kol yes, but …..
most of the secondary independent sector moved seamlessly to this back in March.

ah, the independent sector.

But there was absolutely nothing about what happens in September!

The virus will still be here...

@MabelMoo23 but they have a longterm plan, which he kept mentioning. He just forget to mention any details!

I've just read that Alok Sharma is running the Number 10 briefing today. Given today's announcement surely it should be Gavin Williamson?!

[quote greenstream]@kol yes, but …..
most of the secondary independent sector moved seamlessly to this back in March.[/quote]
Not true - there are lots of issues in our rural area because of the slow broadband in some of the villages so children are struggling to get online and access some of the suggested platforms.

How Taiwan keeps kids safe at school amid COVID-19

www.scmp.com/video/china/3052535/taiwan-schools-reopen-amid-covid-19-epidemic-while-schools-hong-kong-remain

Awwww bless. They’ll be working to get all children back.

Thought they bloody were anyway. That’s is the bare minimum. Sort it out. Govern.

Look at the % level of smartphone ownership in teens in UK. It is in the 90s%. That works fine for zoom / teams / meetup

It's not. They need laptops. They need several tabs open at once to be able to really stand a chance at doing some proper school work. I have been teaching online since Easter (private school) and there are a few children working through phones and it's just not cutting it.