WTAF schools...

[SoberCurious]

My friend who works for the DfE says they are planning for kids to go back to school in December 😭😭😭

If teachers quit their jobs due to fear, then schools can't simply close. Other teachers will have to be found. Teacher trainees will have to be fast-tracked through.
If doctors started leaving due to risks, do you think the NHS would grind to a halt? Of course not.

Anyway it's all speculation at the moment.

The infection rate in the community is only relevant in combination with the number of people already infected. If only 3 people are now infected and the R number is 1, then each will infect 3 more people = 9 new cases. If only 2 people are infected and the R number is 1, then each will infect 2 more people = 4 new cases - five less!

So the high number of people now infected in the UK makes a huge difference, as well as the R number.

the fear obviously isn’t too strong here
Good to hear. From the radio and podcasts it still sounds like a totally different world to where I am, so it is nice to hear something positive.

*Those are not my words o was quoting a PP.

I was so astounded I posted too soon*

What’s wrong with what I posted? I was just saying if schools were short staffed I would gladly volunteer to help in any way needed and those were just a couple of examples of how I or others could help 🤷🏻‍♀️

The issue with getting kids back in where I work is lack of space rather than lack of staff. We are short staffed and so after school club staff and lunchtime supervisors are working all day to cover key worker children.

We are always low on lunchtime supervisors so I'm pleased to see the PP would be happy to do this as a volunteer role. Also it would be great if people volunteered to clean! And there is some gardening to be done. I hope you're a parent where I work, we could put you to good use. I'm not so sure about teaching phonics though. Knowing phonics and teaching phonics are two different things.

then the government changed the guidance at the last minute

The government didn't change the guidance at the last minute. Local authorities were being obstructive whereby some schools were being told not to open for another 2/3 weeks therefore making the governments plan for a phased return of year groups in stages unworkable because schools were now all at different stages of the process. The unions got what they wanted yet the government is somehow still to blame.

I work in education as a consultant partly with dofe and yes we have all been told to plan for part time until at least Jan

@ravenmum

It's also due to the summer holidays, though, isn't it? Even if the UK opened school in 2 weeks' time, who wants to send their children back for 2 weeks? So a relatively short delay of (say) 1 month compared to other countries would mean that children didn't start until September.

There was talk of schools opening over the summer so children can catch up.

They should have let the LEA decide considering how much the number of cases varies across the country. I understand why lockdown rules have to be national but a regional solution for education isn't unreasonable imo.

ReceptionTA I have helped with gardening before!

@cologne4711

*The UK has reached 602 deaths per million" NZ has had 4 deaths per million Of course the situation is not the same

In this context the past death rate is not relevant. What is relevant is the future infection rate. If we are in the same position as New Zealand is now (or indeed the state of Saxony in Germany) by the end of August there would be no reason not to reopen schools normally.

Its hard to ignore the deaths over recent months as they not unreasonably generate a fear for what might happen and hence even the schools that are open are not seeing a particularly high uptake. But you're quite right. Ultimately it is the existence (or not) of a potential second wave of cases that causes uncertainly and the need to plan for every eventuality. Hence we are seeing stories with a wide range of outcomes as to what might happen

As far as I'm aware there has been nothing official from the DfE but I'm guessing it's in response to this:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-52895640?fbclid=IwAR1KOohfyncZ2Z4AQD2AjO32mZSRaOuMB5Srqgojg4Mwlkegyv7xUXJxR60

Cross post ReceptionTA!

I would not teach phonics of course, although my son’s school did some very detailed parent workshops on it so I feel I could help with general reading practice, not the teaching itself. I’m sure there are parents out there like me who would gladly volunteer for a bit but yeah space is a huge issue in getting the children back into school.

I feel bad for working parents, the whole school situation must be even more of a headache.

The Key word is “planning”

PPPPP
Preparation prevents piss poor performance

Doesn’t mean it’s going to happen

Oh hold on, I missed out a step in my maths (each infecting someone, and then each of those infecting someone else).

@OldLace

'Track and trace is up and running right now'

I don't know if it's working very well yet though?

It would work better if they actually sent the tests results out - the two people I know who were tested didn't receive their results.

@pennylane83

build nightingale hospitals in 2 weeks

The government didn't build hospitals in 2 weeks, they repurposed the space inside fully functioning buildings that were not currently being used so that they could serve an alternative purpose on a temporary basis. There are currently 32,770 schools in the country, all of which are too small to accommodate double the number of classes made of less pupils. You honestly expect the government to fund and build 32,770 new schools in 10 weeks?? Or do you think the sensible approach would be to work with what we have, bring back the children into their current school in a phased approach whereby with each easing of lockdown measures and the potential reduction in social distancing over the next 2/3 months, more and more children could return until, hey presto, all children are back full time.

How about using buildings to temporarily house school children? Yes many schools are too small to accommodate the number of children needing to be there but why not look at libraries, church halls or other public buildings?

I was just sharing this because I am slightly gobsmacked myself.
I sincerely hope it's not true too.

@ReceptionTA

The issue with getting kids back in where I work is lack of space rather than lack of staff. We are short staffed and so after school club staff and lunchtime supervisors are working all day to cover key worker children.

We are always low on lunchtime supervisors so I'm pleased to see the PP would be happy to do this as a volunteer role. Also it would be great if people volunteered to clean! And there is some gardening to be done. I hope you're a parent where I work, we could put you to good use. I'm not so sure about teaching phonics though. Knowing phonics and teaching phonics are two different things.

My DCs school have used all available staff and all available classrooms just to get Reception and Yr 1 back, they can't take any other pupils at all now.

I work in education as a consultant partly with dofe and yes we have all been told to plan for part time until at least Jan

Of course you have, having a plan in place for a worse case scenario is vitally important, doesn't mean it will ever be implemented though.

The DfE may well be planning for part-time schooling until January, but from the experience of the past few weeks, that doesn't mean that this is definitely going to happen.

The government appears to catch the DfE completely on the hop with their various sudden announcements about schools and as a consequence the much-needed DfE guidance for senior leaders comes out late and is liable to "revision", often multiple times.

The Key word is “planning”

Yes exactly. Something our alleged government failed to do. They should have started planning to return children to school at the START of lockdown. FFS.

Your friends don't know OP. Nobody does. They may have heard of schools preparing for all eventualities.

Our Head has two plans - one to open normally and one to provide education one day a week for pupils if we are still only semi opened. The rest of the learning done at home, taught via recorded lessons (voice only) as they have been doing all along

What do you think will happen to colleges? Most BTEC courses are only 3 days a week anyway.

How about using buildings to temporarily house school children? Yes many schools are too small to accommodate the number of children needing to be there but why not look at libraries, church halls or other public buildings?

That's being done, at least in several areas I know of.

The problem is that buildings like churches would need to be paid for and schools don't have the budget. Other buildings like community halls and libraries are also being sought after by multiple schools.

We have two primary schools and a large high school here. It's not just as simple as DS and DD's HT cherry-picking all the buildings she wants to use. There's got to be prioritising done. Plus some of those buildings are already being used for things like food parcel deliveries or don't meet the safety standards.

There's a guy locally who keeps banging on about how the schools just need to hire portacabins as the high school has done that while the new building was being built. He cannot seem to grasp that a few schools using portakabin classrooms as a temporary measure doesn't mean there are enough portakabin classrooms around to put several into the playground of every single school in the UK.

Stupidly we have an easy fix locally (new high school building is ready, old school building is still standing and in use, yet is still scheduled to be demolished in the summer holidays) that is being discounted and that is extremely frustrating to staff and parents alike.