Is there a schools petition anywhere yet?

[WhoahThereCrazyHorse]

Just wondering if anyone has seen one in circulation anywhere that they can link to? And if not, would you sign one?

Suggested wording (but please suggest any additions)

Our children are being failed. They are missing out on an education because of the government's lack of planning and understanding of the challenges facing schools during coronavirus. Thousands of children are suffering damage to mental health due to the lack of social interaction that is a vital part of school life, and vulnerable children are in danger.

This government urgently needs to revise guidelines and make return to school for all year groups compulsory from September. It must provide the emergency funding required for extra teachers, and the help to provide temporary buildings if social distancing rules mean that schools need more space. It must recognise that children's education is a key priority and work urgently to resolve this crisis.

Thoughts?

What - even if the R rate is 4? Or 40?

Are you being dramatic for the sake of it? The natural R rate for coronavirus is around 3 even with no lockdown. We would have measured still in place for infectious people just like now. But frankly this hysteria around children going to school is far worse than possibility of catching the virus. People have taken leave of their senses.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/305525

@DigOutThoseLemonHandWipes
I could have also written your post virtually word for word. I also have an only child who is shy and SEN. He's 8 and is very bright and I've been pleasantly surprised by how well both he and I have coped with homeschooling. So I'm not too concerned about his academic work. But like you say, I'm no substitute for other children and he really struggles to talk to friends via Zoom. He has made huge progress socially since he started school. I really worry about how much this is setting his social development back.

Sorry, that should say "has SEN" not just "SEN"

I think it could be done. Home schooling for those who can (where a SAH parent is happy and capable to step up) or are shielding. Pop up classrooms to 'house' the rest of the kids.

Half the class can be staffed by a TA and focus on afternoon type activities (art, topic, RE, etc) for half of the day and then taught Maths and English by the teacher for the other half.

I'm not sure about other schools but with some creativity, good will (and the provision of a few 'pop up classrooms'!) then it would be possible at my school. We'll do whatever is necessary to get the kids back as safely as quickly as we can.

@CornishYarg it's tough isn't it? Our school are brilliant and have worked so hard to help him integrate with his cohort over the last few years that it feels work is being undone. If they don't go back until September it will be more than five months - he has a band of friends but I doubt he would be anyone's first choice so even if we can mix with another household I doubt anyone would choose him. Family and our friends with similar age children are all too far away to meet up with so unless he gets back to school I don't see where face to face contact with other kids is going to come from.

@DigOutThoseLemonHandWipes
Yes, very tough. The only similarly aged children in the family live a long way away too.Fortunately, one of his friends lives just round the corner so we've been out for a few bike rides with them. While it's only been half an hour a couple of times a week, it's still made a big difference to him as he can chat to his friend in person while they're cycling. Is there anyone you could meet up with outside?

Again again and again ...... who are the extra teachers?

Ffs we are all doing our best but we can't clone ourselves!

Again again and again ...... who are the extra teachers?

TAs, supply teachers, retired teachers, about to qualify teachers, out of work teachers...

The NHS managed it, the education sector will have to too.

@twinkletoesimnot

*Again again and again ...... who are the extra teachers?

Ffs we are all doing our best but we can't clone ourselves!*

@Georgiethegotheousgoat has answered you, as have I further up the thread.

We've got to change our mindset and think of 'how' we can do this.

a few 'pop up classrooms'
There are 32770 schools in the UK.

TAs, supply teachers, retired teachers, about to qualify teachers, out of work teachers...
If we halve the classes we need twice the number of teachers. There are more than half a million teachers in the UK.

The NHS managed it, the education sector will have to too.
The NHS diverted staff to priority services. Do you think we should de-prioritise certain areas/schools/year groups?

People are simply not appreciating the scale of this issue.

This is exactly why they need to go back as normal with only those shielding or vulnerable not going in.

Because you can't create enough classrooms and there isn't enough extra teachers.

If parents can effectively home school it’s a mystery why we every bothered with state education yet virtually every country In the world does.

I am unconvinced on the “there are not enough teachers so parents teach there own kids arguments” even ta’s or other support staff in school would surely have more understanding on how to teacher than the average parent with no teaching experience.

The longer teaches tell me I can teach the longer I think well god surely anyone can😂!

"Pop up" classrooms need tables and chairs, security, wifi, whiteboards, resources, toilets, outdoor space and within a reasonable distance of the school. There are 4 primary schools in my village, all requiring at least another third again of classrooms to house all groups of 15 - so potentially 20 other classrooms. They don't all have space for mobile rooms and there are, at most, 10 rooms in the village large enough to house a class. Multiply that across the country and it's not as easy as just saying classes should set up anywhere.

Retired teachers may have retired early due to stress/ill health and won't want to come back, or they have left the profession and have a job doing something else. A lot of newly-qualified teachers will already have jobs for September, so not as many as you think. TAs aren't paid a good enough wage to teach half the class while the other half are taught by the teacher and many schools do not have one TA per class, many schools have TAs shared between year groups or key stages. Supply teachers may be used to cover teachers off sick (not virus-related) as other means of covering sickness often used by schools (HLTA covering or splitting the class) can't be done as adults at the school can't be shared between bubbles.

These ideas have been mooted so many times on this forum lately and these answers have been given many times. As much as I'd like all my class back in school, it's just not that easy to figure out.

@HipTightOnions

We need to be creative and think of ways - what's the alternative?

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat

Again again and again ...... who are the extra teachers?

TAs, supply teachers, retired teachers, about to qualify teachers, out of work teachers...

The NHS managed it, the education sector will have to too.

It's not a fair comparison though is it?

The current NHS setup is similar to the current schools setup. No way would the NHS have coped if staff from non-essential depts hadn't been reassigned - these numbers were vastly greater than the returners.

The equivalent school setup is what is currently being done. There are no non-essential departments unless you decide certain years don't matter. There are no non-essential staff left in schools because recent budget cuts have meant anything non-essential (and quite frankly some essential things) have been removed.

The only TAs we have left are 1:1 support staff for children who cannot learn without them. If you removed them that child would have to stay at home.

In Denmark, they utilised other venues as classrooms such as libraries, theatres, community halls and cinemas. It will probably be too late for September as these venues will be opening then (hopefully)

TAs, supply teachers, retired teachers, about to qualify teachers, out of work teachers...

Do you realise there’s a massive recruitment and retention crisis in education? And that the many staff thinking about leaving or close to retirement are about to accelerate that? All of the above people (except the inadequate number of about to qualify teachers - a third of whom will quit within 5 years, 15% after just one year) would already be teaching if they wanted to. For a glimmer of insight into WHY they don’t want to, read the shitty attitudes on pretty much any of the many, many threads on here about schools.

This is exactly why they need to go back as normal with only those shielding or vulnerable not going in

What is the proposed parallel solution for those DC?

It needs to be rolled out at the same time. It's really not on to discard the clinically vulnerable

@nether

This is exactly why they need to go back as normal with only those shielding or vulnerable not going in

What is the proposed parallel solution for those DC?

It needs to be rolled out at the same time. It's really not on to discard the clinically vulnerable

Could shielding teachers not provide online school (equivalent to those in the classroom not twinkl work sheets) to the shielding children?

If that's the answer, Trust then it needs to be added clearly to the petition.

But it might need a little more tweaking as Spsecondary pupils do not use twinkl, and need full specialist teaching, just like the rest of their cohort.
Plus additional support given their ongoing isolation.

My child is in a special school I think the government and everyone else has forgotten about special schools his school is packed to the rafters all the children have complex learning disabilities it will be impossible for them to social distance how exactly would you make it compulsory for his school to return and be able to keep all the children safe ?

We need to be creative and think of ways - what's the alternative?

Sometimes, however much we might really really want something, there just isn’t a straightforward answer.

Basically, we either:

• decide schools are magic places where the virus cannot spread (or recognise that it will but we can accept that) and just send everyone back as normal
• recognise that schools are being creative and doing their absolute best to get children back within the current safety guidance and it’s all a huge compromise but they’ll continue to do their best to get more back as it becomes safer to do so.

Could shielding teachers not provide online school (equivalent to those in the classroom not twinkl work sheets) to the shielding children?

This is a good use of staff, I agree, as long as there is not too much of a mix of year groups for them (much more time consuming to prepare and mark etc. although some work can be shared by the teachers in school) and that each school has enough at-home teachers to provide the work. I suppose it will have to depend on the balance between children who've returned, those who can't, teachers who can work at school and those who can't.

@nether

If that's the answer, Trust then it needs to be added clearly to the petition.

But it might need a little more tweaking as Spsecondary pupils do not use twinkl, and need full specialist teaching, just like the rest of their cohort.
Plus additional support given their ongoing isolation.

I said not twinkl?

I know they do. This is the point. All children need a proper education.