Every child in every year group will return to school in September, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has said.

[itswhereitsat]

I didn't catch the briefing but read the above comment in the news. The big question is, did he say whether children returning would be part-time or full time? Or did he just gloss over that bit?

I don’t understand how a laptop right in front of a teacher facing his/her face

I am at the front of the class, using my laptop to teach on. Unless I had a second laptop to put in front of me (which would be blocking my face from the children anyway!), it’s not going to happen.

Plus, my laptop is so shit, the camera doesn’t work and neither does the WiFi half the time.

Could they not do a separate risk assessment for the shielding?

So they could have dedicated "shielding rooms" for pupils who are shielding being taught by shielding staff.

Nobody else is allowed to enter these areas, PPE can be worn, they have their own toilets which are cleaned more frequently, have their own doors to enter to prevent coming into contact with hordes of other children.

I know this is logistically not probable, because it would depend on how many children in each year are shielding and if they could meet those quotas by having a teacher for each year group.

I think to come up with a viable solution for shielding, data should be submitted for each school that shows how many staff and pupils are shielding, to see how they can be accommodated.

It's really difficult. I'm an advocate for reopening schools but I am aware of the layer of children shielding and would like the think the gov will make clear provision for them. No child should be left behind.

Clearly all schools aren’t the same so going forward technology needs to be looked at.

It’s going to happen so its now necessary to find ways to make things work.

How many children are shielding? I know adult number (iirc)

We have a system atm where many children are left behind (and worse). If we open up classes and concentrate on shielding it could help, depending on numbers.

I know this is logistically not probable

Name changed for this.

I can see numerous reasons why this wouldn’t work. In my school, we don’t have any spare classrooms. The deputy doesn’t have an office, the senco doesn’t have an office, there are no rooms for interventions, the library is in a corner of the computer corridor and there are just two staff toilets

I’m sure we aren’t unique.

In my classroom I teach from a desktop with no webcam. I'm also teaching a bubble of 3 different age groups so setting 3 different tasks. Not conducive to concurrently streaming to my own class at home!

I think 1-1 online sessions with government funded tutors could work for shielded children (or maybe small groups if there are several in a local authority of similar age). They would of course also need to be provided with the technology to access this.

Petun1asShoe

In the wartime many schools DID close.
I have read the headteacher's log books for my school, dating from the early 1900s.
They have records in them for the war times too.
Our school was closed for around 6 months a year or so into the war. It was closed for a shorter period of time near the start too. It was reduced numbers throughout as not all children and not all staff were able to attend. It was very interesting reading, and I actually brought them home again during lockdown for Mil to read whilst she was staying here. I specifically re-read the war pages.

I think 1-1 online sessions with government funded tutors could work for shielded children (or maybe small groups if there are several in a local authority of similar age). They would of course also need to be provided with the technology to access this.

I agree. I don’t know the comparative numbers but I’d concentrate on this group for tutors and tech.

Others didn’t though and I suspect they only closed when absolutely necessary not because a few couldn’t attend.

I think 1-1 online sessions with government funded tutors could work for shielded children (or maybe small groups if there are several in a local authority of similar age). They would of course also need to be provided with the technology to access this.

My youngest is on the shielding list. When she was really sick last year (immunodeficiency that presents like cancer and is treated like leukaemia) she was offered one of those classroom robots but other parents objected.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/13/robot-to-help-sick-children-norwegian-start-up

dududu what were their objections?! I would not object to this I think it's a fantastic idea.

class of 30

I haven't taught a class as small as 30 for many years.

Where are you going to put the extra 2-3 children from every KS2 class in my school, if class size is limited to 30?

I think 1-1 online sessions with government funded tutors could work for shielded children

This. This is EXACTLY where the money for tutoring should go. Existing PP support should be used intensively in schools for catch-up of those children in school, and 1:1 tutoring (plus funded technology) should go to the shielding children to give them a full school curriculum daily. Shielding teachers should be formed into a collective to wfh to deliver this tutoring, and be paid from the tutoring fund centrally, with schools being given back those teachers' salaries so they can employ cover. Sorted.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras you seem to be of the opinion that because you and others are shielding then everyone must shield so it's fair. Theres no doubt those who shield have less opportunities in everything at the moment and that's shit no one disagrees with that but why should the rest of the country suffer as well unnecessarily ?

@cantkeepawayforever

class of 30

I haven't taught a class as small as 30 for many years.

Where are you going to put the extra 2-3 children from every KS2 class in my school, if class size is limited to 30?

I think 1-1 online sessions with government funded tutors could work for shielded children

This. This is EXACTLY where the money for tutoring should go. Existing PP support should be used intensively in schools for catch-up of those children in school, and 1:1 tutoring (plus funded technology) should go to the shielding children to give them a full school curriculum daily. Shielding teachers should be formed into a collective to wfh to deliver this tutoring, and be paid from the tutoring fund centrally, with schools being given back those teachers' salaries so they can employ cover. Sorted.

I think you've cracked it. Write to Boris immediately he needs all the help he can get.

In all seriousness though I completely agree I think that's a great idea.

class of 30

I haven't taught a class as small as 30 for many years.

Shorthand for full class. No suggestion of removing a few children.

Agree with the rest too though.

Yes tell Johnson forthwith.

Let's not forget medically vulnerable. If a back to school at all costs decision gets rid of SD , parents might be jittery about the medically vulnerable. More of those than shielded children. Medically vulnerable of all ages are supposed to stringently observe SD. It is indeed in DfE guidelines that teachers WFH can be used to support remote learning.

Piggy how do parents know if their child is medically vulnerable?

[quote Uhoh2020]@Hearhoovesthinkzebras you seem to be of the opinion that because you and others are shielding then everyone must shield so it's fair. Theres no doubt those who shield have less opportunities in everything at the moment and that's shit no one disagrees with that but why should the rest of the country suffer as well unnecessarily ?[/quote]
Show me where I have said anything of the sort? I haven't.

I'm not saying everyone must shield. I am saying those shielding are just as important Nas those not shielding and must not just be locked out of sight out of mind so that everyone else can live normally.

That's the attitude some are displaying - schools need to get rid of shielded teachers so that schools can re open they can't expect no be paid indefinitely, shielded children not being given a second thought in terms of provision.

I'm not saying you must all shield. I am.saying the attitude that we should just be shut away and not given a second thought is wrong and shouldn't be allowed.

Work.arounds can be found as long as government actually considers shielded.people but given they aren't I shan't be holding my breath. Our current arrangements end on 30th June. We were promised an update that still hasn't happened. That's how much thought the shielded are being given.

My dad missed lots of school during the war. He went to Durham and is a now retired lecturer.

It's just not true to say schools didn't close. This being the 1940s, I imagine lots of poorer children just never went back.

how do parents know if their child is medically vulnerable?

There are lists of conditions which fit into the different categories.
GPs and hospitals should have written to many patients too, though these have been quite slow in coming in my experience.
The conditions in the lists have changed over time. For example milder asthma is no longer on the list.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/people-at-higher-risk/whos-at-higher-risk-from-coronavirus/

how do parents know if their child is medically vulnerable?

Well I expect they know what medical condition they have, they know their children and can make an informed decision because they are not fucking stupid. The government are changing their minds all the time about who is vulnerable and who is not and saying one minute we have to be 2m apart and then all of a sudden 1m is safe, then school is safe, then it isn't, then pubs are dangerous and then they are safe and it's all a load of fucking bollocks.