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?

If would also publicly blow open the illusion that schools are doing fantastically in opening for all pupils in the authorised years.

It will show exactly what cuts and underinvestment has done to the educational system.

It should raise serious questions that need serious answers.

Because this whatever is going on is failing and the reasons need to be publicly raised. And when they are raised they aren’t mocked. Remember it wasn’t that long ago nhs etc were backing what is coming from educators, and how did that pan out?

Please could you post a link re the care / education point?

At the moment both are supposedly happening in the keyworker vs year group bubbles alleged choices, I would be interested to find out more about this!

That must be an additional pita. Child walks in puts bag on table, takes off coat puts on back of chair.
Bag goes in floor, table and hands need cleaning. And every time the bag or coat gets touched/moved more cleaning.

Here they arrive to main class all their equipment where they previously left it. And secondary they carry this around with them. At the moment they have enough text books so they don’t have to share or make endless photocopies. At the moment they have the budgets to ensure all pupils have pens etc in school for them.

At the moment the school is giving them all packed lunches. These are delivered to outside classroom doors. Long term this isn’t financially viable.

@TyphoidMary2020
All the info is on the gov website.
Back in March when they closed the schools look at the wording. It talked about the care and mental health of staff, pupils and their families.

If the children in bubbles were getting new work then this would also be given to every single student.

Pupils who are registered for school and have been offered a place don’t have to attend and no sanctions will be taken.

You have to scroll down to look at what will be expected. First in the list mh. This is the latest
Update for parents. There is also mention of the plans so far with regards to next years exams.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/what-parents-and-carers-need-to-know-about-early-years-providers-schools-and-colleges-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/what-parents-and-carers-need-to-know-about-early-years-providers-schools-and-colleges-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak

Thanks will take a look!

Latest guidelines for schools. They won’t be penalised for not providing work.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-educational-and-childcare-settings-to-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020/actions-for-education-and-childcare-settings-to-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020

No problem. Finding the original ones are buried somewhere.

www.gov.uk/government/news/billion-pound-covid-catch-up-plan-to-tackle-impact-of-lost-teaching-time

Talks about the plans from September to reintroduce education and close the gap. Also talks about the elusive laptops. Remember the ones promised back in April, should be in schools now. Those will be paid for out of the new funds. So that’s the budget gone for most schools.

Thanks, I have read bits of this before but been kinda busy for some reason so it is up to individual schools to interpret the guidance then? As there are differences it seems, from reading on here...

The only reason I’m still bothering is waiting for gcse details 🤣 so far erm we will get back to you about all of that. In the meantime do what you can with up to a quarter of your pupils 🤣

And the magic money tree - It will pay for laptops needed, stationary, equipment, personal tutors etc. But hang on they’ve been told they cannot spend money on staff 🤣

When they closed back in March they were asked to stay open to provide care for key workers and the vulnerable pupils for specific reasons. Until September those still apply.

But in September If this still applies then how can they teach if they are still providing those care duties?

And considering how they are viewed and suggestions of them providing more care during the summer, can see why schools will want it established what their purpose is.

One way as some appear to be doing is going down the route of moving kw children into their year groups thereby removing rights to childcare as you have to choose between one or the other, no mixing or swapping bubbles, unless it suits them of course

Canigooutyet - apparently the exam boards have until the end of the month to make a decision about summer 2021 exams.

apparently the exam boards have until the end of the month to make a decision about summer 2021 exams

What happens next year is not the responsibility of the exam boards. They can’t control what might happen over the winter months, local lockdowns, teacher illness absence etc. The decision is going to have to be made by the Government. Everyone I know in education is just operating ‘business as usual’ for exam classes until circumstances dictate otherwise.

@Howaboutanewname I don't think exam boards are trying to predict the future, just make decisions based on what has already happened. So they could say normal exams with all the content, or they could try to slim down the content in some way. If they are going to start removing bits this needs deciding asap as it will impact what needs to be taught next year - and planning for that is happening now.

@Howaboutanewname
How can the exam boards not influence next year? They cancelled all exams this year and decided how work would be graded.

They are considering various options but because of appeals of something they aren’t allowed to do this until the end of the month. Hence the full plan for September won’t be released until around the middle of July.

If the exams get shifted until October/November as one of the suggestions was, this will have a massive impact on the next academic year. Mocks for starters would need to be pushed forward.

And if they are taking GCSE 6 months later than usual then what happens with college/uni applications?

Any changes to the content schools would have essentially 2 weeks to prepare for this. People who I know in education have run out of goodwill, mobiles will be switched off and out of office set for email. Once a week they will log in. Only thing many will be doing is child protection stuff over the holidays.

Plus if schools are going to be open throughout the holidays, staff won’t be allowed in anyway to prepare classes etc for September. Although the buildings still need to close at some point for maintenance, deep clean etc. Again something parents need to think about over the holidays.

The government cancelled the exams.

Ofqual make decisions and influence content. The exam boards are involved in consultation but have very little decision making power.

I read yesterday that there is to be a consultation document soon about next year's exams : no idea how , to whom, or when , other than soon.

Any change to the exams will have to come from the government, not the exam boards. The exam boards cannot reduce the amount of content in a specification without Ofqual signing it off, and Ofqual can’t sign off on things that don’t comply with the DfE regulations for the qualification. The government will have to change the regulations before the exam boards can change anything. The amount of content in GCSE and A level specifications isn’t dictated by the boards. They can change nothing at the minute, although I’m sure they have teams looking at different options and talking to Ofqual and the DfE about what might be realistic. That doesn’t mean the government will listen to them though.

X-posted with Piggy. I type slowly on my iPad.

How can the exam boards not influence next year? They cancelled all exams this year

No, they didn’t.

Is there any guidance on fines for parents who don’t feel their child should go back immediately in September? I know currently it’s parental choice and no fines issued but will that revert back to the previous system of militant attendance monitoring and fines

Sorry meant the exam regulator, it’s early and haven’t fully loaded up on coffee. I was never involved with exams, and trying to wrap my head around it all. Apologies for any confusion. And the gap between them making whatever and gov announcements makes sense.

The consultation closed earlier this month.

Another suggestion was also to scrap GCSE’s.

@unfairandunsympathetic if you scroll back a bit there’s two links - advice for parents/carers and for schools. These should give you some idea of what might happen.

I don’t think they can bring back fines until parental confidence is high otherwise people would de register.

Thanks I’ll have a look

How can the exam boards not influence next year? They cancelled all exams this year

Seriously? The Government cancelled the exams. It will be the Government’s decision as to what happens next year. What happens next year will be dependent on how the winter goes.

It's another consultation (believe it or not!!) due soon .