So...what do we all think of what Gav had to say?

[Eileithyiaa]

Gavin has just given his briefing, apparently all children will be back in September however he looked reluctant to admit they would scrap social distancing in favour of full classes, although this does seem to be the plan.

What do we reckon? I'm chuffed, think some voices are finally being heard.

Lots of things are announced & then don't happen.

Govt might consider 4 hours/week F2F time as "back in September." I don't agree that's truly 'back'.

I know, he is very clever at skirting around commitment

People can't commit to anything because it's an unknown virulent virus, that can enter a second wave at any time and then we are all on our way to destination fucked.

It has to be played by ear, and we need to be on our toes to protect the most vulnerable, and react appropriately. We also need to see what's happening in other countries and use that to help our response.

So many schoolkids (like mine) depend on grandparents to help with school runs, and all this needs to be kept in mind.

@Eileithyiaa

Gavin has just given his briefing, apparently all children will be back in September however he looked reluctant to admit they would scrap social distancing in favour of full classes, although this does seem to be the plan.

What do we reckon? I'm chuffed, think some voices are finally being heard.

excellent news.

By September, hopefully in most areas cases will be low enough for this to happen. I think we need to start moving to a more regional approach, rather than a one size fits all binary of closed/open. Personally, I'd have a traffic light system. So, red is closed. Red and amber is pretty much what we have now. Amber is all kids back on a rota, some social distancing in place, staggered starts, etc. Green is safe, everyone back, though probably with a few low cost adjustments. We need to be able to move fluidly from one state to another in different regions. If they explained the different stages, schools could get planning for ALL the different scenarios.

What I think we'll get is a shit show, with everyone back, then everything stopped again, then back, then schools shutting completely due to a lack of staff and a lack of planning for intermediate stages, etc etc.

They are banking in the vaccine being available.

For red and amber to work, you’d need to have good online learning - either to run in parallel (amber) or take over (red) and also to cover those who cannot be in (green, for those who need 2 weeks isolation, those continuing to shield, and extend for all other absences)

This is not an easy task. Sutton Trust reported (a few weeks ago, may have improved) something like 57% of private schools had adequate online learning, compared to 28% of state schools.

I don’t think the idea (now a mantra?) that they’ll all be back in September is going to provide certain enough full time education for all (and all through the winter virus season) seems quite optimistic and not shock-proof

If the aim is to prevent further loss of schooling, then I don’t think work on adequate online provision should be stopped. I’m not underestimating the difficulties, but as 28% of schools have reached adequacy, it shows it’s not an impossible requirement

I felt that he was certainly saying primaries would be full time, by talking about increased bubble sizes (not sure how a bubble works with before and after school club which many parents rely on for work).

He didn't confirm that secondaries would be full time - he said all year groups but didn't say every day. I really feel for school leaders as when guidelines are produced there will be very little time to prepare. Timetables at secondary are usually a huge job. My school is open for year 10 at the moment; they have one day a week in groups and that means as teachers I am in 5 days a week... I just can't imagine how that will look in september, and if it still will involve blended learning he should have said so.

Unless they scrap all social distancing at schools and just say all back- but I don't think that's what he was implying.

That’s going to get pretty serious in secondaries pretty quickly.

Bad enough to have lost one term, but if it’s part time (without online dial in for those not in the classroom) how much teaching time is going to be list, and what will that mean for GCSE for two or three years to come (and in turn for the A levels two years after any GCSEs on syllabuses that were not fully covered - yes I know sometimes an odd topic is sacrifices, but most pupils do all or very nearly all, and that’s the assumed starting point for A levels.

The attainment gap between schools with good/adequate online provision and the rest is going to widen, if full classroom attendance isn’t going to be possible.

As is the gap between those with good/adequate home tech. Though charitable endeavour can patch that do some extent, and priority for physical attendance could be given to those with greatest social need.

None of which is particularly palatable, but it’s all about having the ‘least worst’ ready in case the cooler traditional winter virus season gives new impetus to community spread.