Huffpost - leak on School Guidance

[PatriciaHolm]

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/school-reopening-whole-year-bubbles-full-guidance-covid_uk_5ef9dd4ac5b6ca97091288e4?oo9&guccounter=1

Full document due this week, but some "highlights"...(I use the word advisedly)

• secondary bubbles of up to 240 children (essentially a year group) -No in-class social distancing requirement for primary pupils, with secondary pupils advised to stay 1m apart but not at all times -Teachers advised to keep 2m away from pupils, at the front of the class, and away from colleagues as much as possible as if in a supermarket

• Compulsory engagement with the NHS Test and Trace system, with whole classes or year groups liable to be sent home if a pupil tests positive, but whole school closure not seen as generally necessary

-No face coverings for pupils or teachers, on Public Health England advice, as they “interfere” with teaching and learning -Children seated facing forwards in same direction and not at circular tables, with pupils wearing normal uniform and washing hands throughout the day -Teachers advised to spend no more than 15 minutes at any one time closer than 1m to anyone - Fines of up to £120 for parents whose children fail to attend school. In contrast with the “softly softly” approach taken during full lockdown the message will be “education is not optional”

• Heads told not to put in any staff rota or physical distancing that would require extra space or make it impossible for all pupils to return full-time.

- Contingency plans for some or all of the school being put in local lockdown and any temporary return to “remote” teaching needing to be of a high quality -Some subjects for some or all pupils may have to be suspended for two terms to allow catch-up on core subjects such as English and maths, with a full spread of subjects returning in the summer term of of 2021 -Some pupils may have to drop some GSCEs altogether in Year 11 to allow them to catch up and achieve better grades in English and maths. GCSEs and A-levels to take place as planned next summer but with some “adaptations” - First year pupils at secondary school may have to be re-taught English and maths from their final year syllabus at primary level

I think it's bonkers that children have to face forward to protect each other, but the teacher has 30 people breathing straight at then and noone can wear a mask. Schools are going to re-close pretty quickly as teachers become unwell then aren't they, and we'll just end up in an indefinite cycle of open up, lock down.

I teach English and an option subject ( which I prefer). The thought of just teaching English fills me with dread. Poor pupils.

The idea of staggered starts, breaks and lessons so that only one year group is moving around the school at a time only works if teachers are assigned to year group bubbles otherwise you’ll have Y10 waiting for their maths teacher who is still teaching Y9.

But there aren’t enough teachers of each subject to do that.

Same flump

Staggered lessons would be impossible in most schools. If pupils are going to move around the site you would want pupils in the same bubble to be in neighbouring classrooms so when they move they are mixing with their own bubble. What you don't want is different year groups mingling in corridors, passing each other briefly doesn't matter.

@noblegiraffe

The idea of staggered starts, breaks and lessons so that only one year group is moving around the school at a time only works if teachers are assigned to year group bubbles otherwise you’ll have Y10 waiting for their maths teacher who is still teaching Y9.

But there aren’t enough teachers of each subject to do that.

This x 100.

How on earth could you possibly keep year groups separate?!

The only way is a rota with them coming in on different days, but I’m sure the new guidance won’t allow part time or rotas!

The leaked guidance specifically prohibits rotas. It says heads can’t do anything that prevents full time return to education for all.

This is just one big mess.

Given the lockdown in Leicester and the list of 30 odd other places identified as causing concern, it's looking like local lockdowns are going to be happening.

How on earth can this be managed? Are we going to have a situation where children who happen to live in a higher risk area will be in and out of lockdown, and missing large chunks of schooling, whilst another areas are largely unaffected so come next summer and exams there will be huge variations in students that have missed lots of school and students that have missed none. There can't be a national strategy for the exams because there isn't a national response.

What happens if a child lives in a locked down area but their school is outside of that area? Same with teachers. So, school attempts to carry on, possibly with staff shortages but also needs to try to.keep the absent children up to date on learning.

Government really needs to pull their finger out here and organise a proper, co ordinated response that is resourced properly.

Anyone who actually works in a school has understood all along that the ONLY way to have everyone back full-time is to go back as normal.

Whoever wrote this piss-poor guidance has either (i) not spoken to anyone who knows how schools work or (ii) understands it is completely unworkable but wants to maintain the pretence that an attempt is being made to keep school communities (a bit) safe(r).

@Spikeyball

Staggered lessons would be impossible in most schools. If pupils are going to move around the site you would want pupils in the same bubble to be in neighbouring classrooms so when they move they are mixing with their own bubble. What you don't want is different year groups mingling in corridors, passing each other briefly doesn't matter.

Haven't they noticed that there is usually more than one school in an area?

Seeing as secondaries in particular already have staggered starts and finishes (and buses are already overfull by 7am as a result), where exactly do they put the starts and ends of the day?

If I think of my personal trip to work, the bus route takes in at least 22 secondaries (including 5 private ones) plus three colleges and 4 PRUs and is an essential connecting service for many more. I have no idea how many primaries there are in addition to that.

You may argue that facemasks make that perfectly safe, but teenagers don't wear the things at the bus stops whilst waiting. And they've got to all fit on the buses somehow - having 150 from one school starting at 7.45am is irrelevant when there are also over a thousand other kids needing to start at the same time, especially when other people getting to work also means that it's necessary to get on the earlier buses or sheer weight of traffic means they'll be late if they aim for the timetabled arrival time - the bus might take 20 minutes at 7am and be timetabled to take 30 at 7.30am, but if you catch that 7.30am bus, you aren't going to be there before ten to nine, as it takes longer than 30mins to get past the rail station.

Let’s face it. This will probably change 50 million times before September and then change again every week once the kids are back!
I’m concerned that they want to drop subjects. Is this a stealthy way of removing the arts from the curriculum - something our government has been trying to do for a while? Narrowing the curriculum and career choices for many students.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras where are the 30 other places? I've not seen anything apart from High Peak. I'd be interested in reading as I'm very concerned about this.

I've just emailed the HT of our secondary. He's been amazing through this. I won't be the only parent I'm sure.

@HipTightOnions I think option (ii) is correct. This will be followed by the guidance being scrapped sometime in August with a fanfare announcement that the easing of lockdown has gone so well since July 5th that these measures are no longer needed, and schools will go back as normal.

I asked DH (teacher) about this leaked guidance. He won't even read it - pointless to stress about it now, he says, since it is guaranteed to change before September one way or another.

Xiaoxiong I can see that for leaked guidance but doesn’t school have to plan now (this week) for September?

"What happens if a child lives in a locked down area but their school is outside of that area? Same with teachers."

In this case the child or teacher would still go into school because it would be essential travel which is allowed unless the person is self isolating.

Xiaoxiong I think you are right and your DH is very sensible!

Unless you mean the school will plan and he doesn’t have to read it because he’s not doing that part.

Most kids at my dc's school rely on school buses as it covers a wide catchment area. We live about an hour's drive away at rush hour, so no way I can work and spend 4 hours a day in traffic driving my dc to school and back myself.

Are they going to run 7 school buses per route (there are 6 routes)? Ie. one per year group? How on earth is this intended to work? There is no way it would be feasible or cost-effective to run 42 minibuses in place of 6 coaches.

And for those who drive their dcs to school, how can staggered start and end times work for people with more than one child at a school - if they need to drive their dcs, will they be expected to do the journey multiple times a day to get them all there for different times? Or to hang around outside the school for half an hour/an hour/whatever to take and pick them all up?

doesn’t school have to plan now (this week) for September?

The guidance hasn’t been officially published yet. If it is as leaked, it doesn’t seem possible to plan for, for the reasons Noblegiraffe and others have mentioned.

[quote Bercows]@Hearhoovesthinkzebras where are the 30 other places? I've not seen anything apart from High Peak. I'd be interested in reading as I'm very concerned about this.

I've just emailed the HT of our secondary. He's been amazing through this. I won't be the only parent I'm sure.[/quote]
I know this is a Daily Mail link, but it's in many other papers too

www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8473769/amp/The-36-areas-England-Covid-19-cases-RISING.html?amp_js_v=a3&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQFKAGwASA%3D#aoh=15935152509953&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-8473769%2FThe-36-areas-England-Covid-19-cases-RISING.html

Thanks Hooves

The guidance hasn’t been officially published yet

Yes why is why I posted as I did. It makes sense not to read leaked. Op said won’t read it as will change before September.

Which is why...

Official version due this week.

And they seem to have forgotten that many/most children will have a sibling in other year groups, so what is the point of separating children by year groups, as if it spreads round one year group 'bubble', it will inevitably spread through families to all the other year group bubbles within a week or so. Especially if parents are going to be fined for not sending children in.

I'd be careful of that article. It's working on percentages. The one at the top of the list has gone from 2 to 8 cases week on week. Wikipedia suggests Havering had a population of 250000 in 2018. It's hardly a hotbed of infection.