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

The dropping of some GCSE subjects for struggling pupils happens quietly all the time.
For example, the child won't engage, do the homework, revise or attend the exam of a subject they assume they will fail.
The only difference is that they won't be forced to go to the lessons.
None of this is good but hopefully this will help and will only be applicable to those it would have been anyway and they will be less stressed. (Obv every child deserves a brilliant education and extra help etc but that doesn't happen in normal years either).

They often are forced to go to that lesson, cuddling, as there is usually nowhere else to go. Most schools don't have the slack in staffing to provide that.

@noostrich

The proposal to force some pupils to drop GCSEs to focus on English and Maths is clearly going to massively disadvantage pupils at state schools compared to pupils at private schools, who I'm sure will continue to do ALL their GCSE subjects.

This will reduce the chances for children from ordinary schools of getting into decent universities for YEARS to come. It will continue to impact their careers going forward.

There are solutions that are equitable and do not artificially hobble children in the state sector.

The government's proposals seem designed specifically to hamper the life chances of all children who are not privately educated.

Is that because the private school pupils are less likely to be already disadvantaged compared to state school pupils who haven't been engaging with the work for whatever reason? (which may or not be their choice)

Why are we allowing a bunch of eugenicists to murder our elderly and poor?

Because the majority voted for a political party that supports that policy. They might not have known that when they voted though so I wouldn't necessarily hold them responsible.

@tadjennyp yes I agree they currently have to go to all lessons.
I meant if the new guidance means they can drop a subject then they won't have to go to the lesson anymore - all pretence can be dropped - maybe get a free study session in the library or one of the magical one to one extra tuition sessions the government is paying for 🤞

I trust head teachers to be sensible in interpreting the guidance. And I'm delighted all children will be returning full time in September

I do think that this is probably better in the hands of the heads than central policy - so guidance can be adapted to each school. But I don't think we can assume all children will be returning full time in September - this will happen ONLY if we keep infection rates low. If they go up to what they were in April (and given 90% of the population still haven't had this infection, it could easily happen), schools will have to shut again (as in Leicester). Social distancing is very important still.

Cuddling57

As the children that are forced to drop non core subjects are already struggling, what makes you think that they will be able to study by themselves?

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/30/unusually-high-coronavirus-rate-children-caused-leicester-lockdown/

I wonder how much of this was through schools. Seems that children can transmit the virus.

@FrippEnos I'm trying to look for the positives.
I hope in real life not many extra children will be forced to drop a GCSE. I assume it wouldn't be more than one.
I trust the teachers, schools, parents and child's judgement to only do that if it's correct for the child.
By dropping one subject that a child wouldn't pass in normal times then maybe it would give them more headroom and less stress, even if they didn't use the extra time to study. I am basing that on my own experiences. Maybe I'm wrong.
Surely these children will get use of the extra money for more tuition the government is making available too.
It's an awful situation all round.
I am desperately worried about my own Year 10 child.

You are allowed to be worried

I am worried about my year 11 child, my first year uni one, the 400 odd kids I teach, the 1600 in my owns school, basically all of them.

And the staff, too.
It's sleepless nights territory, especially since I have so little faith in the government to do the right, safe and sensible things, and to consult those who understand education (they claim they have but Twitter couldn't track down a single head who had been consulted yesterday)

^ This. I am worried about my children at primary (yr 6) and secondary (yr 10). I am worried about the children who I teach, I am worried about the children at the school where I am a governor. It's sleepless nights all round.

@Cuddling57

I understand the reasoning behind it and TBF it is actually quite sound.

But, the logistics of being able to do this for however many pupils out of however many classes is immense.

I'm wondering if we need some kind of clap for teaching hero's. A lot of them sound so scared about going back. Would clapping help? I know it boosted the morale for carers and NHS

I work in NHS. It's soooo normal for colleagues to get covid. Weekly. This is despite (ineffective) ppe. We have all got used to it now. Teachers will do too although obviously far fewer will be affected.

Teachers are entering a brave new world just as other key staff did. How can we boost their morale?

No clapping, please!

Just coming on to MN and not seeing any posts about teachers would improvise my morale .

@havefunpeleton I think teachers would prefer a safe working environment over a clap. Clapping isnt going to help me when I have got coronavirus at 33 weeks pregnant because I was told to stand in front of over 120 kids a day, 5 days a week, armed with nothing but some hand gel.

Teachers are entering a brave new world just as other key staff did. How can we boost their morale?

Not being constantly cast as lazy bastards who are throwing kids under the bus because we don't have the 'can-do' attitude to make the government's guidance work would help.

havefunpeleton

Sensible guidelines that don't change every fucking week that reflect what the majority of workers are getting would be a start.

Ds (9) is shielding at the moment, meaning we are shielding as a family (including dd1 - 14 and dd2 - 13). Reading this I'm terrified. I just can't see how we can keep ds safe.

I fucking hate all of this.

Well in the NHS we got clapping . Did you clap for NHS?!

I do think teachers need something to boost their morale on return to work.

You're doing a great job! Our kids love you and can't wait to have you back!

I'd quite like the clap.

Sorry, couldn't resist!

It's nice to hear it did boost you, though, because MN is full of people (claiming to be NHS) who sneer it to scorn.

But, yes, I'd just like people to be nice and the government to talk to us instead of leaking stuff to the press and whipping up union bashing.

'Can do' even made it into a letter in The Times the other day. AAAAARGH! I bet lots of parents would put it on a list of things teachers clichés we say about children that really winds them up!

And I thought the old adage said teachers can't do, anyway...

Ha ha

I guess it just showed the country was behind us and appreciate us. Isn't that what teachers need too when they go back?

Because no it won't be 'safe'. No job is. But every teacher is making a massive difference to children's futures despite this.

I do think actually this should be celebrated

In my hospital well over 500 staff have had covid. Must be the same nationally. Obviously in schools it will be much less. But the fear (initially) will still be there

I am extremely worried for my year 10 to be 11.
I just can’t see how the surge of infections in children in Leicester has caused schools to shut , given they are still in bubbles of 15 , what on earth will happen in bubbles of 240
That’s from a teacher who is back in school full time with bubbles of 15. They need to be back, my class have loved it. Albeit they love being a class of 15 rather than 32 also.

On the ward I work on, all staff have had an antibody check, of which 10% came back as positive despite none of them ever having been ill, displayed symptoms or had any time off work.

So many people could be carrying the virus around with them, have absolutely no symptoms, and be a great transmitter.

My memories of secondary school is that the corridors are absolutely swamped with children as 100’s and 100’s and 100’s of pupils all race to get to their classrooms. What’s the point in social distancing in classrooms if they are in such close contact with their mates and chatting away (well shouting really as the 100’s of children are all talking over each other) all the way to the next class?

I have only just joined the thread and haven’t read the previous 19 pages yet, the above were just my initial musings which I’m sure will already have been answered.

I might go and have a good read through the whole thread now actually....