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

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

I am very much in favour of this on a pupil by pupil basis (I have a y10 and am planning to ask for her to drop something).

Even if the extra time isn't filled with English & Maths lessons, using the time to catch up on work set this term but not done/well understood could be worthwhile. Better to have 8 GCSEs at Grade 4 than 9 with four 4s and five 3s (especially if the 3s include English or maths).

ps Sticking the teacher on an umpiring / lifeguard chair would be a way of adding extra distance between teacher and pupils.

What about the vulnerable staff?

I also wonder what will happen to deshielded teachers? Guidance clearly states you can return to work in August if your workplace is Covid secure. Obviously schools aren't going to be so I wonder what the implications for deshielded staff and students are?

I have so much more respect for teachers - our children need their expertise.

So much respect that you aren't bothered about them catching a dangerous disease? Wow.

Is this Huff Post legit? How do we know this is correct, this leak?

My family is shielding. There is very little here that will prevent the virus spreading rapidly in a school. My eldest starts year 7 in September.

Feel a bit sick reading this

What would you like to see instead? That sounds goady but I genuinely don't mean it to be, I'm curious as to what could be done to keep shielding children safe. Face masks probably wouldn't be enough (although I do appreciate that adding face masks would help) and there just isn't space for adequate distancing.

Sorry that was a bit of a rant.. feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything today.

It must be really frightening for all those who have been told they no longer need to shield in August to have to work / attend as a pupil this environment in September. As let’s face it schools are being asked to just get on with it in all reality.
I hope those parents don’t get fined if they still don’t feel happy sending their children. It looks like the staff won’t have a choice.

@BatSegundo

My family is shielding. There is very little here that will prevent the virus spreading rapidly in a school. My eldest starts year 7 in September.

Feel a bit sick reading this.

We're in the same position BatSegundo

My children will not be returning to school under those conditions.

Pretty stark choices really. 1. Go back to school and put me at greatly increased risk of dying, 2. Go back to school and have no contact with me, 3. Homeschool.

I have kept up contact with both my kids' Headteacher's, and I'm sure they'll support me.

It made me so bloody angry when the government announced that ALL children would be back in September. My children won't: and my children matter.

to all you teachers.

So DC1 is in one bubble of 240 and DC2 is in another bubble of 240, if one bubble has to self-isolate, does that mean both my DC need to as well? Or am I supposed to isolate one child at home but send the other one back? Doesn’t make sense to me. And do I self-isolate too? How will PE work? What about drama? And Music? So many questions...

Evidently children don't get the same protection as everyone else. Offices, etc can't return like this but it's seen to be ok for children (and the teachers). The govt are so concerned about being unpopular that they basically say, anything goes.

This also affects elderly relatives: suddenly the risk to a grandparent increases massively.

Plus, why the resistance to face coverings?! Even the US advocate them now. There will be a massive comeback from unions on this one, you can bet, if the situation is similar (or horrors of horrors, worse) come September.

Plus they are delusional if they really think that new year 7s will be so affected by not having the SATS prep that they need 2 terms to catch up. What a miserable year 7 experience.

Well then i see all of you begging for no SD will now be part of wave 2.

240 is huge and on average that means parents exposed to 480 (plus teachers).
Some families with lots of kids will be basically the whole school so they will be much more likely to catch anf then spread it to every class.

The travel by PT with mask on to then take it off at school made me laugh.

How are pupils going to be able to study their A level choices for university entrance if they are going to be expected to drop GCSEs to concentrate on Maths and English?

My DS (yr7) has a 1-1 for most lessons, wonder how that will work especially as he has different TAs for different subjects.

If I have to stay 2m away from my class of 6 year olds I can't check their work and give them feedback as they are doing it which is one of the most important elements of teaching. Also sitting the children in rows means they can't work together or support each other so maths mastery will be interesting. I think the rules will have to be broken if quality teaching and learning is going to happen!

How tedious will yr6 being just doing Maths and English. It is already nearly that anyway due to SATs. If ds gets the 11plus marks he wants I would be considering giving him the option to deregister.

Dropping a GCSE should be optional. For some it would be beneficial and for them the option of tutoring might be possible in core subjects, plus the reduced workload. Then again it would be harder for those who don't want to drop a subject. Maybe the Ebbac should be relaxed as realistically a school is probably otherwise only going to encourage creative subjects to be dropped. The only one dd would probably want to drop is her MFL. Core RS could be dropped and the assembly requirements, plus reduce form time.

Wonder how they'll manage schools with year groups of 300+ of which there are at least 3 in my area.

But generally speaking, I don't see any other way - we just have to accept the risk I think.

The sensible thing to do would be to allow children to make the decision of what subjects to drop (if any).

I appreciate this may not be a popular opinion but at the start of lockdown the intention was never to stop people from getting Covid but to slow the spread. Now it seems like we are doing everything to stop anyone getting it but at the expense of our children’s educate. I totally understand that for those extremely clinical vulnerable children/families that this isn’t a solution but we need to get back to some kind of “normal” schooling.
Maybe the government could plough more money into supporting those children that can’t come in at home and let the others just get on with it.

@Orangeblossom78

What subjects would they be dropping do you think? Hope it is not the ones such as DT, art, music and drama, product design..

Probably PE as well

and food tech?

@Orangeblossom78

Could have fans and open windows to blast the virus away

Or, to blast it around the room in case anyone hadn't been exposed to it already through proximity.

My son is really enjoying working in the peace and quiet at home and I've been able to give him lots of teaching in music, which had been dropped entirely from his primary school curriculum. I wish they could go back to school half time with social distancing, and one teacher to 15 kids, and then have the other half of the time to do their work from home.

I realise that this is not the situation for many other families, but it would be wonderful for us.

Shielding and online lessons should be an option available with a school space and funding kept open. This will also mean fewer children in school so would make social distancing easier.

Well there is going to have to be some thinking outside of the box in my Science department; the tables don't move and all students face each other. We'd have to pull out the gas, electricity and sinks. Not that we had planned to do any practicals anyway as we tend to have 3 or 4 students to 1 set of equipment.

I teach in several rooms and not one of them will give me more than 1 metre at the front. In one room I have 3 students on my desk as well as 6 of them sitting at a piece of wood over a sink...

I wasn't being serious about the fans.