Advice on schools in September

[Bannerwag66]

Hi, does anyone know what advice there is for schools in September. Year 4 child here breaks up next week. No communication from school yet so no idea what to expect really and just wondered if there is official advice or does it depend on district and particular school?

Our school is in the process of putting an email together, which includes photos of typical classroom layouts.

To be honest I would think the final decisions will have to be made the last week when there are final guidelines based on numbers.

Watching tv44 - can all the classrooms be accessed from outside? All our children enter direct into classrooms from outside and only into corridors for toilets. The school will work it out, ie perhaps time slots for a class to use toilet. In the event of bad weather children are still going out for a few mins every day. We have a couple of pop up gazebos which can be placed in sheltered areas and each class can have time under them if they're up. If your school has forest school, you'll probably find it goes full-time. The children have been great, taken it all in their stride, accept they're at their desks now during wet play.

@Eccle80 the 7-14 day exclusion and no provision for lateness are two of the main point parents are complaining about, lots of discussion about it in the parents group on FB and most have said they've emailed school to say they're not happy about it so I'm expecting those points to change by September.

@BankofNook I’m not surprised parents are unhappy. I consider myself pretty cautious and I completely understand schools wanting to minimise risk, but those rules seem excessive

@Eccle80
The exclusion for 7 days for them and 14 days for a household member regardless of test results is a lot. that is government guidance everyone in school or employment and their family members will have to do the same.

@AldiAisleofCrap not with a negative test though? That was the case when tests weren’t widely available, but now you would do those isolations if you were positive, but return to school/work if you/household member were negative

I teach in secondary. We've just been given our timetable with roomings for a usual start and been advised that this is completely provisional and that we will be given alternate timetables based on new guidance that is due out. So it's all subject to change re: whether kids will all stay in one room, whether lessons will be staggered according to year group (don't see how that's logistically possible) whether there will be a part time return etc.

So basically they have to do around half a dozen different versions of the timetable (which ordinarily is a job that takes months in itself) and we will know more probably at the end of August.

It's made more complicated by the fact that the school itself is split site (so they're working on a version where they divide the school into 2 and then pupils and staff stay in those zones) but this means that specialist classrooms and facilities will only be available to whatever half is based there.
Also the 6th form is a shared one with another school and is around half a mile away from the school site and teachers are supposed to travel. So they're working on how to minimise travel.

It's not possible to know which version we will be doing, so we can't share with parents yet

My guess is we won't know in September either

My DC primary school have said they will have plans ready by the end of term in 2 weeks. My year 1 son has been in school full time since June, in a bubble about 12 children. Ours is a small one form entry school but luckily there are a lot of toilets. Nursery and reception have toilets in the classroom and then there are ks1 and ks2 toilets. They've done it quite well this term, one of the year 1 bubble is a spade and the other is a bucket, the toilet cubicles and sinks are then labeled with a pic of either a bucket or spade. Children only use the toilet labeled with their picture, I would imagine they will carry on with next year but have one cubicle for year 1 and once for year 2 as they will be in whole year bubbles. My son fell and grazed his knee and he got they same level of care from staff as pre covid.

With regard to covid tests, we actually pulled him out of school for 2 days as my DH developed a cough. He got a covid test which came back negative 24 hours later and school were happy to have my son back in, we didn't need to continue isolating once the test was negative.

@Eccle80 both my dc school and dh employers have said the same. Am assuming it’s down to the unreliability of test results.

any child with any CV19 symptoms is excluded for seven days regardless of whether they test positive or negative, work will be provided for them to do any home

So when the colds and bugs start doing the rounds in September, any child coughing will have to stay at home for 7 days. That’s never gonna work! Well, small class sizes I suppose but - the chaos! Kids coming and going every day. Most kids won’t do the work at home, for the same reasons that homeschooling has a low update now (lack of IT, lack of suitable working environment, parents both wfh and unable to manage whatever is needed).

Also, isn’t it totally at odds with the wider government guidance - if you have symptoms get a test and if it’s negative go back to work? Parents arent going to drive miles to a test centre every time their child coughs if it makes no difference to the isolation period?

How will staggered start times work with school transport ?

How will bubbles work with subject specialists ?

How will bubbles work with cohorts of 300 + pupils per year?

Subject specialists can work between different bubbles. Bubbles will easily be popped anyway with things like siblings, shared toilets, wraparound care and transport to school.

@pontypridd

Is it odd not to have heard anything at all from schools about what to expect in September?

We've heard nothing at all from our primary school either ...

I am Headteacher and we are frantically sorting all risk assessments and plans for September. Parents have been told all children can return in September, exact details will be sent out on Monday. The "bubble" situation has caused many headaches :)

A Headteacher not the only one! :)

bubble
I bring you Peter Symonds College in Winchester
4000 students taking dozens of different courses across a campus
bollocks is a better term

Our school has (to my mind) a much better solution to staggered start times which is that children can be dropped off between 8:30 and 9:15, and collected between 2:25 and 3. There has been no congestion at all, it’s worked brilliantly. Much better for siblings. I hope this stays in September.

Secondary comp, not heard much, other than year 7 are going back first, may or may not be staggered due to transport. No idea if its full time or not. Been told everything subject to change and more information over the summer.

Just been told DD cannot do GCSE options she wants (applied in March), no news at all for SN child. Senco last replied in May. It did say class bubbles y7 and y8, year bubbles 9-11. Said same 'excellent' cleaning they had before will continue Full uniform including blazers. Canteen operating. Year bubbles in seperate areas and teachers moving. Seem to be masses of staff coming and going.

Marceline
staggered start times which is that children can be dropped off between 8:30 and 9:15, and collected between 2:25 and 3
dropped off
que
try that with a 1500 pupil rural secondary where kids arrive on public transport ....

Is it odd not to have heard anything at all from schools about what to expect in September?

We haven't heard anything either, other than they'll be in touch when they've put plans into place.

@ListeningQuietly obviously there is never going to be a one size fits all approach. You certainly can’t compare primary and secondary.

So to add to my previous post this is working very well for our 450 children at a primary school.

SLT in a big primary school here. We had a plan, then PHE told us we're in a dodgy area, so have had to change our plans. Agreed it at 5pm, will take tomorrow to write risk assessments, then it goes to governors, then it goes to parents.

It doesnt suit anyone, I'm not happy about what my job will entail come September, but the kids wont know about the headaches behind the scenes.

Not completed yet.
Parents will be advised once everything has been covered, risk assessments completed and checked and if we have enough staff.

@MarcelineMissouri

Our school has (to my mind) a much better solution to staggered start times which is that children can be dropped off between 8:30 and 9:15, and collected between 2:25 and 3. There has been no congestion at all, it’s worked brilliantly. Much better for siblings. I hope this stays in September.

How on earth can a teacher teach lessons with children arriving over a 45 minute period, or leaving half an hour before the end of the day?

@ArtieFufkinPolymerRecords lessons in the morning didn’t start until 9 anyway so not really that much difference. There’s no perfect system is there, compromises will have to be made in some areas.

Our school day will be shorter. Less free time for children and teachers - I'll get one half hour break between 8.40 and 2.45, instead of two separate breaks of 30 min and 45 min. Kids get a 15 min break and half an hour for lunch. I'm on duty for the 15 min break, every day.