Schools Reopening?

[ClimbDad]

A major, peer reviewed study into transmission in South Korea has established that tweens and teenagers spread the SARSCOV2 virus more than any other age group.

The study involved more than 65,000 people and used South Korea’s exceptionally effective contact tracing system to look at who brought the virus into households. Tweens and teenagers were the highest index case age group. Younger children transmitted at the same rate as 20-somethings.

This is a large scale, rigorous piece of research that proves children are effective at transmitting the virus. It was conducted in a country that implements strict social distancing and mask wearing among children. The authors say the rate of transmission would have been higher if children weren’t subjected to those measures.

Plans to reopen schools more or less as normal in September will place many lives at risk, and increase the likelihood schools will have to close again. The government needs to acknowledge schools will be highly efficient vectors of viral transmission and change its reopening plans.

Published Paper:
wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/10/20-1315_article

Article on the paper:

www.bloombergquint.com/business/covid-19-spread-fastest-by-teens-and-tweens-korea-study-finds

We have no compulsory break or lunch supervision in Scotland your system seems a bit mad to me if you don't mind me saying. We aren't paid for those times so what we do with them is up to us. Obviously lots work through them but then that's time you might have spent after school anyway.

@Mistressiggi We’re not paid for break either but it had been counted in our directed hours so again, no point in complaining to unions. I just moan about it on Mumsnet to vent my frustration and anxiety.

I'd leave your school, they sound ridiculous! The kids are old enough to stay in their zones. Aren't the zones pointless if they have all travelled in together? No one would know how they "got" it. I'd be going to the toilet and letting them argue about it afterwards. Seems bonkers to direct staff to do all that supervision out of directed hours. Have you seen the directed time budget?

Mistressiggi

We don’t ordinarily do break duty. Due to CV school are front loading directed time, lengthening the school day and requiring duty - all in order to facilitate staggered starts, managing transport and stupid sodding year group bubbles.

My school have been spectacular in their support of students and staff so far. September looks like being a total shitshow.

Yes, we’ve had our meeting time (dept, pastoral and staff) drastically reduced although I worry we’ll still have them ‘informally’ or just be sent a lot of emails to digest!

Lot of opinions on this thread.

Here’s a suggestion: why not make school attendance optional?

Those who choose to have their children learn at home ensure their kids keep up through digital learning, and regular assessments test whether standards are being met.

If a significant proportion of parents opt for digital learning, class sizes at school will be reduced, making the environment safer for students and teachers, and making it easier for schools to implement infection control measures. Risk is reduced for everyone.

The government claims to be all about freedom and individual choice. Give parents the power to choose and everyone will benefit.

@ClimbDad - thanks for starting this thread and for the info on transmission between teenagers in school in other countries.

This was is what I’m afraid of and why I started a discussion on this topic in AIBU the other week.

I was accused of being something to do with Oak Academy or having some ulterior motive. (Maybe as I changed my MN name to post on this issue/have set up a twitter account to campaign on this - @ ~but I’ve been too busy to properly get started on this~ )

My only motive is to spark discussion to try to ensure schools have a robust plan for remote schooling as a contingency against future school closures.

Section 5 of the new Government Guidance sets out expectations for schools:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools

I’m aware it doesn’t solve the problems of lack of access to devices and WiFi but if pupils who did have this access worked from home it would mean those that didn’t could attend school.

My DS’s school did no online live lessons unlike other local state schools. All work was set on Show My Homework and after about a month there started to be some PowerPoints with voiceovers.

Feedback was sporadic.

Despite this new guidance there has been no mention from school about plans for future remote learning in the communications about Sept.

Some of the guidance:

Remote education support
Where a class, group or small number of pupils need to self-isolate, or there is a local lockdown requiring pupils to remain at home, we expect schools to have the capacity to offer immediate remote education.

Schools are expected to consider how to continue to improve the quality of their existing offer and have a strong contingency plan in place for remote education provision by the end of September.

This planning will be particularly important to support a scenario in which the logistical challenges of remote provision are greatest, for example where large numbers of pupils are required to remain at home.

In developing these contingency plans, we expect schools to:

use a curriculum sequence that allows access to high-quality online and offline resources and teaching videos, and that is linked to the school’s curriculum expectations

give access to high quality remote education resources

select the online tools that will be consistently used across the school in order to allow interaction, assessment and feedback, and make sure staff are trained in their use

provide printed resources, such as textbooks and workbooks, for pupils who do not have suitable online access

recognise that younger pupils and some pupils with SEND may not be able to access remote education without adult support, and so schools should work with families to deliver a broad and ambitious curriculum.

When teaching pupils remotely, we expect schools to:

set assignments so that pupils have meaningful and ambitious work each day in a number of different subjects

teach a planned and well-sequenced curriculum so that knowledge and skills are built incrementally, with a good level of clarity about what is intended to be taught and practised in each subject

provide frequent, clear explanations of new content, delivered by a teacher in the school or through high quality curriculum resources and/or videos

gauge how well pupils are progressing through the curriculum, using questions and other suitable tasks and set a clear expectation on how regularly teachers will check work

enable teachers to adjust the pace or difficulty of what is being taught in response to questions or assessments, including, where necessary, revising material or simplifying explanations to ensure pupils’ understanding

plan a programme that is of equivalent length to the core teaching pupils would receive in school, ideally including daily contact with teachers

If only my DS’s school had done the above this term.

Some local schools have.

I’m not keen to reopen the live lessons can of worms so setting that aside- it seems clear that many schools did not do the above.

I know that many teachers have pointed out that during the first lockdown there was no such guidance.

My DS’s school was all ‘don’t worry if they can’t do the online work set’ whilst other local school carried on with a full curriculum!

@RobustRemoteSchool do you know who does the remote teaching ? Because I'll be teaching in school. I have done both for the last 4 weeks and I am exhausted. We are going to be doing our best over the summer 'holiday' to make lessons for next topics but it's not easy. I have 13 different classes over 7 different years. Wish we had time to do everything properly 😟

RobustRemoteSchool

You were - at best - disingenuous on your last thread.

Are you a concerned parent or an organisation of parents?

@RobustRemoteSchool 'PowerPoints with voiceovers'.. otherwise known as prerecorded lessons

Or are you just going to use this as a further opportunity to complain about your DC’s experience and by extension teachers. We got trashed on your last thread.

recognise that younger pupils and some pupils with SEND may not be able to access remote education without adult support, and so schools should work with families to deliver a broad and ambitious curriculum.

This reads to me as prepare work for younger pupils that they can do with a parent. Setting remote learning for KS1 is very difficult. I accompanied all my set learning with videos or slides explaining the work as simply as possible but still most of them didn't do it. Most of them didn't even watch the videos. In areas where parents are not confident of their own academic ability it's very difficult to get engagement with home learning.

@mumsneedwine

This is why there needs to be a national conversation on this.

My personal opinion is that if online live lessons were used (and these were recorded for those that could not watch live) then the preparation would be the same as for the normal lessons that were going to be taught in school.

An alternative is prerecorded PowerPoint lessons.

Schools that have not trialled the technology are massively behind the curve.

I’d like to see schools learning from each other (just like healthcare professionals are doing).

Schools could think about 1 teacher giving the online lesson for the whole year group and the other teachers joining their own class in a section of Teams or Google Classrooms to answer the questions.

I’d like schools to be open about how many pupils & teachers are lacking the technology and to crowdfund from other parents & local businesses.

Communities have mobilised to pick up shipping for people, make masks & visors. Why no effort to gather old laptops & phones gathering dust in people’s homes?

Interesting, as research in Germany has shown the exact opposite in that children can be a brake on transmission:

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/13/german-study-covid-19-infection-rate-schools-saxony

RobustRemoteSchool

What is your skin in this game? What is your background and what expertise do you have?

It’s much easier to have conversations if everyone is transparent.

@RobustRemoteSchool when do we do this? We are teaching. I still have 3 days to go of doing a full day in school am coming home to do lessons for next day. Different schools teach different things, especially at KS4 and 5. Different exam boards. If the government paid for people to produce a computers syllabus of lessons then that would be amazing. But they have given NO funding.

@RobustRemoteSchool when do we do this? We are teaching. I still have 3 days to go of doing a full day in school am coming home to do lessons for next day. Different schools teach different things, especially at KS4 and 5. Different exam boards. If the government paid for people to produce a computers syllabus of lessons then that would be amazing. But they have given NO funding.

What a thread to compare yourself to young innocent men being sent to war is ridiculous. What a bunch of arseholes. If you dont want to do it you have a choice leave...those poor young men did not have that choice.

@SmileEachDay - I’m posting here as me - I’m a long-standing MNer which can be checked by anyone who asked MNHQ. I have some friends who agree with me!

Obviously if I was 100% happy with my DS’s lockdown learning I wouldn’t be worried and complaining about it.

I find it very strange that teachers on MN seem to be upset at individuals complaining about their DC’s education and some how taking it attacks on them personally!

I find it very strange that teachers on MN seem to be upset at individuals complaining about their DC’s education and some how taking it attacks on them personally!

Your last thread had some horrible attacks on teachers as a profession.

What’s your expertise? What do you know about running schools?

@SmileEachDay my ‘skin in the game’ is a DS in secondary.

I have nothing whatsoever to do with education.

I have a professional office job. I am wanting to preserve anonymity as I have been critical of DS’s school’s provision.

@RobustRemoteSchool you have every right to moan. I'm sure I would too if mine had not had any teaching at all. But lots of schools have done lots and we are tired of the constant 'man up' comments. I've been in school every day for 4 weeks. But 1800 being back in September is not the same. We are humans too and want to have some protection.
And I also want to protect your kids. DD has just got home after clearing up the pop of Covid patients. We are as careful as possible but I'd feel awful if a child got it from me.

Why are people spouting such stuff on here with such authority?

The virus is airborne = no it's not proven and is being looked into.

Valance predicted 20,000 = the government was going on Imperial's prediction of 500,000 deaths at lockdown.

There's no sign of a vaccine = sorry, what?

I'll be teaching my class Robust - I'll be setting work for those at home and expecting it to be done. When it's returned I will be marking it and providing feedback. What I won't be doing is live lessons and teaching my class full time. Nope.
The guidance will be interpreted by schools in different ways. Access to videos such as the ones on Oak Academy or White Rose will be adequate. My school won't be doing any live lessons. Our families don't want them and a lot of them can't access them. It'll be paper copies of the work set for many.