What will schools do when kids get the inevitable temperatures over winter?

[toastmeahotcrossbun]

Won't they be having to close down every 5 minutes? So many will get temperatures over autumn/winter as they always do. Or will the schools just rely on people getting kids tested ASAP and then close for 2 weeks if someone tests positive? I'm struggling to see how it will work in practice

[quote CarrieBlue]@BKCRMP Schools absolutely will shut down - once staff are ill or isolating there will be no other option. It happened before lockdown when there were too few staff available. I did not say a countrywide shutdown but there will be schools closed, despite what Them4Us reckon.[/quote]
This.

The week before lockdown we had to close for certain year groups from the Weds-Fri as there were so staff isolating. As another poster commented, supply was scarce. We couldn’t physically keep the school opened safely.

Parents don’t need to worry about pupils closing the bubbles, the concern is us staff members who will have to isolate when we have symptoms. We catch lots of bugs but schools don’t close as teachers soldier on. We won’t be able to do this so continuity of educational provision will be patchy from October when the usual winter bugs hit. However I’m sure they’ll be yet more guidance out though when it comes to that - hazmat suits maybe?

If children don't transmit Covid how come it was all the school trips skiing in Italy that escalated our outbreak to begin with?

@BKCRMP

Is that you, Boris?

I don't agree with us for them, and they don't speak for my children.
Nor my children!

[quote labyrinthloafer]@BelleSausage
Struggling to remember now why parents were so against investing in good online learning tools and going with part time schooling.

This is what I wanted all along! Because of the ridiculousness of what is happening am thinking the fine looks a good option.[/quote]
Because it makes the life of working parents very difficult. The government wants schools back full time because that way their parents can go back to work

@bellesausage I don't agree with it but it's quite obvious staff will just be told to come in regardless. Schools will be under pressure from above and this will get fed down to the staff. It will be similar to medics who don't quite have the same isolation guidelines as the general public

And schools won’t close. But if there is a suspected case then a bubble will be sent home until tests come back.

We’re not returning with bubbles in Scotland. Schools struggled pre-Shutdown with staff and pupils not being in. I can see it happening again.

My child's primary school have said they are not allowed in school with a cold and/ or runny nose..and they will be sent home with cold symptoms..

@bumblingbovine49

Really? This plan, which will cause sudden lose of childcare for up to two weeks and rolling school closures all winter is going to help working parents?

Pull the other one!

Part-time with mandatory online provision would at least help keep infection low AND have the benefit of students already receiving online lessons so it is not the end of the world if school has to close for two weeks.

If anybody from Us for Them is reading this, here is my summation of what they’ve achieved: you’ve screwed us all over. Well done! Just because you couldn’t envisage a different system working.

[quote BKCRMP]@bellesausage I don't agree with it but it's quite obvious staff will just be told to come in regardless. Schools will be under pressure from above and this will get fed down to the staff. It will be similar to medics who don't quite have the same isolation guidelines as the general public[/quote]
That would be very short sighted. My head would rather close the class than risk having staff with symptoms coming in.

My SLT are v concerned about the previously shielding members of staff who we have coming back and want to make things as safe as possible for them. If Heads tell teachers they have to come in even with symptoms and one of them gets ill and dies, they’d never forgive themselves.

@bumblingbovine49

In my opinion this approach is likely to result in greater transmission of both covid and other viruses, so I am dreading the next term and think it will potentially really affect my ability to work.

I believe greater distancing and more reliable schooling, even if for a reduced number of hours, would have been better for tackling covid and supporting parents in their work.

@motherrunner I love that meme- it is painfully true!

I don't understand how your school has managed to get an approved Risk assessment done (approved by LA and/or Unions) if they haven't allowed extra time for handwashing for students and staff?? I am quite shocked by that. That is literally something ALL schools can do, cost free. As a parent and also as a staff member I would be very unhappy with that. Do you have a union rep in your school?

[quote BKCRMP]@CarrieBlue schools won't be allowed to allow all their staff off isolating. March was different as it was new and a very last minute thing. It won't be allowed to be repeated come September.[/quote]
How can schools not allow staff to isolate when it is within the government guidance that staff must isolate

A number of posters were flamed a few weeks ago, for saying that schools needed robust plans to switch to online or other support for home learning, because the number who will be popping in and out of 14 day contact isolation will be high. It was an unrealistic new burden.

It's good to see on this thread that not all teachers hold those views. Or not any more

I'm worried most about this years yrs10-13 - so much is taught in the long autumn terms, and it does look as if there is considerable potential for disruption

What's going to happen if you're a single parent? Child stays at home for 7 days but you have to stay at home for 14 days. How do you get your child to school?

What's going to happen about recently deshielded pupils?

Will they have to go home as a precaution, even if the threshold is not met for sending everyone home?

@meditrina

The issue is that it is unrealistic to expect good online provision AND full time face to face. Especially if it is individual kids who are at home out of a year group.

I’m spending this Summer making part of our units accessible from home- videos, talking Power Points etc. But not all schools have the tech.

What the government did with this plan was absolve itself of any responsibility for what happens to student progress or health. If they’d mandated online provision for all they would have had to invest to make it happen. They won’t do it and it’s too late now for schools that don’t already have the training and tech to be Sept ready.

Another way to ‘Us for Themselves screwed us all.

@RubieRose

Both my children have asthma and I've been told they can't be in school if they're coughing.

I understand the logic, but it doesn't really seem fair and will be a nightmare needing to pick them up/ keep them off when DH and I are at work.

My workplace has already said anyone with a cough is going to be sent home.

@labyrinthloafer - I suppose we could all go on a road trip to Barnard Castle instead?!

Teachers will get sick, there won’t be either willing supply teachers or money to pay them so schools will close. It happens every winter with norovirus/flu, it’ll happen with this.

@Bluepolkadots42 I contacted my union rep when the plans were announced for consultation. She said she would raise them with the head. Last day of term the plans were made final after discussion with unions and governors. I then contacted national office and they said as my school is an academy they are in control of working practices.

Pupils will still have their breaks so hopefully they will adhere to hygiene practices it’s just us staff. We will be going from 8-12.40 without a break. I will be bulk buying sanitiser!

Interesting that this thread has more posters seeing the potential issues than posters saying schools should just put up and shut up.

@Wrybread

What's going to happen if you're a single parent? Child stays at home for 7 days but you have to stay at home for 14 days. How do you get your child to school?

Should have got them into boarding school of course!

The trouble is the government haven't got a clue about how lives actually work.

I'm going to be sending my kids in every available opportunity - they have missed too much and lost out on so much and I'm personally happy with the risk levels and way the school are managing it in September (largely - there are niggles I think they could have listened to parents a bit more on)

I've also made sure we've got DH's boss aware of the situation and happy for him to continue working from home as long as schools are fucked up - and I've got as many arrangements as possible in place with my university department who are trying to support the parent students - but it's going to be shit, and I'm just lining up my dose of anti-depressants now because I KNOW it's going to be shit.

I may have only half jokingly threatened to chain myself to the school fence if they don't open in September - to which the governor I was joking to commented "make sure you chain yourself to the right side or you'll be stuck with year 6"

I'm glad people on the whole are now seeing that teachers and unions were justified when expressing concerns about fully opening in the Autumn term. Secondary schools will be tricky given the size of these bubbles and still no update on the wearing of masks. Current guidance says they are not necessary which goes against the current scientific evidence re indoor transmission. Another thing to consider is schools must ensure a flow of ventilation so prepare your kids to be wearing lots of layers as they sit in classrooms with the windows open all day. The government was clever in saying schools would be open for all students full time and they will be but of course it's possible that half the school could be off isolating. No one knows what the transmission will be like but given what we know about the virus, large numbers of students inside for 6 hours a day hmm..

personally happy with the risk levels and way the school are managing it in September

That’s the issue. You are taking virtually no risks. You are demanding staff take it for you.

You haven’t actually considered the knock on effect of your demands on the rest of the school community.