School re-opening under threat

[jomartin281271]

Headline in the London Evening Standard today that this new surge could threaten re-opening of schools. I'm not surprised. The government know that it's not safe to open schools under their current guidance. Cramming children, teachers and admin staff into those tiny spaces could cause a catastrophe. I feel sorry for teachers. Most of them are really committed to the job and their lives are being put at risk. Scary times.
www.standard.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-second-wave-schools-september-a4511516.html

No extra money. Although I think the extra space is a bit of a mis-direction for most schools. In my town I can see that had there been unlimited money and unlimited staffing, schools would have had to compete over gaining access to church halls, community centres etc. so that ultimately, some schools would have managed to find space and others wouldn't. And parents would have been complaining about accessing the new space, facilities etc. on top of that. I don't think it could have worked even with the will to make it work.

But I do think that rotas, blended learning, money for deep cleaning, possibly extended days to allow for genuine spacing of people coming and going would have worked. Half the class in, half the class out. Teach them one week, send them home with work to do to consolidate the next and mix with a flipped learning approach for coming back in the next week..... I don't know, I think this could have worked. But it doesn't overcome the technology issue for huge numbers of students and it doesn't solve the issue of primary schools also being childcare (which I accept is necessary to see it as such). But we could have planned for it and made it work rather than the situation we have now which is 'normal' except it's not 'normal' and lord only knows how the poor exam years are going to struggle with this.

A lot of us on this thread seem to be in agreement that for secondary schools, part time blended learning would be a more realistic and safer option. Anyone got any ideas how we can get our ideas heard? Us for Them are very powerful, yet Ipsos Mori poll reported yesterday, said that less than half, 48 per cent of parents were comfortable about schools returning in September. I also suspect a lot of these people haven't read the guidance or aren't making the distinction between primary and secondary. The people who shout loudest aren't necessarily representative of parental views.

P.s schools also aren’t going to be given the money to give the (for me) 2.75% payrise the government have announced as if they’re paying for it.

This is crazy

You are definitely right that parents would complain about accessing a different space enough. Last week, a complaint on here was having to walk 300 yards further for a drop off.

@TheHoneyBadger

We leave the chemists in the staffroom to bond. It’s going to take a hell of a lot of energy to get them to socially distance.

Very good but you must make periodic efforts to enforce social distancing surely?

The payrise is an interesting one, isn't it? Announced with a fanfare but without the footnote 'oh and we won't actually give schools any additional funding'. So a 3% or thereabouts uplift on salaries comes from the school budget - a budget that has been reduced and reduced in real terms for the last 10 years. To give teachers the payrise, we will simply see support staff being made redundant. Again.

@walksen

"You get tested and on a negative test (and when you are well) you can return to a school before 10 days"

Yes but I was talking about people with temperatures or long lasting coughs.

If I get a negative test and have a temperature or still have a cough ( say because of a throat infection) I can't go back in can i? Last year myself and others staff members just took paracetamol to school. School staff being under the weather and being in school medicating themselves. To get through the day is very common. Next term if you are under the weather with a temp or cough you'll be sent home.

The guidance seems to say that you’d be ok to go back to school if you ONLY had a cough as they can linger for weeks, but if you had a temperature-you should stay off.

The other benefit of live or recorded lessons are the kids who get stuck or those who want to go back over it for revision just replay. I know it sounds an oversimplification and I’m sure there’s a myriad of problems but I honestly think it’s an idea that could be worked on, at least for some subjects/topics.

Human nature is resistant to change but change we must for the foreseeable future. Generations to come will look back and credit the Pandemic for huge shifts forward in many areas of society, although there’ll be a painful bit getting there.

@MarshaBradyo

P.s schools also aren’t going to be given the money to give the (for me) 2.75% payrise the government have announced as if they’re paying for it.

This is crazy

Yes it is. No extra money to cope with covid and being told they should simultaneously give pay rises out of their own non existent budgets.

The timing of the announcement (pay rises were agreed upon in January) was deliberate ammunition to help direct more angst and blame at teachers rather than asking wtf the government is doing refusing covid funding to schools and giving out bogof vouchers to adults instead.

@MarshaBradyo

let us wear masks, give us money for additional cleaning, hand sanitizier and soap

Back to that wasted money. Yes it should be for this. Trouble is what can you do except write to your MP

I could write to my MP. His reply, as ever, will be exactly what the government want him to say. I've emailed him over the years about 4-5 different matters and he has always just regurgitated the party line, when I mentioned the death of my mother due to covid as part of an email about schools and lockdown he just sent a standard reply that he sent to all (he explained this in the first sentence) and didn't even add condolences.

School funding really annoys me. We are constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul. I know some schools are on a rolling deficit. I really wished parents had woken up to the reality of school budgets years ago when SEND funding was changed and the Arts were slashed.

I agree Marsha, it's nowhere near as good, especially for weeks on end. However a week on , week off in secondary would be different I think. Regular time with teachers in school to motivate and prepare would change what we could do with screen learning. I agree it's not ideal, but it's massively better than what we've had, and might limit closures.

By the way, teaching is already a relatively risky profession. We already run a higher risk of occupational injury than most similar professions, and are more prone to community spread illness than jobs mentioned such as people who work in nuclear plants, fire fighters, and the police. The key with teachers is we know exactly how much viruses and other infections spread already in our workplace!

We are constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Depressingly true.

This is a deeply cynical government who know exactly how to play people off against each other to distract them from the reality that they have massive shared interests that are being destroyed. If parents and teachers were on the same side they would be forced to fund education and bring it into the 21st century.

Human nature is resistant to change but change we must for the foreseeable future. Generations to come will look back and credit the Pandemic for huge shifts forward in many areas of society, although there’ll be a painful bit getting there.

I agree on many fronts that change will be accelerated and it will be positive in the end. I just don’t see replacing in class with screen as positive in the end.

I did it for a while term sitting next to my yr5 so we did it together (beside noisy toddler) so I use what’s best at the time. And was so relieved to have Oak as worksheets lacked entirely. But to move to permanent increase in screen too depressing.

School is engagement, peers, talking, active all the good things. Btw I know some dc will prosper out of school for a variety of reasons - maybe the positive part can be that this is highlighted for those children and built on.

One more point. There’s no clarity from the Government over what their criteria are.

For example Germany has a clear lockdown policy: more than 50 new cases per 100,000 people in a week in an area and specific, pre-defined measures are introduced. People can then monitor their area.

We all need to know when schools will be closed and we need easy accessible data on local cases. Parents/staff can then make informed decisions.

I think the confusion is purposeful surely the Government cannot be so thick.

@TheHoneyBadger

This is a deeply cynical government who know exactly how to play people off against each other to distract them from the reality that they have massive shared interests that are being destroyed. If parents and teachers were on the same side they would be forced to fund education and bring it into the 21st century.

Never a truer word spoken. United we could be a force to change. The demonising of teachers as being the obstacles in the way of our children's education is so dangerous.

This is a deeply cynical government who know exactly how to play people off against each other

Yes, blaming the teaching unions for their own incompetence was blatant disinformation but lapped up on here (and in real life, god the conversations with my parents...)

And labelling the pre-agreed pay rise as a ‘reward for teachers for their work in lockdown’ knowing that they had already stirred up hatred of teachers during lockdown was a truly unpleasant and calculated move.

@cantkeepawayforever

Good move, I except physics teachers can make the most use of the space. Now, where do you keep all those pesky chemistry teachers?

Amongst the chemicals, under T for Teachers of course. Doesn't everyone?

Shouldn't they be in the kitchen concocting some deserts? :)

Thank you guys for this sub-thread, it made my day!!!!

I think we have to try primary in full time. Keeping their bubbles as small as possible, using TAs where they can, and yes, trying to draft in former teachers, even a few, using outdoors, the hall etc.
Secondary is different due to so many factors. Government should give us money to spend as the school sees fit for their catchment, with more to deprived areas - technology, cleaning, supply.

Is more technology even the answer? I’d like to see numbers on screen time in deprived areas, well all areas, but since people are saying some children don’t have enough tech

We all need to know when schools will be closed and we need easy accessible data on local cases. Parents/staff can then make informed decisions

Whilst a decision on the numbers that might lock down a community would be helpful, schools will vary according to the numbers ill amongst staff at any given time. It may actually vary day to day. So if a child in a senior school has been wandering about asympomatically for a few days, several teachers may have to be off whilst they get tested which may mean a year group or more is closed. If all those teachers come up positive, it could be weeks before the year group is reopened or the school might change the year group off from day to day. If none of the teachers come up positive, group is reopened the next day but has to close again in 3 days time when someone else goes down with it. It isn't as simple as 'schools will close when X happens'.

Well said @TheHoneyBadger.

This is such a huge problem. It impacts not just on the teaching staff and pupils, not just on their families, but on the whole of society. The way things are looking, in any one school there will be children having to return home and isolate while waiting for test results, an outbreak happening in a bubble (which could well spread widely before anyone gets symptoms), shutting down year groups, or entire schools - and then parents' work may be affected because they need to look after the children/collect them at later times, etc.

That's all without factoring in the actual impacts of any illness on people's current and future health, and the impacts of grief too.

It seems insane to be going into this with so few resources provided for state schools. As with everything else, I suppose if they just leave schools to cope however they can, then if there are outbreaks the government can blame the schools, rather than taking any kind of responsibility for investing in more equipment/internet access/safer empty public spaces for schools to utilise as annexes.
It's almost like they don't really care.

I will be there in September. I’ve bought one of those granny like shopping bags on wheels to lug all my stuff between zones and a good thermos.

Now I’m going to look to buy a cheap lightweight visualiser because I cannot carry crates of textbooks as well unless I learn to balance them on my head.

I draw the line at a catheter and bag system though.