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

Scotland's infection rate is 5x lower than England's.

That's why people are less bothered there. The lower the infection, the more reasonable it is to open up without risk reduction measures.

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-scotland-england-cases-charts-latest-lockdown-strategy-a9622016.html

100% agree that making schools safe should be the number one priority.

@motherrunner. That's just not good enough is it? We've not been sent our school plans yet but I assume it will be along the same lines.

Not sure what the answer is but even if youngsters don't get so I'll on the whole, some do and so do teachers and parents.

Many single parents. Many parents who have DC with Sen that would not be able to fend for themselves if parents became incapacitated by covid.

The government need to pull their finger out big time.

My children's school has done a part time and full time timetable because they know how inadequate the government is.
I'm not keen on part time as my 4 and 5 year old will not do school work at home and the past 3 months of homeschooling has been hell.
And being a carer to 2 children with ASD with no break has been challenging.
But if it has to be part time then that's the way it has to be.

My daughter is going to be in a bubble of 260, say one child in her bubble tests positive for coronvirus, does that mean every child and every family in that bubble have to isolate for 14 day? Does that mean all parents can’t got to work for 14 days?

I already posted in a different thread,the answer to this is that if schools want to close that's fine, but their funding should be diverted to parents for:

• technology / broadband spending for online schooling so that every child has a computer

• homeschooling subsidy

• private tuition or schooling

• quality content provision from third party subject matter experts.

I have a dd due to go into yr 11 in sept ,she showed my a teams video from the head of year reminding them of uniform guideline but not about what they could possible expect in sept ,she has three terms left who cares if her skirt is a little tight /short, her shoes aren't really suitable ,im not wasting money on things she may not wear if they end up not going back

@oldbagface No it’s not but that’s the challenge most schools are facing. Lots of guidances’ but it came with some very specific ‘musts’, those ‘musts’ are to be fully open to all years, no lesson time must be reduced and no extra money will be given to facilitate any changes.

commentatorz I am not sure any school does want to shut.
If they have to continually isolate bubbles of 200+ the school won’t close.
The staff member will still need to be paid to self isolate.

Alex it requires 2 in the bubble to test positive within 14 days and presumably they don’t have to/possibly aren’t allowed to inform parents or teachers until there’s a second positive test so it will be given plenty of time to freely spread in a bubble before any closure.

I believe a child/teacher who has been a contact of a confirmed case has to isolate for 14 days. The members of their household do not have to unless they themselves develop symptoms or the child/teacher has a positive test. I could be wrong though it was written terribly in the guidance and they have a habit of back editing without telling us what they’ve changed. Bit like Cummings blog.

if schools want to close that's fine

Not sure of your point here, no school wants to close. Even if they have several confirmed cases of Covid, it's still not the schools decision on whether or not to close.

@Devlesko

I don't see why school can't just be online and those that want childcare can pay childminders. It's not rocket science. The childminders could assist with schoolwork.

Why don’t we just get rid of qualified teachers altogether - it’s clear you think anyone can teach

@motherrunner I really don't envy you. Pretty sure we will be deregistering DC. Not worth the risk given our family situation.

The PM is banging on about a second wave. I think the numbers will pick up with people bringing it back from abroad and not isolating.

Maybe the schools won't even open in September after all.

The point is that if schools are going to shut or run with reduced lessons (which is being discussed), a better plan is simply to bypass them and deliver quality learning direct to pupils via third parties, with funding and choice direct to parents.

And they will still be providing education for all and care for key workers and vulnerable children even if they do close. Schools don’t have spare funding to give to parents. We can barely cover the extra soap.

Reality of schools budgets is they’re gone already

Childminders could assist with schoolwork. Funny. So a childminder looking after an 8month baby, a 2 year old, a 5 year old, and say 3 children in different school years would be able to help them with school work? Some people say the silliest thing without a thought for the practicalities. Hold on. Is that Boris?

The point is that if schools are going to shut or run with reduced lessons (which is being discussed), a better plan is simply to bypass them and deliver quality learning direct to pupils via third parties, with funding and choice direct to parents.

If people can’t access education then yes directly fund the people who have to do the teaching.

@TheHoneyBadger I'm not talking about schools giving money to parents, I'm talking about shutting the schools down and diverting their funding to give directly to parents.

@TheHoneyBadger that's how I understand it too although once the second positive is confirmed it is still not the school's decision to close. This is when PHE gets involved and the school takes their lead from them.

They could make an amazing online learning platform but if I'm at work all day (teaching other kids) no one is at home to ensure my kids are actually doing it. I'm not looking forward to spending my evening ensuring home school is done.

I'm happy to be at work in a class 🤷‍♀️

Honestly I wish I could post photos of some classrooms in my school with holes in the ceiling and a bucket when it rains. There’s no funding to divert comment.

Sorry, but I’d be embarrassed as a teacher - schooled in modern learning theory of how to deliver learning in a flexible and diversified manner - to be complaining that they can’t adapt their teaching for blended delivery. There was a 4 month period to try different techniques.

I hope for so many reasons my kids get to go back, one of which was the very poor educational provision of their state secondary over lockdown

Tutors have already hiked up their prices. Online tuition is around £30 an hour (from local-ish qualified tutors). That's a lot of money if you have 2-3 kids.

Despite a slow start to online learning our primary school did an amazing job at reopening part time for all children (3 days over 2 weeks) to allow for some face to face teaching. Even this made such a huge difference to DDs mental health and her enthusiasm for learning. Online learning full time, based on endless PowerPoint slides with questions is a far from ideal model for long term learning, and even the offerings from BBC Bitesize/Oak Academy get very samey. If blended learning is the future then we need this supplemented by proper teacher led tuition (even if this is video conferencing). Agree with education being prioritised above everything else in September - pubs, holidays, etc, but doubt this will happen because schools do not make money, and the government seem to be of the view "out of sight, out of mind" as far as children are concerned.

Commentator
Oak Academy and funding direct to parents.

If we’re talking long term inaccessibility.