Small Bubbles of Secondary Children

[Izzidigne]

The plan at the moment is to put Secondary children in year group bubbles so approximately 200 pupils bubbled together. If one gets ill, all the whole year group have to self isolate.
Why can't they teach in form groups of 30 instead. Where there are timetabled option subjects, teachers could supervise the work set (like prep in boarding schools). This would limit the spread significantly more. And abandon option subjects for the coming year 9s for the moment and begin GCSE subjects in form groups with increased differentiation.

Teachers supervising would mean that children weren’t being taught their options, also most secondary schools teach in ability sets according to subject

It would be hellish. Are you suggesting that (as a History teacher) I just sit babysitting my Y11 form all day whilst their other teachers set them cover work? Because they are basically getting no teaching at all then. They might as well be at home.

OP, I don't understand what you mean about how teachers could "supervise the work set" for options subjects. Do you mean that the 30 kids in the room would be studying several different subjects and one teacher would have to help them all with any queries?

My daughter's school will be keeping the kids (well Y7&8) in one classroom for most subjects, with teachers coming to them. They are already set for all subjects so will spend the majority of their time with the same 25-30 kids. They will be able to mix at breaktimes but the number of close contacts they have will be minimal. Y7&8 will also be using the canteen at one break and Y9-11 at the other to help reduce mixing. It seems like a sensible solution to me.

Obviously it isn't so easy for Y9-11 due to options but they do seem to be doing their best to keep contacts to a minimum

If one gets ill, all the whole year group have to self isolate.

This isn't the case at all.

Any members of staff who have helped someone with symptoms and any pupils who have been in close contact with them do not need to go home to self-isolate unless they develop symptoms themselves

Even is the ill pupil tests positive for coronavirus then it's only a small number of other students / staff who have to isolate.

direct close contacts - face to face contact with an infected individual for any length of time, within 1 metre, including being coughed on, a face to face conversation, or unprotected physical contact (skin-to-skin)

proximity contacts - extended close contact (within 1 to 2 metres for more than 15 minutes) with an infected individual

travelling in a small vehicle, like a car, with an infected person

Are you mad?

They might as well be at home as have "prep" with no teacher contact time.

God @Ickabod if that's how they run it, the rate of infection will be huge.

I think actually the people who would have the best ideas are secondary school teachers .

Yes there would be non specialists supervising lessons set by other teachers but pupils would get more work done in a school environment than at home. The number of staff infected could be reduced by limiting the teachers exposed to an infected child. It is a reasonable compromise, should allow parents to continue to work whilst children have more consistent time in a school environment and keeps the economy going whilst reducing chances of the R rate getting out of hand.
Starlightstar I don't think teachers have had much input, I suspect the D of E guided by Ofsted and their cronies have cooked up the current plan.

It’s not a reasonable compromise, because the students wouldn’t be receiving any actual teaching. Teachers do more than just set work and answer a few questions. It definitely wouldn’t be worth the risk if kids are left with the same level of education they could get while staying at home.

The pupils in next years 10 and 11 aren't going to get an equitable education at this rate. How fair are exams going to be for those year groups? In some areas of the country Preston, Manchester, Blackburn, Leicester, if rates remain high, pupils may get less schooling than other areas if their bubbles of 200 keep having to self isolate.

We have 8 forms per year, and 10 sets. So one form will feasibly have students from
5 sets studying 2 different texts at 9 different levels of ability. Our year 11 team has only one teacher of my subject in it.
If we're all at home, I'm teaching my students (albeit online) and dealing with their issues in an appropriately differentiated way. If we're all in school, in our pretend bubbles, ditto. If they're being supervised by a teacher of something other than my subject, they're getting my work but not my support, advice, input or expertise.
It "solves" the bubble problem but does not solve the education one. I am the expert. I am not, on the other hand, a Physicist or musician - and my y13 form would not thank me for trying to be.

Unfortunately the education problem is not solved by the current plan either. We are currently getting outbreaks in workplaces. These are adults who generally work in fairly small bubbles of people and are not as gregarious as teenagers. Teenagers are likely to think coughing on someone as you pass them in the corridor is hilarious. I suspect there will be frequent outbreaks, large numbers of children sent home and parents struggling to deal with demands of work alongside the needs of young adults that can't easily be left alone at home all day.

I don't know what you mean by "supervise the work set"
Teachers don't just set work at the start of the lesson and then answer any questions on it. Teachers introduce and explain new concepts. Kids don't just get handed a worksheet of maths questions each lesson and then helped if they get stuck.

My daughter's school will be keeping the kids (well Y7&8) in one classroom for most subjects, with teachers coming to them. They are already set for all subjects so will spend the majority of their time with the same 25-30 kids.
This is what my mum's school (she's a teacher) is doing for years 7-9.
They will rotate round each half term so different classes get time in science classrooms so they all get some time during the year to do practical work. For PE, kids will wear their kit all day if they have PE that day so they don't need to use the changing rooms (don't know how well this will work once they start doing rugby in winter and get covered in mud, but maybe PE teachers will be told to avoid that).
The problem they absolutely can't solve is buses - they can separate the kids all they like at school (and obviously that will help) but then they all mix and get on different buses each morning and afternoon.

Frazzled13 funny you should talk about buses, just seen on the news that there putting more money in for transport to local authorities for schools.
In the secondary school my children goes to its all done by year groups in certain corridors,one way systems.
They will all have lanyards with times for lunch and will only be permitted at those times.
PE kit wore on PE days all day, no after school clubs this term and will review.

This won't work, but all along I have said secondary school without social distancing is inappropriate in England.

There's no easy solution to this issue, but no social distancing is the wrong decision as we head into a potentially bad winter with a malfunctioning track & trace system and rising cases.

I would put teachers, public health and epidemiologists in a room together and see what they suggested. Politicians have shown they are not good at pandemic response.

Sorry by 'this won't work' I meant the OPs suggestion.

Interestingly, a very expensive local private school more of less did this when classess were able to return. They decided they wanted the at home and in school offerring to be the same, so the children in school were sat with laptops 2m from each other doing online lessons supervised by a TA. I was very surprised. It sorted out the childcare issue and the motivation issue but not the actual teaching side. It couldnt work at my sons secondary as theres not enough laptops and the classess are bigger so i think behaviour management is harder and harder to be 2m.

This isn't a schooling solution.

It's a 'how to deliver remote learning, albeit in a classroom' solution.

If pupils are not actually going to be taught, I would prefer them not to gather.

I do get your point that allowing them to work in school (rather than at home) means that more will put the hours in, and remote tech is not the issue.

But it would not be school reopening in any meaningful way. Just a venue for completing work that has been set

Because teaching isn’t supervising. They might as well stay at home and be sent the work. What if a child doesn’t understand the work And needs help? What if it is a practical lesson?

@Izzidigne there absolutely will be outbreaks. But teachers can only do what heads tell them who can only do what the DfE tells them: full time on site education for all. No rotation. No additional funding for spending on extra space or staff. It's a mess.
The best option would be rotas because we'd have more space and more control - but we're not allowed to do it.

@Porcupineinwaiting

God *@Ickabod* if that's how they run it, the rate of infection will be huge.

Indeed. I also feel that many parents / carers have no idea what will actually happen. Like OP they think once there's a positive case then the bubble closes. This just isn't the case.

The plan at the moment is to put Secondary children in year group bubbles so approximately 200 pupils bubbled together. If one gets ill, all the whole year group have to self isolate
That’s not the case.

*Why can't they teach in form groups of 30 instead. Where there are timetabled option subjects, teachers could supervise the work set (like prep in boarding schools)
Teach in form groups? How? Who is teaching them? My tutor group are across the range of top set to students who really struggle in core subjects. How would options teacher set work of value that was “supervised” by a non specialist, particularly as lots of options are practical - PE, Art, Food Tech etc...

This would limit the spread significantly more
How? What do you propose for getting to school/breaktime/lunchtime?

And abandon option subjects for the coming year 9s for the moment and begin GCSE subjects in form groups with increased differentiation

What does this even mean?

Do you perhaps not work in a school?

DC's school is teaching KS3 in class groups.

They have reorganised KS4 and KS5 to keep children with the same other children as much as possible (some option subjects only have one class; clearly there is no way of reorganising it).

Aside from there being no point just to have DC in a room with random staff supervision as opposed to actual teaching - what are the DC actually supposed to do during this time? Most of their remote learning (which is what this essentially will be) requires them to look at pre-prepared teaching materials online - that means every child needs to have their own device. Unless you're at a school that already requires this, schools simply won't have enough devices to go round. As others have said, this would actually leave them with worse support than entirely remote learning.

DC's school has used the "get random staff member to supervise class doing pre-planned work" model to cover staff absence for quite some time. Most of the students get not a lot of work done in these sessions.