School return will fail

[covidteacherscotland]

Okay so we have been back to school for a week! Great? No. Definitely not. Some thoughts on why this will be a disaster:

16 and 17 year olds are not children.

Social distancing is impossible. Genuinely impossible. Children will not or cannot stay out your space.

There is no PPE in school at all and staff are not protected in any way.

Children don't give a shit about washing their hands.

We've been doing double periods instead of single to minimise movement. This means that we are stuck in a room with 30 17 year olds with few or no windows as the respiratory droplets add up.

Educating your child is impossible if you can't go near them.

Our time management and pupil progress relies on us being able to give feedback to children formatively as we teach. To mark jotters as we go. We can't do this now.

I think that because infection is so low we'll be okay for a while - a few weeks - then the shit will hit the fan.

There are rules about ventilation. Perhaps there is another through high ceilings and open plan - maybe there is air con (some schools have it!) But there needs to be some way of not breathing exactly the same air all year! Ask your sister to read the school's risk assessment or mitigations, looking for anything about air exchange. I'm a new eco build you would assume reasonable quality?

How are you/pupils going to the loo/washing your hands if no water is available?

People can drink water at home before and after school and at lunch. This particular point is just ridiculous.

I agree about PPE etc though

Nanny state alert 🚨

I agree OP.
We have been extremely careful as a family, not gone on holiday, only met a couple of friends outside at a distance.
Then my dds are expected to go back into school with no safety measures, in classes where the majority of pupils have been having parties.

I can't see a full scale shut down as there would be devastation and uproar but I don't think secondary schools are particularly viable and I can see a part time school week on the horizon.

Btw I really do hope I am wrong! I love my job despite the suggestion of many previous posters.

Thick bastard alert 🚨

Happy to backtrack on the water. Didn't mean to derail more important points. Genuinely not sure if that's a covid thing or a my school thing.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras

fascinated

Op said tap water isn't available because the water supply needs to be serviced

Yes, but we are all capable of filling a bottle at home and bringing it to school. Even low income parents. And every parent should be ensuring their kid drinks plenty of water at home anyway. From the tap. For free. Given that half the kids in my kids’ class refuse to drink plain water anyway I am a bit stumped about the fuss. And yes, full disclosure, I’m an eighties kid who managed full days if school including bus rides both ways without additional water from home.

The water issue is just drama addicted parents stirring.

@Mistressiggi

There are rules about ventilation. Perhaps there is another through high ceilings and open plan - maybe there is air con (some schools have it!) But there needs to be some way of not breathing exactly the same air all year! Ask your sister to read the school's risk assessment or mitigations, looking for anything about air exchange. I'm a new eco build you would assume reasonable quality?

There's definitely no air conditioning. This building was built pre Covid obviously so that wasn't a consideration when designing ventilation. Nowhere near equivalent to having all windows open.

@fascinated not really. Most sinks in my school have a big not drinking water sticker. I actually don't know where I'd find a sink that doesn't have one.

Children should have access to water imo. Not all parents can manage that and I'm not about to judge them. School is a safe space for many.

Can we stop going on about the water. I've admitted that might just be my school and I'm not sure it's corona related.

I think its ridiculous you can't ask for proof of a negative test. My partner is a supervisor in a factory and he is allowed to ask for proof (mainly because people were taking the piss and having extra days off saying they hadn't got the results yet...)

I'm not in Scotland but I do appreciate the concerns that pupil-facing staff are currently experiencing. Are you actually prevented from wearing PPE at a level that you feel safe with?

If you are, that is not something that you should have to deal with and I suggest you immediately discover at what level the decision that prohibits the amount of PPE that you can wear and you challenge that decision.

Even if PPE wasn't available to many highly vulnerable front-line key workers at the start (thinking of all those NMW/Zero Contract Care Workers, Cleaners, etc in the first instance) I'm sure it's available now to All Workers that want it.

If the School won't pay for it, I'm sure once the School Guvnors know about it, you'll be re-imbursed and apologized to. At least this would be the case in all the Schools i've Guvved on.

In England, individual Schools are emailing Parents with their first Outlines of Opening Provision.

It really needs to be down to each individual School, whilst I am aware that various tiers of guidance from different centralized sources are being given; the greatest untapped resource is each school's local community.

All those Parent Volunteers that usually turn up to Read with pupils, the PTA, your Parish/Ward Community Groups, etc - many of these will redeploy and carry out cleaning, SD organization etc.

To make sure that their Community's Children can get back to some sort of School.

Also, given the additional Central Govt Funding that was available to Schools up to the end of Summer 2020, including additional Hygeine and Cleaning Measures, it would seem preferable that all immediately affected ensured that this Aditional CV-19 Hygeine Funding was available for English School opening in Sept.

If your School/MAT didn't/doesn't apply for the available CV19 Hygeine Funding or pressure to make it available for Sept New Term, then that is not a failure of Govt, Parents, Society - nor the Student/Pupil Victims - is it?

Air con still needs an adequate supply of fresh air and ventilation. Centralised ventilation systems that move and circulate air to different rooms have to have the recirculation turned off and a fresh supply of air should be used.

Guess which ones we have in a number of schools?

OP, I’m on your side, in other respects. I’m pissed off at the other parents who are simultaneously managing to kick up a stir in local papers amd now it seems even nationally about bloody water, while totally ignoring SD guidelines & clear requests not to congregate in playgrounds during/ after drop off.

We are allowed to wear PPE but it is my understanding that masks only work if everyone wears them.

Not sure if there are better masks that are protective on their own but we certainly don't have access to them.

I'm sorry you are having such a rubbish time. It does all sound concerning and I do wonder how long schools will keep open. The water situation doesn't actually sound legal to me, certainly when our water has been unavailable ( I don't work in a school but still a public organisation) bottled water has been provided.

Btw I really do hope I am wrong! I love my job despite the suggestion of many previous posters

You don't though do you, you desperately want to be proved right. You are looking for faults everywhere, and the water thing is just your school.

Op said tap water isn't available because the water supply needs to be serviced

No governors in Scotland. I’ve sat on Parent Council, but felt it was chocolate teapot territory....

No drinking water is available at my school. All water fountains have been removed or sealed off. This is the case in all schools I personally know of. Too dangerous to use, too high a risk of cross contamination. Kids are going to have to go a few hours without water, that’s all. They can bring in a bottle for the morning, and then not drink in the afternoon. No, it’s not a good idea to bring in a bigger bottle for the whole day. Drinking water gets pretty manky pretty quickly once it’s touched saliva. If there is the odd child that really can’t cope, or if it is excessively hot, they will need to bring in two bottles and leave one sealed until the afternoon

@Pomegranatepompom

That all sounds very reasonable and achievable.

You're obviously not a member of Us for them Pompom OP you are venting but this thread will not go well for you. Go and have a gin or something and try to block it out till Sunday night

@HeresMe

Actually I just googled it because I wasn't sure. Lots of reports of lots of Scottish schools unable to fill the kids water bottles.

I do love my job. I just want to do it safely. I'm not picking holes and finding faults. They are quite literally in my face all day. Hard to ignore them.

@Clive222

No drinking water is available at my school. All water fountains have been removed or sealed off. This is the case in all schools I personally know of. Too dangerous to use, too high a risk of cross contamination. Kids are going to have to go a few hours without water, that’s all. They can bring in a bottle for the morning, and then not drink in the afternoon. No, it’s not a good idea to bring in a bigger bottle for the whole day. Drinking water gets pretty manky pretty quickly once it’s touched saliva. If there is the odd child that really can’t cope, or if it is excessively hot, they will need to bring in two bottles and leave one sealed until the afternoon

We are hoping once the water fountains have been serviced and deep cleaned they will be back in action. Never thought about cross contamination through actual use. Do you expect them to be out of action for the foreseeable?

Some people are honestly just desperate for this all to kick off again. It keeps them cool at night, given it's so hot.

We'll see what happens. Mine take enough water for the day in with them and take their lunch and snacks.