If You Could Choose Any Education Option for Sept

[IDSNeighbour]

I'm getting so confused by what parents actually want to happen with schools right now (I'm not a parent, I'm a teacher). I want to know what home opinions my classes are going to be coming in from in Sept - whether they're likely to be nervous or confident, whether they will want to SD or not, etc.

I know parents aren't one hive mind but the 'loudest voice' seems to keep changing its mind. Or I hear different ones, idk.

I'm sure there used to be a board for polls and surveys but, if I wasn't imagining, I can't find it.

So, if you're up for an unscientific straw poll to help me gauge general feeling, can you post A, B, C, D or E in the thread (you can explain if you like, I don't mind!)
A - I want full time schooling as close to the old normal as is allowed
B - I want full time schooling but with safety measures such as social distancing and masks for all who can and are old enough.
C - I want blended learning (half in the classroom and half online)
D - I want to keep my child at home all the time, home school them and not be penalised (ie, I want my place back when I think it's safe)
E - I think schools should remain closed for most children for now.

@lifeafter50

There should be no isolation. Unless someone has symptoms they should be at work or at school. And symptoms that prevent them from working not minor symptoms, or people would be off all the time.

That is ridiculous! I you have symptoms you should isolate and get a test.

If it means doing so multiple times then so be it.

How can you advocate option A and then say crap like that which would get schools shutting all over the place?

A.
I have 2 secondary amd 1 primary child, O don't feel coronavirus poses a threat to them at all, but they are at significant threat of mental harm from a lack of normal school socialisation and proper education. I am strongly against masks, they do not work to prevent a virus, but they do harbour bacteria, and are also psychologically damaging, heighten anxiety, hinder socialisation and learning, and are a safeguarding concern.

There was a report in South Korea that showed children transmit the virus.

@lifeafter50 so teachers should go against Government rules in respect of isolation and come to school if they test positive as long as they are not at death's door or do you apply that to everybody else in the country too. What about vulnerable pupils, adults who were shielding only a few weeks ago, you think they should be exposed to people who knowingly have COVID. Do you apply this to other illnesses like norovirus?

B but I think masks should be at the teachers discretion. If the teacher wants the class to wear them because they have concerns about their own health then their classes should wear them, if teachers would prefer the class not to wear masks then that's their choice.

@lifeafter50

There should be no isolation. Unless someone has symptoms they should be at work or at school. And symptoms that prevent them from working not minor symptoms, or people would be off all the time.

That sounds like a sure fire way to let the virus run unchecked across the country!

As of 16:35

A - 99
A/B - 17
B - 17
B/C - 23
C - 55
C/D - 6
D - 16
D/E - 1
E - 2

A/C - 1
A/D - 1
B/C/D - 1

OP I found the survey very interesting but if you know very little about your sample (e.g. who uses mumsnet and votes in polls etc... what are their political allegiances...maybe you should have paired it with a question re favourite newspaper etc) then it’s very hard to infer much from it

True. But I'm not a decision maker (I'm only middle management in my school so not even making many decisions in that one school). I was just interested to see what the children in my classes might be thinking and feeling when they return.

Everything has been opened gradually here. In Israel, lots of things were opened all at once. We have to keep taking steps back towards a normal way of living. The only alternative is to stay locked down indefinitely - there may not be an effective vaccine for years, or indeed ever. My personal opinion is that schools (a controlled environment where everyone can easily be traced) should have opened before pubs.

As ok, if the poll has been taken over by a lobby group I'll stop counting.

It's become more of a discussion thread by now anyway.

But thank you - really interesting and so difficult to see that, whatever happens, around half of parents are probably going to be uncomfortable and/or upset.

I think my personal conclusion is that we should have done what they did in the US and got parents to sign up weeks ago to either in school learning (with a warning it could go remote) or full time distance learning organised outwith individual schools. Then teachers who were worried could have staffed that online programme maybe and all parents could have been free to make an informed choice that works for them.

@Cambridgechick

Everything has been opened gradually here. In Israel, lots of things were opened all at once. We have to keep taking steps back towards a normal way of living. The only alternative is to stay locked down indefinitely - there may not be an effective vaccine for years, or indeed ever. My personal opinion is that schools (a controlled environment where everyone can easily be traced) should have opened before pubs.

Well I agree with you about schools opening before pubs but hey ho that was never going to happen!

I'm pleasantly surprised how relatively unpopular B is

C obviously can't be a valid option. We've proved that beyond doubt this year!

So looks like the winner is a resounding A

Has to be D.

When you have posters voting A who believe teachers should come into school even if they have COVID, A might not be such a resounding winner for very long!

askmeknow So looks like the winner is a resounding A

Enough to restore your faith in humanity :)

This has been interesting read. I am in agreement with the posters earlier in the thread about the quality of remote learning provision probably having a significant influence on people like me who would choose A, but if acceptable home learning in place, would also tolerate C.

If we had received high quality online provision with video lessons and some live teaching (even just a small amount), I would have been happy for that to continue for a while, but we and many others didn't. Therefore the only acceptable option for us would be A/B.

If it ends up being C, I hope that there are national quality standards and minimum expectations for the online provision, including inspections etc., because this gap between the good and poor performing schools in this respect cannot continue. Remote provision at a school that isn't good at it, is essentially no education, and that simply can't be accepted beyond the 6 months we've already had.

B.

Absolutely. I wrote several times. I was told that live lessons weren’t possible because many staff have children at home so they can’t work at the same time as looking after their own children. It would be stressful and their mental health might be impacted. I work full time with 3 children - I did enquire whether the head was considering the mental health of parents like me who were trying to juggle jobs and teach at the same time. I was also told that as the maths lessons hadn’t worked well, they decided not to bother trying live lessons in other subjects.

I wrote a letter to the governors- the clerk is a member of staff and my letter was not passed on to the governors. Fortunately, I had sent a separate copy to one of the parent governors and he raised my concerns at the next meeting, to the embarrassment of the head.

The school also tried to avoid having year 10s and 12s into school, claiming that ‘face to face’ contact could be provided via Zoom. I challenged this and the head reversed his decision- I imagine lots of other parents objected, but I don’t know.

A with new hygiene rules for children and reasonable social distancing for teachers who want it and where it is possible to facilitate it - so probably not always but as much as is possible in the circumstances - but no social distancing for children or masks); and D should be an option if people want to (without deregistering).
I would rather D than B if social distancing and masks applied to children, of any age.

B for primary, C for secondary

A

A

@askmehowiknow

I'm pleasantly surprised how relatively unpopular B is

C obviously can't be a valid option. We've proved that beyond doubt this year!

So looks like the winner is a resounding A

Errr... if you add all the others up A is not the winner. Ah statistics eh!

A without a doubt

Although I think parents should be absolutely held to account for trying to send sick kids in

@BKCRMP

Although I think parents should be absolutely held to account for trying to send sick kids in

Yup. We can only hope.

I would like a combination of B and D. My dc has been shielding and I would like to be able to have the choice to continue at home without losing school places. However, for those who are not shielders and don't have vulnerable family members, returning to school with as many safety measures as possible seems sensible.