Safe to reopen schools

[askmehowiknow]

Article from oxford professor summarising new data that it's safe for children to be in school. Great pre September reading!

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/18/children-covid-19-english-schools-virus-safe-reopening

guess the fact there's no evidence that they will transmit it is reassuring

My teen was the first in our family to get Covid. We all but one developed symptoms after her. So I conclude she transmitted it to her family.

It’s the penny slowly dropping that the government doesn’t have a Plan B and if schools don’t open and stay open basically it’s going to be shit, isn’t it?

And yet the unions are being painted as militant and unreasonable by the media for asking for a plan B.

if schools don’t open and stay open basically it’s going to be shit, isn’t it?

Yep, everyone I've spoken to this summer holidays about it has responded to my 'hokey cokey' explanation with "Oh..."

I genuinely don't know what people were expecting.

Yes I'd definitely need time, it's a different way of working. That's why I think what I wrote should have been the plan.

[quote Iamnotthe1]@Hearhoovesthinkzebras
You are completely correct. It's unrealistic and the workload implications are huge. But it's what is now expected by the Department for Education.

Actually, it's expected even if you don't have the bubble closed. Having a few children who are having to isolate would mean you'd be expected to provide both in-school and remote learning opportunities.[/quote]
Is this true? Can you point me to the part of the guidelines that specifies this, please? I'm not being sarcastic, I'm an assistant head of department with a head who is very much "We're prepping for schools being open full time and nothing else." We have not got any plan B in place. We have done lots and lots of revamping of a "business as usual" scheme of work.

@Nellodee

www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#section-5-contingency-planning-for-outbreaks

My department's plan B is oak academy and BBC Bitesize and showmyhomework until we get organised.

I personally think the government is terrified of pupils and parents having a taste of smaller groups and therefore realising why private schools get good grades

Yes. What has been interesting (anecdotal stuff, sorry), is how all teachers I've spoken to who have been in with a group of 15 children from June, say that the children have really flown. My own child has come on in leaps and bounds having a group of 12. Socially and academically. Not the case with KW/V groups due to age mix and nature of those children to begin with, but definitely the majority of children do better in a smaller class, and teachers prefer it too. Who wouldathunkit.

@noblegiraffe

It’s the penny slowly dropping that the government doesn’t have a Plan B and if schools don’t open and stay open basically it’s going to be shit, isn’t it?

And yet the unions are being painted as militant and unreasonable by the media for asking for a plan B.

Yep. But the "head in the sand" people are too single minded to see it.

@WhyNotMe40

My department's plan B is oak academy and BBC Bitesize and showmyhomework until we get organised.

we could have had a really good term.of blended learning.

Teachers and parents are potentially going to be tearing their hair out if things go awry.

Workload to provide for random kids being off, as well as providing for majority of class being in, is going to have me resigning to leave at Christmas. If I'm willing to take the risk as a supply, then there will be plenty of that about.

@ohthegoats

The small groups were great - the typically quieter children really came into their own and there was a sense of them being one cohesive group rather than a class made up of smaller factions.

@ohthegoats

Workload to provide for random kids being off, as well as providing for majority of class being in, is going to have me resigning to leave at Christmas. If I'm willing to take the risk as a supply, then there will be plenty of that about.

When is you last resigning date?

The year 10 small groups were amazing. In 3 lessons they understood a whole half term of the harder physics topics and that's no exaggeration. It was brilliant.

I remember saying to one member of SLT that we could really transform education in this country if we took this opportunity. A lot of other countries just do secondary school until lunchtime - we could do split shifts, prove how well small groups and independent learning works. We could really have run with it!
Instead we are going to have a chaotic mess which the government will blame on us (despite it being their decision) , and they will somehow get them and their mates to profit from it....

October Half Term to leave at Christmas

I'm so disappointed that schools, teachers and pupils are getting this shit treatment.

I just want to thank @noblegiraffe @ohthegoats @Piggywaspushed and others for consolidating my thoughts on this matter. I really feel for teachers.

It's going to be a nightmare. I think we will definitely deregister.

There are currently 1561 UK school jobs advertised on TES at the moment with 779 in secondary of which 412 are teaching positions

@Trinketsfor20

Hi *@whistlestopsong* those 20 children did they have pre existing conditions in any of them? What are child death rates like in England for other illnesses? For instance other illnesses perhaps in those children with pre existing conditions?

In other words: going by absolute numbers (20 in England) tells us nothing. If I researched fatal car accidents as plain numbers I am sure many more than 20 would result. But that’s not how we make decisions do we?

What you are able to do is to keep your own children home, if you have weighed out everything rationally, and have concluded that the costs to your children of being kept home are less than proven, accurate, rational and balanced actual-risks of them attending school. By actual risk I mean a real, statistically sound risk and not perceived-risk that emerges from “20 kids died”.

What one cannot do though is ask for schools to remain closed indefinitely, or for everyone to keep their kids away until a specific form of measures are arrived at.

Hi @Trinketsfor20 My child is one of those medically vulnerable children, who has a pre existing, very rare, condition. He has shielded until now, and yes I am incredibly worried about his return to school in September...back to a full class, no social distancing, heading into the Winter months when he is often more vulnerable anyway to illnesses which lead to hospitalisation or lengthy periods of absence, and the knock on effects of the illnesses on his body.

What I cannot do is keep him home without being fined, or deregistering him from school (...and this would be after years of battling for support, a decent EHCP and in his transition year..so not something we would do lightly)

What I have not asked for (and I dont think anyone has) is for schools to be closed indefinitely....I am asking instead for options, and some consideration of my child's vulnerabilities.

What hasn’t been mentioned yet is the risk to pregnant women...the vast majority of teachers are women, ergo a higher proportion of them are likely to be pregnant than some other professions.

I’m not saying that schools shouldn’t be open - I think they should - but I am questioning the propaganda that is successfully dehumanising teachers and making them seem risk free, lazy, uncaring...

Of course they won't.What other job could they do if they are too feeble to do the one they currently have?Empty posturing (look it up /online dictionaries available)

How unpleasant.

Adults wanting the same risk mitigation in the workplace as other workers hardly makes someone feeble. Are you saying the same on the other thread about Matt Hancock telling office workers to return to the office, or are you only on threads about teachers?

@lifeafter50

October Half Term to leave at Christmas Of course they won't. What other job could they do if they are too feeble to do the one they currently have? Empty posturing (look it up /online dictionaries available).

Well, I'm also a qualified accountant. So there's that I suppose?

I think lifeafter50 is bitter about some (possibly imagined) slight, so that she feels that teachers asking for the absolutely reasonable, is somehow a dig at her.