Is there a limit to bubbles in a school setting?

[Swooningmonkey]

Anyone else’s school doing this? I’m a bit baffled, our primary school is focused on hygiene given it’s impossible to distance due to lack of space and resources. They’re stopping assemblies, lunches will be eaten at desks etc. But that means over 80 children, around 12 members of staff and their respective families are in a bubble which doesn’t really make sense given the size. If one person falls ill, the whole school will have to shut or maybe that’s a given?

Nope! You should spare a moment to consider secondary school bubbles. Dd's is 270 kids, plus the teachers, plus all the other bubbles in the school they teach (I have 6 out of 7 years), plus their families..... And to further complicate it you could add in all the siblings at different schools etc. etc., public transport ........ All done with little SD and no masks..........

My sons’ junior school is 4 form entry, so 120 in each year group, 480 in the school. My eldest went back for a few weeks before summer and they split the classes as only Y5 and Y6 back so they had room so bubbles were 15 kids with teacher and teaching assistant. From the limited info we’ve had so far the new bubbles will either be the 30 kids in each class with teacher and teaching assistant or the 120 in each year group with 8-12 staff (including support workers). Either 16 bubbles or 4 bubbles. No idea how they will sort out drop off/pick up, in the summer was based on old classes although bubbles were mixed classes so pupils arriving together were not in same bubbles. Not heard about how they’ll move around the school, use the toilets (there aren’t many considering the number of pupils) or sort out lunches (which were packed lunch in summer eaten in classrooms).

Plus the classrooms are all in close proximity with each other, they all have to walk through shared areas to get to classes as they don’t really have corridors, ground floor there’s an open plan library surrounded by classes, upstairs there’s a hall with classes round the edges. It’s not a great setup for social distancing as is overcrowded in my opinion, was 3 form entry until 5 years ago. Parents on the whole opposed the increase in number of pupils but LA went ahead anyway. The infants is all open plan learning for 4 classes in each area, it’s impossible to real isolate bubbles there as well.

There is no such thing as bubbles-put that out of your mind.

The government haven’t thought this one through at all.

Ds secondary. Year group bubbles. 320 kids approx. In each.

I don't think that's unusual. Large primaries will have year group bubbles.
The bubble doesn't shut until 3 confirmed cases anyway

The government are insane and anyone who believes their child is in a bubble when they go back is deluded.

I counted the number of people one of the mums in DS2's class has been in close contact with purely from her FB pictures in the last month, 67.

Plus all the people she hugs that aren't pictured. She owns a shop where they advertise there is no need to wear a mask, her husband owns another shop. They have probably been within 1m unmasked of well over 1000 people, and that's just one fucking moron from our school.

I'm in 6 bubbles of 300+. It's a joke.

@Bramblespoint

I don't think that's unusual. Large primaries will have year group bubbles. The bubble doesn't shut until 3 confirmed cases anyway

That's not what the government guidance says: it states that if there are two confirmed cases in a bubble the local health authorities will advise school as to whether the whole bubble, or more/less students, should be sent home and or tested. I'll depend on additional factors like local case rates I think

About 500 children from three different schools in our family's bubble. That's before you even consider the siblings of those children.

@mumsneedwine

I'm in 6 bubbles of 300+. It's a joke.

I’m in 6 bubbles of 200, then there’s the two bubbles of 35 my children are in, their wraparound care bubble, DH’s 6 bubbles ...

These rules are so illogical to my ASD brain that it’s giving me low level anxiety. I hadn’t even considered older siblings in secondary schools.

bubble, BUBBLE, POP!

Nick Gibb apparently says that even if there are positive cases in a school, there is no need for children to be tested.

Testing is only needed if they have symptoms, which is interesting as they also say that children can often be asymptomatic.