No social distancing in 6th form classrooms/common room

[kitnkaboodle]

I know that there was an earlier thread on this that ran to 1000 messages and shut down, but ...

I'm sitting here with egg on my face, as through the summer I didn't believe my DS (16) telling me that in his (new) Y12, they wouldn't have to distance from the other pupils in sixth form or be spaced out within the classrooms. He said that things would be 'the same as normal', and I honestly thought he was talking rubbish.

He's just home from his first day and, sure enough, the WHOLE sixth form is classed as one bubble and there are no social distancing measures at all between the kids there apart from desks all facing the front. I'm not sure about teachers - will ask later, but I presume they aren't in the bubbles and have to keep apart.

I glanced at the earlier thread title (that was something along the lines of 'the govt are letting the public believe there will be SD in schools') and thought it was all a bit paranoid (without reading it). However, I now genuinely believe that photos of all the 'back to school' stories have been carefully curated to show kids standing/sitting at least a metre apart. I'm one of those who thinks that we just need to 'get on with it' now, regarding schools, but I do feel royally hoodwinked by that. It was very subtle ... (and now I have to apologise to DS for not believing him!!)

Because that is the percentage of people in the U.K. who are testing positive per day @ineedaholidaynow.

I appreciate it might not be quite so exciting a figure for the doom-mongers though.

So is that 2000 out of 65 million?

1800/ 67,000,00 X 100 = 0.0027 %.

You might use the 7 day average but I'm still not sure that entitles you to call people doom mongers because you can't work out percentages......

@ineedaholidaynow

Yes- 2000 cases a day (a figure which we have not reached for 3 months) equates to 0.00000002% of the population testing positive per day.

Sorry

1800/ 67,000,000 X 100 = 0.0027 %.

[quote BostonCalling]@ineedaholidaynow

Yes- 2000 cases a day (a figure which we have not reached for 3 months) equates to 0.00000002% of the population testing positive per day.[/quote]
Yes but obviously many more have it at a any given time.

Thank you @walksen, I thought I had gone mad and forgotten how to work out percentages!

[quote BostonCalling]@herecomesthsun

It’s not gaslighting at all. 2000 cases a day (which we don’t have) is equivalent to 0.00000002% of the population. The likelihood of an infected person not only being in your DC’s school but also sitting next to them in class or on a bus is tiny.

For comparison, you have a 1 in 700,000 change of being struck by lightning and a 1 in 114 change of dying in a car crash in your lifetime. So presumably you never use w car or go outside, just in case?[/quote]
Aha! This is erroneous (first choice of word deleted) in all sorts of ways.

So I
1 in 2000 people (according to ONS)'s most recent figures have the virus. That is 0.05% sweetheart.

Other things being equal, this represents a far greater likelihood than 1 in 700, 000.

My DC is expected to go back to secondary school in a group of over 30 children, taught by several different teachers. If they are all in a poorly ventilated room for an hour, mostly without masks, then if 1 in 2000 people has the virus and there is approaching a 90% chance of it being transmitted in this circumstance, this would be approaching a 1 in 50 chance of transmission.

Fortunately, we are in a low risk area, so we would be counting on no one in his set having the virus. But this risk would continue throughout the day, as the children traipse around the school and meet new teachers/ people/ dinner ladies etc.

Then they all go home via transport and to their families (so new risks for picking up virus). Many, like my DC, will have a sibling at another school/s. So lots of chances that someone out of the group could pick virus up before the next school day.

And back to school the next day, rinse and repeat for another round of coronavirus roulette.

Unfortunately, we are ECV and have been shielding, so we are seriously thinking about how to proceed (not due in till Monday).

I can see though, that you might not be concerned about this. As presumably you and your family aren't vulnerable, and maths ain't your strong point.

[quote BostonCalling]@walksen

There may have been a big disparity between numbers testing positive and those who were infected but not tested at the start of the pandemic, but that is unlikely to be the case now that testing is available to anyone.[/quote]
Sorry, but have you not heard about the current difficulties in getting access to tests, eg none available or peeps in Reading being asked to go the Isle of Wight? "available to everyone" does not fully capture this.

latest offering from ONS (the next one is likely to have higher figures given the rise in daily numbers testing positive since 25th August

"An estimated 27,100 people (95% credible interval: 19,300 to 36,700) within the community population in England had the coronavirus (COVID-19) during the most recent week, from 19 to 25 August 2020, equating to around "1 in 2,000 individuals* (95% credible interval: 1 in 2,800 to 1 in 1,500)."

There is some terrible maths ability on this thread .

On top of which, people don't get covid in one day and are cured of it the next. If only 1,800 people are testing positive per day, there will be many more people who have it and then you have to multiply by 7-10, maybe more (days), to find the numbers who have it at any one given day.

It appears that the person who is worst at maths isn't telling the truth on this thread and on other threads!

There were other options - at school with increased distancing was possible. Blended learning was possible. However no, that would cost money / be unpopular with a specific group of vocal parents, so those options were taken off the table

My son's (state) 6th form college is doing blended learning. It may have been taken off the table for LEA-run secondary schools, but academies can choose.

State schools (LA or academy) should be fully open. Sixth form colleges are different.

Blimeyheck. I hope bloody Boris and his "special science" isn't following the "special maths" on this thread!

Now that is quite terrifying...

I am actually married to a mathematician . I will ask him to take look at these figures when he gets back from an important mission taking the rubbish to the tip-

@puffinkoala

There were other options - at school with increased distancing was possible. Blended learning was possible. However no, that would cost money / be unpopular with a specific group of vocal parents, so those options were taken off the table

My son's (state) 6th form college is doing blended learning. It may have been taken off the table for LEA-run secondary schools, but academies can choose.

All schools, including the sixth forms of secondary schools, have to be fully in, full time, whether academy or LEA run.

They are governed by the 'schools' guidance.
Guidance for full opening of schools

Stand-alone 6th forms, and FE colleges, whether LA or Academy, have separate guidance, which is / was for blended learning (I haven't read the very latest version, but certainly in the summer, FE settings, including stand-alone sixth forms, could choose blended larning)

FE Guidance

It seems to be the case that where 6th form colleges are 'the only sixth form providers' in an area, they have gone for the blended learning approach that they are allowed. Where there is a 'mixed economy' of sixth form colleges and school sixth forms, essentially competing for the same students, the colleges have found themselves in a position where they have been forced to be all in full time or lose a significant proportion of their students to school sixth forms.

@ineedaholidaynow

It appears that the person who is worst at maths isn't telling the truth on this thread and on other threads!

Thats what happens when you get your "facts and information" from shared conspiracy group posts off Facebook i guess

[quote BostonCalling]@ineedaholidaynow

Yes- 2000 cases a day (a figure which we have not reached for 3 months) equates to 0.00000002% of the population testing positive per day.[/quote]
Quite apart from your terrible maths we're at just under 2000 positive cases today.

@EDSGFC it is 2988 today.

[quote ChanceChanceChance]@EDSGFC it is 2988 today.[/quote]
Thank you.

I thought that, posted it on another thread and then doubted it. I had an alert ping up on my phone but couldn't find it again. Thanks for clarifying.

It is nonsense to expect social distancing schools/not gonna happen. I have a 6th form tutor group and they have all been socialising with each other through the summer and do do now out of school so utterly pointless to try to impose SD on school. We limit contact between year groups as much as is possible, to follow the Gvt rules but with a tacit understanding that the whole guidance is bonkers and will probably be quietly abandoned in a few weeks at the most.
Luckily the kids do not seem to be coronaphobes and even if some of their parents are, at least they are now out of their sight and can just be kids again.

poor kids

Or.. how about some of them are socially and morally responsible life? Just a thought....

There is no way they have all been socialising.

If I was SLT at your school and felt you had encouraged such views as calling people coronaphobes, you'd be disciplined.