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!!)

I know lots of older aged teens - sixth form aged to second year Uni. None of them have been socialising outwith the guidelines (ie outside only). They have a sense of social responsibility.

My sixth form tutor group haven’t all been socialising. Some of them are quite anxious about the return to school.

Best to treat them as individuals.

@lifeafter50

+If I was SLT at your school* How utterly hilarious to think that you think you would be remotely qualified! Pompous! (look it up) Thanks for giving me a tea spluttering giggle at that.

Look, if you have to be that condescending, how about you sod off back to Us That Have Got It In 4 them and patronise them instead sweetie?

Ermmm. OK. I have much experience in disciplinaries, thanks.

And as a parent, if you called ma coronaphobe and it got back to me, I'd complain.

It actually embarrasses me that you are a teacher.

me a

life, IIRC you teach at a small private school with small classes in the far South West, where cases have been and remain very low. I may be wrong, but I also seem to recall it may be a boarding school, in which case of course the risk of pupils taking infection back home to vulnerable family members is removed.

Sixth formers in, say, Blackburn, or Leicester, or Preston, in classes of 30+ and living in crowded multi-generational housing are likely to have had very different experiences of lockdown and also very different experiences going forward in terms of local lockdowns, family illness, school closures etc.

They may very well therefore bring a different value set, different concerns, and different behaviours into school, and so the correct approach to them by staff will be different.

Private school in London, I thought?

A pompous person is arrogant or conceited. He'll walk into a party with an inflated ego, ready to tell anyone who will listen that "I'm kind of a big deal." Today we associate the adjective pompous with self-important jerks.

I looked it up.

Life, are you actually a qualified teacher, or a person who teaches in a small private school?
Either way I am embarrassed for you that you cannot see the difference between circumstances in a small private school ( looks like boarding from your comments about parents being out of sight) and large comprehensives of nearly 2000 students, who mix with others on public transport, their siblings at other schools and students from other schools at after school clubs.

Felt a bit riled watching Hancock say the first line of defence for everyone is social distancing, to prevent the virus spreading to grandparents.

Except school.pupils of course!

IIRC, Life is a teacher who qualified late in life, did supply in the state system for a year or two, couldn't hack it (or possibly find anyone who would employ her permanently) and hoofed it over to the private system for a cushy life.
And now hides behind anonymity on here to pay back all those she perceives as plebs in the state system.

@lifeafter50
I’m glad to hear it.
My grandson has just got back into his second year in 6 th form.
He’s been meeting up with pals through most of lockdown , goes to the gym, works in McDonald’s
I want his life to be as normal as mine was.
It’s getting better but still not quite there yet.

[quote Dowser]@lifeafter50
I’m glad to hear it.
My grandson has just got back into his second year in 6 th form.
He’s been meeting up with pals through most of lockdown , goes to the gym, works in McDonald’s
I want his life to be as normal as mine was.
It’s getting better but still not quite there yet.[/quote]
I feel quite sorry for young people who've been encouraged to ignore this. They've been pushed out of line with society and it feels quite strange.