Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

No social distancing in 6th form classrooms/common room

440 replies

kitnkaboodle · 02/09/2020 16:44

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!!)

OP posts:
bluecoffeecups · 02/09/2020 17:45

There are three choices.

  1. Send them all back to school with social distancing measures between them in place. Except of course we can't do this one because there's no room. And there's no point in trying because some will break the rules on purpose, most of them hang around with one another outside school anyway, and a few of them will be shagging each other, so social distancing is a waste of time.
  1. Send them all back to school without social distancing in place, and turn each year group into one big bubble.
  1. Keep them all off school indefinitely.

Unless anyone can come up with a better idea that will suit everybody of course.

CallmeAngelina · 02/09/2020 17:48

[quote tootyfruitypickle]@CallmeAngelina. And that is why I always regret joining these threads!

As you were.[/quote]
If only!!!

Seriously, I hope your dd's school operates a zero tolerance on such flagrant flouting of the rules and chuck the book at her if they see her doing so.
Have you any IDEA of the amount of angst and effort school staff have put in to organising the environment to minimise spread of this virus and to allay fears and anxieties? And then along you come, positively encouraging your dd to piss all over them?

There have been many, many posts on MN recently that have annoyed me, but yours has taken the biscuit.
You should be ashamed of yourself.

noblegiraffe · 02/09/2020 17:49

blue I think this thread is about the government doing 2, but pretending it’s doing 1.

There’s also:

  1. School attendance on a rota
  1. Massive funding like there was for Nightingale hospitals for temporary classrooms to free up space

We could also have 2) but with mitigation measures like face coverings

CallmeAngelina · 02/09/2020 17:51

Or we could have 6) Encourage the students to break all social distancing guidelines and hug each other, because what the fuck.

GravityFalls · 02/09/2020 17:53

There will be no SD in my sixth form college. No year group bubbles either (it’s basically impossible, they all travel in on buses together and have the same break and lunch times anyway). In June I had 3 students in a class (or 1, or 0). Next week I’ll have 25. There are 25 computers. They will be shoulder to shoulder. No screens. No masks (as far as I know). Token bottles of hand sanitizer. No real SD between staff (there are three of us sharing a small office and one set of staff toilets). It’s not a misunderstanding, everyone’s been lied to.

ohthegoats · 02/09/2020 17:54

I fucking love this thread. You lemons...

Maisiecow · 02/09/2020 17:57

No ‘bubbles’ in our sixth form college (unless you consider a cohort of 1600+ students to be a bubble). Students start back this week. No change to timetables; no staggered start/finish times. Many classes have over 28 students in, and classrooms definitely don’t have enough space for 2m apart. Wearing of face coverings is encouraged, but not enforced. Regular hand washing/sanitising is obviously encouraged, but impossible to check and enforce among this age group. A one way system has been put in place, but anyone who has ever been in a large school/college during break and lunch times will know we’re ‘pissing in the wind’ with that one! Anyway, only a matter of time before students will just take the shortest route across the large campus to get between lessons, and it will be impossible for staff to police. I’m very happy to be back teaching in the classroom, but anyone who thinks there will be anything other than a ‘token nod’ towards SD is seriously deluded! But many on MN will still blame teachers when numbers start rising, because we’ve selfishly entered the staff room to make a cup of tea!

Original poster
kitnkaboodle · 02/09/2020 17:57

@Morfin - the reason I mentioned that I was pro-schools opening was that some posters seemed to be implying 'well if you don't like the reality of how schools are then you can always keep your DC at home', which isn't at all where I'm at.

I'm quite happy for schools to be open and for my DC to be going there after 5 months of dossing about. I wasn't making any inferences about anyone else. I was just acknowledging (late to the party!) that there is a massive, weird, some would say dodgy, disconnect between the pictures that are being used in the news and the reality. Not sure why I pissed you off so much. Sorry I didn't read your thread earlier. I might not have to grovel to my DS tonight if I had!

OP posts:
middleager · 02/09/2020 17:58

@kitnkaboodle

Piggy - yeah, I'd like to think 16-18 year olds were sensible enough to show SOME restraint and self-control under the circumstances. They're not primary kids wanting to hold hands any more ...

For the record, I am PRO schools opening and very supportive of teachers soldiering on. I will be watching news reports this evening with a more enlightened eye. Let's see what they show ...

But why would they show restraint when adults in schools don't?

At an inset day yesterday several colleagues made it clear they don't care and one of my office colleagues kept standing right by me. Our desks are forward facing less than 2m apart.

People are delusional if they think SD will take place.

cologne4711 · 02/09/2020 17:58

There’s also: 4. School attendance on a rota

Which is what my son's sixth form college is doing. Y13 in this week, then Y12 in next week and so it continues through September.

He says his classroom groups are quite small and there is space to spread out, perhaps not to 2m, but not right on top of each other.

The college says they hope to end blended learning at the end of September and have everyone back in full time (though they've chunked lessons so there are now days when ds won't need to go in at all) but I am not sure it will happen. I guess it depends on case numbers in this area.

EDSGFC · 02/09/2020 17:58

This op is bizarre. All summer I've seen posters like noblegiraffe explaining this is how schools will be going back so how can parents claim they didn't know?

Ridiculously, a school near me has classed the whole of key stage 3 so 630 students as 1 bubble and then the whole of key stage 4 as another bubble (420 students).

itsgettingweird · 02/09/2020 17:58

Blue it's not about choices.

It's about the fact 2 is happening and everyone knew 2 was happening.

The government would have you believe its 1. Complete with stages photos of masks and PPE and temperature checks when even their own guidance didn't say to do these things. In fact they weren't necessary.

They introduced some guidance re masks late Friday night be for a BH.

Schmeebles · 02/09/2020 17:59

Yup. I noticed BBC news were taking a slightly different tack this morning and had a reporter in one of the Outwood Grange academies. Lots of shots of social distancing measures, head teacher saying how safe everything was etc, but then they did actually show and report from a classroom of new students (is that year 7 in England? What would be S1 in Scotland) and they were shoulder to shoulder in the classroom. I wonder how many parents got a shock.

Our school has been back for 3 weeks. A "bubble" of over 1,500! The bubble thing is pure propaganda designed to make people feel safe. "they're in a bubble" - brings up nice safe feelings of protection. No doubt it was run past focus groups.

When I brought up my concerns about how a high school could social distance, back in June:

  • the high school referred me to the parent council
  • the parent council took it up with the council, who said to take it up with the school
  • when I went direct to the council they said "they will be in a bubble"
  • when I raised it on forums (not here) the thread was deleted for "spreading misinformation"
  • when I went to the media, they said "you're wrong - the published guidance says they will be distanced or in a bubble"

Now, 3 weeks in, about half the school is off self isolating and awaiting testing, so there is no longer a problem with distancing. Plenty of space. My eldest son's class only had 11 people out of a class of 28 today.

RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 02/09/2020 18:01

@ohthegoats

I fucking love this thread. You lemons...
What?
ohthegoats · 02/09/2020 18:01

@Morfin This post has disproportionately pissed me off.

That one pissed me off too. Someone being supportive of me 'soldiering on', and not seeing the irony in the battlefield analogy! Great, someone is supporting of me putting myself at risk. Yay.

SimonJT · 02/09/2020 18:03

School being shown on BBC news now, the first coverage I have seen that shows a normal school as there is no social distancing.

middleager · 02/09/2020 18:04

@Schmeebles

Yup. I noticed BBC news were taking a slightly different tack this morning and had a reporter in one of the Outwood Grange academies. Lots of shots of social distancing measures, head teacher saying how safe everything was etc, but then they did actually show and report from a classroom of new students (is that year 7 in England? What would be S1 in Scotland) and they were shoulder to shoulder in the classroom. I wonder how many parents got a shock.

Our school has been back for 3 weeks. A "bubble" of over 1,500! The bubble thing is pure propaganda designed to make people feel safe. "they're in a bubble" - brings up nice safe feelings of protection. No doubt it was run past focus groups.

When I brought up my concerns about how a high school could social distance, back in June:

  • the high school referred me to the parent council
  • the parent council took it up with the council, who said to take it up with the school
  • when I went direct to the council they said "they will be in a bubble"
  • when I raised it on forums (not here) the thread was deleted for "spreading misinformation"
  • when I went to the media, they said "you're wrong - the published guidance says they will be distanced or in a bubble"

Now, 3 weeks in, about half the school is off self isolating and awaiting testing, so there is no longer a problem with distancing. Plenty of space. My eldest son's class only had 11 people out of a class of 28 today.

A sobering read.
Original poster
kitnkaboodle · 02/09/2020 18:05

@EDSGFC

This op is bizarre. All summer I've seen posters like noblegiraffe explaining this is how schools will be going back so how can parents claim they didn't know?

Ridiculously, a school near me has classed the whole of key stage 3 so 630 students as 1 bubble and then the whole of key stage 4 as another bubble (420 students).

ummm ... I didn't know because I haven't really been following the coronavirus talk page through the summer ... I have, however, been watching the TV news and reading the papers. Hence my 'WTF?' today. But I can see that the debate has been raging here all summer. My bad.
OP posts:
lonelyplanet · 02/09/2020 18:06

"@Morfin This post has disproportionately pissed me off."

Me too.

MrsHamlet · 02/09/2020 18:06

I have 34 year 11 students to cram into a classroom which really only seats 32 at best. There is no social distancing. Even if I only had 32 I can't keep them a meter apart let alone 2.

ohthegoats · 02/09/2020 18:07

What?

Lemons for believing the media propaganda. I mostly got from threads about it on here, that the detractors from teachers trying to say it as it is, were mostly Us4Them and not caring about school staff. But no, it's people who genuinely seem to have believed the bullshit. That's ridiculous. We've been saying it ALL SUMMER. Why has your trust in staff actually doing the job, eroded so much? Why wouldn't people believe people doing the job over the bloody newspapers? This government are liars, they are proven liars.

The bubble thing is pure propaganda designed to make people feel safe.

That.

I'm back at a school where we have a significant number of children with SEMH issues. Today the anxiety was through the roof. They are in 'bubbles' of 30, but that's 30 families (plus mine) all mixed up now. These kids need physical reassurance, hugs, hand holds. Social distancing is not an option at all.

noblegiraffe · 02/09/2020 18:07

I didn't know because I haven't really been following the coronavirus talk page through the summer

Funnily enough, my ‘govt lying about social distancing’ thread started out on AIBU as it was about government propaganda, but got moved to the less popular CV section by MNHQ. I wonder who reported it.

phatsandsmall · 02/09/2020 18:08

I was watching bbc news this morning where they were live from a year 7 class all crammed into a classroom no one inc the teacher wearing PPE ( basically a normal pre covid class room layout) lots of shocked viewers messaging into Victoria Derbyshire who was equally surprised viewers were unaware that there was going to be no social distancing within bubbles ( ie whole year groups) in secondary schools. My eldest is also starting 6th form next week and has to go between 2 different schools to do her lessons. So she has 2 bubbles and my daughter in year 8 has about 240 students in her bubble. No PPE is recommend unless using public transport to get to and from school.

RufustheSniggeringReindeer · 02/09/2020 18:13

Lemons for believing the media propaganda

I think most of the posters are well aware of the true situation

Schmeebles · 02/09/2020 18:14

phatsandsmall yes I think that was the one I saw, but I didn't see the followup. I find it reassuring (in an "I told you so" kind of way) that people were shocked and messaged in. I did thing that the precursor to the classroom shot was still misleading though. Outwood academies are lovely shiny new schools with wide classrooms, not like the majority of schools.