What can I do about a school not following their own risk assessment?

[Anniemabel]

First day back at school today, “bubbles” or so called bubbles were breached all over the shop - TAs moving between bubbles and kids in separate bubbles eating lunch together in the tiny dinner hall.

Despite saying desks would be spaced as much as possible my child is on a square desk of 4 (two tables of two pushed together) and is face to face rather than side by side with two of the others.

What’s the point of a risk assessment if it gets ignored and who do I complain to? (not the head because he’s impossible).

I think you only have head, governors or local authority if they signed off the risk assessment?

Dc should is sending them all to the hall canteen area too.
Hard to know about the desks as obviously parents cant go in

Maybe the tables are spaced as much as possible. Schools don’t have spare staff so sometimes have to cross bubbles. If space is limited there is very little they can do.

The government guidance is not worth the paper it is written on.

If it is primary, no social distancing is expected, within a bubble, so the face to face tables fit within the guidance (and they may feel are necessary given space constraints). You say it is not following "their own" risk assessment - but have you seen this? The guidance handed to schools by the Dept of Education is publicly accessible and not exactly specific, so understanding the approach the school itself has taken - and why - would be my first step. Schools are aiming to mitigate the risk - the risk cannot be eliminated.

There is no social distancing. We have all been lied to by the Government.

I’m assuming the risk assessment probably uses the phrase ‘where possible’ a lot, and unfortunately it probably isn’t possible very often.

Ive read the govt guidance and the schools own risk assessment my issue is the fact that I’ve sent my child back in the basis of the info the school have provided - e.g. eating lunch in classrooms to avoid mixing bubbles, desks side by side rather than face to face and spaces out etc. Only to find that neither was actually adhered to. If they can’t do those things they should not have said they would. It’s misleading.

If you want to complain you need to follow the complaints policy which should be on the school’s website.

Also our risk assessments are being tweaked all the time at the moment, so it might be that the school have realised that what they initially proposed didn’t work.

All staff can move between bubbles-that is fine according to the government guidelines

What did you say at the time you saw all of this happening?
Or is this what your child told you?
Were they happy to be back at school?

And let’s face it, unless we have some form of rota, social distancing with smaller class sizes and blended learning, nothing is going to keep the virus at bay in schools

@TheSeedsOfADream my child told me in the car on the way home. I’d explained the system to him, and the changes to expect, so it wouldn’t come as a surprise. I’d also explained why the changes were necessary. So obviously when those expected changes didn’t happen he asked me why.

I’m worried about it, I’m trying not to worry him but he’s pretty astute and he’s a bit young to go from social distancing and respecting people’s space for 6 months to jumping back into school with none of the expected measures in place without worrying about why.

@Redlocks28 I know what the govt guidelines are but discretion is also given to the headteacher. My problem is that they have published a risk assessment and then aren’t following it. Surely If they weren’t implementing certain measures they should have been open about that.

Social distancing within a class will never happen, unless he is in a very small class in a very big classroom. The school may have found the desk configuration in that particular classroom didn't work with them all facing forward.

I am surprised by the not eating in the classroom change. Are they having normal dinners or just packed lunches? If having hot, they might have found taking them to the classrooms doesn't work.

I would email the teacher and ask for clarification. This is all new for schools, they are trying to work out how the guidelines can fit in their schools.

I am sure all schools are open to constructive feedback at the moment.

You do need to voice your concerns but I agree with others, social distancing is not really possible with the size of the majority of classrooms.

With regards to lunch, that surprises me. Especially if they said they would eat in classroom.

Its all so new to everyone. We've already had an email from the school changing pick up instructions slightly.

Talk to your school. I'm sure they are trying to do their best to balance providing good education for all pupils with the DfE coronavirus guidance. Which even changed yet again yesterday I might add.....

From reading your replies and thinking a little more, my problem is probably with the fact that I don’t feel like I can talk to the school, voice my concerns or offer constructive feedback. The school (head teacher) are very cagey about everything (even pre covid) and make you feel very awkward if you raise any issues.

I think I was just looking for some “higher” body I could complain to but I’m just going to leave it be as something that is outside of my control.

I am sure all schools are open to constructive feedback at the moment.

bless you for being so positive but having had experience of seven heads as a parent, this is not true of all schools

And what is it that you expect a ‘higher body’ to do OP? Social distancing in schools when they are running at full capacity is IMPOSSIBLE. There will, of course, be differences between educational establishments which are dependent on so many factors (type of school/college, number of students, age ranges of those taught etc), but NONE will be able to fully comply with SD other than some token effort to increase hand washing and increased frequency of cleaning. The ‘bubble’ theory is simply nonsense.

Completely unrealistic to expect SD in school /you need to cut the school some slack. SD is a completely alien concept and artificial construct. Just because the Gvt has hazily cobbled together 'guidance' does not mean that it is actually possible.
Have been in school (teacher) and was obviously never going to anything more than a fig leaf to persuade paranoid gullible parents to send back their children when otherwise they would have kept them off, to the detriment of the children's welfare.

I'm afraid that as previous posters have said the government have so thoroughly covered their arse with "if possibles" and "where possible" that the guidance hasn't many teeth. Are you sure the risk assessment hasn't changed since partial to full opening - ours has, and we are seating 2 year groups at a time in the hall with as much space as we can as it's not practical or safe for 5 year olds to carry hot food around school.

@Anniemabel

From reading your replies and thinking a little more, my problem is probably with the fact that I don’t feel like I can talk to the school, voice my concerns or offer constructive feedback. The school (head teacher) are very cagey about everything (even pre covid) and make you feel very awkward if you raise any issues.

I think I was just looking for some “higher” body I could complain to but I’m just going to leave it be as something that is outside of my control.

You can report to the govenerors if you dont feel able to speak with the head teacher, also to the LA

Please report/complain. Parents tend to have more influence than staff.

To those asking what did I expect, I guess I just expected to be told the truth. If there is going to be no social distancing just say it - the school shouldn’t say they are doing things that they have no intention of doing. It’s a small school and there are measures they aren’t taking which they could take. I have three kids in three different places and I’m happy with the response of the other two.

My youngest child’s nursery has a risk assessment, clearly they aren’t socially distancing three year olds but they haven’t said they will, they’ve introduced the measures they can introduce on the basis that every little helps and they’ve been completely transparent. I’m fine with that.