Surely they can’t keep schools open as normal if cases keep going up like today!

[Worriedmum999]

My daughter went back to school last Thursday. She really needed to go as lockdown played havoc with her mental health. She was fine doing her academic work but she is someone who needs the social side of school.

We are a vulnerable family and, with this shitshower of a government, I had no faith that cases wouldn’t rise and I wouldn’t be forced to take her out of school again. But I cannot believe that she has been back 2 days and the jump in cases has been so huge. I honestly expected us to be able to get to half term. Of course deaths are going to rise now. Why wouldn’t we follow the pattern of the other European countries. Add to that the fact that people can’t get tested now and we’re fucked. And I’m so fucking angry and upset about the damage that this is doing.

What are the government going to do? Surely it will be impossible to expect parents to keep sending their children to schools when the death toll is huge again and the ICUs are full.

@Scoopstroop I have massive respect for hospitality workers in your position. We all deserve better in terms of safety. Are you not allowed to wear a mask?

Our children need to be priorities over bars and holidays. It's so upsetting, tbh the pictures in the pubs make me feel so angry and disappointed.

I don't see how socially distanced teaching works. I cannot go over to kids who need help as I am supposed to keep 2m away as I am across year group bubbles. I can't see what the kids at the back are writing. I can't check their work for 48 hours.ni can't loom behind the shoulder of someone who is being disruptive. Can't bend down and whisper asking if someone is ok. Can tap on the work as a gentle refocus. Can't circulate checking for errors.
I have taught 4 different classes today in 4 different classrooms. None of which had more than 2 windows - which only opened an inch. Then there is tutor groups.
Lesson changeovers for option years was a shoving, absolutely no space, mosh pit.
At lunch and break it was absolutely futile trying to get them socially distanced.
I am in a bubble with my terminally ill FIL. I also personally have an auto immune condition.
My own kids are in their own year group bubbles.
Am I supposed to keep my kids from their grandparent in his remaining few months due to their exposure at school? My exposure at school? I am not alone in this.
Proper mitigations need to be put in place!
Money to ensure building improvements for ventilation, facilities, sinks. Cleaning!
Money for internet enabled devices for blended learning.
Face coverings for all who can wear them.
Extra staff and extra buildings where feasible.
If the gov really thinks education is important, why aren't they putting their money where their mouth is?

There was a shocking lack of consistency with provision for home learning, I hope any plans for blended learning have set standards?

@MarshaBradyo
The balance is wrong and the weight has gone too far against prioritising education. That is clear- less than one week of schools reopening in England and classes have been sent home for 2 weeks, after 6 months of no school.
Chris Whitty was right several weeks ago when he said that we were at the limit of reopening. Since then many more things have been reopened, and nothing shut, not even in local lockdown areas.

@TheKeatingFive

They're not though... Not many workplaces are mandating masks all day you know?

And that’s because SD can be maintained. In situations where SC can’t be maintained masks and indeed more substantial PPE is recommended.

I’m not sure why you’re being so willfully blind about this.

If you want to believe that

My son started secondary school last Wednesday, today a boy in his year tested positive and that whole class are now isolating for 14 days. Poor kids have only been back 4 days

@HipTightOnions

I am not talking about “part time with extra homework” though, MarshaBradyo. Surely that’s obvious from my post which you quoted.

I am talking about secondary though. I think the solutions for primary and secondary are probably different.

Yes probably primary would be part time with extra work going by what we got in lockdown.

Secondary has been audio classes with students listening but no immediate interaction or feedback beyond a tally of what has been completed. Or automated PowerPoint with audio or tassomai programme. All this has taken a lot of work so I’m not being disparaging re the effort.

Can you describe what blended is like for secondary? I haven’t found it to be a patch of in class but maybe you do it differently

The difference in provision in the Summer term was mainly down to the Government telling schools the curriculum was suspended, so schools did not have to teach new topics etc. Some schools ignored this, and carried on with the curriculum, mainly schools where both the teachers and the students had the technology to make this possible.

@ineedaholidaynow

I am sure there will be many community groups who would be happy to make/provide masks for families who can't afford them. I bet there are many people on MN who would offer to help to make some. That cannot be a reason why masks can't be worn in schools.

I am a school governor, if I visit a school I have to wear a mask and SD, what makes me so different to everyone else in the school?

My DH returned to his office today, for the first time since lockdown. There were 5 people in the office, compared to the usual 30. And that is what will continue, a limited number are allowed in, and they have to book a desk so numbers can be monitored. On other days DH will carry on WFH.

DH works in a well ventilated office. Most classrooms are not well ventilated, most classrooms will have at least 30 people crammed in them.

oophs you can give an opinion like that @ineedaholidaynow otherwise @TrustTheGeneGenie will not like it.

The other thing I would like to ask about is if you are teaching the other half of the school when one half is home what provision is for home that is interactive?

“Part time with extra homework” was exactly what blended learning was going to be for our secondary schools. We were told this by the school!

Well we have to crack on with the exam specs. Some of the specs have not been amended. We have no clear idea if the exams are going to be timetable as normal or delayed. Some schools might be in lockdown for a while and some may never go into lockdown. I have a feeling that there may be some CAG formula used in the final calculation.

If I spaced the classrooms I was in today to the same extent as the restaurant and cafe I was in last week, I would have only have been able to get maybe 4 small tables in. So a maximum of 16 very friendly people, or more realistically 4 couples.
Not 32.

Most secondaries have on-line learning platforms and also buy into a number of apps such as GCSE Pod. There is a mix of video, quizzes, assessments and reading to do.

Blended learning would be different, there is more time now to plan for the at-home part. My dc at primary got work emailed out to do each day, no feedback though, but this term they have all been set up with Teams groups so I assume if they close they can send work out and get it back in again. Things change.

Im not sure if i would be allowed to wear a mask but i wouldnt want to as it would make my job almost impossible, even a visor restricts communication in a noisy restaurant (i often want to murder the person who designed the building. Looks cool but its not fit for purpose in some respects)
Plus I walk miles a day it would be uncomfortable and hard work in a mask.
Nobody bothers with track and trace either.
I can't afford more time off so i have to go in and do my job with a smile on my face.
Tips were obviously not included in fulough pay so we've all just spent 5 months on about 50% of our usual not great to begin with wages.

So if visors are ineffective, waiting staff are definitely as at much risk if not more than primary school teachers.
I agree i dont think a visor is doing much other than giving a false sense of security.
I work 10/11 hour shifts.
My customers stay for an average one hour.
Restaurant seats 60.
Thats 600 people a day im face to face with/ breathing the same air as.
I cant stay 1m away while I serve them.
Im not saying teachers cant be scared.
Im saying other people are working in the same conditions.
We're all back. I wasn't getting 100% or even 80% of pay since march so not much choice or point moaning about it.*
*
If I eat out the waiters serve food and then leave. There is no prolonged close contact for 6 hours in a room with no sink and windows that don't open. The waiters have all been wearing masks. I have never picked my nose then held the waiters hand in a restaurant. I have never wee'd my pants and needed the waiters to change me. I have never needed the waiter to wipe my nose. I don't think you can compare restaurants and schools. Children do get and pass on the virus.
Teachers and TAs have all been working since March (apart from their unpaid summer holidays), schools have never closed. The GOVERNMENT restricted the children who could attend schools but that's not the teachers fault.
Restaurant staff and school staff are working in different conditions. You can't compare apples and pears.

@StaffAssociationRepresentative

Most secondaries have on-line learning platforms and also buy into a number of apps such as GCSE Pod. There is a mix of video, quizzes, assessments and reading to do.

This sounds similar to what we had but it doesn’t invite this:

‘I was able to give much more targeted input/feedback when teaching remotely. I can’t even look at their work now.’

The schools with effective leadership will probably do well, as in lockdown, unfortunately the school my DC attended only provided a weekly email.
There really needs to be a benchmark for blended learning- especially in primary schools.

@MilesJuppIsMyBitch

Every time I hear someone arguing against masks, I think of . (It's very funny, short and spot on).

This is brilliant