If only schools had planned for blended/part time learning

[pontypridd]

I watched the discussions here, before September, and was never convinced that going back as normal - full schools, classes and timetables etc was going to work.

It seemed obvious what was likely to happen ... but so many others didn't see it that way. Those arguing for blended/part time school - so that bubbles could be smaller and better controlled said that school would be more likely to last until Christmas etc if done in that way.

What do people think now?

Will the current school plan work? Is there a possibility of changing it to something else (blended learning is just one option) if the current plan fails?

I'm dreading going back to homeschooling as before. If only more thought had been put into this.

Actually @Nellodee there has been one pocket of 10 people with positive test in the nearest town to me that was squashed ages ago. Both the primary and secondary my children attend have not had a massive flare up or children sent home, at least not in my child’s year at secondary and not any at all at the primary which again is a small rural one, so my comment stands

Who is going to supervise all these children at home for 2 weeks in 4

Being in full time education and requiring supervision are not synonyms.

The needs of secondary pupils, especially those approaching public exams, must not be overlooked by having polices geared to ypinger DC only

Did I say we were immune or about magical defences? Since March our area has been very low numbers throughout, possible because we are spread further and people are actually paying attention to guidance? So why should our schools close?

Today 06:56 KnobChops

Who is going to supervise all these children at home for 2 weeks in 4? This website is full of stay at home mothers.

If you actually read my post you would see that I said that there should be supervision in school for children who have neither parent at home/vulnerable children at home. I’m actually fact I read some research that it would only be a small percentage of families that needs this (I think it was less than 10%) so would be doable with some careful thought and planning.

If we carry on like we are you’ll be back to having the children home full time then you really will have something to moan about

My opinion is that schools should be open longer with smaller pupils in each session and children should not be necessary in school every day.
I also think teachers should be in contact with pupils for longer than the traditional school day to allow this , but they should not work extra hours so if they are in contact with pupils until say 4.30, they shouldn’t then be working at home.
So they work the same hours but spend less time marking and more time teaching.

La la la fingers in ears eh? Oh well, as long as yours are alrighthmm

But if you want to home school your children just do it. There’s nothing stopping you. I’ll concentrate on doing my job (guess what - we can’t all WFH). and paying my mortgage.

If the whole system worked effectively then children would not need to cover so much content for their GCSEs as it should be reduced due to less time being spent in school. There are ways to deal with it properly rather than the ridiculous system that’s going on at the moment.

"So why should our schools close?"

Same reasons as any other school. It may seem a remote possibility to you right now, but it's akin to carrying an insurance policy that includes coverage for things you really don't think are likely to happen to you but which, if they did, you would need considerable support to get through.

If your school did close, would you want it to have plans ready for covering education during outages?

At my dc school if students are at home they just log into the lessons Google Meet and join remotely. It’s not quite as good as being in the class but it’s not bad.

@KnobChops

Who is going to supervise all these children at home for 2 weeks in 4? This website is full of stay at home mothers.

Exactly. And blending learning doesn't mean no cases. You would have the pressure of childcare for the weeks they're at home as well as bubbles still bursting and having them at home on weeks they should be in.

But if you want to home school your children just do it

Like hell do I want to home school my DC. This isn't evenly slightly about parental preference - it's about bubbles bursting, contact isolation, and local/national lockdowns

But if their school has to close, I want them to have some continuity. They've just started GCSE courses, and outages will have an impact

"I read some research that it would only be a small percentage of families that needs this (I think it was less than 10%)"

Was that not 10% of households, not 10% of families with school age children?

If mumsnet is anything like the real world, its also full of parents who are quite happy to send their children into school to cough in my face for an hour at a time whilst I have no protection whatsoever. But as long as they get to go to work, eh?

Yeah, Nellodee I’m putting my family first. Just resign if you don’t like it.

@Bluelinings

And don’t get me started on Us For Them. They push their views onto their kids too. My nephew has one of their kids in his class making a special show about how masks are stupid. Refused to do homework because it was vaguely COVID related. How is pushing this attitude into kids good for then?!

Absolutely no different to those parents who have got their child to the point of being scared of their own shadow.

Is this the govt manipulating the population again until enough parents ask for the schools to shut? A bit like all the "lock us down, Boris!“ cries we saw all over social media. Then they can say." Well you wanted us to do it"
Fact is we have to make this work. This isn't a disease that is actually making the children ill. The risk is to school staff. That what needs to be somehow managed.
Again, there is now a percentage who are definitely immune having had it, and tested, and likely immune through general T cell immunity. This is what we need to be working on. And decent ventilation systems.

Of the schools

I live in the NE where informal childcare is now not allowed after we got put in local lockdown yesterday. What would working people here do in the event of blending learning? Half of my friends are in a blind panic - nurses, teachers, social workers, office workers etc because they no longer have before and after school childcare, or any childcare for younger children. Alot of people can't afford wrap around care or full time childcare. We couldn't afford childcare for the two weeks they aren't in school in the event of blended learning. My DP is a supervisor in a factory and he was bombarded yesterday with staff saying they didn't know how they would be able to come to work because they now have no childcare. Childcare is a massive issue and it allows a huge amount of people to work to pay their mortgage and pay their bills. But hey as long as the wfh/sah parents are OK!

The issue with this conversation and ALL conversations about this topic is that no one is delineating between primary and secondary children.

I have friends all over the world whose secondary children are either on blended or home school at the moment. It mainly works.

Primaries should be socially distanced and as full time as possible (with support from other childcare settings) or on a week on, week off timetable.

What those who insist on full time constantly fail to grasp is the full time was only ever going to work short term. The more students you have, the more hours they are together, the more likely the system is to fall over.

Anyone actually concerned about child welfare and progress should be pushing for blended learning. Because it provides the most sustainable model over the long term. The vaccine is a way off yet. We have to find a sustainable long term way to provide consistent education.

And Us for Them are massive twats who know bugger all about how education works.

@Jrobhatch29

I live in the NE where informal childcare is now not allowed after we got put in local lockdown yesterday. What would working people here do in the event of blending learning? Half of my friends are in a blind panic - nurses, teachers, social workers, office workers etc because they no longer have before and after school childcare, or any childcare for younger children. Alot of people can't afford wrap around care or full time childcare. We couldn't afford childcare for the two weeks they aren't in school in the event of blended learning. My DP is a supervisor in a factory and he was bombarded yesterday with staff saying they didn't know how they would be able to come to work because they now have no childcare. Childcare is a massive issue and it allows a huge amount of people to work to pay their mortgage and pay their bills. But hey as long as the wfh/sah parents are OK!

Lockdown and school closures are doable for upper middle classes, where they can work from home and one partner is a stay at home parent. The rest of us and our poor kids get fucked over.

And blending learning doesn't mean no cases. You would have the pressure of childcare for the weeks they're at home as well as bubbles still bursting and having them at home on weeks they should be in.

Quite. I shudder to think how little schooling some children would have been getting under ‘blended’ learning.

BL (even the term is bringing me out in hives) would only work for

A) families with a capable, engaged SAHP.

B) teachers with no kids or access to family childcare.

It fails everybody else. And while those two groups are over represented on MN, they are not typical of the parent/teacher population as a whole.

I think the title of the thread would be better stated as "If only the government had pulled their fingers out and sorted out the test and trace system" - I think the schools have done everything they were asked and have been absolutely let down by the rife incompetence in the govt. They've had months to make sure there wasn't a catastrophic failure of the testing system right at the crucial moment but - surprise surprise - have utterly fucked it up.

Lockdown and school closures are doable for upper middle classes, where they can work from home and one partner is a stay at home parent. The rest of us and our poor kids get fucked over.
What I’ve also learnt is that the majority of posters on Mumsnet fit into this category. They’ve also seemingly had an empathy bypass.

@Jrobhatch29

Those people have been totally fucked over by the government. Full time schooling was never viable long term. The government should be providing sustainable long term childcare.

The reason why nurseries are less vulnerable is because they have smaller cohorts. The government needed to look into providing bubble care for key workers and factory workers ages ago.

The white papers are schooling all pointed out that this model of schooling would fail without a working testing and track and trace system.

We have been systematically failed by the government. They are the ones who have ignored the realities of working parents.

What I’ve also learnt is that the majority of posters on Mumsnet fit into this category. They’ve also seemingly had an empathy bypass.

Yup