Secondary school going back to 'normal' after half term...

[Helenj1977]

It will be as before but with a one way system and masks in corridors.

Is this what most are doing? Currently they're bubbled in sections of the school all day.

Ours are in bubbles at break and lunch, which are staggered but continue to move between classrooms (we clean desks at end of lessons).

That’s what our school is doing now. With a bit of desk cleaning sometimes.

No extra time for washing hands. No-one overseeing or checking mask hygiene or use.

I get a sense that fatigue is starting to set in and some teachers are accepting there is limitations to what they can do. A lot of the kids walk home without masks after school. I'm not blaming anyone, it's just the reality in a lot of cases.

I just think it's strange. They did it for a half term and then that's it, back to normal.

The email says she understands some parents 'won't agree to these changes'. Obviously they know we won't be happy that the bubble is 2000 students.

That's ridiculous because there are three year group bubbles off already at our school and it's just heading into getting worse.

What tier are you in and are cases rising in your area? I wouldn’t be happy with this, our school are carrying on with year group bubbles each with their own set of classrooms, and lunch area.
The only reason I can see for going back to normal is so the whole curriculum can be taught as currently we have no practice subjects like woodwork, cookery etc.

Because the "bubble" system was laughable and not working anyway?

Wow strange no no change here. They stay in the sane classroom for most of their lessons at ks3 so not much moving around the corridor but her year group are in a totally separate block and never see the other year groups at all. It’s very different to how school used to be however much everyone here said “nothing changed in schools”

The bubbles are a load of nonsense anyway. Head sounds like she has some common sense.

Sounds like the Head is happy for the school to be closed and community infections to rocket

What years are you talking about? I’m not sure our yr11 had any bubbles going on other than whole year

Bubble is a fallacy, a futile placebo to make people think children in school can be prevented from picking up the illness. It’s not realistic and it’s an unnecessary and unhelpful burden for staff. I think this head is being realistic and pragmatic. Obviously just my opinion but seriously...

They're not actually making use of the bubbles when deciding when to send kids home, just looking at seating plans and deciding close contacts, so I can see the school saying 'fuck it, it's not worth it'.

Bubbles are bollocks anyway. Our college of 850 16-18 yr olds is one huge bubble, many of whom have their noses sticking out of masks much like their bums might hang out of sloppy trousers.
It's just a matter of time. 😷😷😷

Bubbles have been a nightmare for behaviour, and had a massive impact of content teachers can get through in lessons.

As long as the school doesnt shut it should be a huge improvement

@Helenj1977

I just think it's strange. They did it for a half term and then that's it, back to normal.

The email says she understands some parents 'won't agree to these changes'. Obviously they know we won't be happy that the bubble is 2000 students.

But the bubbles were just an illusion because in reality when you have hundreds on pupils in one bubble the whole system is ineffective and it defeats the object of having bubbles.

The school seem to have accepted that following the guidance was making life harder for everybody involved, for no educational gain, or proper protection from the virus. Bubbles, "social distancing" in classrooms and only wearing masks in corridors are actually just smoke and mirrors to make it look like the government are doing something to protect schools.

My DS school is masks in corridors for communal areas/corridors mandatory, masks whilst sat in class optional thats for both pupils and teachers.
The school has been sectioned off for each year group each has its own entry point, start and finish time, lunch and breaks times and their classes are within the same classrooms, some days my ds can have 4 out of 5 classes in the same room. Yr 7 haven't been setted so have all their classes in the same room all day.
They are required to hand santistise on entry and exit of the classroom and theres extra hand sanitiser stations in the corridors. They wear PE kits all day to avoid changing on PE days.
School size is probably small for a secondary around 750 pupils. 2 cases we've been informed about since term started only close contacts sent home to isolate.

My school have done it that way right from September. We can't stagger start and end times because of buses (80% of our pupils get school buses, we have 24 buses at each end of the day). We can't stagger breaks and lunchtimes because the dining hall also serves as a lesson space in the afternoon. So we're pretty much business as usual with masks in corridors and cleaning desks/textbooks between yeargroups. We've only had one confirmed case so far and that was weeks ago. Obviously, we are very aware that if we get a couple of asymptomatic cases who spread it to others then we're screwed, but that would quite possibly still be the case if we were in yeargroup "bubbles".

Our yeargroup bubbles fall apart before school has even begun every day because of the buses, and siblings, and friends who meet up after school, and lift sharing, and no matter how hard we try to keep them apart at break and lunch a few always manage to end up where they aren't supposed to be (on purpose, this is not accidental). There are so many leaks in our bubbles that it just isn't worth the effort and disruption that it would have to try and keep the yeargroups apart throughout the day.

DC's school have done it that way since September as well. They have to wipe down desks at the end of the lesson and that's it. They do have year group specific break areas, but other than that, everyone goes everywhere. They have retimetabled and re-seating-planned to ensure that an individual student is only in close contact with the minimum possible. Student has recently tested positive and only about 40 others had to self isolate (which is way better than year group "bubble" of 240).

No announcements about any changes here, but it does seem now rather than year group bubbles being sent home it's now a much smaller number of students isolating.

Looking at the lists in the local news sites over the past few days though, where a couple of weeks ago it was one case in each school it's now quite common to see 3, 4, even 5 positive cases. So while bubbles were a long way from perfect it does feel like theres more spread now.

In fairness there seems to be more access to tests locally so it may be that we just weren't seeing the other cases before now.

That's the way my school has done it all along.

Students move between lessons, as they would any other year. Only difference is that there is a one way system, students wear masks in corridors etc and desks are cleaned every lesson.

We've had a couple of cases, but no cross infection in school.

Wow it seems a bit pathetic to say they can’t do this that the other MsAwesome.
Our school have the same number coming in and out on busses, each year has a different finishing time so the younger ones have to wait on the school bus for 30 minutes for the oldest ones.
They have also set up separate catering areas for each year so whilst they ha e the same lunch times they each have routes from their classrooms to their break/lunch areas which mean they don’t come into contact with other years.
Yes the bubbles are compromised by travel and siblings but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to reduce contacts.
In our school there has been lots of feedback from all ages that they like mixing more with their own year group. One y10 girl told me she had met several people she hadn’t even realised were in her year due to the way the school streams pupils.

Christmas I don't know where I said we're not trying to reduce contacts as much as possible. We are. Having staggered start and finish times would increase contacts, because there would be over 1000 pupils waiting at the bus bay for the last yeargroup to finish!! That's a heck of a lot more contacts than passing those same people in the corridor on the way to lesson. We have specific times for each year to go for lunch, and all tables are cleaned between sittings, but that's how we normally work. There's only one dining hall and one area for packed lunches, because that's all the space we have. If we had more spaces we'd be using them. It's not a free for all, it's a considered approach as to what will and will not work with our pupils and the space we have to work with. The plan with fewest contacts between yeargroups is actually the one that most closely resembles or normal way of working.

We are keeping with masks, one way systems and the school being sectioned into upper and lower. Keeping the marquees for lunch. Keeping temperature checks. Keeping hand gel / hand washing routine. Library remains closed. School fogged weekly.

No going back to normal otherwise what is the point of all the measures in the first place? Certainly as we enter the main cold/flu season it would be madness to regress.

Because bubbles mean nothing. When they send kids home bubbles don’t actually matter and they send home kids sat on their table.