Ways to make schools safer without closing them

[noblegiraffe]

Because I am so bored of the misrepresentation and lies going on on this site by people who shout down anyone who raises concerns about the current situation in schools as 'wanting schools to close indefinitely'. The people lacking in imagination who seem to insist that either things carry on as they are (with hundreds of thousands of kids not in school due to the spread in infection), or that schools close and there's nothing in between that can possibly be done to make things safer.

So here's my list, mostly copied from another thread:

We could start with an effective test and trace system, which we were told was essential for the safe re-opening of schools, but we opened without.

We could move onto making sure that all classrooms have windows. And then that those windows open. A national WEAR A VEST campaign to stop parents and kid complaining that it's cold. Germany have just invested a large amount of money in improving ventilation in schools, the UK should follow them.

Masks. Why do the government keep insisting they're not needed in corridors (from the comfort of a socially distanced parliament) and that it's impossible to use them in classrooms when the rest of the world seem to manage? What lessons can we learn from the international experience?

Marquees/covers on the playgrounds so that kids aren't inside for wet break. I know that wet break caused a whole year group to be sent home in a local school as it was uncontrolled indoor close contact.

For it to be mandatory (not simply 'where possible') that classrooms are arranged so that teachers are 2m from the kids when teaching. If smaller class sizes are needed to facilitate this, then solutions must be found even if the government needs to pay money for bigger spaces.

Parents to be supported/sanctioned to avoid kids being sent into school with symptoms or when they're supposed to be isolating.

The government to update its list of symptoms for children requiring a test to include the main ones that children experience, instead of the adult symptoms which they mainly don't.

Regular testing in schools, particularly when there are outbreaks, to enable more effective isolation.

Vulnerable kids to be allowed the option of staying at home. Schooling could be provided by Oak Academy (why spend millions on it and not use it?) and the army of 'catch-up tutors' to provide feedback on work (or ECV teachers also permitted to stay at home)

Any other suggestions?

Things like church halls etc might be larger than classrooms, but we would need a church hall per class (if no existing classrooms are big enough)

Not necessarily if you have more than one class in a year group. The hall could have a bigger class enabling smaller class sizes in the smaller class rooms.

I wonder whether you could get Marcus Rashford to support any of this as a community initiative

Football skills from footballers maybe as part of the outdoor initiative?

At my nephew's school they are all wearing masks between lessons in communal areas, and every child is wiping down their desk with sanitiser after each lesson. They are also supposed to sanitise before and after taking off their mask.

I think space and number of staff is the big problem and I think all the ideas about how to overcome these are interesting. But I think it is also OK for people to query an idea. That's how the ideas progress to become workable, as each potential difficulty is resolved.

It might work better for some schools than others.

Could the tutor scheme maybe more tailored towards schools that cuold recruit outdoor space?

Optional home learning/tutoring with class sizes capped is an obvious solution.

Please don't put me down for a shift in the willow-weaving tent, I'd really rather be teaching maths in a portakabin

I like all of Triangularbubbles's ideas.

I also think we are being massively unimaginative in not employing all the currently screwed extra-curricular bods into some kind of week on, week off solution as why WhyNot suggests above.

One week of in school core and humanities/IT/MFL lessons swapped with one week of music/dance/drama/sport/forest school/practical problem solving in sports centres/stadia/community centres/parks etc. This would be for all of primary and years 7-10 at secondary. GCSEs reformed so that current year 10 are examined on core and just a few other subjects (or continuous assessment). Years 11-13 in school full time OR part time blended with online learning.

Mask advice from the DoE

Schools and colleges will have the discretion to require face coverings in indoor communal areas where social distancing cannot be safely managed, if they believe that it is right in their particular circumstances.
Examples of where education leaders might decide to recommend the wearing of face coverings - for pupils, staff and visitors - in communal areas of the education setting include:
• where the layout of the school or college estate makes it particularly difficult to maintain social distancing when staff and pupils are moving around the premises
• where on top of hygiene measures and the system of controls recommended in the full opening guidance to schoolss and FE colleges and providerss, permitting the use of face coverings for staff, pupils or other visitors would provide additional confidence to parents to support a full return of children to school or college
In primary schools where social distancing is not possible in indoor areas outside of classrooms between members of staff or visitors (for example, in staffrooms), head teachers will have the discretion to decide whether to ask staff or visitors to wear, or agree to them wearing face coverings in these circumstances. But children in primary school do not need to wear a face covering.

@herecomesthsun

I wonder whether you could get Marcus Rashford to support any of this as a community initiative

Football skills from footballers maybe as part of the outdoor initiative?

That would be awesome. Local theatres forced to close could be drafted in for theatre skills. Ooh getting excited just thinking about it!

I mean: Could the tutor scheme possibly be more tailored towards schools that couldn't recruit outdoor space?

I know what the mask advice is, headstrong and I think it's bullshit.

@noblegiraffe

Please don't put me down for a shift in the willow-weaving tent, I'd really rather be teaching maths in a portakabin

That's ok Noble, you can be part of the "week in" school team I'll be out in the parks doing biology field studies, and making water rockets and trebuchets for physics

Yep, this week on week off (or half week stuff) has been my suggestion for ages. It would be SO good for kids to be taught sports by people not like me for example!

@Ontopofthesunset I'm with you on that.

@noblegiraffe why is it bullshit?

But I think it is also OK for people to query an idea. That's how the ideas progress to become workable, as each potential difficulty is resolved.

👏🏻

While portakabins in principle are a good idea, there aren't enough of them sitting around to make any kind of dent in the number that would be needed. They also need power, water and wifi as a minimum, if you want extra toilets they need foul connections as well.

I put portakabins on school sites, often at short notice, and the time and effort it takes for each site is considerable. The last short notice one I did took a month to get 4 classrooms up and running.

It could work, but even if the money was there, do not underestimate how much time is needed to do this. Particularly 2 storey ones - you would need a ground investigation, appropriate foundation design, services design, contractors to put it in. It is a HUGE undertaking and nowhere near as simple as "just stick some portakabins in"

what about disused / under used offices?

conference centres?

empty shops?

could the army come in and put up tents on school fields?

Personally I think it would be fantastic if the curriculum was overhauled and more time was given to sport, practical experiments, circus skills etc.

One reason I picked the school i did was because they balance the academics with Forest school, yoga, choir, coding etc.

@ohthegoats

Yep, this week on week off (or half week stuff) has been my suggestion for ages. It would be SO good for kids to be taught sports by people not like me for example!

I've said all along that we really should seize this opportunity to actually shake education up for the better. Try things out that are not part of our traditional school experience. We could truly make schools so much more inclusive, all round development, just, just BETTER. I get so despondent about all the students that cannot access the academic part of school for a variety of reasons. We fail them by expecting them all to suit the "sit at a desk and write" model. This could be so good for so many.

Because, headstrong, it means that masks are worn in corridors and then removed when heading into poorly ventilated and packed classrooms.

The fact that classrooms aren't defined as 'communal areas' is madness.

In addition, the DfE only requires masks to be worn in communal areas if there is a local lockdown in effect (they forgot this when introducing tiers) but the minimum risk level is 'medium' for the country, new guidance has been released about airborne transmission, and the mask guidance hasn't been amended to take it any of it into account.

Why, for example, if part of a year bubble has been sent home due to a case, are the rest of the year group not mandated to wear masks given what we know about asymptomatic cases?

if you want extra toilets they need foul connections as well

Festival toilets don't.

@Remmy123

I don't see the point of her threads .. instead of having endless threads with the same 'ideas' maybe write to your local MPs? Because let's face it- no one is reading on here that can change anything!

Really? You can't see the point in a thread calling for ideas to enable schools to remain open safely? Are you honestly sure you can't see the point in that? I'd be embarrassed for you if that's true.

So can schools not ask for masks to be worn? DB has been wearing one since Sept.

I don’t cope well with cold. If I was told I was expected to keep windows open all winter I wouldn’t be going to work
Odd, @NailsNeedDoing . I don’t cope well with cold but if anyone tells me to shut my windows I won’t be going in. I’d rather be cold than have Covid, thanks.
I’m not entirely convinced about the German solution, either. My windows don’t open much. I feel like they would have to be able to open fully for that to be effective. Ours are limited by health and safety...ironically.