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?

@Ontopofthesunset

Unfortunately the empty spaces in London are mostly not close to schools. We have over 50 schools in our smallish borough and not one hospital so I'm not sure the Nightingale model is really transferable (ie we need lots and lots of empty space for schools and we don't even have enough space for the new schools we need), and I suppose I'm not sure about the H&S aspects of shifting large groups of children around. 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) with then all the staff of one school dispersed around all the churches. I do think the idea of marquees or mobile classrooms on school sites is interesting if the school has space. But again, most mobile classrooms aren't any bigger than normal classrooms so you'd still need twice as many staff. And a lot of mobile classrooms.

I wonder whether the Excel Centre / South Bank/ closed restaurants and sandwich bars?? have space?

Pubs should close before schools. Could pubs be used (with any alcohol safely locked away?

wine bars? cafes?

Maybe there could be some financial incentive for these places to help with their overheads

Maybe underemployed staff with degrees and clean police checks could, if they are interested and able, act as TAs?

Smaller numbers of children would, after all, be easier to manage

Remmy's just pissed off because she can't wang on about how I'm campaigning for schools to close anymore and she's going to have to come up with some new schtick.

Require the use of the NHS app for all staff (and students if they have a suitable phone) so that the tech can decide whether or not there has been prolonged exposure. We're expected to confirm that we were 2m away at all times despite the lack of space in classrooms, pupils forgetting to SD from us and crowding in corridors. Unreliable.

Totally agree, WhyNot and OhtheGoats.

The difference in non-Covid times is that I think it would be optimum to mix up the types of activities and learning across every day to suit all pupils. In the current situation, it would have to be blocks of learning in the different settings, particularly to enable limiting exposure for staff with a firebreak between each cohort.

@noblegiraffe

if you want extra toilets they need foul connections as well

Festival toilets don't.

yes. All the people running festival businesses. They have tents and marquees.

portaloos

on the school fields.

Ours are limited by health and safety...ironically.

I remember being stuck in a hospital room in one of the hottest weeks & of course the window didn't open & the radiator couldn't be turned completely off!

@headstrong27

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

It is at head's discretion in corridors. They're not supposed to be worn in classrooms.

"Face coverings could have a negative impact on teaching and their use in the classroom should be avoided." says the DfE guidance.

So you want them worn in classrooms? Pupils can wear them by choice I thought?

Your OP said Why do the government keep insisting they're not needed in corridors

Schools can ask for pupils to wear masks. Mine has now done so twice but I'm told I can't enforce it. Of those who were left, many were still not wearing them. The youngest will follow suit without decisive insistence that they must be worn.

Also there would need to be really tight safeguarding. But our village school has lots of parent helpers who till recently came in to do school clubs and golden time. Potential recruits and motivated by the desire to help their own children.

There are also a fair number of charities locally where children used to go for days out etc. They have buldings currently very under used.

oh and youth hostels, not much used in the winter

We have good ventilation, windows and doors open, lots of hand washing and wearing of thermals by staff. We also never see people outside of our bubble except at the end of the day. We still had to close our nursery just before half term with four members of staff positive. Hopefully it won't spread and half term will be a natural break.

We will have a number of children quarantined when we come back after family holidays.

There are no magic answers to this. I can't teach six year olds without looking at what they are doing. I just can't keep a 2m distance. I just have to do my best. It's all any of us can do.

@headstrong27, I'm referring to corridors, but are you suggesting that a classroom of 32 bodies, rotated hourly, isn't a communal area?

But our village school has lots of parent helpers who till recently came in to do school clubs and golden time. Potential recruits and motivated by the desire to help their own children.

If i'm regulated activity they would need DBS's

@headstrong27

But our village school has lots of parent helpers who till recently came in to do school clubs and golden time. Potential recruits and motivated by the desire to help their own children.

If i'm regulated activity they would need DBS's

They all got DBS checks to be allowed to work in the school.

but are you suggesting that a classroom of 32 bodies, rotated hourly, isn't a communal area?

What do you mean rotated hourly?
In a classroom I don't necessarily think masks should be mandatory, no.

@headstrong27

So you want them worn in classrooms? Pupils can wear them by choice I thought?

Your OP said Why do the government keep insisting they're not needed in corridors

My OP said

"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?"

Masks also tend to make you feel warmer - if lessons were in a very well ventilated area they would be less of an annoyance to wear from the point of view of heat.

@headstrong27

So you want them worn in classrooms? Pupils can wear them by choice I thought?

Your OP said Why do the government keep insisting they're not needed in corridors

We were specifically told in an all staff meeting at the beginning of term that students and staff were not permitted masks in the classroom by order of DfE. Plus that the DfE said that transitory passing in the corridors is low risk and therefore masks are not required. Therefore neither staff nor students are allowed masks. Clinically vulnerable students and tas are allowed visors.. The head is not an epidemiologist or a PH expert - he's an ex humanities teacher. How is he expected to make these sort of decisions to over rule DfE advice?!

What do you mean rotated hourly?

Different groups of children in every lesson.

But are they insisting they are not needed in corridors or not? And can children who don't attend because they are clinically vulnerable legitimately be fined?

Different groups of children in every lesson.

But that's not applicable to every school, for the ones that have no other options can they clean in between?

DFE say masks are not needed in corridors unless in a lockdown tier 3 area.

But are they insisting they are not needed in corridors or not?

Given that they haven't mandated them except in lockdown areas, that would seem to suggest they think they aren't needed. Because otherwise they'd mandate them, right?

Leaving it up to heads is pure handwashing.

You may not remember the day of the announcement about face masks, it was leaked to all the press that they would be made mandatory in corridors and it was trailed on the news all day. Then when the announcement came it was 'only in lockdown areas, do what you want elsewhere' reportedly due to pressure from Tory MPs rather than science advisers.

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.

Oh my goodness, YES. I am already sick of staff and kids complaining about the cold.

If we had the right spirit, of everyone working together, this could work well.

But- it wouldn't be uniform. Just as home teaching worked really well for some families and less well for others in lockdown.

So on line provision that was available to everyone could be uniform (and that would need to be as good as possible).

Then we would need to look at what people could do and could offer creatively.

And then see what gaps were left.