Secondary schools minimising positive results

[gingerbread88]

I wondered whether this had happened in other schools/areas?
Our local senior school has an outbreak that hasn't been clearly communicated.

I agree minimising doesn't help and probably makes the situation worse.

I was in my local town yesterday and saw a group of teens hanging f around in a shops ailses, eating lollies and touching everything.

That's not good even without Covid!

The shops assistant told me they aren't allowed to challenge them.

Before Covid they would have been asked to leave for such behaviour - Ive seen it.

It seems that when we need far more social responsibility people say they can't advocate for that

They were supposed to. They failed to deliver i know. Bloody awful.

If I were the OP I would be inclined to tell the local press.
There's no excuse though for individuals not self isolating when they were told to. As for the teachers I think they should take union advice about their safety.

If I were the OP I would be inclined to tell the local press

Would you? Why? What do you think that would achieve?

@noblegiraffe

There is a government-funded online school

www.thenational.academy/

Govt could have stepped in with money for laptops for them.

They were supposed to. They failed to deliver.

That's good. But I think parents need to know their children can enrol for a few months and then still have their place back. In my area school places are a big deal.

Anyway I will stop derailing the thread....

Live streaming is ok for short periods of isolation but I guess I think children being educated remotely for a long time would need a tailored, interactive apparently.

@Noideawottodo

It is a bit off topic but I really really wish the government had used the time since March to establish a proper online school offering the national curriculum and different gcses for the main boards

I don't know why schools don't just live stream lessons for these vulnerable kids. Govt could have stepped in with money for laptops for them.

They promised us laptops. They told us how many we'd get. Then they cut the numbers and told us by email at 5pm last Friday. They're really good at making promises and really bad at delivering.

Live streaming is ok for short periods of isolation but I guess I think children being educated remotely for a long time would need a tailored, interactive apparently.

And I don't think Oak Academy covers A level syllabuses. So what would 6th formers do with exams coming up?

The only people who need to be notified of positive cases in schools are close contacts so they can self-isolate as appropriate.

Otherwise headteachers should absolutely be keeping this information quiet to avoid creating panic and confusion. The last thing we want is a situation where unions are pulling teachers out and parents keeping DC at home.

Personally I would stop publishing figures for school cases altogether. I would also refocus testing on those who need it most rather than wasting capacity on schools.

lol.

The last thing we want is a situation where unions are pulling teachers out and parents keeping DC at home.
Is this really how you think unions work????

No @Ecosse, the last thing we want is multiple vulnerable parents and school staff dying.

@Ecosse
that is the worst solution. We need transparency and we need to be able to decide based on facts as individuals.

It is very different scenario if from sept to now there were 3 cases in junior school - separate building, shared dining facilities OR
5 confirmed cases and 45 suspected cases in senior school.

But if we don't know we can't judge. And for people who are vulnerable relying on a HT who has no skin in the game (s/he is not the one ending up in hospital potentially, but the parent might) is insane. I trust our HT with my kid's education not his health. She has no knowledge about that, why would I?

We have 216/100,000 cases in the local area where we live and where school is. Population is 21,260. Yes, I want to know if the majority is from school or in the community.

@Augustbreeze

No *@Ecosse*, the last thing we want is multiple vulnerable parents and school staff dying.

And if the parents in this particular situation had took the advice to isolate their children when told too then it potentially wouldn't be happening! Instead too many people think they know better and decide not to follow advice and then somehow blame school for the increase in numbers rather than look at their own actions or lack of them in this case

How do people in a school work out who is a close contact of the confirmed case if no one knows who the case was? Seating plans are one thing, but there can be adult and pupil interactions that are not on the timetable

Asking schools to be open about the number of positives they've been notified of (the way universities are) is not asking them to do the enforcing! It's just information. It's correcting a misleading impression (that there were only a couple of cases in the last week school was open), and that's worth doing for its own sake, AND because it might lead to slightly better compliance from the parents who are currently doing the wrong thing. It isn't letting parents off the hook!

How do people in a school work out who is a close contact of the confirmed case if no one knows who the case was?

Obviously the HT knows...

@eeeyoresmiles

There is absolutely no reason for parents or even teachers to know how many positive tests have been recorded in a school.

The important thing is that close contacts are identified and isolated.

A running commentary simply leads to scaremongering and panic.

I do agree that vulnerable DC and staff should not be in school. In fact, I would reintroduce shielding on a voluntary and funded basis right through until March.

Well yes but my ht, for example, would not know which students I had a face to face conversation with (usually to ask them to put on their mask!) she would only know what is on my timetable. I would prefer not to rely solely on the student's memory of who they had been within a meter of.

would not know which students I had a face to face conversation with (usually to ask them to put on their mask!)

Did that take 15 mins? If not, you would not be a close contact.

Students at DD's school can no longer knock on staff room doors for conversations, unless booked in advance, and they are therefore diarised.

@Ecosse oh what a surprise another ridiculous comment from you. Of course parents need to know it says a lot about the school. For example one school near us has fully ventilated classrooms and kids learn in coats etc as a result. Other schools who aren’t being scientific have had a lot of cases. Parents need to be aware for a multitude of reasons.

(Scroll to schools)

english.elpais.com/society/2020-10-28/a-room-a-bar-and-a-class-how-the-coronavirus-is-spread-through-the-air.html

The 15 min face to face rule is unscientific (see above)

Baaaahhh that's not what we've been told, face to face contact at less than 1m counts. If you were at 2m the 15 minute thing would apply

@Slightlybrwnbanana we ask the student- so when parents phone up to tell us their child has tested positive we have an extensive questionnaire to go through with them, including did you have any close contact with any other adult/student outside of lesson time or lunch etc. Anyone named is then told to isolate

@Oaktree55

All schools in the U.K. are COVID secure. There is no evidence that the virus is being transmitted in classrooms.

There is evidence that some teachers and staff have been gathering in staff rooms and communal areas without socially distancing/ clearly this is a risk and heads need to be flanking down on it.