Secondary schools are stuffed, GOVERNMENT ADMITS

[noblegiraffe]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55265098

Mass testing for secondary school pupils in worst affected areas.

A lot of independents are going through to 17th this year.

It's totally irrelevant to the vast majority of mumsnet what Eton choose to do.

I assume a lot of the international boarders will have gone home early. I know they have in a local boarding school, partly so they don’t get caught having to self isolate over here for Christmas and also if they have to quarantine when they get home and miss Christmas at home as they are in a quarantine hotel.

Schools staying open next week has exceptionally little to do with children’s education, as large numbers of parents at our school who can are voting with their feet and have said they will not be sending their children into school, so will be getting zero education for their children, as that is DfE policy - no work provided unless isolating due to direct contact with a positive case, because those children should be in school. Schools staying open next week is about childcare for working parents and keeping vulnerable children away from dangerous parents for a bit longer. It’s ridiculous to argue next week is to do with actual education. For a week, online education is perfectly adequate - in fact, if the whole school were closed, would be superior to the education that can be provided when different children are working in different ways, some in person, some live at a distance, some watching recordings, and some not at all because they have simply refused to come in.

So, it’s time to admit schools are being asked to be mass childcare facilities with an education sideline.

State schools don't have the option to break up early or go home early like Eton and independent and boarding schools.

Private schools should follow DfE guidelines too

@ineedaholidaynow

Private schools should follow DfE guidelines too

They do.

@middleager

State schools don't have the option to break up early or go home early like Eton and independent and boarding schools.

No, because they aren't independently run and funded.

@ineedaholidaynow

Private schools should follow DfE guidelines too

We do. Being able to close a few days early for the holidays is the only place we can deviate from what state schools are doing. (And schools can only get away with that if parents are happy with it). I know there's one poster who posts about how her school is fine but actually the majority of independents aren't much better off than state schools. We still have to follow the DfE rules, we can't wear masks in lessons, can only send home pupils sitting next to infected case. Boarding houses are a big spreader, especially with weekly boarders who go home at weekends and bring covid back with them. Schools have lost fees so we have no budgets either (I'm not allowed to buy textbooks and we can't afford supply so use all our PPA time covering). We are cleaning between lessons. The only thing we have different really is I have 25 in a class instead of 30 - but since I have a tiny classroom I'm still not 2m away from them. So parents who think your kids' private schools are safe - it's very unlikely. Other than maybe a couple of really posh schools, we aren't in a much better position than the state sector.

@noblegiraffe very well said, as always.

I am a teacher, with dc in both a primary and a secondary state school in the north of England. My primary age dc was sent home yesterday; school is closed today and tea ages have told parents that there will be no fines if we don’t send them next week. There have been 10 of the 15 school bubbles collapse in the past 10 days, with some staff gravely ill as a result of catching the virus from pupils.

I am clinically quite vulnerable and incredibly concerned for the health of myself, my children, my colleagues and students.

Behaviour across the school in which I teach is horrendous, staff are exhausted and we are running at around 70% capacity. My Year 11 students are terrified of what will become of exam season and it breaks my heart to not have the answers for them.

I am devastated that the profession which I once loved has reduced us to this. We have been vilified in the press, parents on here have constantly bemoaned our flaky attitude to work and the government have repeatedly lied about the risks to the health of us and the children we care for. I can’t (I can, actually) believe it’s come to this.

As a Londoner I am infuriated for the rest of the country, particularly the north, that this mass testing in schools is only being rolled out because the Govt doesn't want us to go into Tier 3. I don't blame anyone for saying it's unfair, because it really is. London really should've been put into Tier 3 when we came out of the second lockdown; instead, we'll be in Tier 3 for one week then it's a free-for-all for Christmas. January is going to be carnage. So many more lives are going to be lost.

And it’s still not been picked up by the media this morning... Why?

I don’t think government ministers have children schooled in Barking or Newham!
@oneglassandpuzzled
Perhaps not, however the majority of secondary aged children travel to school independently in London, fee-paying and maintained schools alike, on the tube and buses sitting by other commuters coming in all directions across London.
Perhaps you have more information about infection rates in independent Vs state schools, but I can only use my knowledge of the schools I know.
My DS finished prep in the summer, and is now at a state grammar, where he has had to SI once since September, most fortuitously over half term. My neighbours' DS who attends my DS' previous school has had to SI three times in the same period. DS' former classmates have had a range of periods of SI from zero to four- there does not seem to be much correlation between the type of school and number of SI periods, so I am concluding that in our area the infection rate are broadly similar in independent and state schools alike.

My DH's private school is the worst affected school in the whole county.

What is different though is the money the school ahs been able to spend on wi fi and technology for teachers to use and that fact that all the children have facilities and space at home for remote working. And the fact that they were due to break up today anyway, so have a built in period of Christmas protection.

But in terms of Covid private senior school no more have magic walls than state ones.

Piggy is there generally more space in the classroom?

I agree that sector is unlikely to impact that much as you say

@SquitMcJit

And it’s still not been picked up by the media this morning... Why?

Good question! Probably too busy with Brexit news. Or told to play it all down.

No. Classrooms are very small. They actually had more covid measures than min e(eg children not moving form class to class) I am actually inclined to believe that a private school's insistence (because fees) on keeping extra curricular going is its achilles heel.

Anecdotally, the schools I know of with most cases keep the kids in one rom for most of the day. I guess ventilation and spread are exacerbated.

DH's school ahs had many staff cases too. Lots of staff doing duty in heaving kids' common rooms. Big uptake of cooked dinners for staff and students. Lots of buses transporting kids from various schools.

@SquitMcJit

I'm not one for conspiracy theories but I'm starting to wonder if there is some sort of D notice with regards to schools. It's bizarre how quiet the media has been

My dd school take temperatures a couple of times a day,
Temperature at the gates you don't get in, whoever you are.
If you test positive at school you are sent home, but isolated until a parent collects.

Of course they have told the media to not talk about schools. It doesn't fit the narrative of keeping them open.

cantkeepawayforever
Honestly, I am SO angry.

Manchester? Leicester? Hull? Liverpool? Birmingham? Nothing to see here, move along...

London? HELP! Let's test the lot of them.....

The double standards are appalling.

Erm... they did mass testing in Liverpool secondary schools from early November. It helped a lot. Sorry if someone already said this, haven’t RTFT yet.

There are usually a few journalists lurking on mumsnet starting threads : they need to get over onto this one ( and other similar ones) and write about the conditions the staff are meant to be working in and have to do above their normal jobs such as contact Track and trace and trying to keep everyone safe. The children and the staff are being hugely let down, yet nobody seems to care.
My colleagues are so worried and dreading next week. I don't work many hours myself in my school , but I can feel the tension rising. It's a toxic atmosphere at times and some are so fearful of getting this virus despite all the platitudes.

No, because they aren't independently run and funded.

A lot of MAT academies are privately funded (partly I should say) and sponsored by private enterprises. Harris Academies for example.

@MarshaBradyo I don't have more space in my classroom - I have 25 in a class instead of 30 but my classrooms are smaller than in my last school.
Honestly, as far as covid is concerned both state and private (at secondary anyway) are suffering awful conditions and insane infection rates.
We've also lost so much in fees (because parents' businesses have gone under) that we are running on a shoestring.