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Original poster

Why is covid ripping through secondary schools?

234 replies

noblegiraffe · 13/12/2020 20:44

As the press seem unable to find some photos of what schools actually look like at the moment, I thought I'd try to find some myself. They aren't current school photos but pretty much reflect the day-to-day.

1st is a typical classroom in terms of space. Fewer kids than normal though.

2nd is a typical corridor (except much cleaner). Yes they are wearing masks but they are also so close as to be touching. Note the kid with the mask half off, nose out, he has probably just been told to put it on by a teacher. What's unusual is that the kids all have a mask and none are being worn on chins. Also, they're on their phones. Tut.

3rd is what a typical break time looks like. Note the clumps of kids and the boys grappling. No masks, obvs.

Any ideas as to why secondary pupils are the most infected subset of the population?

Why is covid ripping through secondary schools?
Why is covid ripping through secondary schools?
Why is covid ripping through secondary schools?
OP posts:
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Anon12345678910 · 13/12/2020 21:58

Don't forget about crowded stuffy condensation filled buses, where they take their masks off and sit out of bubbles.... @noblegiraffe well done with the pics, you read my mind.

Why is covid ripping through secondary schools?
2020out · 13/12/2020 22:00

@SansaSnark

Some actual pictures of school corridors: www.thesun.co.uk/news/13033716/coronavirus-scotland-dundee-harris-academy-crowd/

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/worried-parent-blasts-scots-school-22581068

These are surprisingly hard to find, interestingly.

Good news though - both articles make it clear that those corridors are the teachers' fault.
tartiflette · 13/12/2020 22:01

@DogInATent

It's cheap childcare. De-funding of Sure Start and Early Years interventions has lost the momentum of building parenting skills. Investment in information technology, technology support staff, and training of teaching staff in effective use of technology has been cut for the last decade through underfunding of schools.

The government can't afford to close the schools because they've been progressively defunding the schemes that would have built the resilience in the general population to cope with closing the schools. They haven't invested in the technology and skills to universally deliver a high quality blended learning model, and they haven't invested to ensure that every pupil would have access to it if it could be delivered.

So of course it's rife in schools. We know it. They know it. They know we know it, but they aren't going to acknowledge it.

Excellent points.
Thunderpunt · 13/12/2020 22:01

@noblegiraffe do you continue to post thread after thread for some narcissistic reason.
It feels like you need constant validation.

RainMoon · 13/12/2020 22:02

It’s airborne, one person in a class has it and everyone is affected. Masks stop spreading, they don’t stop you catching it unless you are wearing a space helmet level PPE

Anon12345678910 · 13/12/2020 22:03

@Thunderpunt it's because the media are down playing the situation along with the govt... It's the only way of raising publicity about the shit the govt have set up.

BeigeFoodLover · 13/12/2020 22:05

@MrsHamlet

Wow, beige - he must be in very small classes.
They move about an entire block - his year has the English block and they are in classes of 16 now I think. He’s also in the ‘overflow’ tutor group (not totally happy about this as he has no set tutor, but he doesn’t care) where extras from each tutor group have formed another!

I have to say, they’re not perfect, but they appear to have social distancing in school and mainly lessons nailed.

Thatwentbadly · 13/12/2020 22:06

I saw the title and my eyes started rolling then I saw the name of the poster and realised it was from someone who knows what they are talking about.

I left teaching 2 years ago and secondary school +Covid really worries me. I can’t think of a few better ways to arrange time tables and teaching which while not ideal from a teaching point of view it would keep students and staff safer and in school for longer.

BeigeFoodLover · 13/12/2020 22:06

@Danglingmod

How on earth can there be room for a desk in between each child? Is his classroom the school hall? Gym?
Classes of 16, apparently!
JamesCracknelsBugle · 13/12/2020 22:06

@thunderpunt Do you have an alternative point of view to offer?

Ginogineli · 13/12/2020 22:08

Schools are morning the issue

It’s parents using family as child care

That should have been banned with support put in place

Kids don’t get I’ll that’s almost certain

So stop with the bubble crap as that’s the issue

I wouldn’t dream of letting teens anywhere near older family members

Ginogineli · 13/12/2020 22:08

Not

SansaSnark · 13/12/2020 22:08

Classes of 16 is impressive- can you expand on how that works in practice? Has the school employed extra staff?

If we filtered off 16 children in a year group to make an additional class, that would mean each tutor group lost about 3 kids, giving an average remaining class size of 27.

Is this is a private school? I just can't understand how they are making it work!

MrsHamlet · 13/12/2020 22:08

Wow - so they've somehow found twice the number of specialist teachers. We simply don't have the money for that.

BeigeFoodLover · 13/12/2020 22:09

@SansaSnark sorry, can’t quote - so hope this works to reply!

They are in classes of 16, their timetable has changed massively. Only 1 PE a week etc.

Just to confirm, this is a struggling school -not a leafy lane or private. I think they have the advantage of a shitty big old building and a relatively humble intake due to the area (PP % relatively high compared to other secondaries in the area.)

SansaSnark · 13/12/2020 22:09

To add, as well as not having the staff, we wouldn't have the classroom space to house an extra class per year group. Where are they being taught?

GleamingBaubles · 13/12/2020 22:11

Wow, classes of 16! That's half sized!
How do they even find all the extra rooms, let alone extra teachers?!
I was supposed to be doing some catch up small group work during tutor time, but could not find even an office spare once a week... The only free classrooms during lessons are when a KS3 group is not in their base room as they are doing PE. (KS3 classes currently taught mainly in a core group, apart from sets for maths and English).

2020out · 13/12/2020 22:12

[quote BeigeFoodLover]@SansaSnark sorry, can’t quote - so hope this works to reply!

They are in classes of 16, their timetable has changed massively. Only 1 PE a week etc.

Just to confirm, this is a struggling school -not a leafy lane or private. I think they have the advantage of a shitty big old building and a relatively humble intake due to the area (PP % relatively high compared to other secondaries in the area.)[/quote]
Sounds like an undersubscribed school. Mine is - it's rubbish generally because of funding (primary - class average of 20), but quite convenient for Covid distancing.

notevenat20 · 13/12/2020 22:12

Is it not simply that the other main sources of infection have been reduced because we are all in tier 2 and 3?

BlackeyedSusan · 13/12/2020 22:13

I can only comment on what I see from outside school.

two times to leave school: 3 and 3.15 only one gate. area around school crowded with cars parked on pavements on double yellow lines. kids not socially distancing on the streets closest to school. school buses. I think they have to sit in year group bubbles, but, you know school bus. gaggle of kids outside local shop. not wearing masks.

positive things: kids go straight to class. year groups have separate areas for outdoor time. (with about 250 others)

pupils are sat in house groups in class. dd is always next to the window.

kids don't wear masks. one in particular despite them having spare masks in school and being reminded to wear masks.

kids congregate on a narrow pavement at the bus stops.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 13/12/2020 22:14

@notevenat20

Is it not simply that the other main sources of infection have been reduced because we are all in tier 2 and 3?
No.
Why is covid ripping through secondary schools?
OP posts:
SansaSnark · 13/12/2020 22:14

[quote BeigeFoodLover]@SansaSnark sorry, can’t quote - so hope this works to reply!

They are in classes of 16, their timetable has changed massively. Only 1 PE a week etc.

Just to confirm, this is a struggling school -not a leafy lane or private. I think they have the advantage of a shitty big old building and a relatively humble intake due to the area (PP % relatively high compared to other secondaries in the area.)[/quote]
It's amazing they've made it work- and lucky that they've had the space to do it.

I'm impressed, but unfortunately, I don't think it's easily replicable.

Unfortunately, even our bottom sets tend to have more than 16 students.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 13/12/2020 22:15

My bottom set has 25 kids. Luxury.

OP posts:
BlackeyedSusan · 13/12/2020 22:16

I have heard that at one point there were six hundred pupils self isolating out of about 1500.