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Original poster

Can anyone explain the staggered school start please

158 replies

notevenat20 · 18/12/2020 09:21

What exactly is happening with secondary school in January? I read that children will go back on the 4th online and the 11th in person. Is that right? Is this for all schools including private schools? If DC are going to be tested between 4 and 11 January where will this be? Or will it happen after 11 jan when they are back at school? Generally confused...

OP posts:
BernardsarenotalwaysSaints · 18/12/2020 09:53

@ancientgran

Nobody up to and including the DFE know the answer to that yet. They will probably get round to telling your Head on either 25th Dec, 1st Jan or 3rd Jan at midnight. Shall we start a sweep? I'll go for 6 pm on the 3rd.
A lengthy document at 12md on 25th (enough that it'll take a good few hours to read but give little actual information), followed by updates each day until 6pm on 31/12. Then something that has been completely re-written at 5pm on 3/1.
Original poster
notevenat20 · 18/12/2020 09:54

What are the official holidays of a head? Is it 4 weeks a year or the school teacher holidays?

OP posts:
ancientgran · 18/12/2020 09:54

Nah the 3rd is a Sunday, can't have the Gov working on a Sunday, poor dears. Oh no, I forgot it was a Sunday so I've blown my chances haven't I?

Unless, and this would be a cunning plan worthy of Baldrick, they could get it all ready whenever their last day at work is and do an automatic time to send it out. Maximum disruption for schools, minimum disruption for them. I'm sure they could do it.

gingercat02 · 18/12/2020 09:57

Our school is closed now until 5 Jan so goodness knows what we are doing!

ancientgran · 18/12/2020 09:57

On a serious note as someone with grown up children I feel so sorry for how schools and their staff have been treated. I'm not seeing it first hand as a staff member or a parent but it sounds awful.

Perhaps humour is the only way to survive.

AaronPurr · 18/12/2020 09:57

Unless, and this would be a cunning plan worthy of Baldrick, they could get it all ready whenever their last day at work is and do an automatic time to send it out. Maximum disruption for schools, minimum disruption for them. I'm sure they could do it.

Eyes AncientGran suspiciously... You shouldn't have said that, you've just spoilt their plan 😂

ineedaholidaynow · 18/12/2020 09:58

I’m going 11pm on 3rd for the latest guidance, and then someone in DfE will spot an error in the guidance and will issue a revised one at 9.30am on the 4th

RMRM · 18/12/2020 09:58

The DfE are not fit for purpose. I feel so sorry for teachers, staff and the children.

I'm in favour of testing, I do not want my children tested by some random off the street. I do not want this to replace isolation of close contacts, which let's face it, has become practically meaningless after the DfE interventions anyway. It's why secondary schools are in big trouble.

Also, if they are online learning first week of January, why would I expose them to potential covid by sending them to school for a test in that week. I'm not doing it. We won't have been out for all of Christmas and New Year.

3littlewords · 18/12/2020 09:58

DS state school have emailed this morning only y11 ( and vulnerable and KW) children to return to school on the 4th. Y7-10 all working online that week and return to school on the 11th. Further info to follow about testing

AppleKatie · 18/12/2020 10:03

Any school who is telling parents today what is happening in Jan is mad, they don’t know what the guidelines are yet and the DFE will pursue legal action if they get it wrong and don’t backtrack. I wouldn’t believe any communication that comes out today.

ancientgran · 18/12/2020 10:04

You shouldn't have said that, you've just spoilt their plan Oh I do hope so. Love a bit of mischief. Do you think I might be on Gavin's hit list now?

TheGreatWave · 18/12/2020 10:09

Our school has said yr11 from the 4th and await updates from there.

SoWhatNo · 18/12/2020 10:09

What are the official holidays of a head? Is it 4 weeks a year or the school teacher holidays?

Going by the number of texts we've been getting from our head re school cases, presumably following at least a day's work tracking and tracing each time, throughout the week including weekends right up to Sunday evening, my understanding is that Heads get 0 holiday and indeed 0 time not working.

Schools have been completely shat on.

lonelyplanet · 18/12/2020 10:09

The final final guidance (which might be later amended) won't be published until after New Year as Gavin will need to have a much needed holiday with his family. So I'm going for 3rd.

Monkey1111 · 18/12/2020 10:11

I’m absolutely disgusted that the DfE have dropped this on head teachers the day before the end of term with very little detail.

School staff are already on their knees and now expected to sort out this shitshow before the start of term.

I have no problem with testing in secondary schools but the logistics need to be organised properly. They could have sorted this out weeks ago but that would have meant they were admitting that there is an issue in their ‘COVID safe’ schools that are magically immune to the virus. 😳

sarahC40 · 18/12/2020 10:20

Would love to know who is likely to volunteer to test the kids - I won’t be because I will be teaching year 11, desperately tying to cram in revision and exam technique, whilst developing and delivering online lessons for all other students (just like all other teachers). We can’t get invigilators for exams to apply in my school for paid employment, so can hardly picture people flooding in to test potentially infected teenagers - question of training, checks on who is applying and working on school premises and space constraints in Jan and Feb weather aside. Instructing conundrum for our knackered SLT to ponder over on their desperately needed Christmas break. Another bang up job from Williamson and the DofE

InTheLongGrass · 18/12/2020 10:38

@notevenat20

Oh, and I reckon 4.30 on the 3 Jan as the next announcement.

Why 4:30? Surely 11pm.

Got to give the poor, underpaid, overworked, government bods a chance to get out to their second home in a Tier2 place so they can have a drink in a pub after a tough week at work.
LadyCatStark · 18/12/2020 10:40

DS’s school have just emailed to say only year 11 and 13 will be in school on 4th with the rest of the years doing online learning until the 11th. It’s a state boarding school so I’ve no idea what will happen with the boarders Confused.

I call a 10pm announcement on the 3rd Jan with a leak to the press on 1st just so that teachers have to scramble to make plans, just incase, on New Year’s Day.

mrshoho · 18/12/2020 10:45

My child's head has emailed this morning advising of the new term arrangements. I could cry for her as she starts by saying that all schools received the official notification last night from dfe with their expectations. What a Christmas gift after all they have done to get to the end of term.

This part of the letter really expresses the frustration and uncertainty of what is expected though:

^The purpose of this staggered start is to facilitate schools to set up covid testing for all staff and selected pupils. I need to be honest with you that this will be a mammoth undertaking with very little guidance on how this should be done at present. The DFE have said that they will issue information to schools in the coming days. We await this information and will write to you with an update in the first week of the new term. If there are any changes to these arrangements I will write to you on the 4th January.^

I am disgusted by the way the government are treating schools.

Original poster
notevenat20 · 18/12/2020 10:47

Going by the number of texts we've been getting from our head re school cases, presumably following at least a day's work tracking and tracing each time, throughout the week including weekends right up to Sunday evening, my understanding is that Heads get 0 holiday and indeed 0 time not working.

Is there not a standard contract (but with variable pay I guess) for head teachers?

OP posts:
EnglishRose1320 · 18/12/2020 10:54

As a parent of a vulnerable child with an ehcp I've just had to call the school to let them know that ds has gone in highly anxious today, because he thought he knew the term dates and now he doesn't, he has asd and can't work from home. However I made it really clear to them that although I would need to let him know the new plan as soon as was possible I totally understood that they had this completely dropped on them and I wasn't expecting any answers now.

I really will fail to understand anyone who votes for this government again.

x2boys · 18/12/2020 10:55

I phoned school this morning they don't know yet and will Email me by the end of the day but they don't know the details🤷

AaronPurr · 18/12/2020 10:58

@x2boys

I phoned school this morning they don't know yet and will Email me by the end of the day but they don't know the details🤷
I'm curious why did you phone?
DecemberStar · 18/12/2020 11:01

To answer someone upthread re transport:

The guidance acknowledges that some students, when called in twice that week for their two tests, will have to use school transport. Therefore they will have to stay in school all day and do their remote learning from there just like the keyworker/vulnerable kids.

ancientgran · 18/12/2020 11:09

I know schools don't know all the details yet but just wondered is this a one off for them going back or will the tests be happening on a regular basis?

If they are being called in for tests the week beginning the 4th how do they know they will still be OK on the 11th.

Am I overthinking this? Probably as I don't even have children at school, although I fully expect exDIL to tell me she's working and I need to have GC from the 4th and make sure they do their online stuff, and feed them and presumably if they have it my DH will just have to SI upstairs away from them.

I'm tired of it all, if there was anywhere to runaway to I think I might do it.

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