Letter from school 😕

[RollyPollyPudding]

Received a letter from school about the new COVID arrangements. The school is being excellent and doing everything they can but a line in the letter really has made me anxious- it reads that they are fully expecting the cases among the students to increase and therefore expect a high lifelong of absentees.
That’s really worrying, I know and understand it’s inevitable but just reading it in black and white has really made me nervous.

For context- she is in primary, 20 students( all in separate bubbles) in class and private school.

This is code for : expect the school bubbles to close a lot, so don't come moaning about childcare or make a fuss about instant pickups in the middle of the day, as you have now been warned!

[quote AldiAisleofCrap]**@Comefromaway* Hopefully if they are strict with keeping the bubbles separate and other mitigation’s it won’t spread.* I have read better jokes in crackers![/quote]
To be fair, it's much more likely that this will be possible at a small primary school, than in a large secondary school where it is also assumed that children will all keep separate from each other.

I feel like this is a joke. 20 kids total and 5 per class? Really? Maybe I misread it. How do you think we are feeling in secondary, with 32 in each class and teaching 6 of those classes of 32 a day? Bubbles (stupid word) mixing in buses, in corridors, jumping on each other/ hugging each other over lunch? I then go home to my family of 6. Five different schools. We had 509 kids and teachers with either positive cases or self isolating at the end of last term. Honestly, your teacher will be able to have about 5 metres between each kid. There is a slight cause for concern in this situation. You are lucky.

Welcome to the "real world," that the state school system has been experiencing for several months.

I think that's a bit harsh to the OP. I teach in a state primary and have fewer than 20 pupils in my class. They aren't all spread out because they are little and the guidance is that younger children aren't expected to socially distance.

Gosh - I didn’t expect so much anger.

No, it's 20 in a class further divided into 4 "bubbles" although that will only help ina limited way....

We had that sort of letter for DD's secondary in August! They have been followed by others imploring us to stop allowing sleepovers under the pretext of childcare bubbles and asking us to stay local and small over Christmas.

My reading of your letter is that they are reassuring you that they fully expect some children to be learning remotely next term (either because you have been asked to keep DC at home with the slightest sniffle or headache, or because a parent has covid, or some parents are shielding). They are then reassuring you that everything is set up for this to happen relatively seamlessly (so please do not ask for a fee reduction ).

Bubbles seem to have worked well at DD's secondary - there have only been a handful of positive cases (and a most of those seem to have arisen from others in the family getting ill).

Thank you @Subordinateclause some people are very angry..
It’s not an ideal scenario we are facing but it has affected all of us in different ways.

@DecemberStar that’s exactly what it is

I really fail to see what the issue is , if you have a child at any school then they are at risk of catching it however careful the school is because the school cannot police what people do outside of school .

Well dd is in independent specialist, 30 students in the school, her class has five students, her bubble is the whole of ks3 and 4 so roughly fifteen students. There hasn't been one case of Covid in the students and only two cases in the office staff. Dd's school is in tier three so think we have been very lucky. Students wear masks moving around the school and in transport, hand washing is done regularly throughout the day and temperatures are taken at each registration, extra cleaning takes place daily and as a Steiner school a lot of learning takes place outdoors as there are multiple outdoor learning spaces covered and heated.

@Bluewavescrashing

I think the bubbles are pretty useless if they're in the same room breathing the same air tbh. I spend 6. 5 hours a day teaching 28 5 year olds, serving them lunch, helping them with toilet accidents etc. We have them seated in rows in fixed spaces and have separate resources for pairs to share etc but it seems futile when we're all in there together all day.

Totally wrong.

I live in an area with the highest covid rates in England. Lots of primary schools here sent home whole year group bubbles due to one teacher or child having covid, and it was very rare for other children in the bubble to then come down with covid too.

I also know lots of families where one child had covid, but none of the rest of the family got it, even though they didn't isolate the child in any way.

The whole thought that bubbles don't work, so let's not even bother, still do play dates/sleep overs/parties etc is one of the reasons that covid rates are so high.

My post wasn't angry. I'm beyond that emotion at this stage of the game. I am currently somewhere between feeling resigned, despair and "who cares anymore?"
We were all jumping up and down about the (much worse) situations in our schools months ago. No one was listening and there were many private school parents on MN at the time sounding quite smug about the "safe" way their children were being catered for and the fabulous online resources their schools were able to facilitate.

Forgive me if, as a state school teacher, I am a little at your panic that your bubble is possibly about to burst.

As a teacher who has had covid and one positive case in my class, we have had to deal with constant isolations.

Just know schools are using precautionary measures religiously!

"Just know schools are using precautionary measures religiously!"

It's just unfortunate that most of the pupils aren't.

If you have a child in state or private school and you both work full time now is a good time to put back up childcare plans into place and back ups of back ups.

@Xenia that’s partly the reason for my panic. We both work full time and no backup. We have no family or friends for support so really anxious how we’ll get through this

I realise the whole situation is concerning, especially with the new strain, but in terms of number of cases the school isn't telling you anything you don't already know. They're not party to any special new knowledge about the virus.

You have two choices: keep your daughter off school, or try not to worry about things you can't control. (I don't mean that to be unsympathetic, just pragmatic.)

I wouldn't worry too much about the letter, Op. Sounds like your school has a very reasonable and responsible leadership team. The government could learn a few things from their response instead of bullying state schools into keeping their attendance rates up at ANY cost

Are you in the south west?

Just because you mention an area with a low rate but rising?

It seems like the new variant is starting to spread in (areas of) the south west- and it's possible (probable?) this spreads more efficiently in primary age children.

I think, unfortunately, if all the bubbles are in the same room, then it is likely the new variant could spread between them.

If your child has to self isolate (not just a school closure), you or your partner would need to take time off work to care for them, as you can't use a childcare bubble or childcare from outside the home- it is proper self isolation.

Obviously, I hope this doesn't happen, but it is increasingly likely.

@SansaSnark in Hertfordshire- the area I’m in was doing well even amid the rising numbers before we were put in Tier 4.

Sadly that’s not the case any longer

There are a lot of full-time working parents in the same boat as you who will already have had to deal with isolations and closures. 2 of the 4primaries in my town were completely closed before Christmas. With the new more infectious strain it's likely to be more and more schools that are infected. DH and I both teach full-time. When one of our primary-aged DC had to isolate we had to take unpaid parental leave. Unfortunately there aren't really any other options. We are fortunate enough to be able to absorb the loss of income but it is terrible for those parents in low-paid jobs as there is no financial support for this, unlike when low paid workers have to isolate from their jobs.

Genuinely thinking of keeping mine at home for a couple of weeks to see how the dust settles. And I say that as a teacher. We're currently tier 3 but if the new variant is as catching as the data seems to suggest I can't see it being long before bubbles burst - particularly now it's so much colder and rooms won't be so well ventilated.

Unfortunately, @RollyPollyPudding, the issue around childcare is going to become ongoing (if not for you, then for many) before this is all over.

In our secondary school, the year 7s have isolated three times since September - so six weeks in total. One isolation was over the half term holiday so the kids were off anyway so parents were semi organised for that as it was a holiday. But the other four weeks were during term time. And, being year 7, they are the ones that still need someone watching them to a certain extent and in certain circumstances.

Plus we've had three buses of mixed age groups having to isolate due to Covid students on the bus.

Before Christmas we had year 7, 9 and 10 in isolation. Year 8 had just gone back. In a three week period we had 1200 plus pupils in isolation for 8 positive cases. Plus the relevant teachers.