Statement in parliament this afternoon on 'reopening of schools in England'

[DownRightAmazing]

By Gavin.

I'm aware there are a million threads on this generally but this is specifically regarding the statement - any leaks/clues/predictions?

To state my own position: I think schools need to close to all except keyworker and vulnerable children. I feel it's obvious this needs to happen. My own two children are thriving at school and I'm not concerned about them at all - if their (primary) school is open, I will send them - but I worry for their teachers, any vulnerable parents of their classmates and of course the NHS.

My prediction (based on nothing): secondary schools blended/part time. Primary fully open. We are tier 4 fwiw and I disagree with opening schools in January...

If schools can't be made as Covid safe as other workplaces then of course they should close until they have been made so.

School staff have done enough. They should not have to risk their health further.

The children have missed too much school now. They should have opened up properly in the summer term and people would have been more accepting of missing school now, even for half a term.
To have missed the summer term when numbers were low and it was not flu season was the biggest mistake they made. I blame the councils and the teachers unions partly for this.
People will not accept any further loss to their children’s education.

@Didyousaynutella

The children have missed too much school now. They should have opened up properly in the summer term and people would have been more accepting of missing school now, even for half a term. To have missed the summer term when numbers were low and it was not flu season was the biggest mistake they made. I blame the councils and the teachers unions partly for this. People will not accept any further loss to their children’s education.

I completely agree about not opening in the Summer. The Unions really shot themselves in the foot with that genius idea.

Fines for parents is awful , but not surprising really. I guess they can't waive the fines as too many children will be off or won't bother to send them at all.
It's an awful dilemma for parents.
I know I wrote I would have kept mine off school , but I couldn't have afforded the fines for two of them so I'm sure I would have ended up sending them in , despite my concerns.

@DecemberSun schools are essential. They can not just be closed indefinitely. It is not the same as most other work places. By that stance hospitals should also be closing. As well as supermarkets.

I don’t think they ought to do different rules for tier 4 schools than other areas. How would that be fair when it comes to exams?

Even if they cancel exams and go on predicted grades you’d still get a big divide against those with extra weeks/months of teaching compared to others. Which won’t be fair either for this year’s predicted grades or for when those students go onto the next stage of their education and are behind.

@Diddlysquatty

Not sure why they’d make such a big deal about the ‘announcement’ if nothings changing? (I.e. primaries back, secondaries online for first week apart from exam years)?

I think the big news is what the TES leaked yesterday; Y11/13 will do remote learning next week, too.

That’ll stop the nhs from being overwhelmed.

@THATbasicSNOWFLAKE

Testing will be a shambles. We are leaving 11 year olds to test theirselves

It is a spit test for schools

Why wouldn’t an 11 year okd be able to do it?

I can't keep up me. Close the schools, schools closed too long, what about people's jobs, open the schools, now it's close the schools.

Next will be jobs again.

I don't think anyone can win.

I think it is wrong to assume that if schools are closed the children dont mix. They do, even more as there is no school to keep them busy. Playground for example, they miss other children so they play with random kid in the park. Teenagers still meet up and family/friends with children still meet up and they do it indoors.
That is the reality I see, ppl are just not following the rules, so in my opinion closing schools would just be a move to give in to those asking for them to close.
I think better move is to allow parents to keep their children home, scholls already have to provide some materials to those in isolation

Schools must stay open as far as humanly possible. It's a disgrace that any pub can open its doors whilst a school remains closed. My son is really struggling and I can't help him catch up effectively at home.

@MrsMiaWallis the government shot themselves in the foot. Schools couldn't have all year groups back when the bubbles were a maximum of 15 children. The unions really don't have any say in what happens, they just make a lot of noise.

[quote Butmiss]@MrsMiaWallis the government shot themselves in the foot. Schools couldn't have all year groups back when the bubbles were a maximum of 15 children. The unions really don't have any say in what happens, they just make a lot of noise.[/quote]
This! Wish people would stopped ignorantly blaming the unions they literally have no say.

The way this new strain was ripping through our high school the week before Christmas, coupled with the state of crisis in the NHS this week and the increasing positive cases, I think high schools at least will close. There would be no need for a statement or update if this wasn't the case because they had already put in place the plans the day before we broke up. So it will be different.
We have a large cohort of keyworker students in (or we did in March-June) Presumably they will have to be tested before they come back next week?

Our school head knows nothing - the trust knows nothing - they haven't been given any update whatsoever. They haven't been told when the tests will be delivered either.

It is a spit test for schools.Why wouldn’t an 11 year okd be able to do it?

No, it’s not.

[quote Butmiss]@MrsMiaWallis the government shot themselves in the foot. Schools couldn't have all year groups back when the bubbles were a maximum of 15 children. The unions really don't have any say in what happens, they just make a lot of noise.[/quote]
Fair enough. The government/councils then.

Many councils delayed the years that were supposed to go back for weeks and weeks. That was not a government thing.
My son (y1) went back three weeks later than directed by the government. All that wasted time waiting for the r number to drop. Then suddenly in the autumn term it doesn’t matter what the r number is. Makes me want to cry thinking about the time that was wasted then and he was one of the lucky years that did get to go back.

@the80sweregreat

Parents who are not happy about sending them back in should just keep their children home. I would if mine were now school age. It's not safe for the children or staff. However, I could have done this and many can't , so I can see how hard it is for people. Plus we need a working economy too to pay for the NHS. Tough call isn't it? I bet Gavin says it's all fine with ramped up testing etc and see how it goes! ..

We asked primary about this as her older sister has cerebral palsy and were told if school is open she must attend or we will be fined. Which we can't afford

I think the big news is what the TES leaked yesterday; Y11/13 will do remote learning next week, too.

Old news - schools were told this over a week ago.

I know the situation is ever-changing but its really not rocket science to think that the situation is not going to improve by Monday, and is almost certainly going to be worse in terms of post christmas infections, new variant spreading and deaths....
Its unfair for teachers, pupils and parents to announce changes at the very last minute. I know they want schools open so kids can access education and parents (of young children) can potentially go to work if their workplace is still open ....but if they gave a few days notice that gives parents and teachers (and employers if their employee has only hours notice that schools are going to close) time to plan.

This is from the Torygraph - which they are very leaky to.

"Delaying for a week is not going to be enough for the scientists. If we are going to do something then it needs to be for the whole of January," said a source.

They are trailing a full lockdown too

I think it will be unilateral Tier 4 and schools open from 18th for secondary.

We can afford fines but have children who don't want to lose their schools places. We are CEV. Very happy to home educate temporarily. Still stuck with this (in limbo for months)

@Didyousaynutella.
Sigh. Not this again.
Unions didn't do anything other than send letters asking for safety measures, which were ignored. Only in the magical land of the Daily Mail do teaching unions have any power.

And secondly, the reason that schools had different amounts and years of children in at different dates was because a) capacity. At that point bubbles were still limited to 15. This meant that each class needed 2 classrooms and 2 teachers (because 30 is the average class size and 30 divided by 2 is 15). Primaries cannot magically produce extra classrooms and teachers.this was pointed out at the time by very many teachers whowere ignored. b) local school need. Some schools were at capacity already with high volumes of vulnerable and at risk and keyworker children in. Every single one of my classrooms was already in use. c) some primaries chose to prioritise yeargroups that included high numbers of free school meal students, particularly low attainment or other factors d) some teachers were off ill. You know, with covid.

Then the reason the r number suddenly didn't matter in September was nothing to do with teachers or unions and everything to do with the government not giving a shit and wanting everyone back to work.

Hope that helps clear your misconceptions up.

@SophieB100

I think the big news is what the TES leaked yesterday; Y11/13 will do remote learning next week, too.

Old news - schools were told this over a week ago.

Really?

I thought a week ago schools were told that primary, SEN, KW and year 11/13 would be in from the 4th and everyone else from the 11th?

The testing is a joke. It's not even the administration of the actual test itself that's the problem, it's the logistics. If they want all pupils to be tested twice weekly, and pupils that are close contacts to be tested more often, they need space to do that. Where are schools supposed to hold all these students while they are waiting to take their tests and while they are waiting for the results? And why do head teachers, who have zero training for this kind of thing, have to be responsible for setting it up? It's so far from being anywhere in the job description.

DH, I and the DC work at or attend 3 different schools in the part of the country with the highest level of infection rates - over 1200 per 100,000. We have been very careful to mix with nobody at all over the Christmas holidays, just me going to the supermarket occasionally, but we'll be back to mixing in schools as normal from next week, exactly the same as the parts of the country where they have fewer than 100 cases per 100,000. I hate remote learning and would much rather be in school, but I can't see how the infection rate in this area is going to get under control if schools are open as normal.