DfE- Secondaries not all back on 18th

[Lemons1571]

Just seen a tweet from the DfE. Secondaries won’t all go back on Monday 18th, there will be “local exceptions” like the primaries.

I don’t disagree with this, but omg, the “schools are open and safe” message is nothing short of incredible. Wonder if they’ll be the exception or the rule!

What a mess.

So does this imply that the primaries won’t be back fully open on 18th (not that I thought they would be btw). This does make sense, I said to DH earlier so primary kids could be off but secondary kids could be back- this evens it out at least I guess

I wouldn’t be surprised if none go back on the 18th apart from possibly exam years and even those I think either won’t start or will be sent home soon. Next few weeks are going to be grim. The pre Xmas sage meeting minutes make interesting reading. Very against secondary schools returning, dire predictions of death rates, etc.

So does this imply that the primaries won’t be back fully open on 18th

The ones that are closed from next week? Presumably that will be the case for a while I wouldn't expect them to reopen on the 18th.

It's all a mess, either schools are safe or they're not, they need to make a decision and either open or close all of them, this deciding which ones should or shouldn't open is just making it more confusing for everyone.

@covetingthepreciousthings as I said I’m not expecting them to be. I think it’s a Casey if theses ones are safe to open and these ones are not, but the government aren’t going to say it like that are they? They are entrenched in ‘schools are safe’ in a bid to gain compliance from parents whose schools are open

Does anyone know what percentage of primary schools will actually be open next week? Gav's statement suggested it was only a small minority that wouldn't, but the list of contingency areas contains huge swathes of the south east of England.

Have to admit I'd assumed it was a given that not all secondaries would go back on the 18th. Refreshing to be told this so far in advance!

@RedskyAtnight

Does anyone know what percentage of primary schools will actually be open next week? Gav's statement suggested it was only a small minority that wouldn't, but the list of contingency areas contains huge swathes of the south east of England. Have to admit I'd assumed it was a given that not all secondaries would go back on the 18th. Refreshing to be told this so far in advance!

I read it was 85% returning. I agree that GW made it sound like a much smaller percentage than 15%.

I can’t see how other areas are not going be in the same boat in a couple of weeks so I only envisage that 15% increasing

It's about 15% of all primaries according to BBC

"either schools are safe or they're not"

Depends how "safe" is defined, doesn't it?
Safe for the kids... "only 1 case per week of an adult getting it" = safe enough, I mean, nothing is ever truly totally 100% safe, is it, so the word needs a definition, hard to agree what that is.

Some schools WILL be safer than others though, so I don't think a one size fits all approach works. A rural school in Cornwall will be safer than a large school in a high infection part of Kent.

@Waxonwaxoff0

Some schools WILL be safer than others though, so I don't think a one size fits all approach works. A rural school in Cornwall will be safer than a large school in a high infection part of Kent.

But for that to work, there would have to be some clear way of stopping movement between areas. True, you're not going to get many people moving between Cornwall and London, but there are no barriers between Tower Hamlets and Hackney. There is only one way the data is moving!

@Waxonwaxoff0 of course this is true but the government won’t say it- they are still bleating ‘schools are safe’ but closing some, do they think we are stupid?

Barbie I agree that having schools open and closed in boroughs right next door to each other doesn't make sense, but I'm not a scientist so what do I know!