Another u turn - London schools

[ByersRd]

All to delay opening.

Equally, there are many schools which border T3/T4 which is another disaster working to happen. When you unpick it, it doesn’t make sense.

It’s like a house of cards now.

Waiting*

And so last minute for everyone. Poor parents trying to reorganise on New Years Day, poor HT's who need to make decisions and communicate over the weekend and for teachers loads of last minute planning too.

Who makes a major announcement at gone 6.00 pm on New Years Day.

Lambeth council and likely others have lower rates than our tier 4 open primary’s

@JassyRadlett

As I've just said in another thread, if it's not safe for the children of London then it isn't safe for my children either.

No one is saying it’s about children’s safety though - it’s about reducing transmission routes.

I just wish they’d shut the primaries properly and not continue with the utter farce of remote learning.

Our school has already confirmed that they plan to go back to a couple of worksheets and a few white rose maths videos flung at us, with occasional comments on work handed in. I could weep for my kids when I see what other schools are planning.

Such a shame for you - I guess it's down to your individual school. when my middle daughter's bubble shut for a case last month they had 3/4 live lessons a day on google classroom plus extra work set... our school did a really really good job and they've communicated already to us and said they'll have similar for the whole of the school during this upcoming lockdown and will try and schedule live lessons at varying times to allow for siblings to share devices. I'm super impressed with how hard they're working in such a difficult situation.

@nancy75

Bloody daft to have shut some boroughs while those next door were open, not sure how they ever thought it was a good idea in the first place. The way they reacted to Greenwich before Xmas was criminal in my mind .

Unless you shut the whole UK there's always going to be a boundary of one open and not the next...

All Tier 4 will follow. Remember, It’s only Friday.

@ByersRd

And so last minute for everyone. Poor parents trying to reorganise on New Years Day, poor HT's who need to make decisions and communicate over the weekend and for teachers loads of last minute planning too.

Who makes a major announcement at gone 6.00 pm on New Years Day.

Absolutely. And the rates are still rising in the rest of tier 4.

I would imagine that for the London ones just announced that the heads would have prepared for this u-turn. It was inevitable

So it's all primary schools then? I looked on my childs school website, we are in lambeth, and it says that they are staying open. But I'm not sure when that that notice was put up. Cant have been in the last hour could it

@FrostedCranberries

So it's all primary schools then? I looked on my childs school website, we are in lambeth, and it says that they are staying open. But I'm not sure when that that notice was put up. Cant have been in the last hour could it

I doubt it. It doesn’t have appeared to of made it onto the daily Mail yet either.

It's all primary schools IN LONDON

Head teachers aren't going to have time to update websites yet!

Scrap that the Dm have it as the headline now.

Such a shame for you - I guess it's down to your individual school. when my middle daughter's bubble shut for a case last month they had 3/4 live lessons a day on google classroom plus extra work set... our school did a really really good job and they've communicated already to us and said they'll have similar for the whole of the school during this upcoming lockdown and will try and schedule live lessons at varying times to allow for siblings to share devices. I'm super impressed with how hard they're working in such a difficult situation.

Yes, and the total lack of consistency in provision is a major problem that increases the inequality caused by lockdowns. There should be a consistent approach across schools, not down to headteacher whim. Anything else is utterly failing our children.

And in our case it’s definitely headteacher whim. It’s not about access to tech or anything else. She doesn’t like the idea of live online lessons and she’s been very clear that we should be grateful for worksheets and links to videos, and also BBC Bitesize exists.

It’s not good enough for it just to be ‘such a shame’ for my kids and countless others.

All tier 4 schools should now delay.

Some tier 4s are really no where near as bad as London, and much fewer rates of the new variant.

My area is below 200 but we've gone into teir 4. In October it was 1000.

I imagine if the new variant takes hold we will have to though. (Not my school though as apparently sen will stay open no matter what. We will struggle though. )

I think it will hit here though.

@Thewiseoneincognito

All Tier 4 will follow. Remember, It’s only Friday.

Yep. Plenty of time for more u-turns before Monday. What a shitshow. How does Gavlar have the nerve to be seen in public.

We are Tier 4 but our rates are considerably lower than places nearby like Sheffield and Leeds in T3 and lower than they have been at other points this winter. I would prefer our primaries to stay open (I work in one).

No primary schools in Surrey closing, yet rates are higher than in many of the London boroughs that are. Doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/primary-schools-stay-shut-areas-19546087.amp

I wish I understood how they make the decisions. Feels like it’s inevitable that my kids will be exposed and potentially bring it home. Makes me angry that schools a few miles away in areas with lower rates are closing, but apparently families, school staff and communities in equally or greater infectious areas don’t count.

If it’s not safe at that level, then it’s not safe at that level, regardless of where you are in the country

I don’t see how it’s safe to close all London Primaries but allow others in tier four with high numbers to open! My children’s school has a Covid rate of 700+ out of 100,000 in its area. It’s ridiculous.

There is a petition: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/561988/signatures/thank-you

to close all nurseries and education settings until 15th January

I think London schools are a bit different to in other areas. They seem to be larger on smaller plots and children seem to travel further to their choice of school. Also more reliance on public transport. All things that make schools being open more problematic at the moment.

November lockdown brought our NW city rates down which were much higher in October but noone shut schools then. Tier 4 may well work again (it's lower here than the national average!) - please give it time and kids a chance to learn where they learn best. The government should never have put London in tier 2 and it's on them to figure out ways of providing education safely (has part-time even been considered?)

FFS just close all the fucking schools in Tier 4. And I say that as a parent who found juggling home school and work really stressful last time. But I want my child and my family to be safe. We are in Surrey too.

Just seen on the National Educational union that there holing an emergency meeting tomorrow and will be issuing new and urgent advice regarding opening primary schools.

Several London boroughs we're going to take legal action against them if they didn't close. It's nothing to with the rest of us being better or worse just that no body else is speaking up loudly enough. (And I'm not talking about people on mums et, Facebook, Twitter etc. I'm taking about the officials that need to if they went schools closed)