The EARLIEST schools will open is 8th March!!!

[dingledongle]

I cannot believe this!

Stunned!

My kids have lost one year of school and are going to be paying for this for decades to come

As said previously plan for Easter anything earlier will be a bonus

@Porcupineintherough

Some children will be irreparably damaged

Yep. The ones who've lost parents for sure.

I agree- the most damaging experience for any kid is to lose a parent.

@Benjispruce2

Not at my primary.

The DfE and your LA won’t be asking for them. That’s what cancelled means. Do what you like at your school 🤨

[quote tapdancingmum]@marshabraydo the bit about how many applications he expects to receive once all the parents have passed their teacher training as they can apparently teach better than his staff.[/quote]
Oh right yeh I did stop reading early as it was going on and tiny writing. I don’t know sounds a bit irritating but one way to ask people to correspond well I suppose.

We had a letter from governors at one point re emails to school over government rules though which was well written. But maybe this one made teachers feel good idk

I think if closures need to extend much longer than Easter then education in general needs to change. Perhaps those who are really good at online learning could learn from watching YouTube videos, reading books to being able stay safe at home and the rest can go into schools with smaller class sizes.

I don’t think schools will be “safe” in March, April or indeed certainly not in September when hospital admissions rise every year anyway. Nothing will change.

“I don't think your kids will be paying for this for decades to come. Everyone is in basically the same situation.”

Not true. State-ed children only seriously affected. £300M of school “catch-up money” isn’t going to go far as it’s about £10k per school, so less than employing a third of one teacher for one year.

Children are falling behind. Parents are stretched to the limit. Academic, social and sporting capabilities are being eroded. Child mental health issues are soaring. Child abuse and neglect is going unchecked.

These costs are nearly all being borne by the young and the financial costs will be theirs too. There is no way out of the burgeoning debt problem aside from inflation or default. The route will be inflation and it’s already started.

Our children are paying the price, in every way, for something that is of negligible risk to them, and is very low risk to their parents who are generally under age 60.

The liquidity issued by the Fed, BofE and ECB is flooding into assets creating massive asset price inflation, so the rich get much richer and the average person loses their job and can’t pay the mortgage.

Taxes will rise to pay for it, but not before the wealthy pop their massive gains into foreign tax-avoidance schemes and havens, so the middle and working class will pay. We are witnessing a massive transfer of wealth from the average person to the already wealthy.

And our children will pay the price of that for years and years to come, with lower attainment, lower living standards, higher taxes, and an ever-increasing elderly population burden.

Schools need to re-open. The money should have been spent on targeted protective measures for the Covid-vulnerable instead of f*cking our economy and future.

Not official assessment but secondary schools want them and for internal progress assessment at primary level. Not sure what your attitude is for.

[quote Parker231]@MarshaBradyo - I thought the letter was brilliant. How good for teachers to have such as supportive head.[/quote]
Agree.

[quote Maryann1975]**@FreekStar* Nobody's children have lost a year of school*
Maybe not a whole year then, but home leaning was very patchy and largely non existent For lots of children between March and September. Lots of bubble closures between September and December, again, home learning wasn’t always ideal in those circumstances and I’ve read about children who were sent home several times. And then no school this term until March.

That seems like Pretty much a whole year to me. All schools are not equal in how they have implemented home learning and not all children can adapt to learning from home as easily as others can.[/quote]
When I read posts like this I honestly despair. They are YOUR children! It’s your job to do your best by them. If learning was so poor from March to September then you needed to step up. Even if you are working full time you have weekends, days off and holidays. You could have had them doing a few hours work every day you weren’t working, right through the summer holidays.

I did..and so did a lot of parents. They didn’t just whinge about all the lost learning, they did something about it. My children were working 6 months to a year ahead when this all started, they are now 1.5-2 years ahead. Did that just happen? No! It was dedication to their learning over the holidays and every day I could spare. It was working to get them on board with it as well. Anyone can buy appropriate workbooks for their children, use oak academy etc. If children are behind academically then maybe some parents should have stepped up more.

I haven’t told my DC

I’d hate to think of Dc teachers getting any off messages. They are all excellent. I doubt they do, but hope not.

Im so glad to have a date to focus towards, it is really really helpful and I just feel so much calmer as it was the uncertainty that was stressing me out. To know it is at least 5 weeks means I can now imagine that, destress things and focus more on family time and just feels less pressure as we wont find out the day before that we are going back to school or not. Im just so glad to know something, it was the lack of respect and uncertainty that i found hard. At least we are being told something. This is good. Its only 5 weeks. And there is plenty of chance for activeness for children, its wonderful to still have the parks! Yep, Im just happy to know!

My family and I are struggling so much in this lockdown. But as much as I hate it, I support the closure because (difficult though it may be) loss of education can be corrected with time and effort - loss of life cannot.

Sorry if this has been asked before but I'm genuinely confused. If schools are such a 'vector of transmission' why were infection rates skyrocketing in late December and early jan? Kids finished school on 18th december. Surely if they were such hotbeds we would have seen a clear dip in infections in the new year? And there is no way people meeting with a handful of family members over Christmas was anywhere close to the number of contacts kids have in school, before anyone pipes up with that!

I can't believe anyone is surprised by this announcement. I also think very few schools will be opening before Easter holidays.

@Benjispruce2

Not official assessment but secondary schools want them and for internal progress assessment at primary level. Not sure what your attitude is for.

Maybe read your posts? I said SATs were cancelled, you said there are still TAs, I said they were cancelled too and you said not at your school, which was just a pointless answer.

All in a debate about whether Y6 have to be first back - if internal TAs are your only reason, it apples to every other year group also.

Stupid debate.

@scully29
The 8 March date is the EARLIEST date - it's not THE date. It could well move further into the future.

@camelfinger

I think if closures need to extend much longer than Easter then education in general needs to change. Perhaps those who are really good at online learning could learn from watching YouTube videos, reading books to being able stay safe at home and the rest can go into schools with smaller class sizes.

I don’t think schools will be “safe” in March, April or indeed certainly not in September when hospital admissions rise every year anyway. Nothing will change.

Yep, I think there should be some choice and flexibility

Dayofpeace you make excellent points. I think I'm reaching the point where I've had enough. We're not all in this together. I think the final straw was the retired lady shouting at my children this afternoon to shut up when they were playing in the garden. Might be for her benefit that we're all locked down (as she's statistically more at risk due to her age) but it's certainly not for ours as a family, and for her to begrudge them playing outside when their lives are on hold has tipped me over the edge. I realise I'm projecting after a crap day

I was not surprised.
I don't believe they will go back then either.

@Royalty2k

Boris did say they will be helping Schools to help Children catch up on the lessons they have lost

Johnson says (lies about) a lot of things - not sure what your point is here, there is no plan or guarantee that the government will do anything to help with this..

@Littlewhitedove2

I see *@starrynight19* so your children didn’t have multiple isolations in the autumn then? They are fully engaged with quality online learning first lockdown and this lock down? Right, that’s bully for you and your kids. One of my DC will have had only 9 weeks in school for a whole year. You really can’t call working ‘online’ a substitute for school. It really isn’t. How can my DD learn to play music, work in dance and dance groups, use school art and textile and dt equipment, play sports or conduct science experiments at home? It’s very dry and unmovitating staring at a small laptop screen day after day. Completely different from school. Last year in Y6 she got nothing. Well almost- the work set took 2 hours and that was a whole weeks work. That wasn’t marked or any feedback given. Brilliant! Yes this is good schooling isn’t it? Why don’t we all go and live in the land of make believe

If you had read my post my y11 child isolated four times. No one had quality online learning in the first lockdown as the curriculum was collapsed as directed by the government. At no point did I say online learning was a substitute for school. I am certainly not in the lane of make believe. I am realistic about the prospect of continuous isolating and bouncing in and out when bubbles keep popping if schools open whilst the infection rate remains high. Fwiw my dc are all working at home online whilst I teach in school full time to kw / v and also those at home so I feel I have a pretty good grasp of real life right now thanks.

I know its the earliest date, they dont have crystal balls, but that fact that they wont leave us hanging till the end of half term before saying whats going on is just so much better!

I'd like to know how he'll help my two year 10s in time, one of whom spent 10 weeks having to learn remotely between Sept and Dec due to rampant Covid cases in school.

It wasn’t unexpected. Why are you stunned? Where have you been?!?! And yes it’s rubbish as they haven’t had much in a year. BUT it’s far better than the alternative! And children will recover much better than us adults.