Surely it should not be beyond the wit of mankind/the DfE...

[drspouse]

to find large spaces to hold schools in that mean they can be socially distanced and/or in rotas?
Surely?
My DCs' schools are quite close together (primary but two different schools) and one is opposite a closed (well, distance learning) college. There are 2 secondary schools within walking distance and you could easily fit all of the primary years 4-6 plus half of the secondary schools into the college classrooms at 15 per regular sized classroom (or a whole class of 30 in a lecture hall).
Then the remaining pupils could socially distance and years R-3 could split into half sized groups (given we don't think they are very infectious but they are poorer at socially distancing and more likely to run riot on a college campus/break a village hall).

It would require the DfE to get their act together and provide:
Individual technology for the secondary school pupils and a classroom setup for the primary teachers plus portable equipment for the primary teachers.
Minibuses from each village/town area for each year (e.g. you'd have Year 7 Lower Wallop bus and Year 8 Hill Estate Bus) that serves the secondary school pupils (to get them to the college without being together on a bus and IMPORTANTLY to get them home again without congregating all together in town.)
DBS checks for all maintenance/caretaking staff on the college campus and in any other halls used.
Weekly PCR tests for all staff and ditto all secondary school pupils unless exempt.
Employing a full time TA per primary class of 30 so that half of them could have the TA and half the teacher and then swap over.
Mobile connections for all secondary pupils (where it's not e.g. a college) and for primary teachers' equipment.

What else have I forgotten that is actually just a matter of money not impossibility?

The primary school my DD is in also has 2 church halls in walking distance and there are others around and about.

I know not ALL schools could use other halls but surely it's better to send SOME children back rather than NO children back?

What are you proposing to do about secondaries once pupils are setted and doing different options?

They're not in groups which can easily be divided, as they can be different for each lesson if the day

As well as the space, there is the issue of who would staff smaller groups though?

A lot of primary classes, probably the majority, do not have a full-time TA these days!

I have said the government needs to fund TAs. It's a matter of money and of will, for that part.

And what would be the advantage of all of this?

What would be the point? What would all this be for?

You have dimdd Ed sort of empty palace near you and you want to set up some sort of giant mega school? To what end? What for? Sounds completely pointless to me. We have school buildings.

Where you going to find enough empty spaces for millions of kids?

@RoseAndRose

What are you proposing to do about secondaries once pupils are setted and doing different options?

They're not in groups which can easily be divided, as they can be different for each lesson if the day

The classes were sitting still and the teachers going round them, before Christmas, if they take the biggest halls/lecture theatres/cinemas they shouldn't NEED to be split up (easier to split primary classes I agree). So that part has already been worked on. In some colleges teachers move from campus to campus - again we need more teaching staff so they are not spending all their prep time going across the road to the empty hall where year 7 are - which again is money (though I am aware it's "qualified teachers" in some subjects not just money).

I have a lot of respect for TA's, but their role should be quite different to that of the teacher, though I know they are often used as stand ins. I'd not be happy with my child having a teacher only half the time - there is a reason they have to qualify as teachers. The online learning our local schools are providing is great this time and is preferable in my view to this suggestion.

Yes! Some classes eg drama, pe, music and sciences (labs) need face to face. They are important parts of their gcse curriculum.

I’d welcome a rota to facilitate this. Some online teaching could be dropped to help with teacher timetables.

Where would you get all the TAs from? Most TAs work with children with sen and they would still be needed for them.

Assuming money was no object and staff could be found and DBS could process at faster than the speed of light speed, not all towns/villages have suitable space for all the children that would need it. Why should some children be able to return when others can't? How would you prioritise a space that would hold children from one primary school when 4 schools need it?

By they time they set all this up we'll have all been vaccinated and schools will be back to normal.

What are you on about? Really ? We HAVE. School buildings. What would all this be FOR?

Hinestly, it sounds completely mad and utterly pointless

@Rowenasemolina

What would be the point? What would all this be for?

So the pupils can socially distance and the teachers can be safer. Was that not obvious from my OP? Or did you not read it?

@Interweb

By they time they set all this up we'll have all been vaccinated and schools will be back to normal.

I think this is probably the truth. If they'd started the ball rolling on this last time around we might have avoided closure for a second time though. It was something the unions asked for last summer to avoid rotas.

@Interweb

By they time they set all this up we'll have all been vaccinated and schools will be back to normal.

We don't yet know if the vaccine will reduce transmission in schools even if all the teachers are vaccinated, and there's no even vague Boris back of an envelope date for secondaries to go back. If teachers are still at risk we need some way to keep them safe.

No @drspouse it is not at all obvious from you op that anything you are suggesting would make socially distancing more likely, or schools any safer. There would be absutely no point what so ever, and a thousands reasons why it would be harmful and dangerous. We have school buildings. We also have very good reasons not to use them right now. That doesn’t mean swapping them for totally unsuitable buildings in a totally unsuitable, equally, if not more harmful and dangerous set up

Why are colleges more unsuitable than school buildings for secondary school pupils? And why are they less suitable than being at home?

Rotas would be easier to organise and at least the kids would get some time in school but the DfE said no to that too.

Everything is beyond the wit of the DfE, they are truly useless.

They spent the time from Sept to Dec in the middle of a pandemic creating a new teacher training route when we already have millions of routes into teaching.

If teachers are still at risk we need some way to keep them safe.

It’s not just about the teachers, it’s about the families of the school kids who are catching covid at school and bringing it into the home. 7 times more likely to be the first case in a family, twice as likely to give it to a family member.

if they take the biggest halls/lecture theatres/cinemas they shouldn't NEED to be split up

The 3 secondary schools in the nearest town would have to relocate 15 miles away to access a theatre, which in your plan would already be accommodating schools from that area. No lecture theatres at all in a 20 mile radius and the biggest hall holds 500 people. I think you may have to revise your plan.

@drspouse

Why are colleges more unsuitable than school buildings for secondary school pupils? And why are they less suitable than being at home?

Why are non schools less suitable to use as schools than schools? Is that a serious question? Why is it more suitable to mix lots of schools up In one building rather than keeping students separate? Is that a serious question? You are not making any sense at all.

Oh and the nearest cinema is a tiny single screen one....the nearest multi-screen is, again, 15 miles away...in a large city.