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?

For secondaries, rotas are a far more workable option.

In our town there is 5 primary schools, and 1 secondary. Nearest college is 10 miles away. So how will that work?

2 of the primary schools don't even have a playground or field. 2 of the others are 2 and 3 form entry. Thats nearly 2,000 children without the secondary school which holds 1.5k kids. Where would you put them all?

We have 1 community hall currently being used as a food bank. So where can they go? Secondary has no sports facilities, they bus the kids to the local sports centre once a week per year.

@HappyTimeTunnelDinosaur

Absolutely. I’m a TA and I do not want sole responsibility of a class. Even if it’s “just” half the class, or for “just” mornings or afternoons. I simply don’t get paid enough for that, hence why I like being a TA. Good luck finding enough TAs who want that level of responsibility for so little pay.

@noblegiraffe

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.

Rotas in their own schools should have been brought in last September. Not done silly nonsense cramming students into buses and moving them miles and miles across the country to theatres. Rotas May be the way back after March. Rotas in their own school building. Which are set up as schools, with all the infrastructure, staffing and security that schools have and need, that empty colleges don’t have.

Many other countries didn’t reopen schools is September. Many kept all schools closed, or reopened them with a Rota system.

My nephews in the USA have been off school since last March, and will be returning on a Rota in a couple of weeks. 3 half days a week each.

@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

Exactly, this whole plan is a complete non starter.

You volunteering to help? Thought not.

@Whaddayathink

You volunteering to help? Thought not.

Who is that addressed to ?

I'm not sure that 15 in a classroom is much safer than 30, tbh.

@DelphiniumBlue

I'm not sure that 15 in a classroom is much safer than 30, tbh.

No, it needs to be about 8,

Where are all these buses coming from? If you have one bus for each year group, that's at least 5 times as many buses and drivers. Plus I dont think you have any idea of how much local authorities pay for home to school transport. Increasing that by 500% is impossible.

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.

Transmission rates in schools are irrelevant when majority of adults have been vaccinated. Children aren't really at risk.

As long as hospital admissions stay low, things will go back to normal, and we will accept some residual risk from covid, just like we do with other illnesses.

@Bookvan where did all the masks, testing centres/portakabins, and vaccination set ups come from?
It's called logistics, and we've done it well when the government wants too. Just apparently not when schools are involved.

[quote drspouse]@Bookvan where did all the masks, testing centres/portakabins, and vaccination set ups come from?
It's called logistics, and we've done it well when the government wants too. Just apparently not when schools are involved.[/quote]
You can't compare a car park with a marquee/portacabin with adequate space for millions of kids which has suitable toilets, running water, correct size tables and chairs, enough teachers and transport to and from it.

Honestly? They won't do it because it's too much effort and money for what is anticipated to be a short amount of time. It's not worth the fuss.

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

Can you expand on his that works when pupil A is set 1 for maths, doing triple science and German and it set 2 fir English. And the next pupil B in set 1 for maths is also doing triple science, but French and is set 1 for English, but pupil C is set one for English, is dong French and Gernan, and double science and is set 2 for maths?

I don't see how they can possibly stay in one place

Or point me to a website which actually describes that in practice? Bearing in mind that options for current years 10 and 12 are settled and started. And earlier years will,already have been setted and may have made language choices.

@Bewareoftheblob

Honestly? They won't do it because it's too much effort and money for what is anticipated to be a short amount of time. It's not worth the fuss.

And because it is a completely ridiculous idea, with no benefit to anyone at all. That would also be a reason not to do it

Big unused spaces is supposed to be the Danish tactic.

@drspouse
-The classes were sitting still and the teachers going round them, before Christmas

Really? In a secondary school? How did that work?
My daughter is doing 5 subjects at Higher level. She may well be in a English lesson with 25 other students but they're not all going on to Spanish or Biology or Maths or History are they?

@lljkk

Big unused spaces is supposed to be the Danish tactic.

Yes, I had read that. Seems like anywhere has to be doing school better than here, honestly!

@HadEnoughOfBears surely you are aware of this? To minimise flow in the corridors almost all the pupils were staying in their base and teachers were moving.

@RoseAndRose

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

Can you expand on his that works when pupil A is set 1 for maths, doing triple science and German and it set 2 fir English. And the next pupil B in set 1 for maths is also doing triple science, but French and is set 1 for English, but pupil C is set one for English, is dong French and Gernan, and double science and is set 2 for maths?

I don't see how they can possibly stay in one place

Or point me to a website which actually describes that in practice? Bearing in mind that options for current years 10 and 12 are settled and started. And earlier years will,already have been setted and may have made language choices.

This. It is a total non starter. No two kids doing the same combination of lessons

[quote HadEnoughOfBears]@drspouse
-The classes were sitting still and the teachers going round them, before Christmas

Really? In a secondary school? How did that work?
My daughter is doing 5 subjects at Higher level. She may well be in a English lesson with 25 other students but they're not all going on to Spanish or Biology or Maths or History are they?[/quote]
Exactly. The op has absolutely not the first clue what they are talking about

@drspouse

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

And where are these experiences and qualified TA coming from?

Do you have any suggestions of how my daughter’s reception teacher keeps 4 and 5 year olds socially distanced?