March 8th for schools - who will go back?

[Springhere]

It seems very likely that schools will reopen in some form on 8th March but how do people think it might work? Staggered or full return? Opinion seems so divided on this. I'm starting to think primaries will open in full (as it would be difficult to have cherry picked year groups alongside keyworker bubbles) with a slower, staggered return for secondaries. Would be interested to hear what others think, especially those of you working in schools.

Wales are only letting ks1 kids back on 22nd. I'd like my yr6 back in so he can finish primary.

However, if it's exam classes back in England, then I'll need both dc to be in kw places, so I can go in.

Absolutely no rationale for anything else given that the whole excuse for lockdown was to save the NHS

I’m assuming you meant reason, not excuse.

I don’t work in the the NHS but I understand the hospitals are actually still very busy with Covid patients. The staff are exhausted, assuming the hospitals will cope seems incredibly optimistic.

Things might be a lot better by 22nd Feb to announce society reopening for 8th March. But it seems a bit optimistic to lobby for it.

I personally would rather stay locked down an extra two weeks now. Than have the cases soar again and need to have lockdown number 4.
Really hoping this is the last lockdown.

I don’t think everyone will be back on the 8th-certainly not secondary. I can see it being N/YR and Y6 in primary and also 11/13

If they say that specific year groups must go back but in full classes as ‘normal’ I would imagine that will cause a lot of problems as you’ll have those people crammed into classrooms and at higher risk, but everyone else at home. If they go back but only 10-15 pupils max per classroom, then that raises questions about who and how it will be staffed and who will set the online work for those not in. What about the KW/V children-do they remain in the current bubble? Who staffs that?

If only some children are allowed back, they will have to drop attendance sanctions/fines as they can’t say that it’s unsafe to have all chicken back, but mandatory to return if you happen to be in X class.

I’m sure the government have thought all this through though...!

Just wait like everyone else. All will be announced. No one on here knows the answer and all these threads predicting the lockdown restrictions being eased are just getting repetitive now!

I expect the decision will be made on the 7th March, possibly the morning of the 8th!

We are two form entry so have been running around 50%. Other bubbles are much smaller though some less than 10.

@CaffineismyBFF

Just wait like everyone else. All will be announced. No one on here knows the answer and all these threads predicting the lockdown restrictions being eased are just getting repetitive now!

Don't read them then! Feel free to scroll in by.

@sanityisamyth

Wales so my DS is going back on 22nd February. Can't wait!

Don't forget that the return for the 22nd for foundation is still going to be 'flexible and phased'. Our local authority are meeting tomorrow to discuss what that means. It does not necessarily mean every child in every foundation phase class all back at once, full time straight away.

Do as Kier Starmer says, vaccinate teachers and let everyone go back. Yes there will be transmission (probably no more than the supermarkets though) but if teachers are vaccinated at least there will be enough staff to keep school open.

[quote CaffineismyBFF]@Reachersloveinterest its called an opinion FFS. These "when will lockdown end" / "when will my child go back to school" threads are becoming annoying because as entitled as mumsnetters (like you) THINK you know. Reality check- you don't. So 🖕 to your smart arse comment.[/quote]
The OP asked for opinions. There are threads on so many topics, based on facts, science, opinion - seriously just read the ones you are interested in rather than coming on just to moan at people. So to your bad attitude.

Well the true answer is that nobody knows! What I do know that is a vaccine would go a bloody long way to making me feel more confident about going back (KS1 teacher). Even if just to show we are valued.

@CaffineismyBFF it was quite clear from the title what this thread would be about. You say speculative threads like this are becoming repetitive & annoying to you. Why bother opening & engaging with it then?

Personally I am learning about what is happening in Scotland /Wales where it’s planned some children will return in February so they are further on with plans/announcements than in England.

I'm hoping that at least some priority will be given to the yr12s and yr13s doing practical or vocational subjects who are currently unable to do the most important aspect of their courses.

Presumably having all the high risk groups vaccinated will slow growth somewhat in the other groups. However, it's relatively unlikely that the decrease in growth in these groups would be enough to keep R under 1 if we just released all restrictions. If we had exponential growth in the under 70s and left that growth to run for a few weeks, then we would be back to overrunning the NHS again. Roughly 50% of people in hospital are of working age.

This is why we need to be cautious in which restrictions we lift. Hopefully, we can return lots of school years without hospital numbers rising, but it's sensible to stagger the release because we really don't know how much of the decline in R is down to vaccination and how much is down to lockdown.

People are very, very sick of lockdown. I think it would be a lot easier to stagger the return to schools over a month than to ask people to go back into lockdown again because we'd released too soon.

@Redwinestillfine

So no actual sources. Just speculation then?

The source was Boris Johnson addressing parliament a couple of weeks back on live TV. He stated the earliest that schools would go back would be 8 March as this allows for the mid February review, the consultation report and for the two weeks' notice that he said would be given to schools.

It is not a set date but earliest date. If you want to find the actual date he said this on live TV to parliament and then repeated during a BBC 5pm coronavirus update I am sure that you are just as able to google this as the OP or myself.

Not speculation at all.

@Redwinestillfine There you go : first google result

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55828952

Honestly, if they had reduced class sizes and rotas (ideally with masks but even without) I'd let my kids go back now. Rates here are WAY lower than they were in the last week of December when we were supposed to send them all in.

Their mental health is beginning to suffer at home.

But I would like safer schools. There's a big difference to me in sending them in to schools with no safety measures or sending them in with appropriate risk mitigation.

I'm pretty sure most parents would be more than willing to accept one or two days in a week compared to nothing particularly if it meant schools open sooner. Plenty of other countries do this.

I hope if any are going back it will only be younger primary pupils on a rota basis.

When older pupils return I hope masks in classrooms will be mandatory (exemption excepted) and there will be investment in ventilation systems in schools.

I'm not holding my breath.

@ilovesooty

I hope if any are going back it will only be younger primary pupils on a rota basis.

When older pupils return I hope masks in classrooms will be mandatory (exemption excepted) and there will be investment in ventilation systems in schools.

I'm not holding my breath.

Seems everyone knows this is the thing to do except DfE. Stupid idiots that they are.

From a purely logistical viewpoint I'm sort of hoping it's all back- that way we just go back to the normal timetable. If it's certain year groups only with limits on numbers like we had with year 10 last June then that will be very difficult if they also expect us to keep the keyworker provision due to the huge number of kw kids in. It was doable last year as we only had about 20, we've currently got 113!

@IloveJKRowling rates here are still 3x higher than they were at the beginning of December when my DC’s secondary school was having bubbles burst every day.

It’s funny how everyone thinks the year their DC is in should be prioritised...

@Dustyboots

It’s funny how everyone thinks the year their DC is in should be prioritised...

Mine are Yr3&Yr5. I'm pretty sure they are bottom of the priority list for Primarys (along with Yr4).

As long as the home learning isn't compromised by their teachers being redeployed into other year groups (unless it's a swap) I'm sort of ok with that. Not happy exactly, but understand the potential reasons.