How can schools successfully reopen? What the UK can learn from other countries

[herecomesthsun]

Very interesting thread, in the Telegraph, looking at what other countires are doing to make schools safe, here.

www.telegraph.co.uk/education-and-careers/2021/02/14/can-schools-successfully-reopen-uk-can-learn-countries/

The implication is that the UK can adopt some of these measures for schools reopening to be more successful.

For example, in France, some measures discussed that are not currently in use in the UK include:

"-Students must adhere to the one-metre social distancing measures in their classrooms and two metres when in the canteen with pupils from other classes

-Wearing a face mask is mandatory for adults and pupils from the first grade

• Facilities must be cleaned and aired for at least 10 minutes every three hours

When looking at how other advanced nations have navigated school closures, France has one of the lowest closed school rates. Children and teachers in French schools are also no longer allowed to wear fabric face masks, but must instead wear “category 1” surgical masks which offer a higher level of protection."

and so on.

I think it's very encouraging that this is at least being discussed, and in one of the more right wing papers. Let's hope there are government plans to put more measures in place.

I'm well aware of that. But if I get covid, that will affect the kids who I can't get 2m away from unless I'm next door.

Do you mean your own children?

Me? No - I don't have children. I mean the 54 year 11 and 15 year 13 students that I am solely responsible for teaching their English.

Do you genuinely think the outcomes are better with ongoing remote teaching than risk of doing remote teaching for two weeks due to self isolation?

Do all your students access remote learning and complete their work to the best if their ability. This is a genuine question.

Although I suppose I should ask the sane if face to face learning

I think that we would all rather do face to face. I miss them. I love my job and I care about my students.
I am still marking their work every week. I know where they're at and what we need to do.
But we need to be able to get them in to do whatever assessments we're told to do, without risking them bouncing in and out again.
I would rather ongoing remote teaching until a very clear plan is in place for these assessments so we can do them. That's the best case scenario for them right now.

One of my year 11 out of the 54 has vanished. He's a desktop truant in school and was on the verge of permanent exclusion. We know where he is. We know he's as safe as he always is. He's just not engaged. Its shit but not unexpected... it's not a pandemic issue.
The others are where I would expect them to be academically. Some of them are better because he's not there causing problems. I have a student with 1:1 support. He's still getting that.
In school I'm not allowed to go round and help them. I can actually see them working in real time in one note so that's an improvement.

Has anyone actually said their concerned about dying?

My concern was never about dying. It was about being ill, it was about being ill enough to need hospital,treatment or long term treatment.

As it happened I did catch it, I was ill, I did end up in hospital and I did end up needing long term treatment and will now need life,long medication.

But hey, no worries - least I didn't die 🤷‍♀️

In Singapore when we went back to school after our circuit breaker there was about a month of rotas with not all children in every day. Subject staff went to homerooms rather than children circulating round the school. Masks were compulsory for every child, and they had to play or do group work in small groups of 4. We had to stagger break and lunch times till it felt like it practically lasted all day, and as teachers we had to do significantly more duties. No extra-curricular.

pressed enter too soon! Fast forward 8 months and all students are in school full time and have been since August. Bubble Groups are operating as groups of 8, no school events still or parents on campus. Masks remain compulsory for all, not one child seems to be fussed about this and they have to wear them from age 4 upwards. Extra-curricular is just starting again in situations where groups can be kept relatively small and safe distancing is adhered too. Singapore is another story though - we have 'safe distancing ambassadors' in the community reminding you what to do, and shops have tannoy announcements reminding you that we're in a global pandemic so keep your distance and wear your mask. There is also a very efficient track and trace system - we all have a token, including children, and have to use this to check into school each day. It's a bit big brother tbh, but I'm grateful for it because my DC are in school. I'd rather they wore a mask and had to play with the same few kids than we had to do home learning again.

Mrshamlet Sounds like you are doing an amazing job. Let's hope that there is far less upset over grades this year and the students get what they deserve. I hope the year 11 at risk of exclusion does re-engage. But like you said that could have happened anyway, whether on his terms or the schools if he was at risk of permanent exclusion. The whole thing is such a roller coaster.

@Tryingtryingandtrying
Yes, I’m worried about dying. Because I’ve heard of people I know who are my age dying after weeks on a ventilator. I played out with them as a child and it became very real then. Also, I have relatives with long Covid and they are really, really struggling. And seeing teens I taught unable to do a full day at school six months after Covid. Combine this with having to work in an environment which would be illegal anywhere else and being unable to ‘keep safe’. Anyway, I’m not just scared of death but long term illness, no proper income and no help.

trying
Thank you - but I don't think I'm doing anything amazing. Like most of my colleagues I'm doing the best I can in a difficult situation. It's not what I want for these kids but it's better than worrying that every email means worrying that they're going out again.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/feb/19/whitty-at-odds-with-johnson-over-big-bang-reopening-of-schools-in-england?CMP=ShareiOSAppOther

🤦‍♀️😬