When are your secondary DC going back? (England)

[MNnicknameforCVthreads]

Due the mass testing required, we've already been told ours won't be back in on 8th. More details to follow from school.

I'm annoyed!

Yet to hear anything from DS school although its not a big secondary so testing shouldn't take as long as other schools.
What happens if a parent/pupil refuses to be tested? There's always a handful of awkward ones who like to create

Well, I'm annoyed because the communication from the government could have been clearer IMO. I'm also annoyed because I have been annoyed at the whole situation during the time my DC have not been in school.

Am I not allowed to feel annoyed?

I did say that I wasn't blaming schools, or necessarily even the government. Although I think possibly they or the press could have managed expectations a little clearer.

But we are where we are and I am very grateful to all that the school staff are doing. I just need to be a bit more patient, I accept that.

Next week. Staggered start. He's in a specialist school, though.

From the 8th on a staggered basis we've been told. Details to follow apparently.

Government announcement - no staggered start.

Schools - not enough staff to test all children on first day.

Result - staggered start.

A typical day with a Government which doesn't consult.

@AllAroundTheWrekin

Government announcement - no staggered start.

Schools - not enough staff to test all children on first day.

Result - staggered start.

A typical day with a Government which doesn't consult.

Exactly!

This is why I'm annoyed! But I should have learnt by now that this government is fucking useless a lot of the time.

I’m just glad they’re going back even if it might be over a few days . Nothing is perfect about this scenario ... but then none of us have ever run a country during a pandemic before . The human beings running the government are just making it up as they go along same as any of us would

It’s not a staggered start.
A staggered start is lots of different starting points for different age groups or year groups.

They are all returning during the week of 8 March. All of them are expected to be back that week.

You always have to look at the full announcement and not just one line of it out of context. It said secondary students will have to be tested negatives before return and schools are doing the testing. When you consider doing 1-2 thousand students, given they can’t start until Monday morning, it should be obvious that they can’t all be in for period 1 on Monday morning.

It is not a staggered start. Scotland, Wales and NI are having staggered starts. England isn’t.

"Staggered" = arranged in such a way that not everything happens at the same time

They're not all going back at the same time (some at least a week later it seems as the school is so big they can't get through everyone in 5 days).

Therefore it's a staggered start.

Did you really think that schools with 2000+ students would all return on exactly the same day at the same time after being in national lockdown for over 2 months?

I guess the reality is, people just hadn’t thought about it and the practicalities, but as can be seen from this thread, when most people consider it, they can see why it will take a day or 2 to happen.

The thing is, Boris’s announcement could only be broad brush strokes couldn’t it. He had to address loads of different areas in a relatively short period. The finer detail always has to come after as all questions/details cannot be covered....if they were we would be listening to him for multiple hours.

The government has not specified a staggered start. If a school is physically able to have all back on 8th, they can. They have specified a testing regime which must be implemented and which will take longer for some schools and hardly my time for others. Some might test everyone on Monday and get everyone in on Tuesday...that’s not staggered. They might test everyone on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and have all in on Thursday. It is the schools discretion to work out the practicalities of the testing and have everyone back quickly.

Not sure really what there is to feel annoyed about with it all. Perhaps instead imagine the hours of planning that will go into making this happen in every school, rather than it might be Tuesday and not Monday for your child.

The government has not specified a staggered start

They've called it a "phased return" in their guidance which is presumably incredibly different to a staggered start.

DS school sent out an email first thing this morning. The students will be having their first test this week, a second test next week and a third test during their first week back. They will all return on the 8th.
The headteacher had assumed that they would be back and planned accordingly.

They might have to retract that?

They're not allowed to start testing until 8th March.

For a start, that would mean more mixing and use of public transport than is supposed to be happening at the moment!

They've called it a "phased return" in their guidance which is presumably incredibly different to a staggered start.
This is like a Monty-Python sketch.

They're not allowed to start testing until 8th March.

I don’t know. The students have all been emailed a time to go into school for a test.

Yes, no students allowed in school except those in as key worker children/vulnerable until 8th. Same applies to independent schools as state state schools.

I think giving schools a bit of flexibility to reflect their different sizes and situations makes a lot of sense. Some will manage to get all back at the same time, but probably only the tiny schools. But it’s very clearly meant to be all students back very quickly and very different to what we had in June or what Scotland and Wales and NI are doing, in terms of identifying different dates for different cohorts of students.

I guess I think if it a bit like the flexibility schools often have about things like inset days. There might be an official first day of term set out by the county, and some schools, will be back then and others will choose an inset day then. Or some schools will have their new Yr7s and new 6th forms in and the next day everyone else arrives. It’s all for practicality reasons and enables a smoother start.

@WombatChocolate

I think we'll have to agree to disagree. I have not enjoyed having the children home full time at all, and saying "a day or two" is minimising both the impact that even a day or two has on things, and also the realistic timetable for some, which will be more like a week+

I do not doubt and am quite capable of imagining the number of hours that will be put in by teachers to plan for this and I've already said I'm grateful for that. Perhaps instead you can imagine the hours sacrificed by parents at the end of the tether just to keep their child remotely engaged and mentally and physically healthy. And then maybe understand why they are annoyed at the situation (as I've repeatedly said, not at teachers etc) of still not having a date for their child to be back in school.

And as for "phased return" being incredibly different to "staggered start", I'm actually not sure if this was a sarcastic comment or not!

@Zandathepanda

They've called it a "phased return" in their guidance which is presumably incredibly different to a staggered start. This is like a Monty-Python sketch.

Agreed!

Definite sarcasm!

@noblegiraffe

Definite sarcasm!

Phew!

So there we go then, the government's own guidance calls it a phased return, which is another way of saying staggered start!

They've called it a "phased return" in their guidance which is presumably incredibly different to a staggered start.

It's like an episode from 'Yes Primeminister'

Yes, I think we agree to disagree.

Yes, you don’t have an actual date yet, because the announcement in its broadest form was made just 24 hours ago and the school will be working furiously to get the detail out to you. It’s likely you’ll hear something in the next 48 hours I would think. Getting the information to you any faster would be pretty much impossible.

And yes, I know how difficult it’s been. I’m working at home and have home schooling too and I can’t wait for the kids to go back either. Fully appreciate lots of people are at the end of their tethers. And also know how many are thrilled that 8 March is being applied to secondary too and all years, rather than the Easter date that many thought was far more likely for most secondary years.

It’s funny isn’t it.....loads of people are thrilled to know secondary kids are returning far faster than most imagined. But some are cross and annoyed by it all. Hey ho!

We have to arrange 4800 individual tests....

@WombatChocolate It is funny, and ultimately I am indeed grateful that 8 March has been (sort of) applied to secondaries.

To sum up, I think I'd have been happier if it had all just been a bit more explicit last night - from Boris and the press - "Secondaries will be back sometime from 8th onwards after mass testing has taken place" Those few extra words would have made all the difference for me.

@Elisheva

DS school sent out an email first thing this morning. The students will be having their first test this week, a second test next week and a third test during their first week back. They will all return on the 8th. The headteacher had assumed that they would be back and planned accordingly.

That makes perfect sense, so of course it's not allowed!

God we have a bloody useless education department.