Mask wearing for years 5 and 6

[PandemicPalava]

My dd goes to a middle which has years 5-8 all mask wearing. Guidance is patchy for middle schools and our head has taken it as because the setting has year 7 and up, all pupils need to mask wear.

Does anyone else have children in a middle school? What is your school doing? I really want to draft a letter to the school as they were told off yesterday when they removed them even though they previously confirmed the mask wearing would be encouraged not enforced.

Any input gratefully received

Thanks all, looks like a very mixed approach being taken. Dd came home yesterday and said mask wearing was fine. She didn't struggle at all yesterday which is a relief. I am lucky in this as if she was very upset I would be battling it with the school, as another parent is who has refused to send her Ds in a mask from tomorrow. Picking my battles and not pushing this one for now. Will see how we go.

The DFE definitely act as though middle schools don't exist, and this is more my issue. Asking them to take a mixed approach is ridiculous as it opens the floor for decisions being made based on the preferences of the head, which I don't doubt are researched, but in my case are not communicated particularly well.

Why is it so difficult to offer some guidance on middles?

@PandemicPalava

Thanks all, looks like a very mixed approach being taken. Dd came home yesterday and said mask wearing was fine. She didn't struggle at all yesterday which is a relief. I am lucky in this as if she was very upset I would be battling it with the school, as another parent is who has refused to send her Ds in a mask from tomorrow. Picking my battles and not pushing this one for now. Will see how we go.

The DFE definitely act as though middle schools don't exist, and this is more my issue. Asking them to take a mixed approach is ridiculous as it opens the floor for decisions being made based on the preferences of the head, which I don't doubt are researched, but in my case are not communicated particularly well.

Why is it so difficult to offer some guidance on middles?

If your DD is fine wearing a mask - what's the issue? If other parents have an issue then I'm sure they can deal with the school themselves.

She isn't upset - so like you said - no need for a "battle"

What a pandemic palava over nothing.

I was just thinking the same as the above poster. The battle is in your head as your daughter has no issue with it as I think is probably the case all over. Parents tend to worry about their kids while the kids just shrug and get on with it. As a society, we really do need to give our youngsters a bit more credit.

@Caspianberg

I’m in a different country. Only FfP2 masks have been allowed now since November. Fabric washable ones can’t be used anywhere really apart for walking outside where you don’t actually have to wear one.

Schools have been back for ages here.’. All school age kids wear masks. So that’s from age 6. I haven’t nt heard any parent complain. Here the options are: 1) child wears mask at school, can go full time. 2) you don’t like child in mask, so they have to stay home and carry on homeschooling. 98% have chosen option 1. There is no mid option

And yet staff nursing Covid patients in hospitals are just wearing a surgical mask for 4 hours and that's considered adequate protection. Personally whilst I am very pro masks in schools I think FFP2 + is excessive.

@Sargass0 I was more interested in the muddled guidance for middle schools and I wrote this before I knew she wasn't struggling with the mask wearing. Also, it's about the wider picture, not just my dd, and the shit show that is the government and DFE ignoring middle schools

@Shadeelane the battle is not in my head, it isn't a battle at all, I was wondering what the approach's is for other middle schools. It may not be a battle for me but as you have seen, there are strong opinions both sides, and we have been left floundering in middle school 'mixed approaches.'

The DfE really want middle schools to die out. They have tried with varied results in my area. It is probably deliberate to make life harder for middle schools.

@Piggywaspushed

The DfE really want middle schools to die out. They have tried with varied results in my area. It is probably deliberate to make life harder for middle schools.

I think it's more just incompetence and forgetting that middle schools exist than any deliberate attempt to sabotage them on the part of the DFE.

As someone who ahs worked in the 3 tier system for many years, I am not convinced...

But, also, incompetence.

My DD is in middle school.,All years are wearing them. not sure if it's compulsory for yrs 5&6 but it is for 7&8..my DD is yr 7. it would seem silly I guess to only have half the school wearing them.

It's just odd as year 5 are in their own block so may as well be another school entirely

They are reviewing the evidence around masks so fingers crossed they'll disappear very soon! DD was happy to wear one but can't see the board in lessons because her glasses steam up, and yes we have the ones with the wire. But she will home school rather than not wear one if this starts to cause too much of a problem as all the lessons are obviously online. Hopefully she'll manage and then they will do away with school mask wearing at Easter. I really don't think it's tenable for long.

I would tell the school why she is home schooling though in case they are reporting effects into DofE.

My son is at a prep school, which goes up to yr8. The school guidelines are that yes 7&8 should wear masks (but in reality, they are doing their best to move classrooms around to ensure distancing is possible at least some of the time, so that, as per guidelines, masks do not need to be worn if 2m distance is possible. I realise this isn’t an option for most schools), but not other years.

Ds is in year 5, so no mask wearing expected, and I don’t think there are many children wearing them voluntarily. The year groups are all separate bubbles, and each have their own area and access points, so there is no mixing of year groups (apart from siblings at home etc, as usual).

The Education Secretary's own constituency has a three tier system. I'd be beyond irritated by this point if I was in a middle school, overlooking the transitioning years was a complete cop out.

I hadn’t realised that @anastasiakrupnik! You would think they would at least remember to mention them in that case. I don’t think it helps that not all middle schools are consistent to begin with - in my county there are three variations of middle school age ranges, on top of some towns being two tier!

@GoingFullNorman same with dd's school, they have doors straight into their classrooms and are in single class bubbles

@anastasiakrupnik my poor dd was not allowed back to lower to transition even though her head begged and begged to be allowed. It was very sad. The year 8s were also the same

@Piggywaspushed

The DfE really want middle schools to die out. They have tried with varied results in my area. It is probably deliberate to make life harder for middle schools.

This is totally missing the point of the thread but I think a three tier system works better than a two-tier. I'm surprised it's not more wide-spread. What is the reason for the DfE wanting them to die out ?

@Seriouslymole I love the 3 tier system too, I don't know what the benefits of 2 tier are

I think it has always been mainly because of key stages so they are peskily resistant to key stage classifications. There are no good reasons , that aside. It was all ideological : kind of all coincided with the desire for academisation and free schools. Most middle schools and upper school are either LA or stand alone academies, many of the lower and middle schools are CofE who often resist academisation : so it juts doesn't fit the master narrative really!

Same here @PandemicPalava, one of mine had his last day at first school in March and didn’t go to school again until he started middle school in September. It is such a shame for them all.

@Piggywaspushed ah ok that makes sense, thanks

@Eccle80 same here. They managed to do a leavers picnic (well 5 picnics!) in the school woodland picnic area which was lovely, but it wasn't enough. They left in March mid way through planning a 4 day trip away (all year 4 kids go to the Isle of Wight for a residential) and then just never went back. It was awful and we knew the head was fighting for them to be able to transition properly but it didn't happen. So sad