DFE tells schools prepare for the worst.

[3asAbird]

www.tes.com/news/covid-schools-told-plan-more-remote-learning

Feeling so cross why allow schools to stop masks on may 17th.
When Hancock knew the delta varient was present in April 2021.

School outbreaks my councils 46 this week and a fair few in neighbouring county with some schools fully shut.
Lots senior transition days and inter sports tournament cancelled.

We know from Kent alpha varient took a few months get really bad.
Some say 6 week break act as firebreak.
I am bot so sure as people will travel and mingle and in some cases School maybe mirror community transmission which is on the rise.

I wish having would go for starters.
They said they making education a priority back in march.
This term has been rubbish for many.
I have no faith that autumn term be any different.

No mitigation measures on ventilation
No masks or compulsory testing.
No smaller class sizes.
No vaccines for under 18s.

So this is what prioritising children looks like. Bunch of Fing liars, I'm so sick of this. What exactly have they ever done throughout this whole pandemic that's prioritised children? I can't think of anything. Then you've got arseholes like Us For Them who are supposedly campaigning on behalf of children, but pressure Williamson to Dutch masks (and all precautions really), so it just makes things worse, and he Fing listens to them and no-one who actually knows what they're talking about. I'm so sick of this shit.

As a parent of a Y5 child I am worried the expectation is that Y3-6 will be back to remote learning.
I completely get that infants need to be in school to learn, but my DC has lost over two terms of school (2 national lockdowns and 2 bubble closures).
The catch up promised by the government is shocking - currently 3 of his class are getting tutoring support from the catch up money, meaning 27 get nothing to help. The dfe have been woeful throughout this pandemic.

*ditch. Useless autocorrect!

@sirfredfredgeorge

We want to keep children in school. Help us achieve that!

Then we need to close pubs etc., close the places there are community spread, it's not possible to have schools open if there are any appreciable number of cases in the community.

The accepting of community spread, but isolating entire schools and groups is the problem.

They need move covid safe measures like other indoor places so ventilation, masks and distancing. It’s not just about keeping schools open, they need to be safe. Having remote education as a backup is very sensible so that children don’t miss learning.

Other areas then need to be looked at with a view as to whether restrictions need to go back in place.

Also, people need to PCR test rather than assume it’s just a cold, hayfever etc and going into work and/or sending children to school.

I will be so pissed if they close them again. People can go to football matches, festivals, on holiday just about fucking everywhere but god forbid we let schools be normal

Yep, 61 outbreaks in schools last week here.

They won't plan to close them. They will let it rip through schools with no real plan as to what to do.

Then schools will fold due to staff sickness and pupil isolations.

Government strategy on schools seems to be saying "schools are safe" loudly and without actually putting any money into making them safe.

The problem with just leaving them to do individual isolating is that it's irregular.
So my friend's dc have been out 6 times, all time their whole year group for at least a fortnight at a time. Of my dc, one hasn't had any time out at all (except where all schools were closed), and the other had one section of 16 days.

The other issue with isolating by individual at secondary level is when you end up with some of the class in, and some out.
For my younger one, about half his year was out due to being a close contact at one point. He wasn't. So the teachers were having to split their time between helping those at home and those in front of them at school. It was far better when they whole year was out and the teacher could concentrate on doing one thing.

Ridiculous. As cases become unlinked with hospitalisation school isolation needs to be addressed.

In my primary school only 4 and 6 are in.

@WaverleyPirate

The epic failure of Gavin Williamson.

That idiot has been kept in office for far too long. Him and the DfE have been hopeless and spineless in during this whole crisis. A huge rudderless department that is a drain on tax payers money.

As cases become unlinked with hospitalisation school isolation needs to be addressed.

We’re not there though are we? Hospitalisations have doubled.

My DS school has been using testing and masks the whole time... are there actually schools that arent using the basic common sense measures?

Its not about what the govement say you can possibly do, the school is still responsible for enforcing these rule if they want.

@noblegiraffe but the main cause of spread is no longer via hospital transmission - which it was I believe for the first and second waves?

Everyone I knew who had covid in those waves either worked, or had been in a hospital as a patient, or had close contact with one of either of those groups. Now we are seeing a totally different story emerging.

Children should still be put first. Having children stuck at home with a negative PCR up against other activity going on atm is ludicrous.

There are somewhere in the region of 30 staff isolating at my large secondary by yesterday. Including me. There are also three full classes sent home, plus assorted other kids. We could really do with sending more kids home to ease the staffing burden.

But it's perfectly safe to allow football fans to drunkenly congregate in London...

the school is still responsible for enforcing these rule if they want.

There is a parent group poised to take legal action against schools who implement measures not mandated by the government. My school had to take legal advice which was to not go beyond government guidance. At the moment the national guidance is no masks for pupils.

If there was sufficient money forthcoming from government (ha ha) what, exactly, would your like to see happen to make next year as close to normal as possible? Not just 'improve ventilation! Mitigation methods!'

Whatever it takes to improve ventilation - I understand this has been done in various European countries. I guess we need to compare school data on a like for like basis which may be difficult but it would certainly be interesting. Improved ventilation would undoubtedly have health benefits across the board.

Use of masks in lessons and in corridors for senior students. Use of masks for primary staff where they want to use them. Funding to ensure that there is sufficent masks, gloves, aprons etc. in schools.

Funding for hand santizier and extra cleaning as and when required.

Funding required by schools that might make things easier and keep students a bit more separated - for example, creation of an additional entrance/exit, covered outdoor spaces.

Funding for supply staff when required.

All would be a good start.

Out of interest - those who have had whole year groups close - how many people in that year group have tested positive before they close? I know there are many factors involved to do with contact etc, but just wondered...

@Mummyratbag

Out of interest - those who have had whole year groups close - how many people in that year group have tested positive before they close? I know there are many factors involved to do with contact etc, but just wondered...

1 staff positive resulted in 6 classes home

Everyone I knew who had covid in those waves either worked, or had been in a hospital as a patient, or had close contact with one of either of those groups.

Everyone I know who had covid in the first in second waves either caught it at school, or from a school child… it depends on who you know. But given that by Christmas the infection rate was highest by far in secondary school kids than any other age group, it seems that schools were a major factor in transmission that the government and the media chose to ignore.

Now we are seeing a totally different story emerging.

This time there does seem to be more stories in the press about how the delta variant is spreading through schools, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t last time, just that it wasn’t reported.

I am wondering whether it was being reported that way because they were gearing up to tell the country that children need to be vaccinated over the summer, but now that is looking less likely the stories may disappear.

The whole thing now resembles what you might get if you threw a pile of carefully engineered, high-quality engine parts to a monkey trained to use a spanner.

We have lots of reputable scientists informing in specific areas, but the people actually assembling that advice into a plan are complete twits. Time and again they seem to assume the best case scenario, then when it goes wrong exclaim "but we couldn't have known!"

I don't believe anyone has actually thought through the full consequences of what "living with the virus" is going to entail - it seems to me it's Brexit all over again.

I mean, are we going to keep up with monitoring the virus - tests/isolation/quarantine etc, or just give up all that and see what happens. I suspect not enough would do the former to make a difference once we reopen, while if we dropped all measures, many would take matters into their own hands - once people know that vaccines aren't a complete shield, what are the chances they'll continue to behave normally - esp if schools are known to be the same drivers of community spread they are for every other virus.

I very much fear that for children, the disruption will go on for quite a bit longer and because the government has constantly focussed on trying to get schools operating normally and they've had to deal with constantly changing operating rules, instead of working towards a more covid-safe long-term approach, kids have absolutely ended up with the worst of all possible outcomes.

Have they even changed the building specifications of school being built now and in the future so that windows are added?
My kids go to a school with Gove era spec and the classrooms range from no window to windows that barely open.

@noblegiraffe schools have a duty of care to not only their students, but also their staff.

Going above government guidelines means they protect children and staff who are CEV for example - that is well within the wider implications of HSE guidelines.

Have they even changed the building specifications of school being built now

All I know about new-spec buildings is that the government has allowed them to be classed in Grenfell-type cladding and refused to install sprinklers as standard.

The government appears to not give a shit about the safety of schools, merely what’s the cheapest they can get away with.

And definitely don’t ask about asbestos.