Schools in September? What do you think will happen?

[2boysand1princess]

I’m pretty sure we will lose restrictions and finally open up come 19th July. Cases are high, but thankfully deaths and hospitalisations are low.

However, I get the feeling that there is absolutely no hesitancy this time in opening up on the 19th mainly because it’s summer and there’s more people outdoors, schools are closing etc, but when we get to autumn and the new school academic year, I get the feeling some restrictions will slowly creep back. How do you think they will manage the situation in schools come September/October? Cases are already very high in some schools at the moment. My eldest DS school has closed completely for a week for deep cleaning and they didn’t ever have to close like this during the previous “waves” My middle DC has had his residential cancelled due to 7 out of 14 bubbles closing and many staff off. It’s so frustrating and difficult to keep this up.
Realistically, what do you think the government’s plan will be for schools in areas like mine, where cases in schools are already very high and that is with masks and still many restrictions in place?!

Realistically, the government will have a plan, send guidelines to schools the day before schools open, not give them any funding to purchase good quality air filtration system.

The isolating system will be scrapped and not replaced with anything else. We will start off ok because it's summer, and we will have another explosion of cases comes November. Back to square one, the government will then do a U-turn and impose self-isolating rules again to slow down the spread.

They are counting on children 'taking it on the chin' and achieve herd immunity instead of vaccinating them.

I'm working on the utterly unreasonable expectation that small minds will be educated. Kids will be allowed to play with peers again, and joy will be allowed to return and there will be singing and nativities and FUN again.

I think they will isolate close contacts (as in close enough but not the whole class/bubble). This is so they’re seen to be doing something. It will be down to individual schools to suggest PCR tests to children if they are displaying symptoms. Depending on how covid centric the school is this will differ.

My kids headteacher has requested numerous PCRs therefore my children are now on their seventh isolation. The surrounding schools (in the same area) have had nowhere near the amount of isolations my children have had. As school rates reflect the community spread I just think our head has “looked” for covid more. She is hysterical on the whole. Every single newsletter has contained “covid updates” which is fair enough, but they have contained ZERO learning updates. Nothing about what the children actually do at school.

I believe if this carries on many parents are looking to move their kids away from this particular school. They have been off a lot and the remote provision has been absolutely woeful.

We as a family will make up our mind in September. If this shit show continues we need to move them to a school that provides a better standard of remote learning, and one where the head isn’t so hysterical.

@QwertyGirly

Realistically, the government will have a plan, send guidelines to schools the day before schools open, not give them any funding to purchase good quality air filtration system.

The isolating system will be scrapped and not replaced with anything else. We will start off ok because it's summer, and we will have another explosion of cases comes November. Back to square one, the government will then do a U-turn and impose self-isolating rules again to slow down the spread.

They are counting on children 'taking it on the chin' and achieve herd immunity instead of vaccinating them.

I think you’re spot on there.

They will try to open up schools as normal, with no time for heads to plan changes and things will seem ok to begin with, but then come November/December, things will get very bad again.

I expect the government will try to pretend it’s all fine by telling people to stop testing or telling the press to stop publishing the covid figures, and come up with headlines like, ‘Gavin Williamson is going to revolutionise the education of the future by banning white socks/short haircuts/long haircuts/lip gloss’ etc and not do anything to address the huge funding issues in schools.

I very much hope the government will allow over-12s to be vaccinated if they and their parents so wish.
The vaccine is approved for their use.

So by September all teachers will be fully vaccinated (barring those with a medical reason for not being able to be vaccinated, but they should gain from the herd immunity) and there is still time for most over12s to be fully vaccinated, or at least had one dose if the government continue to postpone vaccinating over12s despite the US and EU already doing this. It is not compulsory so please don't spoil it for everyone else if you don't want your own child vaccinated. The MHRA has already done the risk/benefit assessment for you as they are the experts, not you (Johnson, Gove, Williamson, Javid - you are not experts in medicine, statistics, pharmacology either - please follow the scientific advice and allow vaccination of over 12s)

I'd hope at least CEV children could be vaccinated.
I think the "plan" is to wait and see what happens tbh. DC's school are working on the basis of no restrictions so have already announced things like no more staggered starts and that after school clubs will restart from September. I suspect the big unknown is whether there will be another very transmissable varian.

I honestly can't muster up the energy to think about what happens in September right now.

I trust our heads will make the best decisions for all their pupils and staff at the time.

I'm sceptical about July re opening ,tbh ,last summer we were ( in Bolton) only out of extra restrictions for a week or two before we went straight back into them I'm hoping I'm wrong ,I also hope they won't bring back the nonsense that was tiers,as for September,who knows🤷

In Waels there's talk of moving to regional restictions to reflect community infection levels and moving to close contacts not entire year groups being sent home. I suspect this will happen if not by September then shortly after.

I suspect secondary won't do trips or any additional things for another year while the collge eldest is going to seems find doing things now and other schools will be bit more ambitious.

We may well keep masks and bubbles but that may become down to local authorities and individual schools and I've no idea where the secondary will end up.

I think they may well vaccinate CEV children at some point but as I understand it the committee looking at cost/benefit of mass vaccination program is currently thinking probably a no on mass vaccination in secondaries though I don't think they've done the final report. So I don't expect a mass vaccination program will happen.

Hopefully all the staff will be double-vaccinated by then.

I suspect twice-weekly testing will continue but other restrictions will end in school.

Our children have paid a heavy heavy price for this.

Schools aren't covid safe, and the long-awaited JCVI advice on immunising 12+ could make a big difference to secondaries.

I don't think isolation will have ended by then.

I think keeping classes/year groups as separate as possible will continue, but contact isolation will be reduced sharply (only those who have been very close to the positive case (sitting next to them indoors), and close-ish contacts doing daily tests (rather than all isolating as they do now)

There are however 90,000 CEV children and many more who are CV. I don't think there's been any word on ideas on how to keep them safe and in education (and not wrecking their learning and mental health by isolating them the whole damned time)

Last year there wasn't any vaccination for the masses so of course things got out of control. Things will probably return to his they were and schools try and make contact with parents to come and collect their ill child. There will be outbreaks of course just like those stomach flu bugs that run amok around schools. And all the faux concern about the vulnerable will end unfortunately.

The government had the perfect opportunity to create a whole new way of delivering education to all and they ignored it. For decades parents, carers, school, ed psych and more have talked and campaigned for a system that allows those vulnerable to have access to continuing education and close a massive gap in learning.

The online system was a shambles based on postcode but even the ones that only had an hour a week had far more learning than the vulnerable ever did when at home because they were ill yet again because of the actions of other people

If the plan is to scrap bubbles across the board, scrap self-isolation for close contacts and voluntary testing for secondary, I can see it spreading like wildfire, particularly in primary where there is no testing at all.

The government will faff about for a while wittering on about mobile phones etc, then release some updated regulations that will be either impossible or too expensive to implement. They will then allow schools to take the blame when cases skyrocket.

They will also forget that primaries exist, saying ‘schools’ but meaning secondaries.

Ormal opening. Testing instead of isolating.

@QwertyGirly

Realistically, the government will have a plan, send guidelines to schools the day before schools open, not give them any funding to purchase good quality air filtration system.

The isolating system will be scrapped and not replaced with anything else. We will start off ok because it's summer, and we will have another explosion of cases comes November. Back to square one, the government will then do a U-turn and impose self-isolating rules again to slow down the spread.

They are counting on children 'taking it on the chin' and achieve herd immunity instead of vaccinating them.

This

@QwertyGirly

Realistically, the government will have a plan, send guidelines to schools the day before schools open, not give them any funding to purchase good quality air filtration system.

The isolating system will be scrapped and not replaced with anything else. We will start off ok because it's summer, and we will have another explosion of cases comes November. Back to square one, the government will then do a U-turn and impose self-isolating rules again to slow down the spread.

They are counting on children 'taking it on the chin' and achieve herd immunity instead of vaccinating them.

I actually think you are right. They are hoping for children to achieve herd immunity naturally and the test of us through vaccinations/infections etc. I worry about the long term impacts such as long covid for children as not enough is known. Also worry about children bringing covid home and passing to vulnerable siblings and babies at home.

No idea - I haven’t even been given my timetable for the next academic year yet let alone anything else!

@MildredPuppy

Ormal opening. Testing instead of isolating.

Except in primary where they don’t do LFD tests.

Squeezing groups of 30 into classrooms with no testing, no isolation and no masks sounds fun; what could go wrong?

Well there is no way my child will be isolating for 10 days if she is sent home. They won’t have her back in school fair enough but she won’t be a prisoner in her own home either. She has been sent home numerous times (5) and has never had covid and others I know whose kids have been sent him haven’t either. Enough is enough. Vulnerable are vaccinated , life goes on.

I expect i'll find out the morning I go back in September. As a teacher, that's what's happened every other time. I can guarantee you there won't be any more money- for anything- in school though.

All adults will have all been double jabbed by then. The lockdowns were to stop the NHS being overwhelmed.
By September we just need to carry on, our kids futures have already been curtailed enough.
It’s not fair ,when just need to live with it, we’ve realistically done what we can now.

Hopefully, things will change and anyone over the age of 12 who wants to be vaccinated, will have the option to be.

I wish they would vaccinate the over 12’s. It’s been approved, so l don’t know why they won’t. They should at least give the option.

I just think it will be carnage again in October. Why wouldn’t it be? No mitigation, no masks, no bubbles, no ventilation, cases in schools will go mad. And I’m passed off that my dd who will be in year 11 next year is caught in the middle of it all.