Secondary school open evenings back to normal

[noblegiraffe]

Lots of secondary schools are gearing up to having sixth form and prospective Y7 open evenings over the next few weeks, entirely back to normal - this means adults and children crammed into classrooms and corridors and lots of mixing.

Teachers are obviously used packed classrooms, but I'm not sure what parents will be thinking about it? Particularly ones who may be working from home or in workplaces that still have covid measures in place.

We're keeping online parents evenings. Parents preferred it.

We are gutted that 3 of our 5 possible schools aren't doing on site open events. The one school we have been able to go to so far has really won over our hearts, I truly appreciate how they acknowledged the importance of this event for year 6 pupils and their parents, being oversubscribed every year they didn't need to for their own benefit. They limited the amount of pupils and staff on site and threw a perfectly safe event. It's given me a huge amount of faith in them as a school as well as being impressed with everything else we saw. It was meant to be a third choice contender (as it's a bit further out) but seriously considering it as our first.

I can see what this thinly veiled thread is aimed at getting at

Maybe finding out parent views on open evenings going ahead as normal? My view of what's reasonable these days is rather skewed by working in a school.

Not quite normal here. They are only allowing year 6 families to tour the school.

Ours is been split into times for various catchment schools. So will reduce numbers and be less mixing between schools

By thing veiled I feel it is once again about pushing the narrative about how teachers have been thrown to the wolves during this pandemic and that parents who've had the "luxury" of WFH would object to "the risk" of being crammed into unventilated spaces with lots of kids and other adults

I think it is clear from the majority of responses that people couldn't give a shit and want to crack on with life. And part of life is actually going to see the school their child attends.

@noblegiraffe

I can see what this thinly veiled thread is aimed at getting at

Maybe finding out parent views on open evenings going ahead as normal? My view of what's reasonable these days is rather skewed by working in a school.

How has working in a school skewed your opinion of what's "normal"?

You know that there are LOTS of industries that are more exposed to Covid than schools right? Industries that have worked throughout the pandemic and not had the luxury of WFH or teaching online. Workers who have to get packed transport to work everyday. Workers who work amongst hundreds of people with little mitigation in place. People in retail, people in construction, people in transport, people in factories.

Get a grip.

Maybe finding out parent views on open evenings going ahead as normal? My view of what's reasonable these days is rather skewed by working in a school.

What are your thoughts on open evenings and parents evenings? My kids school/college are sending emails about how happy they are to have these things and after school clubs up and running, it’s all very ‘jolly.’ But I’m thinking not all the staff feel that way. It’s difficult as I feel for staff who may not be old enough to be offered the booster if they would like it, but obviously for my children, I want normal schooling.
Are there lots of cases at your school? As a parent I don’t seem to be being told anything about cases numbers but kids say there’s cases of covid there.

What are your thoughts on open evenings and parents evenings?

Given that my school is ploughing ahead as if covid isn't a thing anymore, it's really interesting to hear that other schools aren't, and are limiting numbers or staying online. This suggests that not everyone is as blasé about covid as some here would insist.

As for the extra covid risk, as a teacher what's the point in worrying about an open evening over being in a classroom, corridor, assembly, or INSET day in the hall? There's no chance of avoiding catching covid so 🤷‍♀️ There's nothing I can do about it.

Are there lots of cases at your school?

A fair number in the kids. We don't get told about staff but I know at least one with it, and there's lots of teachers being covered at the moment...

You know that there are LOTS of industries that are more exposed to Covid than schools right?

Which is why in my OP I specifically mentioned the ones who aren't.

@noblegiraffe

No doubt it will be more useful for parents, definitely not disputing that. Just thinking of how parents might be feeling around how busy it's going to be.

Not just that, but what about school staff (me included) who have been told to ‘keep the crowds moving’ to ‘minimise risk of transmission’. 🙄

Given that my school is ploughing ahead as if covid isn't a thing anymore, it's really interesting to hear that other schools aren't, and are limiting numbers or staying online. This suggests that not everyone is as blasé about covid as some here would insist.

I suppose it’s just the luck of the draw as to how the headteacher decides to deal with it. I’m not sure if people are blasé about it or just genuinely don’t know what else to do but get on with things. Only time will tell I suppose if the schools like yours, acting like covid has gone away, are doing the right thing or not.

As for the extra covid risk, as a teacher what's the point in worrying about an open evening over being in a classroom, corridor, assembly, or INSET day in the hall? There's no chance of avoiding catching covid so 🤷‍♀️ There's nothing I can do about it.

I suppose that the only way to look at it. My daughters school are still doing a one way system and they’ve tested the kids at school twice since going back but that seems to be about it. Business as usual it seems with open evenings, clubs etc.

To be honest I’m not really sure what to think anymore.

Our head of 6th form, 17 year 13s and around a dozen year 12s have tested positive this week but we are going ahead with our open day and evening on Monday. The day is for year 11s who will potentially move up, doing taster lessons, and the evening for their parents, who will be coming in to listen to a talk and do a tour, bobbing in and out of different classrooms for group q and a sessions with teachers.

Current year 12s and 13s will be guides.

My DS (not at the 6th form) has tested positive and my DD has symptoms (waiting pcr) but I am still going in on Monday to do 6 taster sessions and lead the talk in the absence of the head of 6th.

Parents have already called in very worried about this plan and some have withdrawn their DC from coming to the taster day because of how many cases we are experiencing.

I did ask if I could take a backstage role given my current exposure, but I can't. There are no mitigations and I know students and their parents do not feel safe.

It's folly

Of course if I test positive I won't be going in at all. But how many people will be exposed throughout the day?

If a head teacher decides to abandon all mitigations and act as if Covid is over, then there really is not much that can be done about it by any individual staff member.

Most of ours we had to book so will be limited people at a time but one has two headteacher talks so can imagine how busy they will be. Doesn’t bother me too much though .

My DD is year 6 and we’ve been looking round secondaries. I’m grateful to be able to actually look round the schools and get a feel of them but there’s been real inconsistencies between them. At one school we had to take proof a negative lateral flow and only one parent was allowed with the child and the school seemed to be taking covid really seriously and at another, whole families including siblings went, they had a million activities going on and the place was rammed, it was as if covid was over. The latter school has had numerous covid outbreaks over the past year and has had to close on occasion as so many staffing shortages. Based on that open evening, it’s easy to see why.

@CallmeHendricks

If a head teacher decides to abandon all mitigations and act as if Covid is over, then there really is not much that can be done about it by any individual staff member.

If a prime minister decides to abandon all mitigations and act as if Covid is over, then there really is not much that can be done about it by any individual staff member.

Fixed it for you.

It seems from here that some heads are not acting as if covid is over so I'm not sure their hands are tied.

We have lifted a lot of the previous mitigations but, to be fair, when I went to my HT and expressed my concerns about something happening that I felt was unsafe, she listened and agreed to change it.

Our local secondary is doing online only for most, but in-person for out of catchment applicants— for some reason.

my school is ploughing ahead as if covid isn't a thing anymore

Our primary school is doing the same. Covid is going round like wildfire and they’ve just isolated one year group into their own bubble because it’s so rife.

But when we asked the head if we could have an online parents welcome meeting last week, he said no because “although the number of cases is high, PHE have confirmed it is not yet a ‘local outbreak’.” So it was in person only, or miss out. I have DC at home with symptoms awaiting PCR results, so I missed out.

I do quite a bit with the school and it's a dilemma.

I am CEV (though that category seems to have been pulled) so I still am generally cautious otherwise.

However it feels awkward to say to the teachers that I feel unsafe in meetings when they are teaching several different classes of children all day every day in school.

I think I am going to have to wear a mask etc however in crowded situations indoors.

I can also see that it makes life more difficult if other people can't read your expression in conversation and the teachers themselves probably can't wear masks in school very easily.

Both schools staying online - it was so much better, no standing around waiting for the teacher to be free inadvertently hearing about another student, they could really limit it to the time, and parents who were at work or away could attend virtually.
However, one school has just hosted three parent 'teas', 150-400 (depending on the occasion) all crammed in, no masks, and a teacher baulked at shaking my hand??

Thank goodness schools are going back to normal.

However it feels awkward to say to the teachers that I feel unsafe in meetings when they are teaching several different classes of children all day every day in school.

I think it's fair enough to say you feel unsafe in meetings because teachers teach several different classes of children all day every day. I didn't see my parents for a year because I felt I posed too much of a risk to them, and now things are kicking off again I'm not sure when I will see them again.

We’re doing in person. The head’s talk will be recorded and put online afterwards (I think this might have actually been the case pre-COVID too) but no subject info or opportunity to ask questions unless you come in person.

DC’s primary school is doing in person but you have to book a ticket, so I assume they’re restricting numbers.

Some parents will probably be nervous about coming, but surely most people are used to busy shops, pubs etc so I wouldn’t expect people to be too surprised.