Email from DfE to Headteachers. Schools prepped to shut again?

[AntiMaskersAreTwats]

Do you think this means it likely schools will shut again?

Yes, I know teachers who have been dialling into lessons from home when off with covid. Not when actually properly sick though.

I didn't say I was teaching while vomiting, a colleague was. Also plans are not on any system ahead of time in our school. We don't put plans on any system at all. I have brought it up time and time again recently that this is not acceptable especially when some parents are now asking for work when their children are off sick and the head said we shouldn't provide it, I asked why it doesn't apply to us as we are not allowed to rest and we are also not modelling good wellbeing to the children. I was shot down for it.

Unfortunately I know a few.
Who are now struggling to fully recover because they didn’t take that time to rest when they needed it…. :(

True story, one of my children’s teachers (whilst off with Covid) had to dial in for a meeting. I was on it as it was for my child. She was coughing so much she was almost sick, fan on because she was dripping and kept apologising. Honestly, how she was even sat up was beyond me.

Yes, I know teachers who have been dialling into lessons from home when off with covid. Not when actually properly sick though.

Doesn't everyone do this? At my work anyone who's test positive but didn't feel absolutely rubbish has continued WFH.

Remember the government say children don’t get or spread COVID and schools are safe. Teachers say the opposite and suffer the consequences.

@ASushiBitMyFinger

Yes, I know teachers who have been dialling into lessons from home when off with covid. Not when actually properly sick though.

Doesn't everyone do this? At my work anyone who's test positive but didn't feel absolutely rubbish has continued WFH.

I was sleeping for 3 hours and then getting up to work for 2 hours before having to sleep again for 2 weeks. This is not about those who are asymptomatic or just feeling like they had a bit of a cold. I was meaning those who are sick and should be resting but are pressured into working.

I hope we will be going back to school in the new year. Felt quite gutted for my DD and also felt a Saturday evening email was quite late notice though I suppose there's not much they can do.

I do not want her to miss another half year of school at all. I know it's a minor issue but I;m sad she's going to miss her school Christmas celebration with friends :(

There needs to be funding for proper mitigations in schools. It's a national disgrace that there isn't. Pay for it themselves? Our school can barely afford to buy in extra TA support for emerging SEN children prior to them being funded on an EHCP. We donate termly for supplies! Teachers should always have been a priority for vaccination too

Open the windows and doors. Ah yes, that great mitigation. It has been bitterly cold here this week. I sent my five year old to school this week wearing a vest, thermal long sleeve top, long sleeve polo, dress, cardigan, long socks, leggings, woolly tights and winter boots. She still ended up in tears because she was so cold, as did several other children. How are our teachers supposed to teach classes of freezing cold five year olds? Our fab teacher had them up doing star jumps every half hour just to keep warm, you could apparently see breath in the classroom the children were playing at being dragons. It is ridiculous. Luckily our school are great and have said send them in uniform but if you want to send extra jumpers/fleeces etc to put on top then we don't care what they are, just later them up for warmth and we will do our best to teach! They're wearing winter scarves hats and gloves in the classroom FFS and we've been asked to send fingerless gloves if we can, so that they can stay warm and still hold a pencil. I am so angry at the government.

I actually think schools will close again in January. I really hope I'm wrong. I have zero desire to homeschool ever again and I want my child in school. But I think we're headed for lockdown again. The signs are there, the media is gearing up for it. I could just about accept a lockdown if schools remained open and everything non essential closed. It is just shit all round.

I also noticed for the first time today when doing my online shop that they queuing page is back. People stocking up? Or just Christmas shopping maybe, but it did wallop me with a big case of 'oh, here we go again....'.

If ill, ime teachers are universally asked to set cover work that can be ‘taught’ by whoever is with the class.

As this is often a non -qualified person - 1:1 TA, lunchtime supervisor, sports coach, whoever the supply agency can find if the school can find none of the above - every lesson has to be substantially adapted, re-resourced and explained. This is really hard each day for 5+ lessons per day when feeling poorly, so it is in some ways easier to say ‘I’ll just teach online’.

@mnhq Did you only want me to abandon my username, which I have done graciously, or did you mean both of us? Please tell me you're not being partisan.

Contingency plans for exams being cancelled again are already in place.

Are you now saying that teachers should take their holiday during lockdown, when they can't go anywhere or see loved ones, and then work through the summer, when they would hope to enjoy the same freedoms as everyone else?

Again. I can only speak to what we did in Japan.

Teachers did not "work through the summer"--they did get a couple of weeks off, the timing of which varied from school to school. People (teachers AND parents' families) had enough time to take a trip somewhere in Japan. I mean, really, I don't think many people take three-weeks-and-over holidays even during non-pandemic times? Is it normal to literally go to CenterParks or a resort for three or four weeks in the UK? I can hardly believe that. The people I know in the UK go to a resort or the seaside or CenterParks etc. for maybe a week.

The schools also trimmed the length of other holidays, added some extra Saturday days, and cut out a lot of non-core stuff throughout the year.

I had to cancel my UK trip, which was very disappointing. But, that's life right now. My own stance, and that of most of the teachers and parents I knew, was that yes, it's a bit crap and annoying, but the alternative is that lasting damage is done to children's education. If they miss out on chunks of stuff, it sets them up poorly for the next stage. Kids need to learn their school stuff--their maths, their literacy, their social studies and science. It's not an optional extra-curricular or a nice-to-have. Holidays get shifted around for one year, if necessary.

As for the teachers: I'm sure they weren't thrilled about this either. But on the other hand? They didn't have to deal with the horrible nightmare of online learning for uninterested kids. And they're also not now having to deal with the ongoing, endless stress of kids who are all at insanely different levels and acting out in class. We're all basically back on track in educational terms here.

I mean, how about just laying the options on the table and asking UK teachers which they'd prefer?

Schools literally 100% shut for a month (and key worker kids go to childcare facilities) and then cut the summer vacation? So summer holidays do get messed up, BUT educational can proceed in a more normal fashion.

Or try to get online learning and Zoom lessons and stuff to work, again, and then try to get all the stragglers (we all know perfectly well a lot of kids and parents will not engage with remote school) back on track, again, when they come back into the classroom, and deal with all the gaps in learning and different levels... BUT then have summer holidays that are full length and at the normal time.

Personally, I'd agree to reshuffle my holidays for the year (shrug). It's unlikely travel is going to be normal next summer anyway. But maybe the government should literally put the choice to teachers, if they do get serious about closing schools again.

I have 4 children. 2 diagnosed with autism (years 11 and 9), 1 about to be diagnosed (year 9) and one I have suspicions about (year 1).

The stress of not knowing who will be teaching you one day to the next, the shortage of support staff, the stress from constantly being told you're behind and for year 11, not knowing whether exams are happening and being told you're going to be penalized because the grade boundaries are going to be harsher to make up for 2 years teacher assessment - its unbearable.

How much do you remember from school realistically? We should be teaching kids to learn and think independently and stop focusing so much on learning by rote to pass a test.

For us right now homeschooling would be a welcome break. We're all exhausted.

My biggest frustration right now though is fads in education. Our new primary head is obsessed and at a time teachers are on their knees I'm becoming increasingly frustrated. We have loads of autistic kids in school and 2 TAs with the minimum training. In the meantime hes all over this metaconition and thrive stuff and emailing us with buzzword filled emails. It infuriates me because kids are not being identified and are struggling as a result.

We should be concentrating on the skills children have picked up. We should have smaller schools and smaller class sizes which are more inclusive and we should be tearing up the strict behaviour policies which just add to the stress of our young people. Oh and a decision on the summer exams needs to be made now.

In terms of vulnerable children what upsets me is that they're only a concern when we're talking about schools closing and yet we have so many SEND kids unable to attend school due to a lack of suitable provision. Wheres the outcry for those children? Wheres the outcry for kids who have significant anxiety and the parents are at risk of prosecution unless they deregister?

Honestly if they told me schools were closing tomorrow and I could have a break from the meltdowns caused by a lack of support and ehcps not being followed by supply staff, I'd breathe a sigh of relief.

I would also like the funding to go alongside the title of ‘essential infrastructure’.

Have said this in another thread.My school employed tutors to work in the core subjects. They’re just being used as cover supervisors. At the moment cover is so stretched that the data manager is covering lessons.

Yes, we are open. No, we aren’t doing what we should be doing - delivering an education.

"Schools literally 100% shut for a month (and key worker kids go to childcare facilities) and then cut the summer vacation?"

Where do the vulnerable children go? Those that cannot learn outside of school. Those that could not go to childcare because childcare wouldn't have the skill to care for them. Those who need 24/7 care and school is the only respite parents get. Those that are self injuring because they don't and could never understand what is happening Yes they may be off if they or staff have to self isolate but this can happen anyway outside of the month official shutting - ds's only one was last summer and he attended entirely throughout both lockdowns.

And It is a lot easier to manage some children and teenagers in the summer when they can cope outside for long periods of time, than in the winter when they cannot.

Where do the vulnerable children go? Those that cannot learn outside of school. Those that could not go to childcare because childcare wouldn't have the skill to care for them. Those who need 24/7 care and school is the only respite parents get.

If it's actual suspension of the curriculum (which is what I'm talking about) they don't need to learn outside of school, just be babysat. What do you suppose happens to such kids during the summer holidays?

being told you're going to be penalized because the grade boundaries are going to be harsher to make up for 2 years teacher assessment - its unbearable.

If they said this to you, it isn't correct.

Japan doesn't have a formal external exam season does it?

The shifting around of the school year here simply doesn't work because we are wedded to external exams happening at certain point s and a uni admission system that relies on this.

Grade boundaries will be set between 2019 actual exams and 2021 TAGs, so that they follow a gradual downward trajectory back to 2019.

I would also like the funding to go alongside the title of ‘essential infrastructure’.

Absolutely.

This whole levelling up agenda means diddly squat if education and our children aren't given the priority they deserve.

I have no problem in theory with shifting the holidays around (I have a cancellable UK holiday booked next summer, because I never book anything uncancellable for medical reasons - not every parent or school staff member would be happy to lose money) BUT the issue is we wouldn't know for sure that everything would be okay later in the year, would we?

Japan obviously took a punt that paid off but we can't be sure of no new wave/no new variant next July/August.

I can see it would be hard for secondary. Primary is a bit different though (there are SATS, but I can't imagine that anyone would cry their eyes out about SATS for the primary kids not going ahead this year).

My suggestion would be simply put the ball in schools' courts and ask them what they want to do. There isn't going to be a great solution that meets everyone's needs perfectly. But online teaching really doesn't seem to work very well esp for primary, so moving schools online needs to happen with everyone's understanding that there will be really bad learning gaps afterwards.