Is it feasible schools open through the summer?

[FATEdestiny]

Boris says 12 weeks, which takes us to mid June.

To me, it would seem sensible to send children back to school June (aside from Y11 and Y13). Then have term time through to July. Have a "half term" week off in July. Then back to school through August and another week off for August bank holiday weekend and straight into normal Autumn term.

Effectively considering now an extended summer holiday.

What are your thoughts?

where are you getting the working from home and all those weeks of holiday?

Exactly!

We are all in from Monday providing care for key workers and vulnerable children and setting/marking work for those at home.

There is no holiday, there is no WFH for us.

Some people clearly have no idea what they are talking about.

My school is open Monday and all staff working at some point throughout the week including lunchtime staff, cleaners, TAs and Caretaker! More than 25% of the children will be there Monday! I certainly don't want to work from now until October without a break from it! Get lost! Especially as some of those children coming have parents who are not both key workers, but taking advantage of the free childcare so they can continue working even though their jobs are not deemed essential! They just don't want to lose money and they're are much better paid than me!

We are all in as of Monday but no children allowed on the premises. We think there will be a hub school where the childcare will take place.

I don't understand why some people are saying that teachers will be working through the Easter holidays. That won't be happening with anybody I know.

I don't understand why some people are saying that teachers will be working through the Easter holidays. That won't be happening with anybody I know.

Because that’s what the government have asked schools to do. I’m surprised you don’t understand that.

ODFOD. I teach in a very deprived area. The vast majority of the children in my school are still going to be attending from next week (children of key workers or ‘vulnerable’ children). I will be in school every day that the schools are “closed”, caring for the children of key workers. I will be in school, caring for children over the “Easter holiday”. If this is over by June (and it won’t be) I’d like to spend the summer holidays with my own children, who I will barely see over the next few months as our school is now going to be open for children from 8-5, rather than our usual directed time.

There is no holiday, there is no WFH for us.

We are having a mixture of WFH, being in school providing childcare and days off. The same will apply in the Easter holidays - looking at the rota, the head/governors have done an extremely fair job of allocating shifts.

As of Monday, teachers will be doing on of two thing:
#simultaneously teaching remotely, and picking up all the differences that that involves, while looking after kids who have noone else to go.
#being isolated as they are at risk of dying, and probably setting and marking work.

They absolutely need a full summer holiday.

Teachers: the amount of hours you must have all put in over the last week must be truly astounding. You are all amazing.

I don't understand why some people are saying that teachers will be working through the Easter holidays. That won't be happening with anybody I know.

My school is open over the Easter holidays. So are all the ones nearby.

No op not going to work.

Didn't take long did it ?

No schools in Scotland are expected to be open over ths Easter holidays. Surely people would be making arrangements fid childcare during that time anyway do I don't see why schools would need to be open

@Corneliawildthing perhaps because NHS workers, who may have booked annual leave during the Easter holidays to look after their children, will now be working instead? Or perhaps they were relying on grandparents to do childcare who are now practising social distancing.
We will be picking up their childcare load so they can work on the frontline. It’s really not difficult to understand.

We think there will be a hub school where the childcare will take place.

Blimey, I hope someone at your school had some actual knowledge on the subject to pass on to the parents who will need to rely on the provision come Monday morning?

What FreakStar says with bells on..
I have already said that our school has probably underestimated the amount of children who will be in on Monday..

Our school is also open all over Easter..

In Scotland and not a lot of info yet. We obviously did make arrangements for Easter but it was a combinations annual leave, grandparents and sports club.

We think we will be able to stagger annual leave over the fortnight depending who has to work but if it is cancelled or we are staff depleted it will be a nightmare.

Staff in all next week but no children allowed on premises so goodness knows what school staff and other key workers are supposed to do.
Easter hols as of 27th so no provision will be made for the next 2 weeks after that.

There's no way this is all over in 12 weeks.

I am in school fo the foreseeable so if this is over by summer, no!!!

Bloody hell marchingfrogs, talk about snippy! Do you have any idea how much work schools have had to put in over the last 48 hours to try to pull this together for Monday morning? When we weren't given a list of key workers until midnight on Thursday? And then had just one day to find out how many key worker children we had, and plan how to provide an education for them, while simultaneously trying to plan an education for the rest of the children who won't be here for months, while simultaneously fielding hundreds and hundreds of enquiries from anxious parents (when are we reopening, why hasn't the work pack arrived yet, how can they collect their child's PE kit if they're self-isolating), and simultaneously trying to isolate and send home children who started showing symptoms during the day, while simultaneously trying to teach and reassure all our children who are very unsettled by the closure of the school - oh, and simultaneously trying to complete and submit our end of year accounts which just happened to be due on Friday?? Funnily enough, there wasn't a lot of time to chat with the other 15 or so schools in our local partnership to thrash out how and when we might designate one or more hub schools, plus think through the intricacies of whether that's even a good idea (increased social mixing) and organise the very complex issues around things like transport, and sharing of essential data around children's health needs and safeguarding records without breaching data protection. Oh, plus the fact that we're waiting for our LA to give us some guidance on all of this, but oh no, they're working at home now, so they can't answer the phone... just send them an email, but their response time might be 'longer than normal'. Maybe cut us some slack for not yet having the whole thing sewn up?

@MarchingFrogs don't be a dick. No, schools aren't clear about what's happening yet because they only had the key worker list half way through Friday.

As for the 5 weeks holiday you suggested in one of your posts, OP, are you serious? You want teachers to work February to October without any entitlement to annual leave?

FATEdestiny complete lack of understanding of what’s happening and pretty symptomatic of the general populations attitude to teaching of which btw you wouldn’t be the person you are without.

All teachers will be working daily in some way or other. Most teachers will be working in their school setting (putting them and their families at increased chance of infection) for the children who need it. Easter holidays for lots of schools will be mucking in and ensuring that this children who need it are supported so their parents can help save people’s lives.

If for whatever reason a school gets its Easter holidays teachers will hopefully get to spend some of that time with their families just like everyone else. For the rest of it they will have a myriad of jobs that they will be doing to ensure that the next set of children the have the honour of being able to teach achieve the best they can.

Contrary to the general public’s belief we don’t sit on our arses for 6 weeks and guess our way through a punitive, under-respected career which most of us dedicate our lives to.

We are working from home, some of us are working in schools as well as remote teaching, some of us are in schools over Easter - regardless of the risk to ourselves. What more do people want?

Students may be at home now but it's hardly a holiday. Isolation/social distancing/lockdown is incredibly stressful for everyone including children and particularly teens. When all this is over they will need the summer holiday period to get over everything they've just been through, the same as teachers will.

This pandemic won't be over by then. The summer holidays are an inbuilt extension of the school closure period beyond the 12 to 16 week period that has been mentioned. We all need to do exactly what the government has asked of us so we can hit this disease on the head and have a good prospect of normal schooling from the start of September 2020. Otherwise we will be looking at interruptions next academic year too.

We have been told 12-18 months for a vaccine and a vaccine is the only way of tackling this disease, bar incarcerating everyone in their homes until the disease has cannot pass itself on and has died out. Look at how that is working out in Italy (our future in 2 weeks). They are doing everything they can and yet it is still being passed on because this virus is virulent and some people are asymptomatic. We have been told local elections. for May 2020 have been delayed to May 2021. There is no prospect of a return to normal in July.

OP, I note you're a qualified teacher...however you've been a SAHP the last 12 years. I don't think you can really claim to 'be a teacher'.

Secondly, no it's a terrible idea. There are so many reason why mainly; lack of a natural break for both kids and staff, also teachers will have been working and also through all their holidays to this point. You can't pour from an empty cup.