MNHQ here: Details on school closures from the Department of Education

[AnnaCMumsnet]

Hello

We have been contacted by the Department of Education about the school closures affecting Primary and Secondary. They say:

"The Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, has today announced plans to keep early years, schools, colleges and universities open from January.

"The government will now begin applying the contingency framework for education and childcare settings in areas of the country with very high rates of incidence or transmission of the virus, with the first areas to move into the framework listed below. The framework requires secondary schools and colleges to offer face-to-face education to exam years, vulnerable and critical worker children, and remote education to all other students.

"Please note that vocational exams scheduled for the first weeks of January will go ahead as planned."

Return dates for primary and secondary schools & colleges in England

4 Jan – majority of primary schools start returning
4 Jan – secondary schools and colleges to provide remote education for exam years and face to face for education for vulnerable and critical worker children
11 Jan – face to face education for exam years and vulnerable and critical worker children and remote learning for other secondary school and college years
18 Jan – secondary school and college students return for face-to-face education

"In the following local areas under contingency framework, all primary students will receive remote education. The areas will be reviewed on 18 January and any secondary schools in the areas will provide remote learning except for exam years and vulnerable and critical worker children:

London
Barking and Dagenham
Barnet
Bexley
Brent
Bromley
Croydon
Ealing
Enfield
Hammersmith and Fulham
Havering
Hillingdon
Hounslow
Kensington and Chelsea
Merton
Newham
Redbridge
Richmond-Upon-Thames
Southwark
Sutton
Tower Hamlets
Waltham Forest
Wandsworth
Westminster

Essex
Brentwood
Epping Forest
Castle Point
Basildon
Rochford
Harlow
Chelmsford
Braintree
Maldon
Southend on Sea
Thurrock

Kent
Dartford
Gravesham
Sevenoaks
Medway
Ashford
Maidstone
Tonbridge and Malling
Tunbridge Wells
Swale

East Sussex
Hastings
Rother

Buckinghamshire
Milton Keynes

Hertfordshire
Watford
Broxbourne
Hertsmere
Three Rivers

"For more information please go to www.gov.uk/government/news/school-contingency-plans-to-be-implemented-as-cases-rise."

@Elephant4 I assume all Secondary schools will provide remote provision from 11th January, then in all areas not on the list the pupils are back in school from the 18th, but in the areas on the list, if still on the list, remote provision will continue, apart from exam years which will be in school.

I know it’s not a thread for feedback but it concerns me that review is for 18th. On what basis are primaries reopened and how can we know children are not going to be deprived school for longer?

Isnt it remote provision from the 4th?

@ineedaholidaynow

Many people have asked what the position is for remote provision for w/c 4th January for Secondary schools. It wasn't clear from the speeches this afternoon, this has made it clear that schools don't have to provide remote provision for all years in that week, they just have to provide it for the exam years.

Had I known my children would miss another week of learning, then maybe I would have accepted the keyworker place for the 4th Jan. I turned this down yesterday when school messaged, as I assumed secondary children would be taught remotely from the 4th too.

How naive of me. ONE Y10 child has missed 40 days in school last term and the other 20.

I am terrified - actually - that we're going to be forgotten (Tier 4 and on the list) and our kids won't go back for a very long time.

I have no trust left in the DfE or government. It is crystal clear that they have no idea what they are doing and are full of lies and deceit.

Our children are being failed by them.

@RememberSelfCompassion

Isnt it remote provision from the 4th?

They are giving schools an extra week to set up testing.

Probably because after threatening legal action for schools wanting to go online, then deciding schools could switch Friday to an inset, they announced Thursday as schools shut they were doing mass testing first week back with online learning.

And somehow expected heads to set this up during their holiday when schools are shut.

Every time I start to defend government and think they are least trying they do something so utterly senseless like this and I begin to think it's a deliberate power play move.

Gav needs to get off MN. He needs to get off the governments ministers list.

He actually makes Gove look almost competent.

Probably his only, and biggest achievement!

@middleager

Why did the PM lie again and say "schools are safe?"

Stop gaslighting parents. Stop placing children, staff and families in danger.

My child caught Covid at school, along with 20% of his class. This was because you crowbarred children in small classrooms with no masks or ventilation yet told wicked whoppers that children were safe and do not transmit the virus.

Your lies are killing people.

This. As @middleager says. Exactly this.

DfE - how are schools going to run this testing?

Will our kids actually get an education whilst all this testing is going on?

Where are you getting the volunteers from? Will they be police checked? Or are our teachers supposed to do the testing?

Care to tell me why schools are insisting that staff attend virtual PD days in person DFE? I thought everyone was supposed to work from home where possible. Why are we bottom of the pile in every 'respect'?

This guidance is clear as mid. And the contingency framework that’s linked on the gov website contradicts some of what’s said in this statement.

I just want to know:

Are nurseries staying open? And;
Will primary schools be doing remote learning from the 4th? Or the 11th? Or not at all and they go back on the 18th?

The DfE will make its mid up before too long.

This is the forth different version that I have read and two of them have been on the governments own website.

twitter.com/AnitaCTHF/status/1343119174604906497?s=20
The figures in this modelling are interesting. They don't show much difference in spread with schools open.

But if your reading any comments here DFE
I caught covid from my primary school class at the end of November , one of six of us in my class. It passed on to children’s family’s including parents and grandparents.
It meant my year 11 daughter had to isolate for the fourth time that term missing her mocks (tier three area since forever).
I have contacted my mp numerous times and he has told me he will send your reply , still waiting.
I hope none of my colleagues suffer as badly as I have. My friend has just lost her father to covid. It’s heartbreaking . But as long as Boris says it’s safe in school we should all be ok thankfully

@middleager

Why did the PM lie again and say "schools are safe?"

Stop gaslighting parents. Stop placing children, staff and families in danger.

My child caught Covid at school, along with 20% of his class. This was because you crowbarred children in small classrooms with no masks or ventilation yet told wicked whoppers that children were safe and do not transmit the virus.

Your lies are killing people.

THIS LIES, LIES, LIES. Shameful.

@BelleSausage

It won’t work and more people will die. How can you expect to re-open primaries with no rotas or mitigation methods.

We are the only country in the world with such a high infection rate and schools fully opened.

Stop dodging the bullet DfE and do something.

Yes while you are lurking DfE please explain why you are not advocating any greater protective measures for primary staff and pupils at the point all the country is in Tier3 (very high alert) and Tier4 (stay at home)?

Why not allow teachers to wear masks? Why are you not introducing testing in primary schools? Why not have a rota system to allow for greater social distancing? Why not increase schools budgets so they can afford more cleaning staff / soaps and hand sanitiser? Why not provide the promised laptops so that children who need to isolate can still work from home?

I want schools to be open as safely as possible for staff and pupils, why are you NOT helping schools achieve that?

Thanks for this MNHQ. The official guidance actually isn’t that easy to find and your post is much clearer. Perhaps you could help the govt with their communication.

@Cactusowl

How are teachers expected to provide face to face lessons for vulnerable and critical worker children while providing remote lessons for everyone else? I can’t see how that would work in secondary school.

If my experience during the first lockdown is anything to go by, there won't be any online lessons or actual lessons in schools. Work will be set online (remote learning) for pupils to complete at home. Pupils in school will be doing the same work and the teachers will just baby sit so to speak. It's an absolute sodding disgrace and I say that as a teacher. We can and must do better. There is no reason whatsoever why we can't do actual online lessons (on Teams or Zoom) for all year groups from 4th January. I really don't see my head teacher deploying me to assist with the roll out of mass testing during the time I would normally be teaching...

@RememberSelfCompassion

So its not safe for my secondary child to return for 2 weeks (I agree... ) how is it safe for my primary child to return...

And what about the fact that your primary child will spread it to all your family including your secondary child. Madness.

Mitigations for teachers now there is a mutant more infectious covid?

Zero?

@middleager

Why did the PM lie again and say "schools are safe?"

Stop gaslighting parents. Stop placing children, staff and families in danger.

My child caught Covid at school, along with 20% of his class. This was because you crowbarred children in small classrooms with no masks or ventilation yet told wicked whoppers that children were safe and do not transmit the virus.

Your lies are killing people.

Agreed.

The DfE isn’t bloody lurking nor are MN doing government marketing. It’s helpful to have the information in as many places as possible including bizarrely the biggest parenting website in the UK.

@middleager

Why did the PM lie again and say "schools are safe?"

Stop gaslighting parents. Stop placing children, staff and families in danger.

My child caught Covid at school, along with 20% of his class. This was because you crowbarred children in small classrooms with no masks or ventilation yet told wicked whoppers that children were safe and do not transmit the virus.

Your lies are killing people.

And was your DC ok?

The decision to close schools in some parts of London and not others makes no sense. Lambeth's case rate is higher than Southwark's abs yet their schools stay open? Why? Won't this not just make closures less effective? Do DfE not realise that children often go to school outside their borough? Do they not realise that these places are all really near each other? They need to explain the rationale

The wording has changed to say exam groups are prioritised for online learning. The link in the op is wrong. Link is here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-and-childcare-settings-return-in-january-2021/schools-and-childcare-settings-return-in-january-2021
Altered wording in photo.

@CookEatRepeat

Thanks for this MNHQ. The official guidance actually isn’t that easy to find and your post is much clearer. Perhaps you could help the govt with their communication.

Mn probably just copied and pasted what they received tbh