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."

@meditrina - it would be FAB if MNHQ could do this, yes!

Perhaps some of the bods from the DfE would like to spend a few days in our childrens classrooms to get a real feel of what the staff are dealing with, and to see how social distancing children works in practice? Of course, you'll not be able to wear a mask or PPE. I'm sure you'd all be happy to do that? Yes?

@Deepfilledmincepie

I am going to invite Gavin to come to my school and see for himself. I bet he won’t want to! They only visit empty schools!

@MNHQ I've asked before if we could have the DfE on for a webchat.

If they are asking you to be their mouthpiece it would seem a reasonable request.

We are in a democracy and the government should be accountable for their decisions. This should not be a one way conversation.

@BelleSausage but schools are safe! What on earth has he got to worry about?

@LittleBearPad

My question related to the hypothetical half and half approach to school opening but cheers.

I have a solution to the half/half approach.

The government could set up childcare hubs for whichever bubbles is out of school if they can't stay home.
These could be set up festival style in local parks, car parks, empty offices, community places, libraries etc.
They could be staffed by all the extra curricular staff who are currently unemployed as they normally go from school to school. Music teachers, drama teachers, sports coaches etc. Plus Ofsted as it is obviously too dangerous for them to be in school currently . Plus some extra agency staff. It could be supervised remote learning plus enrichment.
It could actually be awesome.
But the government would need to actually use some money to pay for it.

I've been saying this since September incidentally. Loads of time to prepare it for the anticipated January crisis

@ToastandJamandTea

I really hate that mumsnet is becoming a mouthpiece for this. The information is widely available to access, doesn't need to be presented on here in this way

Completely agree with this.

If Mumsnet is becoming a vehicle for the DfE to share their misjudged decisions, can we make it a two way street? So they listen to and acknowledge opinions of those who they clearly want to communicate with.

Eh? So mix all the children who potentially have covid together with a new bunch of adults? In spaces with the general public?

No. In their bubbles I said. They go in a group, obviously.
New adults yes, but fewer numbers than in school and if festival style, then hopefully more ventilation!

And not in spaces with the general public. Festival style means festival fences to give a secure area. Libraries and community halls are closed here so could be used for this as well.

They are so Incompetent that they have already changed their post on the DFE page after they asked for it to be posted here / announced it in parliament / on social media and on the news.

Agreed it might be helpful if you could help this become a two way conversation MNHQ.

Hello, DfE. I assume you’re reading this if you’re asking MN to post on your behalf.

Please can you answer these questions?

1. What is the reasoning behind shutting schools in these areas and not adjacent ones?
2. What is the reasoning behind continuing to allow pupils and teachers to be in classrooms without masks, when they are needed elsewhere?
3. What happened to the tier system you proposed in the summer, which would at this point be allowing for some kind of blended learning with pupils on a rota?
4. Why aren’t you prioritising vaccinating school staff?
5. How regularly will the list of local authorities be reviewed, because the situation is changing quickly?
6. What are your reasons for ignoring the recommendations of Independent Sage around keeping schools open safely?

I want all children in school, to be clear.
As, I believe, do you. But I also want them and staff to be safe, and while I believe you also want that I see no evidence of any measures you are taking to ensure that.

I’m not convinced schools can remain open safely at this point and you are going down a route where it seems inevitable that we will end up with them all closed in due course.

But you also seem to be engaged in the worst kind of magical thinking here, whereby schools are safe because you want them to be. And they clearly aren’t because you are closing some. And ignoring some measures that would make the ones that remain open safer.

Sorry to repost all of the above. They’re not my words - but need to be asked again again until the DfE gives us an answer.

And if DfE are reading.

Please can we have real information regards staff working in schools since September. This information appears suppressed and I know hasn't been found with FOI request.

You must know since September how many teachers/ school staff have had covid. How many have been hospitalised, how many have been in ICU/ventilated and how many have died.

What is the reason for keeping this information unpublished when you've been happy to say how many died in first wave when schools were shut for March until June for the majority.

They ahve rowed back now form saying there is no 'evidence that teachers have been infected more than other keyworkers' to saying 'there is no evidence of fatal outcomes in school staff than in many other occupations'.

Boy would I like to see the source of that 'no evidence! As we always say 'absence of evidence...'

This ridiculous plan (and I say plan in the loosest possible sense), can only lead to full school closures and much stricter lockdowns for everyone.

Anyone who was involved in Education (including the DfE) in the last few weeks of term will know that the situation in schools (Primaries and Secondaries) was untenable. Staff and children were dropping like flies. Add to this the mixed Christmas messages (you can meet, you can't meet etc) and lots of non compliance, New Year gathering etc. and then throw Primary children back into school with no social distaning or (other than handwashing) any other measure. It is going to be a hotbed for infection. Add to this not isolating close contacts but sticking them back in the classroom with 29 others having jabbed a swab up their own nose.

Anyone who can't predict what will happen has to be totally dense. But I'll spell it out for the Gavins in this world. Children spread covid to their families and then to the wider community. Never mind teachers and school staff (because no one seems to). If we think the current exponential growth rate of cases is bad, just wait a few weeks. It will affect us all. And if our government had listened it could have been so much better.

Thanks DfE for making days of work a waste of time by suddenly changing your mind and saying only remote learning for year 11 and 13. Many teachers, like myself, will have spent days planning, recording, resourcing and setting remote lessons for our years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12.

Hopefully my school will sanely choose to still do remote learning for those year groups even though you're saying it's not necessary which means that parents who can't be arsed to get their kids to engage at the best of times will feel totally justified not to encourage their kids to do any work in that week because Gavin said they didn't have to

Ps what did you think we'd be 'teaching' vulnerable and kw children in those years in school if there was no remote learning set? Did you think we'd teach the curriculum to kw kids but not to all the other kids? Do you know how rabidly angry that would make some posters on here who are all about the vulnerable kids when it suits them but would majorly kick off if they thought they were getting an advantage over them.

Oh and the obvious question - why do you want spread to INCREASE in schools? It's the obvious outcome of no longer isolating even really close contacts of cases (including siblings) so I take it that is the outcome you want?

Please can we have real information regards staff working in schools since September. This information appears suppressed and I know hasn't been found with FOI request.

You must know since September how many teachers/ school staff have had covid. How many have been hospitalised, how many have been in ICU/ventilated and how many have died.

What is the reason for keeping this information unpublished when you've been happy to say how many died in first wave when schools were shut for March until June for the majority.

All of this. Teachers are being let down in so many ways.

I work in a primary school with early years children. Myself, along with 5 staff members and 10 children have spent the whole of our Christmas holidays suffering with covid after catching it from 1 child. 1 child who you class as asymptomatic as she had none of your magic 3 symptoms, she had many others though. My whole family have now caught it ( 6 of them) off me subsequently. Is your plan to intentionally get herd immunity in children via schools with school staff as the unfortunate sacrificial lambs??

Given even the Chair of the committee of public accounts couldn't get any sensible answers from you I am guessing we won't either.

If you want to say the fucking ministers won't let us do our jobs properly and are totally fucking us over every step of the way and don't even tell us in the DfE before they make their half arsed announcements but can't because you'd be fired and in breach of non disclosure contracts then you could have a code word. Eg. agree to come do a webchat spouting all the 'right' messages but when asked what your favourite biscuit for the office is answer 'garibaldi'.

@TheHoneyBadger the DfE have now changed the rules and it's now teach all years remotely. Actually says 'prioritise' each year group !
So full time teaching next week, but remotely. Not sure who is going to be doing this testing (that's if tests turn up - care homes are still waiting for theirs).

Hi DfE.

Since Gav's incomprehensible announcement yesterday you have made several different statements, including the two different graphics released that I have attached.

Which of them is the actual requirement you incompetent buffoons?

I also want to mention viral load.

Higher viral load = more severe disease. Plenty of published papers on this.

The only thing that can mitigate against high viral load as schools are now - ESPECIALLY with the new variant where there are reports children shed more virus - is masks. Why no masks in classrooms?

I just don't understand how it can be deemed a safe workplace. It's just not.

And Gav gave conflicting info on radio this morning. Bunch of idiots.