How full are primary schools???

[mids2019]

My partner and I have 2 primary school children and though keyworkers took the decision to keep our children out of school to limit COVID transmission.

We are now aware half the school is back in and we are worried that we have compromised our childrens education as with such high numbers in school it seems inevitable some kind of teaching will be happening there (as opposed to the first lockdown where it was childcare essentially)

How full is your school and do you think there is a difference between online learning and in school?

(I am a little frustrated by this as we envisaged schools would be used sparingly as really what was the point of shutting them)

30% of our very very large primary are in

.

In our school, we have stay at home non-working parents sending children in, because there is one parent in the household who is a key worker. It is ridiculous.

In my infant school we have around 40-50% in each day but that has risen daily. We hope the new statement that key workers working from home should keep their children at home if possible might help,reduce the numbers. We don't want to go above half size classes if we can as it makes the whole 'closing for safety' idea nonsense if they are then still busy.

Our 'in school' children have the same lessons as the children at home but in a different format. We don't have enough devices for children to access them Individually online, so they watch the pre recorded ones as a bubble on the whiteboard. They then do the same tasks or,activities but in books. Where possible the class staff upload a photograph of their work to seesaw. So parents can see their work, and it helps us with monitoring the numbers who have accessed each lesson.

In an afternoon they do more informal play type activities.

It seems like there is a range of attendance numbers based on the above. I was wonder if this is community/geographically
dependent?

I am reassured about the parity of education offered between in and out of school but may become concerned about lack of socialisation eventually

With rumours of stricter lockdown I wonder if their is going to be a forced revisitation of key worker status?

I have sympathy with those that have to enforce these rules which must be a challenge where there are far more people arguing for key worker status.

I have heard of occasions where a child's mental health has detonated due to lockdown and lack of social opportunities (especially amongst only children) and therefore they may be viewed as vunerable. I wonder if this is going to be more prevalent.

This morning Matt Hancock said “So for instance if you’re a key worker, and your partner doesn’t work, then you shouldn’t be sending your children to school.”

Our school is now saying that they may start to 'triage' spaces, but haven't clarified exactly how. Looking at the guidance though, it looks as though (rightly or wrongly) they are still being asked to ensure there are soaces for children of critical workers if they are not able to learn from home. So does anyone know how the schools are able to overide this?

Very few in our school. Same teaching at home and school (lessons on teams). Those in school are with a TA it seems pretty boring for them in between the teams sessions but I'm grateful he is in 2 days/week. 6 in a bubble (usually 32 in Ds' class)

I have 16/18 in school. However, I teach abroad and our parents have only been given the suggestion to keep their kids home. We are meant to be in lockdown but it's an absolute joke. The federal government expected there to be approximately 10% of kids in school. Yeah, right... I now try and teach those in school and those at home simultaneously through Zoom. I'm shattered and we've only been back a week.
My kids at home get their new reading books emailed to them. I'm fed up and feel like I'm not supporting either group appropriately. I teach 6-year-olds. They can't just be left with some worksheets and expected to get on with it. I also feel it's unfair towards those parents, who have listened and kept their kids at home. I'm trying very hard to make sure that my class get equal teaching but I know that I'm not always successful.

3 kids in school doing the online learning sent by their teachers and supported by CAs so no different to doing it at home with a parent.

5-15 per class.

Way too many.
We have had two bubbles burst this week, and now the "real" front-line key workers are stuck. The more kids there are in school, the more likely this is to happen.

We have close to 50% in all classes in my Primary. We have a lot of vulnerable children in, and lots of Critical Worker parents. All teachers are in school, and trying to run school and home learning simultaneously. LEA and some local MATs have now said that when you are looking at going over 50% in a class schools can start prioritising to keep numbers down. I certainly had a fair few in who had one Key Worker parent and another at home who were sending children into school.