Scottish schools opening

[chocciechocface]

I was ready for schools opening, but this new research has given me pause for thought. I think this came out after Sturgeon's decision. What do you all think?

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/07/31/georgia-children-covid-outbreak/#click=t.co/Y9gSG9zENz

Quote from the article:

"A new report suggests that children of all ages are susceptible to coronavirus infection and may also spread it to others — a finding likely to intensify an already fraught discussion about the risks of sending children back to school this fall.

The analysis, released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, details an outbreak at a sleep-away camp in Georgia last month in which 260 children and staffers — more than three-quarters of the 344 tested — contracted the virus less than a week after spending time together in close quarters. The children had a median age of 12. The camp had required all 597 campers and staff members to provide documentation that they had tested negative for the virus before coming. Staff were required to wear masks, but children were not."

Don’t think we’ll ever agree 🤷‍♀️

Wouldbegood try reading my post again if you what you took from that was "I'm right and you're wrong"

I don't understand why you would think that you can't agree. Why wouldn't you agree with parents having choice? With extending hub capacity for the DCs and parents who want it? With allowing teachers who need to shield to do so? How does that negatively impact you?

You don't know, yet you thought your opinions were worth more than the views of scientists and doctors

Mm, wonder where I got that idea?

As I'm a teacher (not a scientist or doctor) I am clearly making the point that I would defer to those with some actual expertise in this area rather than basing it on what is good for my dc alone or some kind of gut instinct that children don't get covid.
Whereas...
You aren't making the case for UFT that you might think you are!

I would be more inclined to accept blended learning if it was better blended learning. Quizzes that are beneath her ability and work she finishes in half an hour / 1 hour is not an education. And bitesize and other online stuff is largely geared towards the English curriculum.

I get that scientists often seem to disagree - but this is a situation that's being understood in real time, and reports differ. You can choose only to read the ones that say school makes no difference, or you can try to let a little light in on real examples too, such as Israel. That's a fucking stark warning to ignore - and as a parent I have literally no voice or sway here now. It's been decided for my family.

It’s not gut instinct. I didn’t say children didn’t get Covid. I said they didn’t die of it.

I’m perfectly able to make balanced decisions based on experts and science, it just may be that I don’t agree with you.

And it’s also the case that the SG made the decision to reopen schools, not UsForThem.

The problem now is that no resources have been put into blended learning to improve it. So if schools do close, we will be back to the worksheet a week. And I personally think it is only a matter of time before there are school closures, hopefully I am wrong.

So what we have got in our local council for primary is same size class as last year, slightly staggered start and finish time (and I mean five minutes apart), fixed play spaces for each group and packed lunches only. I presume also some enhanced hand-washing routine. I presume no assemblies and so on.

Secondary - not sure yet.

Agree Brit, I would have preferred to see investment and effort put into making blended learning a real long-term option. Clearly we're all going to be in and out of school for some time to come so this should have happened regardless.

True, you stuck your oar in good however.

Brit - there has never been blended learning! Blended would mean part in school - we could have started a topic in school and done consolidation at home, then picked up the next time in school. It would have been very different to just distance learning.

We were told not to introduce anything new during the initial lockdown, and that the children should be able to complete all tasks completely independently.

I also found the concept of marking/giving feedback very tricky. I was very appreciative of the families who were actually logging on. I felt it was a bit rich of me to then criticise what they had done.

I had really high hopes for blended learning. 10 in a class! I could have worked wonders.

@britINscotland

I would be more inclined to accept blended learning if it was better blended learning. Quizzes that are beneath her ability and work she finishes in half an hour / 1 hour is not an education. And bitesize and other online stuff is largely geared towards the English curriculum.

It would have been dire. Our school said there would be less contact on non school days than during lockdown as the teachers would be teaching the other in school group - which is fair enough but the provision during lockdown was pretty patchy as it was so I wouldn’t be optimistic

One of my tasks on inservice next week is improving my online learning platforms ( which I actually got pretty good at according to my pupils and their parents) should this be required. I will be looking at how I can provide for pupils who might be unable to attend, what I can provide should I be unable to attend and what I can provide should there be a local closure .

Shame that it will be written off by some parents before a pupil has struck a key .

@Lidlfix

One of my tasks on inservice next week is improving my online learning platforms ( which I actually got pretty good at according to my pupils and their parents) should this be required. I will be looking at how I can provide for pupils who might be unable to attend, what I can provide should I be unable to attend and what I can provide should there be a local closure .

Shame that it will be written off by some parents before a pupil has struck a key .

To be fair when it’s the school telling you that there won’t be much provision compared to during lockdown, when the lockdown provision wasn’t exactly brilliant, it’s hardly surprising it’s been “written off”. It’s not a criticism of the teachers, I fully appreciate how hard they work, but with the best will in the world they can’t split themselves multiple ways

If that's what's your school told you Senga I'm not surprised you feel like that. I do appreciate your awareness of the efforts made by teachers . My local authority had banned video teaching and recorded lessons but is now confident that (should it be needed ) the platforms are secure. In my head when planning for any kind of blended scenario I'd be teaching the pupils in class, live streamed to pupils working at home and recorded for those who couldn't access it at the time. This only exists in my head I have no idea how to actually set that up .

It may be the way we deal with isolating staff and pupils which is going to happen.

what are teachers actually allowed to do re: online learning? As last term some teachers were doing daily zoom lessons and others were hardly online. It also varied by LA. I heard teachers were banned from using zoom and youtube but this doesn't seem to have been the case everywhere.

Blended learning takes time, training and technology to set up and for it to work well. University staff are basically spending the summer making their courses work like this and it is a completely new way of working. It is really telling Lidlfix that you say at the end of your post that you don’t know how to set up a class which is to be live streamed and recorded. That is not a criticism of you, by the way, but the fact that blended learning was ditched without any of that ground work being done, presumably as too costly and because of parental pressure. But blended learning is not something which can be switched on like a tap, it needs preparation and that has not been and will not be done now.

I actually do wonder if my son (on autistic spectrum) would do better in a bubble of ten with two days of focused learning and then online material consolidating it. Not that I will find out now.

@Lidlfix What you are proposing sounds fantastic. I would be delighted if that were provided by my DCs' teachers. We were told the same as Senga though by our LA which has meant I am not very enthusiastic about blended learning.

Live streamed lessons - only work if you do a live streamed lecture basically. If I kept disappearing off camera to talk to individual students in the room it would be pretty uneventful for someone watching at home! And would all the students who spoke in class be agreeing to have their comments streamed and recorded? Lovely idea in theory. I think you'd end up doing a not quite good enough class lesson and the same for the videod one. Better to have someone doing each one of those properly. It's like mixing live theatre with a cgi movie. (Not a "can't do" attitude but an "I can see some problems" one!)

Two in primary here. They have one day at school next week with Soft Start arrangements, then back to full-time. I wish the school could have provided blended learning for those who might have found that easier. Not distance learning, with any requirement for the teacher to be online, but a proper trial run of an alternative that reassures us that something can be put in place quickly should the need arise in the future.

I was interested in the idea of a personal risk assessment because of DH and my ages and various health issues. It's unfortunate that this suggestion was abandoned altogether after the outcry from those who didn't want it. It would have been a useful tool for those who are vulnerable and have complex family backgrounds.

The only way forward that I can see for us as a family is to keep them off until September when there will be some sort of trend starting to emerge.

Given me lots to think about there Rain. I secondary so won't be allowed to go to speak to individual pupils as I will be remaining in my 2m zone at the front. Staying on camera as I will use my visualiser not the board. When blended learning was what was being planned my DD's school issued a raft of paperwork including consent for recording of lessons they were participating in. My BGE classes will all have Chromebooks so could all be taking part in a Google Meet (in class or at home ) for discussion sections of the lesson. It does look like what you mentioned is being factored in.

When the WFH parents return to their work places I absolutely expect infection and transmission, I'll be delighted if I am wrong. I live in a town which is popular due to an easy commute to all of the central belt so if a large work place elsewhere had an outbreak I expect our pupils or staff would be impacted on through isolation requirements .

After the SQA downgrading bomb my exam year kids will be even more terrified so I am looking at ways to reassure them that they can continue to learn if they are not able to come in.

But I do appreciate the input from people who are experienced as it helps me ask the right questions.

I'm delighted wit the proposals from our secondary.

My youngest is going into S1 - he's in full time next week, Wednesday to Friday. My older two are in for a much shorter time on Wednesday, my S6 doesn't have to ARRIVE until 2.55pm! Other two days next week they're in for about 4 hours. Then as of 17th August, full time as normal.

Ours are doing s1-s2 wed, s3-s4 thu and s5-s6 Fri then all back the following week. Mine's just starting s1 so am happy with that as they'll get a whole day to find their bearings with just 2 Yr groups in.