Boarding schools - how on earth can they do social distancing or bubbling?

[nostaples]

Surely they will be hotbeds for virus spreading. And they won't be able to do any extra curricular activities. Surely amongst the most dangerous environments for pupils and teachers that can be?

Why do you think boarding schools, where pupils are ONLY in contact with a 'bubble' of others, would be worse than day schools, where pupils go in and out and around to extra-curricular stuff, coming into contact with many more children from loads of different schools.

I think your logic is backwards.

Why are you asking? Is this concern for your child, in which case you would surely be better asking the school? It is is another boarding school bashing thread?

I don't think any school is going to be able to do social distancing tbh

Also don't see why they would be particularly bad for spreading. Yet to see the details but think DS1 will be socialising with mainly his 9 house mates in his year, eating just with them, spread out in his classes etc. Not going on public transport, not interacting with family members going to their places of work, not seeing children from other schools, not doing to the pub, not allowed into town etc. Clubs and societies online. No contact sport. Whole school tested on first day back and a few days later and after each exeat.

Whether it will be any fun is another matter.

Actually termly boarding is the safer way to educate if they remain on site! DD's old school has arranged for covid tests to be done 7 days before term starts then the school nurse will do a second set on arrival. Parents have to ensure their dc self isolate after the first test. No trips out to the shops etc this term, no exeacts, half term to remain at home the second week (they can do what they want the first week but must take a test 7 days before school returns.

Having said which, having rarely been ill at prep school, he was sent home ill once a term for his first five terms, so under normal conditions, germ spreading does seem rife.

I guess it will come down to how successful boarding schools are at keeping down contact compared to parents - are all the parents of day children keeping them off the.m trains and out of the pubs/clubs etc? All rather easier said than done.

I think it's more likely to be the opposite. Boarders are not going on public transport twice a day or coming into contact with children who go to other schools like siblings at home might.

@mimiok gosh, that is stricter than our shop. After debating it, there will be normal half term and two exeats.

As with all schools, I do wonder exactly what will happen after the first positive test....

Reasons why it would be particularly hard not to spread:
shared bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, accommodation and canteens;
difficult/ impossible to keep year groups separate;
large amounts of staff with necessarily more intimate contact than in non boarding schools e.g. house parents, matrons;
virtually impossible to isolate cases unless child is sent home.

I ask because I host international students who board during holidays and exeats.

They are contained, yes, but mixing and there is contact with the outside via teachers, support staff and children who do weekly boarding, day school or who simply take a trip into town. If one person gets it (teacher or student) it is highly likely to be transmitted.

Boarding schools have been notorious for spreading other viruses historically.

Contained in large and mixing groups actually equals more and faster transmission as in prisons, hospitals and care homes.

Backward logic. They will create their own bubble.

They’re testing every child on arrival and again after a few days, plus every time anyone gets symptoms, plus on an ongoing frequency as required. They’re therefore hoping to catch many asymptomatic cases in a way that the average day school can’t begin to hope to. But I do think that parts of the school will be shut / locked down and students sent home regularly too.

Transmission and infection risks on balance are lower than children at day school.
Day school pupils, via one degree of separation will come into contact with thousands of people. Boarding pupils would only be a fraction of that as they aren’t traveling off site every day and mixing with “outsiders”.
Boarding house are operating bubbles within house.
Yes bathrooms are shared but again being used by bubbles. One presume that at day schools the loo facilities will not be subject to such small bubbles and this the risk of transmission remains.
Anyone , children under 18 are statistically safe from covid so again, boarding Sc hols remain the safer environment for them.

No fan of boarding schools but I'd have thought they were safer bc the kids aren't mingling in the community then going into school.
It's a much more closed system isn't it? Correct me if I'm wrong tho. The nearest I've gotten to boarding school was reading Mallory Towere!

It’s like a prison. There is a lot of mingling between teaching and support staff and pupils and No way to completely isolate unless pupils are sent home as international students for example will need to be continue to attend to sick pupils and then others. Of course there is dodo mixing with the community and also from homes including international homes, to school at Weekends for weekly borders and during the wrk for flrxibiarders and holidays and exeat weekends. For example I will be looking after international students (several from different schools) during exeat weekends in a hotspot area and they will then go back to school. The official government and union guidance is that boarding schools are particularly high risk for transmission like care homes. With respect you are kidding yourselves if you think otherwise

Hmmm. I am drifting to your opinion a bit Op.

But I am also a bit concerned about it all being rather miserable. At DS's school they all have single rooms and I do wonder if f the rules will be no going into other people's rooms. If so, it does start sounding a bit grim. Am hoping that within each year, so group of around 10, they will be allowed to.

There is lots of stuff about how internationals need to have a guardian who can take them if infected, but it isn't a very appealing role and suspect is one usually often taken by grannies or people like op, which may not now be practical. There have been a few amusing conversations around my friendship group where an overseas parent has been asking if friends will be the evacuation contact - as you can imagine, no one is rushing to take that on :-)

I suspect that once the cold season starts, it could all fall apart a bit as every child with a cold or cough is banished to their room for swabbing.

Hey ho. Fingers crossed. I do wonder if I will get my money's worth from the new I dorm shirts I have just bought

Our school (mainly day students but about 15% boarders) has boarding students living in houses on a larger complex. Say ten kids per house plus two adults. So it's no different than a large household that goes to school.
About a third of the boarders could not go home over lockdown. For four months they acted as one household and remained on campus the whole time with food brought in. Luckily they have land and sports facilities. Kids are as young as 11 - not being home for months on end required even more emotional support. One has to be reasonable about what is possible under certain circumstances. The houses are divided by year group so will revert to year group and house bubbles. I don't see the risk for them as worse than living in a house with siblings in different year groups and parents working outside the home.

That size is unusual though. DS's hosue has 50 boys which is more usual, with housemaster and his family, matron, 3 under matrons, kitchen staff, cleaners etc

And what is your solution?

The official government and union guidance is that boarding schools are particularly high risk for transmission like care homes.

Can't say I have seen this official government guidance.
Why don't you just say you don't want to host these kids?

Have trawled through the guidelines for 2 different schools. One, with a significant day pupil population, is maintaining strict year group bubbles with houses largely allocated to different year groups. International students are able to stay for exeats but others are expected to go home. But there is no hanging around the coffee shops in the town centre, straight to house at the end of school etc etc.

The other has very few day pupils so year bubbles are created both for teaching and in house. So 2 or 3 year groups in a house but bubbled by corridor so that one corridor is all year 10, one all year 11 and one all year 12. Each year group has a designated common room area and access door and stair case and cannot use the door, common room or stairs for another year. They've also suspended the school uniform for the first half of term.

@HostaFireAndIce

'Can't say I have seen this official government guidance.'

The advice is below. Not difficult to find.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-isolation-for-residential-educational-settings/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-isolation-for-residential-educational-settings

'Why don't you just say you don't want to host these kids?'

I have not said or implied this. Nor is this the case or why on earth would I? How odd and rude.

'And what is your solution?'

How completely bizarre that you would imagine I would have one or that there is one or that this is my job.