Childcare not teaching

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What is your school providing, in terms of education, to the returning children? I found out today that neither my own school or my children’s school will be giving lessons. Apparently it puts those children not back at school or in keyworker care at a disadvantage and this is not inclusion. I didn’t expect us to hit the ground running but I didn’t think we would just be providing childcare. Also our school is not social distancing and cleaning at the end of every day. I thought it had to be more??

We will be providing education. The children we currently have in are still being educated.

There will be little 'new learning' and mostly recap.

We will go back into school routine straight away. I teach at a school with a significant number of disadvantaged pupils. School is their constant, they need us to be what they know (knew).

We are one form with large grounds, so social distancing should (in theory) work.

Deep cleaning will be done daily, but the logistical plans for if/why EYFS/Y1/Y6 come back are still being finalised.

My head used the word childcare. No lessons.

Social distancing is not apparently necessary for the children, that’s why we have ‘bubbles‘ of separate children and staff. Within that bubble there’s no need for social distancing but there should be no mixing of bubbles...

^ that's an interesting way of looking at it.

Our school have said distant learning will cease for reception year 1 and year 6 - once they are back, they will have normal lessons (in their smaller bubbles)
.All other year groups will continue distant learning, and key worker children will do their work at school with the supervising staff, who are helping them and making sure it’s done, plus setting additional things here and there if needed.

Our Head simply said that having whole year groups in as child care will be pure chaos and I think I agree! That’s why they are stopping distant learning if your year group is back - teachers are planning as normal for the classroom, Head says they can’t do both.

We are definitely going to be teaching but in a much more relaxed way - no book scrutinies, no submitting planning weekly, no pressure to hit unrealistic targets. Lots of focus on reading with R/Y1. Then lots of outdoor play and thinks like painting (at separate desks) in the afternoon. Almost like I remember primary was when I was there in the 80s/90s...but with social distancing and probably half the class missing.

What happens if a child has a toileting accident?

We have quite a few SEN children in our Reception / Y1 who still regularly soil themselves. It requires 2 staff members to clean them up. They have already been attending school for the past few weeks so will definitely be in.

We also have a fair few children with 1-2-1 staff who have also been in. Been able to have their 1-2-1s so far but they will need to take other 'bubbles' due to limited staffing.

It makes my head spin just thinking about the practicalities and realities of working with the little ones...