The Twenty-second Republic - the DfE have no idea, Gav MIA, bubbles in and out

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Rafals the second school bus ‘bubble’ got sent home today from my dd school. Both times a positive case on the bus. The issue then has been kids who travel on different buses.

Parents at my sons school have been given a strict telling off and told to wear masks in the yard.

Just checking in. Still not finished making PowerPoints for tomorrow. Always just doing it the night before. New school, new systems I suppose. Will try and get it done before lights out tonight

Just in shock about that letter though. Top management that. Hope everyone is feeling better/able to access tests etc.

Thanks Neuro. Ds has gone to bed, no tea but seems ok. Temp slightly raised but not too bad. Going to see what he's like in the morning. I rang school and they said to come in. His school said to stay home.

There's just no sensible thinking! I don't knowwhat the fuck is safe and what the fuck isn't!

@starrynight19

Rafals the second school bus ‘bubble’ got sent home today from my dd school. Both times a positive case on the bus. The issue then has been kids who travel on different buses.

I got off both times. I was too stops away from where I was getting off on the way in and it was quite a lot of kids.

The second there were only a few on the bus but at least one of the kids in the row in front coughing and sniffing.

MrsHamlet that’s much further than I expected schools to go. I would have just assumed it was a case of kids will be kids if the second lot hadn’t seemed to genuinely be a bit confused about what the rules were.

Given I’m supposed to be avoiding transport, I’m struggling to see how I’m going to get back from work safely when I go back.

I don't know what the proportion is of ours who travel on public transport but the catchment is quite big... we've had loads of complaints about there being so many children about. Funny that, with it being a school and all.
We've written home and sent texts but it's not clear what else we can do. It's crap.
So I need shoes to get by, and I doubt clogs are comfortable.

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay most of ours come by public transport - they have been reminded repeatedly about wearing masks on public transport. We are in south London and I’d say they usually all do wear them on public transport.

We have special buses for school children which members of the public aren’t allowed on and that are allowed far more kids on than normal buses 🙄 and where all year groups and all schools locally share them same buses.

Odd that, MrsHamlet, what with it being the start of the school year.

Although I have to say after so many months with a no school and no students, today has been a bit of a surprise. Hopefully coughy and sniffy just have a bog standard cold and have both had a -ve Covid test

Tbf to them school kids aren’t the only people doing the get upstairs, take your mask off round here. But up until now there’s usually only about 6-10 people on a whole double decker and people have spaced out.

Having 8-10 school kid sat round you with no distancing and no masks feels really different. I don’t know what the answer is. Obviously schools can’t police it and shouldn’t be expected to but if the bus companies can’t or won’t then there is going to be an issue.

And there was definitely no year group distancing going on.

I'm really liking being back now. I've sorted out my 'isolation learning' stuff, which was giving me some anxiety, and the kids are finally starting to remember what school is all about. I've settled into the timings, so while I'm knackered, it's kind of do-able.

I'm giving myself more breaktime by having them eat their snack in front of Newsround while I mark my maths - I can get them over for a quick word straight away to deal with issues. Also means when we go outside, we can just play, not stand by the bins eating bananas or whatever.

Oh blimey, 3yo awake with a cough, looks like I'm off until he's negative 😬

Oh no Herc

MrsH one genius suggestion was we could try whole class questioning as a form of, ‘low stakes assessment’ of their learning.

Questioning! Why didn’t we think of that

I tell you what though, teaching year 10 today and they could all pick the correct definition of pandemic. Plus I just switched the wording on my normal slides to turn my infection lesson into a Covid lesson and they listened...

Oh gosh Mrs Honey that sounds awful. Training so far this year could be summed up as teaching grandma to suck eggs.

Cough sounds very croupy, do I still need to test? (I know the answer is yes, just a faff for all concerned).

@Hercwasonaroll yes :(

I teach science so have had some good discussions about pandemics and diseases with most of my classes. They are all knowledgeable about preventing the spread of disease! Although some of the questions they ask are hard to answer 'why are we keeping year groups separate when we meet up outside school?' 'but my sister is in a different year, what about that?' 'why don't we have to be 2m apart in lessons when we have no mask on?'

With regard to buses, they have been told to wear masks. But they are in year group bubbles on school transport so I could understand their logic if they thought they thought they could remove them...

Ooh Honey - that is revolutionary!! I may follow your great leader's lead and email that to all my colleagues today. Or not.

Where do they find these people???

This morning the cough has gone

I'm now confused as to what to do! He's running around like normal screaming willy bum head.

Wahhh I have no idea wtf this lockdown means in reality and feel like yelling a lot. Wahhhhh.

And once again, small was awake from 3:30-5.

I think it's because of the lack of tests, and all the piss heads. Which we knew was going to be an issue in Newcastle and the NE.

They know us well up here.

It starts at midnight tonight.

Just stuck my head round the door to share this with you: the marvellous Dillie Keane She can always be relied on to tell it like it is.

Is it acceptable for the teacher to run round screaming "willy bum head"?

@Hercwasonaroll - in children asthmatic coughs present frequently at night... just saying. I've 2 dc with mild asthma and particularly in colder months their night time coughs can be awful.