Schools reopening

[Jimski]

So as it stands, UK schools are to reopen to certain year groups on Monday. Is any UK-based parent on this forum even considering the idea that their children might return to school before September? Ours are in years 3, 5 and 8, so unaffected by the first tranche, but we've already agreed that they are all staying at home until (at least) September.

Our younger two's primary school sent out a letter where they basically encouraged parents not to send their children in (emphasising all the dangers and restrictions), and clarified that online learning would continue to be provided until the summer break. Which is good. The secondary school's missive also sounded not at all keen on this reopening lark.

I've read enough opinions by scientists to know that school reopening is not even remotely sensible at this stage, and my "instincts as a parent" are also that they should go nowhere near schools at a point when there are still thousands of new cases a day.

[tuckwat]

I have 3 kids 1 at year 1 and 2 at year 10 and they are not going back until September at least no matter what.

[hobbes]

Our head teacher sent out a letter saying that if you were a key worker and hadn’t taken up a place first time round, you could reconsider. Otherwise, see you in September.
The thing is, if you make all schools independent academies, one day it’s going to bite you in the arse.

[Kowalski]

Quite a few councils have said they won't be having a wider opening of schools on Monday, I can't remember how many councils. Johnson alluded to this on Sunday, "some schools might not feel able to open" or words to that effect.

I forget which minister was interviewed yesterday but they said that the majority of learners would continue working at home until the end of the summer term.

[Etienne]

Our daughter is in reception, so she might be going back. Our school (which I think is dealing with this well) originally proposed year 6 going back next week, year 1 the week after and then reception the week after that, but have postponed a week already. They make it clear they don't expect any parent who doesn't feel safe to send their child in. Our daughter is really missing school and her friends. But I can't see any point in her going back for a couple of weeks before the summer holidays start.

[pebblethefish]

Surely the only reason behind any return is purely to foster a general national feeling of "getting back to normal"? I can't see that there would be any educational benefit to a few weeks back in the classroom at the end of the year (from my memory, we never did much work in those few weeks even in normal times) so I can only see it as a form of PR.

I know that back in March there was a lot of talk in my locals along the lines of "look, it can't be that serious or they'd have closed the schools", so re-opening them will probably give a similar impression.

[Snake Plissken]

If you consider that these people operate on their own reality then yes.

They have declared that schools are open. Therefore they are open and it’s the councils/parents fault that the kids aren’t in school.

[Kowalski]

Surely the only reason behind any return is purely to foster a general national feeling of "getting back to normal"? I can't see that there would be any educational benefit to a few weeks back in the classroom at the end of the year (from my memory, we never did much work in those few weeks even in normal times) so I can only see it as a form of PR.

I know that back in March there was a lot of talk in my locals along the lines of "look, it can't be that serious or they'd have closed the schools", so re-opening them will probably give a similar impression.

That's the main issue with everything they've done. The presentation of the issue, the holy "comms", is all that seems to matter to them, and they haven't even managed to do that properly.

They should have been calmly and efficiently dealing with a public health emergency whilst calmly explaining their plan but we've had a lack of clarity and General Melchett style bluster. So now schools are not only pressured to reopen in a public health emergency they are expected to reopen at a time when they are still announcing thousands of new Covid cases a day. To add to the fun the reopening date of primary schools seems to have been decided on the basis that it's the end of half term and then Johnson blithely adds "oh by the way we're opening up Secondary Schools on 15th June" as an aside.

If our government is going to be this inefficient when dealing with a public health emergency that naturally demands focus, a situation that should allow them to garner natural support through the logical use of public health measures, how are they going to even start to negotiate, never mind deliver, their prize of a workable Brexit? The Brexit they've been talking about for 4 years is illogical as it is.

Contrast their approach with Nicola Sturgeon's. At the start of the lockdown she calmly said that schools might be closed until after the Summer Holidays. I'm no expert but I'd say that interventions such as these may help reduce public anxiety through clarity. Likewise in Wales the WG have said that schools won't be returning on June 1st and I've yet to see, or hear, a real backlash. in the Welsh media,

We have four years of this craven rubbish to go.

[Balderdasha]

Neither of my kids have the option to return before the end of June at the earliest. I don't see much point in them going back for two weeks so they're unlikely to return before September.

[Jah Womble]

Contrast their approach with Nicola Sturgeon's. At the start of the lockdown she calmly said that schools might be closed until after the Summer Holidays. I'm no expert but I'd say that interventions such as these may help reduce public anxiety through clarity. Likewise in Wales the WG have said that schools won't be returning on June 1st and I've yet to see, or hear, a real backlash. in the Welsh media,

We have four years of this craven rubbish to go.

Indeed. My youngest attends school in Edinburgh - and this, her first year, has been completely written off. She'll return as an S2 pupil in August.

[ad hoc]

Not the UK but here, my 8th grade daughter has important exams coming up (and nobody in the ministry seems to have the imagination to assess kids in any way other than these exams). So, she'll go back to school for two weeks starting Monday next week, and then the exams will be the week of the 15th. They only get examined on 3 subjects (only 2 for most of the country), so they're just having lessons in those 3 subjects. It's only the 8th grade (everyone else is off until September), and her class of 24 is being divided into 3 classes of 8, so that they can be 2ms distant from each other at all times. There will be special "zones" that they can stand around in in the breaktimes, with each group of 8 having different zones. There is some kind of staggering system that i haven't really worked out yet. This week, which has become her last week of online school they are having mock exams (somewhat pointlessly I suspect, but whatever).

She's been with this same group of classmates for 8 years now, so it is a bit of an odd way to end all of that shared experience, but in her case this class is pretty fractured and unhappy so I think none of them is really itching to have some kind of proper farewell. Part of me, however, feels that it will provide a certain important closure function, so if the rules are successful in keeping them socially distanced, then as a parent I am OK with it. Though I don't think it's fair on the teachers, and presumably the cleaners who will have to come in daily to scrub down every afternoon.

[Jimski]

Just realised I should have said England, not the UK, in my opening post, of course.

[ChrisJ]

Neither of my kids have the option to return before the end of June at the earliest. I don't see much point in them going back for two weeks so they're unlikely to return before September.

If the school has developed a sensible, thoughtful approach to dealing with the social and emotional fallout of the lockdown, and plans to deal with the real risk of widespread anxiety among returners, there would be a good reason to return children even for two or three weeks. However...

That is an IF and would depend on both the capacity of the school and the support offered by the LA/MAT leadership. I wouldn't know about the first variable, or the second in your context. You'd need to make your own judgement on those.

Crucially, however all of the above would all be contingent on safeguarding concerns being adequately addressed; a suitable plan for infection control within the school that doesn't conflict with Soc/Emot needs (not sitting 5-year olds in fucking rows like in Gove's wet dreams; some sense of normal relationships) and a national test-and-trace regime giving early warnings of potential spikes in the area. This latter is in the hands of Hancock, Harding, Johnson and Gove and you'll be needing to make your own judgement on that, too...

I'm generally of the view that children should be in school provided that it's safe and their developmental needs are being properly met. I'm not convinced (currently) that if the school population increases significantly from it's present, low level either of those tests can be generally met. This, despite the immense professionalism and commitment from so many of my former colleagues who've done their best to provide for their children.

[Kowalski]

Here's some official guidance from the DfE's Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for educational settings (via Squakbox).

If a member of staff has helped someone who was taken unwell with coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms, they do not need to go home unless they develop symptoms themselves. They should wash their hands thoroughly for 20 seconds after any contact with someone who is unwell. Cleaning the area with normal household disinfectant after someone with symptoms has left will reduce the risk of passing the infection on to other people. You can find guidance on cleaning in non-healthcare settings.

So just to be clear, if you do come into contact with someone that has Covid 19 within your education setting just follow these FOUR SIMPLE STEPS

• Don't go home
• Wash your hand whilst singing Happy Birthday twice
• Then wash the table
• Then wash your hands whilst singing Happy Birthday twice again,

These FOUR SIMPLE STEPS will allow the education professional to create the optimum learning environment because they will allow the education professional to leave their room at least twice, thus allowing the learners to forget social distancing and comfort each other because they've just seen one of the classmates become ill in front of their eyes.

These FOUR SIMPLE STEPS will allow the education professional to ensure that they are free to encourage the now-affected learners to concentrate, because it is by concentrating that the learners will ensure that their education doesn't suffer for the rest of the day. If the learners fail to concentrate for the rest of the day it will totally ruin their chance of using education as a way for socially advancing themselves in the ,long term going forward, oh and let's not forget that the shops will be open again so don;t worry about this coronavirus no more.

Oh I forgot Kids literally can't catch COVID 19, so the kids might only see an adult suffering and that's totally fine and everything.

Call me picky if you wish but I thought the advice would be a bit more detailed than that.

[pebblethefish]

Just to clarify - is that advice from the individual school or actually from the government?

[Kowalski]

It's from The Department for Education's "Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for educational settings Updated 20 May 2020".

[pebblethefish]

Link doesn't work for me, and I am automatically inclined to distrust anything that a site called skwawkbox tells me. And also, call me naive, but that's surely not true. No way. Surely.

[Kowalski]

Apologies for any missing links. Here it is in all it's glory; Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for educational settings Updated 20 May 2020

[pebblethefish]

Apologies for doubting you. I thought that was one of the most obvious pieces of fake news I'd ever seen, but no, there it is on a government website. Have our government got a bet on with the US as to who can kill more citizens?

[Kowalski]

No problem I could't really believe what I was looking at whilst I was looking at it either.

[E10 Rifle]

Governments don't actually have authority on schools opening. They're the responsiblity of local authorities and - increasingly and damagingly - Academy trusts.

Our pre-school nursery son (who starts school in September) might go back sometime in June (there's a 'general' reopening on 1 June but we're not sending him back yet while infection rates aren't low enough and test and trace isn't widespread enough.

Our eight-year-old daughter (in year 3) isn't obviously going back yet, and the (LA-controlled) school has been reasonably reassuring about the steps it's taking and on not forcing anyone back. They also point out that for social distancing measures to take effect, it would mean her class of 30 could only accommodate eight pupils at a time. That's the reality in urban schools (and plenty of non-urban ones).

Given that part of the motivation for the government here is for schools to resume their creche role so their parents can get back to being enthusiastic cogs in capitalism's machine, it's not going to work, as staggered start and finish times make it pretty impossible to combine an eight-hour shift at the workplace with school drop-off and pick-up.

I'm inclined to follow the mood of the workforces, the medical experts and their representative bodies (BMA, NEU and NAS/UWT), and parental caution, and keep them away for now. Feels almost like scabbing to send them back now.

[Jimski]

I love the idea that 1887 new cases yesterday represents infection rate being under control. (1887 is cases based on positive tests, of course, and a lot less than estimates from the ONS.) Can you imagine the reaction in South Korea to that kind of daily total? And they would actually have the infrastructure to deal with that sort of rate.

Edit - in fact Vallance has just confirmed the current new case rate is around 54000 a week, i.e. over 7000 a day. That is not under control.

They want to reopen schools, so the tests are being presented as having been passed. It's a farce.

[Antepli Ejderha]

My school is set to open for non keyworker children, non EHCP and vulnerable students on June 15th.

However it's going to be 20 minute sessions for each student with one teacher with as much social distancing as possible.

Now I'm not sure how many students are going to go back once a week for a 20 minute meeting with one teacher but I'll be shocked if it's more than 20% of the cohort.

Teachers are meant to do one day per week with six students so they avoid travelling in the rush hours.

I'll be advising anyone who asks not to attend, it's not worth the risk.

As someone waiting on an appointment to check my lungs I'm not planning on attending either.

Schools=Childcare that's why they are going back.

[Bored Of Education]

I work for an academy in a special school. We are going back on Thursday to sort out the classrooms and the 6 out of the 9 kids are coming back in two days a week until the end of summer term. However, I have an idea that once they experience the social distancing safeguards that are being put in - 2 metre exclusion zones around desks, not seeing anyone outside the 'bubble' of me, the TA and the other kids in their class, eating dinner in class - that we will see a reduction in kids turning up. They were unteachable with all the anxiety leading up to lockdown and I don't think they are going to be better beforehand. Interestingly, a couple of kids who definitely aren't coming back are the ones whose - middle class, it has to be said - parents have got them into a routine where they are doing regular hours of school work and producing a lot of work. They don't see the value in sending their kids back to be disrupted and anxious just for two days a week and I agree with them. The ones that have been fairly feral since lockdown are the ones being sent back.

As Antelpi suggests, however, we are just babysitting for the economy to start.

[Jimski]

I've noticed a tendency for this to be presented as "middle class" anxiety over sending children back to schools, when actually an IFS survey showed that people on lower incomes are less keen for their children to go back. (Unsurprisingly, because these are the people who have been more at risk from the virus anyway.) It's the usual right-wing fake "concern" for people on lower incomes when it suits their argument.