School “bubbles”

Actually, if you don’t understand the need for ‘bubbles’, or feel they are necessary, this might help.
Just imagine the outcry on GN and other places in the media if schools had done nothing to try and make return to school safer.

Re Bubbles in schools: 1 grandson attended short session 1st day back (Wednesday). Next day 1 other child ill, tested, positive result. On subsequent days rest of bubble still attended school. Yesterday parents told all those in bubble have to stay off. BUT, sister still to come to school. Actually told 'Must'
There is also a younger and older sister who should also still attend their nursery and school.
Not much logic there.
Assume this is based on Government advice

Ellianne

^I don't understand what savings would have been made.^
Some of the following *growstuff.
Non teaching staff furloughed (especially TAs)
Caretakers and grounds staff
Resources- paper, photocopying, laminating
Catering and food costs
Transport
I'm not saying a huge amount in the bigger picture, but more than enough to buy the sanitisers and signage needed.

Just coming back to this.

Non teaching staff and caretakers weren't furloughed.

Schools have spent more on paper and photocopying because they've had to send work home. They've also send lengthy booklets with information for the new academic year home.

Schools don't pay for catering and food costs - parents do.

Schools don't pay for transport - parents do, with some subsidies from the local authority.

So where else have they made savings? As far as I can see, they haven't made any.

I agree about the parks and that since they opened they’ve been v busy. I think given the efforts made by the schools to support then in their quest to stay open everyone needs to take stock and be responsible. My son came out of isolation yesterday. He was asymptomatic, it was his partner who had symptoms. We had to return from a camping trip, missed an anniversary celebration. The inconvenience of isolation, tests not to mention the anxiety waiting to see if snyone would get really sick . Covid has not gone away Remember that .....Some people are becoming less vigilant and we WILL pay the ultimate price if it gets out of hand .

Why spend time and resources on Covid policies in school? 1) school days children inside - a lot more infectious - and increasingly so over winter 2) schools have responsibility 3) parents can feel reassured by school policy and avoid playgrounds if they are vulnerable.

You do have a point, Ellianne.

Public playgrounds were shut for months because it was felt that infection could be passed from child to child through the handrails and handles on the equipment.

Lucca

Sparklefizz

Oh, not the comparison with Sweden yet again !!!

Indeed and oh no not the “you’ve all got to die sometime” thing again.
I know that but I’d rather not pop off sooner than I have to !

Absolutely, Lucca

Sparklefizz

Oh, not the comparison with Sweden yet again !!!

Indeed and oh no not the “you’ve all got to die sometime” thing again.
I know that but I’d rather not pop off sooner than I have to !

Playing outside in a playground is quite a different matter from sitting all day in a classroom nearby the other children. At least if there’s a case in the classroom the school will know who needs to be isolated. Also not everyone has been mixing with other families. My DD has been very careful who she has been mixing with and the children have only seen selected families one at a time- no large groups.

I really don't think thousands have been spent but it has taken hard work from heads and school teams to implement safe practice following government guidelines.

Oh, not the comparison with Sweden yet again !!!

A few thousand extra people?
I find your post a little heartless

it is far more likely that a child will pick up an infection inside than outside.

Everyone seems to be missing this point.

A few thousand people extra have died from covid; the majority having underlying health issues who may or may not have succumbed to your normal seasonal flu or their own illnesses this year. Some extra people, who have had their cancer or other treatments delayed, may have died earlier because of lockdown. Meanwhile the economy has been ruined.

Sweden decides not to lockdown and has suffered no more deaths per capital than average with no damage done to their economy. The whole thing has been blown out of proportion here and in other countries for some reason, in my opinion, plenty of conspiracy theories about that! Only one person is listed of dying from covid in my area and who knows whether that was genuinely the case. I, personally, don't know anyone who has been ill from it and neither does anyone else I know.

Yes, it's sad if you have been affected by someone you know who has died but they could have died this year anyway. Everyone dies sometime, you just have to get used to that fact, and with over 7 billion on the planet and trees being cut down to accommodate and feed them, no one will survive on this place we call Earth long term unless that number is drastically reduced in the near future. In light of this, worrying about a few kids playing together in the park is ridiculous.

I have a horrible feeling that the bubbles are a waste of time and there only reason we haven’t had COVID yet is that we haven’t been in contact with someone who has it. My DS returned to school this week, two days later the brother of a classmate caught a cold, then passed it to his brother who passed it to DS, out of school the brothers were at the play park with children from several classes. The common cold is a coronavirus too and if it can get passed so quickly and easily with all the distancing and hand washing measures currently in place at school then what chance do we stand against any other bug? I also know of twins split into separate bubbles, which seems crazy as then their parents have contact via the kids to twice as many people!

I keep popping back to this thread but I have to confess I am at a loss to understand exactly what the point of it is.
Everyone wants schools open again.
The government issues guidelines as to how this is to be achieved.
Schools observe this to the best of their ability (no extra money provided no smaller classes and I’d hazard a guess little or no money “saved” during lockdown)
What parents do outside school hours is surely nothing to do with it .

Caro57

"why has this money been wasted"...........because the unions kicked up a stink

Can you explain ?

The whole thing ignores the fact that pupils go home and have siblings who are in other year groups and bubbles. They travel to school together across mixed year groups, then are totally separate at school at great expense to their education and a huge amount of organisation. Then they mix again on their way home and at home. It's nonsense'

Many will have siblings at different schools too.
Many will also have to travel on crowded public transport to and from school.

When I spoke to my DS who lives and teaches in Spain, he was shocked to hear my DG children who are at primary school in England are in a ‘bubble’ of 30 and are being taught in long rows sitting directly next to their neighbours. He is teaching a half class size with video link to the other half class. Then swop about. The Spanish government have provided extra teachers. They have had 100 extra wash basins put in. When I asked about the money he said the EU is providing it, presumably some of the money we didn’t apply for.

Hebdenali, I hope you don't mind but I copied your post and sent it to my daughter who is a secondary school teacher and a primary school mum, she had this to say...

' The whole thing ignores the fact that pupils go home and have siblings who are in other year groups and bubbles. They travel to school together across mixed year groups, then are totally separate at school at great expense to their education and a huge amount of organisation. Then they mix again on their way home and at home. It's nonsense'

The furlough scheme did not apply to any public sector employees - only the private sector

At my youngest grand-daughters school their bubbles are strictly observed at collection with one-way routes clearly marked. However there were a few Mums who think Covid-19 has gone and were huddled together in chatty groups while their children mixed freely. My daughter said an e-mail has been sent to parents about it.

If these precautions and safety measures hadn’t been put in place parents would have complained anyway and probably refused to send their children to school. If parents choose to act in a way outside of school that may or may not put themselves or their children at risk at least schools can say that they followed government guidance. I’ve no doubt schools will be blamed anyway if children start testing positive. Unfortunately, we live in a society where it’s always someone else’s fault.

The biggest chance of infection is not in the school yard or the park playground it is in the classroom. Bubbles will cut down the number of people who will need to be notified if there is a case. But it is far more likely that a child will pick up an infection inside than outside.