Return to school

Hetty. Totally agree.

No need to repeat a whole year because they miss one term (and one week if you want to be completely accurate).

If anyone has suggested I repeat my final A level year I might have run screaming into the nearest psychiatric unit!

I agree with many wait until September. I work at a preschool we've been told June 1st more staff return, we run from one big hall, we can place children in groups etc.as advised but such a risk of the unknown for 3 and 4 year olds also staff very worried!

Hetty,not a good idea for all to repeat a year. All sorts of complications with that. Going to school is so much more than just education. Many children have continued with their education at home.
Teachers have been working very hard with on line work, often having to spend more time on that then they did when in normal school.
So, I know that my g.children - all eight of them spread across both primary and secondary education have all been continuing with their school work.
One is due to start Uni is September, and has continued with work, even in this time, when he would have been off with study leave. Teachers are no longer setting him any work because of this, but he is continuing still to carry on with his work.
Not a good idea for the very young children to be amongst the first to return to school - totally unneccesary - as has been said, we start out children off in full-time education far too young - and out overall results show these do not get the best results.
Years 6, 10 and 12 need to get back (all moving schools, taking exams or equivalent). Then years 3-5 in primary schools, and 7,8,9 and 11 in secondary. Perhaps all having just half day schooling, or each group just in for a couple of days each week, thus keeping numbers fairly low.
The little ones, really do not need to return until September

Franbern, I do agree that little ones certainly shouldn't be the first to go back. The government wants them back in school so that parents can return to work. There is no other reason.

Absolutely spot on Hetty

Wrong children back to school at wrong time

My dd says that she won’t be sending Gdd back (only just 5 and currently in reception) until September - if they’re going to expect social distancing, face masks, etc. at that age.
TBH I think I’d feel the same as regards very little ones. However my dd does have the advantage of being on maternity leave until November.

A friend of hers who’s still working (key worker) and whose 2 young children have been going to school/pre-school throughout, told her that their school is carrying on (albeit with fewer children) as before, with no noticeable ill effects.

And this is in an area with several hospitals in a comparatively small city, where I gather that a considerably higher percentage of parents than usual are doctors or other healthcare professionals.

I’ve just heard that my grandson (Year 6) is going back to school after half term. He’s pleased, and so am I. He will only be there for about four weeks, because his school breaks up at the beginning of July.

Granddaughter (Year 3, different school) is not going back.

Just reading on FB about a teacher at a primary school in Bristol who tested positive for Covid19 today. She was teaching/looking after 5 pupils whose parents are key NHS workers.

All the 5 pupils now have to self isolate for 14 days as do their parents. This is the reality.

I think I have that wrong. It was a special school, two staff members have tested positive and the school is closed now.

Was it this school?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-52635611

Have you seen that list of Tory MPs who are sending their children to school on June 1? No, me neither.

Have we seen a list of anyone who will or will not send their children to school on June 1st?

If anyone thinks that sending the very youngest back to school will help with childcare so that parents can get back to work, unless you have a job only between the hours of 9.30am - 10am and say 2.30pm it won't help. You'd need your army of grandparents, childminders, carers, breakfast and after school clubs etc to assist. Also if you have several children. some not in the selected age groups, you're stuck any way, without the army of helpers.
Also, any time someone has Covid-19 like symptoms, larger numbers of children and adults will have to self isolate.

The shadow Home Secretary has had the guts to say she’s not sending her child. Whether you agree with her or not she’s been straight about it.

Absolutely Nannna that’s why this is not about getting parents back to work or educating children. It’s just game playing by No 10 for a variety of reasons not all of which I’ve fathomed.

Leaving aside the fact that there is no evidence ( where schools and nurseries have been kept open in other countries)
Or here, where many schools have been open for certain children, of many children spreading corona virus or of any teachers ( who did become ill) actually getting the virus from contacts with children....there is also the ridiculous assertion now from some that the government only want certain young children to return to school so that their parents may work again.Many parents will continue working from home, and since the first children to go back are reception classes and year 6 ( the ones who will go to secondary school next) that leaves many children not in those age ranges who can’t be left on their own, in any case ( so how the heck can that mean a government wanting ‘child minding only’) and as for the even more daft assertion of ‘game playing’ by them.....it’s not worth ‘fathoming’ because it’s merely paranoia.

It's not about "helping with childcare". It's about getting kids back to school in low numbers to begin with so that school staff can sort out the logistics.

For what it's worth, I think talking about imposing social distancing on children is bonkers and possibly even cruel.

Getting nearly half of a primary school back isn't "low numbers", although I suspect many parents won't send their children back in the first wave.

Parents don’t have to send their children back before September if they don’t wish to.Not that anything will change dramatically by September in any case.
School times and breaks will be ‘staggered’ and children seated not too close within the classroom.
Children from poor or chaotic backgrounds will be better at school....much better in many cases.

I understand that the idea is to follow the Denmark system. And my DC tell me that’s what teachers in their local schools have been working towards. The children sit apart in lessons and stay in small groups (bubbles) staggering lunches, play times and start / finish times. The Government has been criticised for not following Europe on other things and now it is doing so, it’s criticised again.

The National Association of Head Teachers has now said it will support government plans to open schools following advice from scientists.

The parents who keep their children off school are most likely to be those who ensured their children did the school work provided by their school. The biggest concern is for the children whose parents see school as a babysitting service and place zero value on education. They are often the children who have not had the best start in life and, if they fall even further back from their peers, will probably struggle to find employment in the future or be able to access good lifestyle choices to lift them out of poverty. If the luckier children stay away it will mean smaller classes which can only help the disadvantaged.

Getting nearly half of a primary school back isn't "low numbers"

I thought it was only Years 1 & 6 that were going to go back in early June. That's more like a third than a half if year cohorts are a similar size. In short, quite a big reduction from a full school role.