AIBU No going back to school I’m furious.

Lucca Because you have read it before ... and it was muddle-headed at best the first time.

I think the solution will be found very soon. It looks increasingly likely that social distancing rules will be relaxed, so that people need only be a metre apart. As Raab said, this will be a political decision rather than a scientific one.

One metre distancing will mean that 30 children can fit in a classroom. There will need to be other measures in place, but these are achievable, unlike the unsurmountable problems caused by two metre distancing. I would hope there would be some consideration for high risk staff and those pupils living in households with high risk family members (not holing my breath).

Whether or not this is a wise decision remains to be seen.

It really is quite disheartening to read that some posters regard schools as nothing more than childminders, whereas they should be safe places of learning. As ever, there are people who think they know better than schools and teachers, but actually haven't a clue what they're talking about.

If the government is serious about its pious concerns about the less advantaged losing education, I wonder if it will now invest in restoring all the cuts which have been made over the last decade.

Williamson is hopelessly ineffectual but the unions are acting as wreckers at the moment .

My child returns to school today, to people who I trust with his care, who have skills empathy and kindness. I know whose care I would want him to be in. Thank goodness they are not following the increasingly bizarre suggestions on this thread.

Well, it maybe that all we see in this thread is the same old excuses, excuses.

Groundhog day indeed.

It's like groundhog day.

Why do I feel like I have read this post before?

Again all we see in this thread is total negativity within the education establishment. Very little, if any, ideas on how to bring the schools to full functionality, and an overwhelming desire to "knock down" any suggestions put forward by anyone not part of the "Establishment". Worst of all we witness those of the teaching profession demonstrating that they feel it is amusing that their sector is failing.

The consequences of the above were illustrated in our office yesterday when one of our staff was telling all that her daughter was to be recalled to work. That parent, therefore, phoned her school to see if her child could attend during the hours she would be working. She was however readily told that as they view her as not an essential worker her child could not be accommodated.

I have no doubts that if the above is being carried out widely throughout Britain very many parents will be finding themselves in similar situations. In that therefore we have an education sector that is not only failing the children they are supposed to be educating but also failing this nation as it attempts to overcome the largest economic crisis it has ever faced in modern times.

As has been already stated in this thread, I too would hate to work in such a sector that is so full of negativity, without any original ideas or "can do" attitude, and whose sole ambition is to place blame for its failings anywhere but within the "Education Establishment" itself.

I'm back teaching in Switzerland. Schools here are all back BUT are social distancing. So no more than 5 or 6 in a classroom. Most of my classes are small but I imagine in public schools there will be some sort of rota system.

BUT COVID is nearly eradicated here. Two weeks ago they were down to 15 cases in a whole week (NOT deaths, people with C19).

Yes, I know, but someone asked upthread somewhere.

Bit of a difference in COVID cases in Australia......

If we are talking about countries other than England then Welsh primaries are also going to take children back on a rota system, so one day per week per pupil from the end of J7ne. Each child will have four or five days total in school in order to catch up with what they have been learning at home.

Chardy
Australian pupils in some states are back to school and college full-time under normal conditions, I'm not sure about all states.

Ha ha, maybe Forest schools have the right idea then Elegran!

I think Aristotle did his teaching outside under a tree. Or was that Buddha under a baobob tree?

There would be plenty of space. A tree each, even.

I think Aristotle did his teaching outside under a tree. There would be plenty of space. A tree each, even.

Good thinking Elegran! They could be called Nightingale schools, or may be Aristotle schools sounds better. I did think of Confusius schools but wasn't he Chinese? Maybe not then.

Here is a wild plan of sorts to attack the space part of the problem -

There are empty premises all over the country, where businesses are not able to re-open and are losing money hand over fist on maintenance, rates and so on. Schools hire these at an advantageous rate, the owners put their own furniture into locked rooms, schools then move in desks and so on, and arrange for cleaners to come in twice-daily for a thorough clean and at intervals during the day to clean toilets and other sensitive areas.

The school then sends the bills straight to 10 Downing Street, as they have taken this step on official advice and the cost is over and above their budget for the year. If every school in the country did this - or even costed it all up and threatened to do it - there would very soon be a Government think-tank working on ways to achieve their child/space ratio and distancing in some other way.

That doesn't solve the provision of staff to an acceptable level - perhaps someone can come up with a solution, (with all possible drawbacks, bottlenecks and objections covered)

Chardy - thank you for your sensible post.

The reason that schools do not know what the hell they are meant to be doing is because the government is proceeding with its usual "back-of-the-envelope" meandering plans, without consulting the people who actually know what they are talking about.

Teachers are desperate to do the right thing by their pupils, but they are not being supplied with the resources to achieve this. Successive years of paring down of budgets have left no slack whatsoever on which to pay for more accommodation and staff, whilst not even having the reassurance that what they are being asked to do is safe for children and staff.

Ellianne

Think exhibition centres, meeting halls, conference centres, hotels, marquee tents etc. They have to find the extra space somewhere.
Use TAs, most are brilliant, working under the direction of a qualified teacher, get peripatetic staff in to cover their specialities, Music, Drama, Art, Sport etc. They can all offer a broad balanced curriculum.
Or go for the rota system if the number of teachers is the biggest problem.

Elianne. You are simply not paying any attention To what people are telling you.
How do you propose schools pay to,hire hotels (hotels ??) conference centres etc, would these be used with no risk assessment ? How would the children get there ?
Will you be paying the TAs teacher salaries ? Where is the extra money coming from?
You’ve already heard that rotta systems are not being allowed by the government.
What if the peripatetic teachers are not qualified able willing to teach classes.
LastLy, where do you teach ? Are you working in school at the moment ? I’m assuming yes as you feel you have an understanding of how to run a school.
I would never presume to say I could sort out the issues of a hospital or a logistics company as I have zero relevant experience.

What are teachers in other countries saying about their return to "normal" ? Is it all sweetness and light, or are they facing the same bureaucratic officials with no background in education?

What's the difference between UK and other countries? Obviously our death numbers are worse, and others are ahead of us on the timeline. In every sphere, we have handled COVID19 badly, and announcements have been made without informing the relevant parties, much less liaising ... public transport, hospitals, dentistry, the list goes on.

Case in point, catch-up summer schools. Announcement made last week by Johnson, councils, Academy trusts, schools all say they'd heard nothing about it. No funding was mentioned for staffing, cleaning, external venues, resources. Schools are saying that if it's to happen, it must be organised in the next couple of weeks (to accommodate staffing it, checking DBSs, organising pupil rota, staffing rotas, buying in resources, getting permission slips etc) but instead of sorting it out over the weekend - an outline as to what they envisage, who they want targetted and how it will be paid for - silence.

Finally referring to teachers as .... oh fill in your own pejorative adjectives ... does not help. The complex problem of educating 7m youngsters requires a complicated solution. When we explain why laymen's answers won't work, we're not negative, inflexible, doom and gloom mongers, we just happen to know what we're talking about, and are trying to explain why it won't work. Then we hear 'oh why are teachers so defensive?'

I cannot imagine why anyone would want to become a teacher in 2020. So much negativity directed towards a job that, in normal times, is so tiring and with so many opportunities for people to grind you down, both inside schools and outside, especially in the media.

This would pop the bubble!

Ellianne if they are peripatetic teachers they work across a range of schools, no.primary school that I know has a full time music or french teacher, you would therefore need to introduce another adult to cover the other days

Well done Sheebee and here's hoping the re introduction of Year 5 goes well in your school.