Reassuring news: Schools opened again in Denmark with success.

This is all to keep the anti-lockdown lobby happy and to blame teachers when it doesn't work. Pure politics!

Thanks for posting that. I knew I'd read it somewhere. I've been reading about it on teacher Facebook groups this evening.

Apparently, teachers themselves weren't aware that the social distancing rules had been relaxed. As you can imagine, they're extremely worried about it, especially as they've been told not to wear masks.

AFAIK no extra hand sanitisers or bowls with running water for hand washing are to be installed.

grow this is from the official gov guidance

Class or group sizes
We know that, unlike older children and adults, early years and primary age children cannot be expected to remain 2 metres apart from each other and staff. In deciding to bring more children back to early years and schools, we are taking this into account. Schools should therefore work through the hierarchy of measures set out above

ie social distancing not expected

grow so what exactly is the point of him then ? Bloody hell

DfE chief scientific adviser admits he hasn’t assessed school reopening guidance

schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-chief-scientific-adviser-admits-he-hasnt-assessed-school-reopening-guidance/

I've also just heard that social distancing rules have been relaxed for primary schools, although I'm looking for official confirmation of that.

One thing I forgot to mention about Oz is that the children going back this week are separated from the key worker children who’ve been going to school throughout.

annodomini I understand from teaching contacts that there are plans for Year 10s. They're being risk-assessed at the moment. They probably won't be following a full timetable and maybe not full-time, but they will have face to face contact with teachers - provided a safe environment can be provided.

PS. I agree with you. Years 10 and 12 should be the priority, but they wouldn't satisfy the objective of getting parents back to work.

I saw the statement by the RCPCH a couple of days ago, which was basically saying nobody knows. I think anybody who concludes that children can't transmit to adults needs their bumps feeling. One single child, even in a class of 15, could potentially transmit to 14 other children plus a couple of adults, who could all then go home and infect their family. There need to be strict social distancing rules in place in the classroom and I just don't see that happening with 4/5 year olds.

This doesn’t mention age but is a good sensible summary of the general position
fullfact.org/health/children-transmitting-coronavirus/

anno the priority should be when is it safe. I believe there is some evidence about older children being more likely to transmit if infected. I’ll see if I can find the link. I do appreciated that all the evidence in the whole area of children and transmission is not clear cut. What is clear cut is our still high number of new cases daily and out totally inadequate testing infrastructure

I have GC in years 10 and 12, with GCSE and A-level respectively next year. It's those two year groups which should be a priority for schools reopening. I know that even my 14-year-old GS is anxious to get back to study.

I guess it doesn't fit the "teachers are a load of lazy idlers" agenda.

grow I’ve missed that about Year 10. Good heavens, surely not a problem with the Governments communication strategy ?

Many secondary teachers have been told to prepare for a limited Year 10 return from 1 June. I don't know why that doesn't seem to have been reported in the media.

I must admit that if I were a key worker, I would move heaven and earth to find alternative arrangements, rather than sending my children to school.

The bigger concern is the low take up from children from deprived families.

I'm not sure of the percentage, but it was somewhere in the region of 5-10% of those eligible nationally, although there are regional differences. In some cases, schools only have one or two pupils.

Thank you Growstuff. That's a very low take-up for those eligible.

Many key workers do shift work so maybe parents are juggling childcare between them. A friend's daughter and SIL are both NHS frontline doctors and their three children have been attending throughout, including during the Easter holidays.

I wonder how the vulnerable children and those from difficult backgrounds are faring - I've read that their take-up was very low

grow I don’t think anyone thinks schools shouldn’t reopen - it’s all about when and how isn’t it. I’ve just been talking to a friend in Sydney - the children are back one day a week in small classes. There were nine new cases in Oz yesterday. I appreciate this doesn’t make me an expert on the Australian schools system but she said schools are organising it differently in that some are basing it on sibling groups ( sounds sensible) others on year groups. The children are doing online learning whilst in the classroom and the whole raison d’être is to help the children have some peer group contact. If all goes well, then they’ll go back two days a week and so on. Of course, they’re at a different stage in the school year with the summer hols months away. Anyone can now go for a test ( this is NSW) and results available within 6-24 hours.

I saw a factory on the news this morning taking temperatures as workers arrived. It would be good to see something similar in schools.

My feeling is that schools do have to re-open at some stage. Teachers have tried hard with online learning, but it can't replace the classroom. Some children don't have computer facilities at home or parents who are willing/able to organise them. There is no doubt that the most vulnerable children are losing out even more than they usually do.

However …

The UK still hasn't got a grip on new infections. Lockdown has been half-hearted and should continue and be even stricter and better enforced. It takes about two or three weeks for the results of lockdown to show up in the number of serious cases and deaths. Stricter lockdown would bring the number of infections right down, whereas loosening it now will result in the numbers spiralling out of control again and no chance of containment. There will be no alternative other than so-called herd immunity

Meanwhile, the government needs to get PPI made. For school staff, that wouldn't involve full gowns, but we need masks and hundreds of thousands of hand sanitiser dispensers.

Efficient test, track and isolate systems need to be in place, so that localised outbreaks could be stamped on. That involves having real boots on the ground, not just relying on an app. Recruitment for the "real boots" hasn't even started.

Nobody knows for sure how much children transmit infection, but it would be wise to err on the side of caution. The government didn't work with the teaching unions on this, but railroaded them and attempts to demonise them have appeared in the media (wonder who briefed them … ahem).

Rather than thinking from a business perspective (ie which children need most childcare to enable parents back to work), this should have been approached from a pragmatic and educational angle. It would, for example, be easier to manage if slightly older children (Year 2?) went back first plus Year 10 and Year 12, who will be sitting exams next year.

The first priority in schools must be an independent risk assessment of each school and the provision of resources. In China, for example, each school has a nurse, who is able to assess any child with a cough or sneezing.

PS. Danish children are taught English from a very young age.

Riverwalk I understand from various sources (local and media) that the number of eligible key workers' and vulnerable children was very low. I'm not sure of the percentage, but it was somewhere in the region of 5-10% of those eligible nationally, although there are regional differences. In some cases, schools only have one or two pupils.

What I’ve noticed in general ( all forms of media) over the past day or two is the almost perfect correlation between those who say we can’t possibly make international comparisons of deaths per 1m because countries are so different and those who squeak look at Denmark to argue that we should send our little ones back to school. Still being logical is never a strong point of the right, is it?

I was thinking as well that possibly Danish children will receive counselling and help should they be stuggling and upset about the isolation. There's no such help in the UK.

I've just watched the clip - very impressive but as others have said not so easy to replicate here.

The school is obviously very well resourced and it must be said the children look to be from comfortable backgrounds.

We can't pick from other countries systems and expect the same results but, that said, the schools must open eventually to all children and we have to start somewhere.

Does anybody know the numbers of key workers' children who been attending throughout and if there have been any cases of the virus spreading from children to staff? Remembering that these children are those of NHS, shop, transport workers, etc and should be the highest risk.

As an aside, the Danish children were fluent in English!

Denmark is another country.

This - no risk assessment yet been carried out. Why doesn’t that surprise me?

DfE chief scientific adviser admits he hasn’t assessed the school reopening guidance... [and that] DfE had done no modelling on the impact of reopening on transmission rates ...the decision to reopen was made by cabinet, not the DfE'
(Schoolsweek 13/5/20).