Children more likely to be infected...

Out of interest, how many of those countries haven’t already reopened schools? I can’t think of any?
I think all that’s shows that that we should certainly start thinking about opening schools, which as far as I’m aware is all anyone is doing.

I’m not for or against the reopening of schools on 1 June. The CMO has a much better handle on the situation and I trust his expertise. However, I’m struggling how making international comparisons can support the position that schools shouldn’t reopen, given they’ve reopened elsewhere.

 

Because we still have the worst results currently than any country in the world.

The R which was they were trumpeting the other day as the main measure now is just one of the measures now it’s going in the wrong direction.

Whitty says kids aren’t transmitting it, Germany, South Korea and NY Governor says they are. I’m not saying Whitty isn’t telling the truth I’m saying there’s significant opposition to his view, the same would be said about saying there’s no scientific evidence to say Cheltenham or Champions League Semi Finals shouldn’t go ahead when the rest of Europe were either locked down already or locking down and then far more severely than we ever did.

What the chart shows is that we are, along with Sweden the worst performing country on the planet. Sweden’s schools have remained open and they are now under significant pressure to change tack and bring in some sort of lockdown because their method isn’t working. In fact considering Sweden isn’t a transport hub then their results are shocking.

If we get daily deaths down to 100 for instance and the spread is slowed then yes let’s have a conversation. But we are currently seeing 10k extra deaths a week in the U.K. We aren’t anywhere near through this pandemic and if we would have been more severe at the start and earlier, then we would be in a far better place than this current ***** show.

 

The school I work at presently has junior, infant and the secondary school all on one site.

The reception class is 30 kids. So if we put them in 3 classes of 10 that would require 3 teachers instead of 1 and probably 1 classroom assistant minimum for each class of 10. So just for the infant/junior school to operate that would be minimum 21 teachers and 21 classroom assistants. Which we don't have. Secondary staff like myself would have to be drafted in.

Then you have to find somewhere to put the kids in classes of 10. Which I suppose if the secondary kids are still at home is feasible as you point out. But we're on one site possibly with the extra capacity to do this.

If you look at my 3 local primary school, they only have 6 or 7 classrooms and classes of a similar size with no extra capacity or secondary staff to draft in. So how would they or any other standalone primary school deal with it? Not sure how using other buildings would work due to red tape. Insurance, risk assessments etc.

I doubt there are enough supply teachers (A lot of whom are getting a very raw deal with the furlough system at the minute) or teaching assistants to fill the void countrywide either.

It's going to be very interesting to see how things are organised when we get back to it.

 

Oh yeah I forgot to mention I was definitely suggesting using secondary school teachers. My thinking is that most secondary school age children can stay at home on their own if needed. I'm not at all sure of the logistics but it just seems to me that if you take the actual education aspect out of it then in order to get businesses working the youngest kids have to be in full time childcare and the only way I see that being possible is by making use of the schools

 

Scrapping the 6 weeks holiday will make the autumn term way too long. And they are unpaid for teachers and tas so it would cost the govt more money to try to do this.I must admit I hoped schools could open to all year groups for a few weeks before then but it's not looking feasible right now.

 

The only snag I can see with using secondary staff would be DBS clearance to work on another site. I do long term supply so my DBS is linked to the update service where it updates every month automatically. I think most permanent staff only have a DBS certificate to work on the site where they employed and doesn't update. Not a problem at my current school, as it's all on the same site. However, it takes around 3 or 4 weeks to get one and if they are short staffed/furloughed it may take even longer.

I somehow doubt most of the brass would allow the educational aspect to be taken out of it. Especially in the secondary phase where we aren't allowed to have fun anymore. I can just see them dusting their clipboards off and sharpening their pencils so they can come and tell us how to teach subjects the know absolutely nothing about

 

My point is that international comparisons don’t support that schools shouldn’t be opened, because every other country is reopening schools, some several weeks or evens months ago.

Where have you got 10k excess deaths a week from? That’s about 1,500 a day which is clearly rubbish.

 

You mean when like the Easter holidays were scrapped and schools were open from 7-7 like they still are.

 

I await your apology.

 

I feel for the poor kids who’ve been in every day of the school hols and bank holidays so far and people are wanting to take their summer holidays off them too. No break for 9 months is a long term for kids. In terms of the staff, they’re not paid for the summer hols of course. Personally, I’d accept a swap where I’d work the 6 weeks if I could have a week or two off on days of my choosing some other time in the year (I know that would never happen for a multitude of reasons). I’d much rather have fewer days I can have when I want than blocks of time at the same time every year for my entire life.

 

Jesus - rather than learning from mistakes we just move to a new level of inept.

 

The schools are open for key workers kids and underprivileged kids. So the majority arent going.

 

Whose going to set work and teach the secondary school children, whilst everyone is playing games with the primary kids?

 

Always thought teachers were salaried and got a set amount each month regardless.

 

But are still open and have been through the Easter holidays from 7-7 - for those not attending schools have been sending out work, delivering online classes. I've personally set up online learning platforms for many of my schools

 

Public health England’s study..... vs supertykes opinion... sorry pal, I know which I’d trust more....

 

I’m guessing that under this suggestion the answer is ‘nobody’ if we’re taking the approach of knock education on the head. If we pretend that that’s the idea we’d go with, my concern is that secondary schools aren’t suitable places for young children. Yes, they still have the word ‘school’ in the title but that’s where the similarities end. All furniture would need to be removed and tables and chairs brought from the primary schools, all equipment would need bringing from the primary schools (there’s no pots of pencils/pens/felt tips etc. in secondary schools as students bring their own unless you raid the art department), new toilet blocks would need building as they are adult sized in secondary schools. You could have year 5s and 6s there probably but not the younger years.

 

Yeah sending out work for kids is all good if there parents can be bothered making sure they do it. It's not same as been taught by a qualified teacher. If your struggling sometimes your parents can only help so much.

It will never happen teachers working through the 6 weeks in a million years like I said they have a strong union.

 

They do have it spread evenly over the year but the 6 weeks is unpaid. So extra funding would be needed

 

Our pay is split equally between the 12 months to make it easier for teachers to budget, we’re not getting free holidays. Our contract is that we work whatever is deemed reasonable to complete our duties. Within that, we can be directed for 1265 hours (head teacher can tell us exactly what activity to do and when e.g. teaching, meetings etc.) and then the rest of our job is done at a time of our choice so long as it is done. (E.g. I can mark at midnight if I want, I can plan the next term’s lessons in the hols or during my lunches or at weekends or in the evenings, it’s up to me so long as I do it).