UKC

What's your best guess on when schools might reopen ? 

Just wondering what peoples gut feeling might be.

I sort of thought maybe next term which would be 6 weeks off now, but reading some online assessments state next school year.

Which one’s? 

Secondary  schools and sixth forms

English ones 😃

My guess based on zero knowledge would be after the 6 week summer holiday. 

If they are sent back before will there be any educational value or will they just mark time until the holidays anyway? 

I think there would be educational value in undoing the home learnt errors and it would also allow others to go back to work...

I'm thinking beginning of June has a slim chance but  probably not until September...

It wouldn’t surprise me to see them go back for 2-4 weeks before the summer holidays, if only as an ‘experiment’ to see the impact on infection rates, but knowing there is a built in break if things go the wrong way.

My guess is August 19th, as planned, in Scotland. But a phased return. Some year groups. Some classes. And probably a changed curriculum. Possibly no exams or altered exams in 2021. 

1st June, staggered, plenty measures in place. So they have a good spell at school before summer hols. 

September at the earliest (well after summer hols). But even then only in some reduced socially distanced format.

This may be the case for GCSE or A level students on exams, but my primary school children would see a huge amount of value in this, even if it is just for the teachers to gauge the level of individual students for the next year.
Luckily my children are thriving with homeschool, but I know a lot of friends who are really struggling so even a couple of weeks to get them back on track would be gratefully received.

I reckon after the May half term (for England/Wales)

As said socially it will be massive. I know people will say 'well we had this in the war', but this is really tough times for young and old kids.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-matt-hancock-worried-over-new-diseas...

Not good news. 

Agreed. My wife teaches in a primary school and that’s what they reckon. She said 1st June, I stole her idea. 

I dont know but personally I dont intend to go back before September.  I felt really stressed out about it the week or 2 before we shut. I don't see how we can manage to social distance effectively in small classrooms and corridors.  Children don't stand 2m away when they want something they come right into your space.   Even with reminders many of them don't handwash and parents do send them in ill.  It isnt possible to teach in a mask.  I imagine they will stagger different age groups anyway if they do go back before September.  

I was talking to a mainstream secondary school teacher in N Wales today and they said they were planning for after the second may b/h. They had class sizes of 33 and said they would not be comfortable teaching with this number due to social distancing. 

Bit of insider here but years 6, 10 and 12 will be going back in some regions after May half term. Details of how this is to be done (split years on separate days or separate classrooms) yet to be decided with the unions.

Holy, I consider 17 a big class!

30 is pretty normal.  I physically don't have space or desks for any more than 31 in most of the classrooms I've ever worked in.   

I reckon to stick to social distance somewhere between 8 and 12 kids in a normal 30 classroom.  Maybe 16 in a Science lab or art room as they tend to be a bit bigger.  

It isn't possible for all the pupils to return at the same time if social distance is needed.  There just isn't space.  

Makes sense.  

I'm not sure there's any point before the summer now.

I would predict that when they restart it'll be staggered by age group and each kid only in half a day in order to halve demand.

John Swinney has said not before summer hols in Scotland.

I think there is a very big point to getting children back in as soon as possible for their social and mental wellbeing. How on Earth social distancing will be possible or even worth it for children in the classroom I don’t know as once it’s playtime they’ll be carrying on as normal whatever the dinner ladies or teachers say. 

My gut feel is after the summer half term for primary schools. September for Secondary schools. I'm wondering what will happen if primary schools go back and a lot of parents don't send their kids back, will they get fined?

My elder daughter is in Year 1 and it's really getting to them that they're not seeing each other, although slightly mitigated by seeing a friend down the end of our road (at a safe distance) most days, occasionally others on our walks and we've done a couple of Zoom calls with larger groups, but it's not the same. She's doing ok with the home schooling, given that my wife and I aren't teachers and are both still working.

CV-19 seems to have been the final nail in the coffin of my youngest's pre-school (they were having other issues already), so she won't be going back there anyway - she "may" get a place in another pre-school we'd already applied to if they open before the summer holidays, but more likely she'll just be starting reception in September, which is a heck of a long time to wait for her. Had a Zoom call for her today with a couple of friends after one of them had a melt-down about not seeing his friends. She's actually learning quite a lot from joining in with the elder's home schooling, until she loses interest and wanders off on her own.

How the summer goes will depend heavily on how the lock-down is released, as our usual childcare for then is grandparents, which we can't use at the moment. Our major concern at the moment is whether my wife is going to be made redundant as a result of this, which would solve the childcare issue, but seriously screw up our delayed house move.

Wow, I taught 27 in a state school and I found that hard. How do you find time to grade. 

Now I'd say average class size is 14-16 at my independent school. As a science teacher I much prefer smaller class sizes as its just safer running labs. teams of 3 its about 5 stations to watch over. Much less than 12 though and you lose the energy in the room.

Even for us though I wonder how we will do it, possibly a 'flow' around the buildings like in the shops, and slightly different release times for classes. We have a school lunch and we all eat together and I suspect that will change.

At our kids school which never closed (sweden), gym lessons are now outside and the fortunately located adjacent gym is an extension of the dining room, so kids classes don't mix so much. They've always had staggered lunch break any way. 

Thats not such a bad idea, we are heading into summer anyway - dont see why a lot of lessons couldnt be run outdoors...

We have a 1 and 3 year old. For the three year old age group in particular, they are too young to Skype so they have basically gone weeks without any interaction with their friends, which for a three year old is a *really* long time, and behavioural changes are becoming ever more visible. For anyone thinking this status quo should continue until September I would ask you to consider the real and possibly long term impact this is having on the next generation...

In Scotland at least science and other practical classes are smaller. Can't remember if it's nationwide but most places I've worked it's been about 20 max.

My school is already (sort of) open but I do work in special provision, a pupil referral unit - We already have really low numbers as a result of the students that we cater for (maximum of 20) but right now because of social distancing are restricted to having in a maximum of 3 students per day - I think its likely that provision will be increased next term, somehow, but we aren't really expecting things to be 'normal' until September at the earliest.

You must be joking.....

It is impossible to see how a school could operate with social distancing if more than about half the pupils are there, and even then it would be very difficult. If some year groups are in school and some online, the workload on teachers would be ridiculous (teachers can't be in a real classroom and doing the online stuff at the same time), so, as far as I can see, all the only way it could work would be for year groups to be split with half in for half the day and the other half in for the other half of the day. This would be a lot better than online teaching (a low bar), but still far from satisfactory and probably a logistical nightmare.

Insider knowledge? Intriguing...

I agree that years 10 and 12 are likely to go back first, with the rest in September.

Social distancing in a classroom/hall/dining room is going to be difficult to manage. It does feel like teachers are lambs ready for slaughter as they'll have little to no PPE and in a room full of potential super spreaders. Particularly the older and more susceptible members of staff.

Andy F

Science classes aren't size limited in England. I've had classes of 35 doing practicals in a standard school lab! Talk about needing eyes in the back of your head...

Andy F

I think that's what it will be, i.e. each kid will, on some basis or other, do either morning/afternoon only or a certain number of days a week.  I'd suspect the former, because it removes the spread vector that would be lunch breaks.  It also allows a partial economic restart i.e. parents working part rather than full time.

If we did that for only the second summer half term (giving 6 weeks to plan), that might give a useful experiment on practicalities to allow planning for September.

Dear God, as soon as possible...

I wonder if the people saying 'not much point going back now until after the summer holidays' have kids. Mine are 2 and 5 and we're finding it very difficult. They're at very different levels of course, with one happy playing and disrupting, the other struggling to find any motivation in her very weird first year of education. Having five months at home with no formal teaching, and very little social interaction is not a good start to her school career.

It is what it is, and we're doing the best we can given we're both working (in that sense we're very consciously 'among the lucky ones') but I feel really bad for both of them that they're stuck with us and only us. They need to be among their peers, education or no education!

I was thinking splitting each class in two and doing week on week off might be better. They could then follow the same timetable they would return to eventually. Obviously that means setting online work and school work but you could duplicate it week about. However, I don't have that kind of strategic brain some teachers have to be able to pick out conflicts and issues in timetables etc!

I too am really worried about the potential workload around this although I think the unions will be really strong on it.

How many over 60's teach at your school?

Morning / afternoon introduces the spread vector of two different cohorts sitting at the same desks and touching the same stuff within minutes of each other. I suppose you could perhaps do a rapid wipe down in that time but not sure how effective it would be.

Day on/off would allow for better cleaning between and week on/off would allow for proper cleaning and a whole weekend for any virus on surfaces/equipment to diminish.

I'm not making suggestions here, just chucking ideas around.

My point is it a lot easier to have social distancing outdoors - I remember when I was at high school we had the odd lesson out on the sports field as a treat. Why not have a history lesson outdoors? Obviously weather dependent, but from what I understand the main risk of virus transmission is indoors, with it dropping to almost nil in outdoor environments. 

I am not disagreeing with your points that other steps may also be necessary - morning/afternoon split may be an easy to implement one initially.

I think 33 was the biggest class I ever had to do physics practicals with.  I genuinely think that state and independent teaching are two different jobs. They just sort of look the same to an outsider - a bit like a well bolted 4+ and an E6 look more or less the same to a non climber.  

When I taught in the state sector, my wife made me lunch every day. She knew that whatever she did it had to be something I could hold in one hand, so I could type or press photocopier buttons with the other.  One of the independents I worked in had a lunch time crossword club in the staffroom...

I take classes outside as often as possible and it's really not worthwhile that often.

Unless there's a specific reason to be outside like using the space or investigating something in the grounds it's often not worth the effort. Is the grass wet, is it too windy, where will they sit, what resources do you require, who'll moan about being too hot or too cold, don't have a screen to display stuff etc etc.

It's nice from time to time but it's no practical solution to this other than for PE perhaps.

In fact, it's going to be a lot easier for independents to go back safely long before be state schools because they have so much more physical space per pupil. I wonder if we're going to see the independents pushing to reopen first? Some were quite vocal about being made to close.

Even with PE outside and using the sports hall to teach I don't think it would be possible to get more than half a school in at once and have any attempt at social distance.  

If the dislikes are for my choice not to work before September I'd like to point out that I am a supply teacher, and not on contract.  

Fair enough - best solutions to this will be if teachers direct the path of what is most practical here

Any plan with alternating days or some year groups only doesn't help parents with child care much.

I’ve a 4 year old and we’re seeing the same, I am genuinely concerned about the long term impact.

Agreed, however much we might want there to be a solid plan before going back to school the reality is that it will involve a lot of trial and error and will look different for different schools.

One thing it took me a long time to learn is that schools are messy places (metaphorically speaking). We want nice, neat, compartmentalised solutions to things and it rarely happens that way. It's much more about compromise and acceptance and day to day juggling of difficult situations or competing priorities.

I'm a maths teacher. It simply wouldn't work, even if the weather was permanently fine. You need the apparatus of a classroom.

I think that could work well (though I can't see it happening!). While in school, the actual teaching could take place (which is next to impossible to do satisfactorily online!), with the pupils then getting on with the written work at home, really just going online for assistance.

I can't see how social distancing in school is compatible with helping parents all that much!

Most of my KS3 classes are over 30, a couple 33. I've taught groups of 34 before. There are 34 chairs in our classrooms, so that's the biggest you can go. 

I see no possible way that we can socially distance the full student body in the school's premises. They would have to half the levels of education that kids get now - one week on, one week off? -  which I presume is illegal under current legislation.

Apparently based on a decision a long time ago that basically said science isn't a practical subject! Still, nothing like 30 11-year-olds using Bunsen's for the first time. That said science labs are statistically one of the safer places in a school.

Going back will be interesting, I don't see how it can be done from a practical point of view, only a few year groups/ day with split classes still leaves many people in corridors at certain times. Given the virus longevity on surfaces how will cleaning of desks etc. between lessons be done?  Even the staffing will be tough, before the closure we were struggling with sufficient staffing with people having to isolate, testing will help but that still takes time and only says you don't have the virus at that time.

Anyway, it doesn't matter because according to someone on here they don't learn anything in the weeks before a holiday.

That's ok though. 2 or 3 days back in school will be a god send to those kids whose parents aren't perhaps up to the task of helping with home learning. 

Given that most countries don't even start proper school until 7, that's two UK school years that could be considered a lower priority. They've a whole decade to catch up. 14 or 15 years old should be the priority. 

I'd prioritise the 17 year olds and 15 year olds who have missed GCSE and A Level time.  Or the Scottish equivalent.  

However as school is in fact mainly about babysitting I suspect there will be pressure from some places for younger ones to be back first in order to get their parents back to work. 

I suspect there will be a repeat of the weeks just before we shut where many of the pupils were kept off by parents concerned for their children.  This may make social distance easier.  

My impression is it's not that many, and a quick Google seems to confirm that.

Perhaps, but surprisingly little of what goes on in schools is a matter of law.

Perhaps but education of a 6 year is clearly a lower priority than a 15 year old. If the UK isn't prepared to just fully open schools then it needs to prioritise, it should have been planning this since the day they closed. 

The youngest do seen like they might be a lower priority, but they are missing out on some pretty critical socialisation which they can't just catch back up on. Countries which don't start formal schooling until later still have lots of (perhaps more) opportunity for this socialisation at the ages of 3-6. It almost feels to me like secondaries need to concentrate on years 10 and 12, but primaries might need to get reception and Y1 in soonest. I would hope that someone who knows more than I do about this is figuring this all out...

To answer the OP, I'll be astonished if we get back to 100% present at school this side of September.

Of course there is a lot of learning; group and communication skills, confidence, as well as the basics of numeracy and literacy, only done almost entirely through play and field trips outdoors. Even the etiquette of eating as group at lunch time, as staff usually eat the same food with the kids.  But certainly no formal sitting at desks in rows facing the teacher etc... 

Yes. School closures are going to impact all ages, just differently according to their age. 

I think it’s pretty cynical to suggest that parents’ motivation for wanting kids to return is to use it as a baby sitting service.  Kids below gcse/a-level may not be prioritised from an educational point of view, but they need to be back in school as soon as possible so they can socialise.

I can homeschool my daughter (year 4).  Not very well but I can do it.  Many parents can’t, or won’t.  Some kids, even the young ones, will never recover from the damage that has already been to their education by this and it’s pretty unthinkable that it would go on for months more.

What I’ll never replace, even with endless penalty shootouts, games of rummikub, wrestling matches and so on, is the benefit she gets from real social interaction with other children.  Zoom chats and online gaming just don’t cut it.

All my (admittedly anecdotal) experience of home schooled kids is that, socially, they’re found wanting.  A generation of them doesn’t bear thinking about.

I didn't say parents. It will be pressure from all those poor billionaires who have money to make that want to get their workforce back regardless of the situation.  

As for homeschooling, you may or may not be aware that a large number of homeschooled kids are not at home by choice, but because the provision for SEN is so underfunded that suitable options aren't available for children who just can't cope in school.  This would explain why many  homeschooled children may have apparent social deficits as this is the reason for the home schooling in so many cases. Correlation does not imply cause.  

An entire generation of Bosnian children missed out on education for several years during their war.  I can assure you that those who I have worked with have no deficiencies and have managed to attain great careers in a country which speaks a different language.  

It’s really just semantics though.  School for kids below 7 is about socialisation more than education.  In countries that don’t start school until 7 they still have some provision for them.   My sister lives in Switzerland and her kids are too young for ‘school’.  Pre lockdown they still want to a classroom everyday, hung out with other kids their age, and learned things.  No-one has adequately explained to me what the difference between this and school is.  For me this is the most important thing they’re missing out on.

I’m aware of that and completely agree with you.  I’m not talking about kids with EHCPs but kids who are homeschooled by choice.  
 

You did say school is mainly about baby sitting - which to be frank is a pretty astonishing statement.  I can’t agree with that at all.  Nor do I agree that kids in gcse and a-level years should necessarily be priotised.

I would have hoped that getting all kids back into adequate educational provision as soon as possible, even if its one week before the end of term, would be at the very top of the priority list.

I appreciate you don’t want to go back for safety reasons, and I’m sure staffing will be an issue for that reason.  

Here each town is a separate school district so you get massive variability in funding and quality of schools in the state system.

the best state Schools I’ve taught at were 20-25 per class but lots of prep time. I taught at one state school where you had one class off all day and every class had to have plans formally submitted linked to standards. It was an incredible amount of work to lesson plan. I’d spend more time trying to link lessons to standards than I would on the lessons themselves.

I’d be up to 1-2 am every night. I quit pretty early on as the school was closing and was the worst school in the city, we were on CCTV constantly and they’d go through and comment. It was like working in a prison. I left there and went to an amazing state school just 5 miles away which was just amazing in comparison.

i am worried about my job, we’re an at will state so no job security, it means we can be sacked or quit for no reason. So maybe I’ll leave but I like the job and the workload.

Occurred to me with regard to "one week on one week off" - could that be combined with setting extended homework type projects to do in the interim week?  Not for Reception, obviously, but would work for anything from junior up, and covers the issues with people who are "IT poor" because they could as well be done using paper and pen.

Yes, this would be not too bad. Do most of the teaching one week, then most of the written work the next with a bit of help available online.

I don't expect staffing will be an issue.  Those on contract will go in and do the job, just as they are doing now for vulnerable and key workers kids and just as I did in the weeks leading up to the closure. 

I'm not concerned about education, its the social interactions. Right now many kids are seeing no kid at all their age for 4-6 weeks, having grown up with constant kids around them. Had they not been in day cares since 5 months old maybe it wouldn't be such a stress but it is a big stress for the kids of today.

The problem is schools do function as day cares too, they enable parents to return to work. Especially for kids below a certain age. 

I'm teaching from home with a 4 year old and 2 new born twins, when my wife returns to work in a few months as an essential worker (MD), I'm screwed. I cannot possibly teach and look after 3 young children.

As will attendance.

The main issues will be staffing and the stance of the unions. Will teachers be forced into working in close proximity to pupils who with the best will in the world wont be able to maintain social distancing? 

The Unions would be best advised to rein it in.  The Tories are always looking for an excuse to crush the Unions, and if it was them that prevented schools opening (and therefore prevented parents going back to work, thus causing financial hardship in their household) that will mean there will be broad public support for crushing the Unions.

Be careful.

This won't be popular but I personally think if they can survive being put in day care at 5 months old they can also survive spending time with their families.   One thing I do know is that kids are resilient.  I've seen amazing things from kids who have been through terrible terrible things.   Having to spend a few months stuck at home isn't going  to harm the vast majority of children. My concern is for those in abusive situations.  Ordinary kids with loving parents will be fine. 

That's kicking off here, unions are resisting changes and there's a tide turning against them. The right are constantly making out teachers to be over paid who work 180 days a year as it is (despite teacher numbers going down every year - I think 40% of teachers quit in 5 years or something). But there's already a move to charter schools to take out unions.

That's because they stand to lose shedloads of money and go bust, there was a big thread about this on here which TWS started if I remember correctly.

No good for parents with commutes.  It would make more sense to do week on / week off then you have a week of full normality instead of chopping and changing.  Those on 'week off' can join in lessons via zoom/skype whatever - if the teachers are using this now from home they can do it from school. The only issue is practical classes.

There’s also liability though. That’s a big issue here and something states are grappling with. States are encouraging businesses to open.

we have 500 students pre k to grade 12 on a large campus over 5 discrete buildings.

I certainly think we could go back before a state secondary school with Say 2000 students grade 9-12. But we’re scared of liability, plus how we cope with half the Students coming Back and half not.

But it’s not one or the other is it?  There’s a whole spectrum of kids from those who will flourish in lockdown, through those who probably won’t learn much but will get looked after well enough, right down to those who are one step away from care proceedings.  I’m not sure I would agree that the vast majority will be fine.  I’d imagine a significant proportion will feel some long lasting effect.

Thats where we may see changes. Some kids are doing better remotely, some less so.

But we've a few kids who struggled with attention in class and now see how much better it is online, for them.

I hadn't realised you were in the states (at least, I guess that's where you must be).  In the UK both of these are absolutely not permitted!

Yeah I’m US based now. My wife is a medic so we’ve moved around through medschool, residency and now fellowship so I’ve taught in NJ, NH and MA.

in NJ I got a disciplinary letter for stopping two kids fighting, one ran out the exit, one ran into the science lab, I went after him and I thought there was more danger there, scalpels, acids etc. but school policy was no kid leaves the building. So I got a formal warning when they went through the CCTv. That was when I quit.

On what basis do you think a significant proportion will feel a long lasting effect? 

Ridiculous. (That you got a warning)

In addition seeing how my own daughter and her friends (most of whom are pretty well adjusted, intelligent kids) are struggling emotionally to deal with the fact that none of the adults in their lives can tell them when they’ll be able to see or touch their friends (or grandparents, or cousins) again, I’m a family lawyer.  I’ve read a huge number of welfare reports where failure to keep children in education has been one of the local authority’s concerns.  I also am aware that some children in her school have a pretty shit time at home.  They are vulnerable kids who should still be in school, but they’re not.

If they go back in September they’ll have missed half a year.  That’s a 50% attendance rate for the whole of the school population.  The education that they’ll miss out on won’t be replaced and when they go back the inequalities that existed before will be magnified.  They won’t just pick up where they left off.  That’s not to say anything of the social impact.

I don’t share your view that all but a few will be fine and if that was the message my daughter’s school was sending out I’d be alarmed.  On what basis do you think they’ll be fine?

For balance, I’m not saying that we’re going to have a lost generation of kids.  I just think you are downplaying the significance of losing half a years’ education.  I know that there was a public health justification for closing schools in the first place, but it’s a balancing exercise and it needs to be done everyday that schools stay shut.  The minute that the detriment to kids outweighs the benefit to public health they need to go back.

I’m still considering a September return to be most likely. 
I was in today to do my 3-weekly stint with the keyworker children, and despite only having 4 of them in my workshop, trying to maintain social distancing was bloody difficult (and impossible at times), especially with a lower ability child who couldn’t remember that he should be staying away from you or others.
Trying to run practical  classes of 24 in there as normal will be impossible with current distancing rules. 

We made some bloody amazing bird boxes today though! 

On a slight tangent I wonder what the difference in behaviour, attitudes, relationships or whatever will be between key worker children’s hospital have attended  school and the riff-raff who had to stay at home when the children all return? 

I think that there will be practical problems to be overcome for those more academic students in year 10 and above for the next 5 years or so.  I have faith that their teachers and lecturers will do whatever it takes to smooth these over.

I honestly don't see any particular issue with the loss of just under half a year of formal education even if it does go to September (I don't think it will)

Its worth bearing in mind that all children now have an extra 2 years of compulsory education starting with the cohort who left last year, and that most of them have been provided with work and support from school during the closure.  Many of my pupils did complete the work provided and send it to me.  We made particular efforts to support certain pupils and to ensure all pupils had work that didnt require a computer if necessary.  

The issues you mention that I do agree with are nothing to do with school.  It is very very unsettling for them that the adults don't know all the answers.  But I'd argue that schools being open doesn't help that. 

What a presumption.  

Riff raff?  Really?  

Wow.  

So not only do you underestimate children you also think it's ok to call them riff raff.  

I think you miss read my riff-raff comment which was meant as tongue in cheek. 

And Trump was being sarcastic.  Its not tongue in cheek, its snobbery and rude.  

So how do you think the school goers and non school goers will get on when they return? I feel that the non goers will be at a distinct disadvantage to the ones that get to attend and this may be an issue. 

The riff-raff comment was crass and ill considered. You should reconsider your approach to humour.

I have been working today at our small, inner city primary school with the children of key workers from the age of 5-11. These children have had an enjoyable experience as they do on each day that they attend. Some are too young to really have a clear idea of what is actually happening, some less so. I spent a while chatting to a boy in Y5 whose mum is working with covid patients in a care home. He is afraid that she will die and has been having night terrors. Daily reassurance by all of our staff is helping and I hope that he left school today more confident about his mum's safety. For all of the children that are attending, our aim is to provide a sanctuary of calm with absorbing activities which have an educational and social value. We are not teaching in the usual sense. Educational outcomes are not the primary driver of our provision at present.

In terms of our vulnerable families, the situation is more difficult. We are making daily calls to our these families, supplying them with food from the budget that our kitchen would normally be cooking with and doing our level best to ensure that the children in these households are 'safe'. We are extremely worried about those families who are not engaging with us and are in daily contact with both the police who provide information to us about incidents (via operation encompass) and social services. This, we know is inadequate to provide the level of care that we do during  normal term time.

At the same time we are working to provide the best level of home learning that we are capable of given the constraints involved. We are making video lessons, providing rich learning activities, messaging children and parents about learning (and also just to keep a good point of contact because we as teachers have a great deal of ourselves invested in these young people and families with which we work) as well as giving feedback and next steps to improve learning. We as a school, have been encouraging children to keep in touch with friends and to collaborate on and share pieces of learning.

We spent a considerable amount of time today in our zoom staff meeting considering how a return to larger numbers of children attending might work. Half of our teaching staff are shielding for clear, honest reasons so numbers of teachers will be a problem. Our site is completely unsuitable for teaching outside (as I would imagine are most primary schools) with any real learning happening. The layout (one long corridor with hall and classrooms leading off) will make social distancing unfeasible. Many of our children live with grandparents and other extended family members as well as their parents.

We want to be open and to provide the usual fantastic quality of education to our school community. With the current situation, this is not yet possible. We understand that home learning is not easy for parents; this situation is not easy for anyone.

To those who think that the role of primary education before the age of seven is just social interaction and childcare, we have foundation and Key Stage one teachers who would probably disagree with you (to put it kindly). To those people who think that they are educational experts because they once went to school, you are not. You have probably been on an aeroplane too: I bet you couldn't f*cking fly one!

James Mann

That’s an interesting insight. 
 

To be honest we’ve had very little input from the children’s primary school which I’m disappointed with if I’m honest. It’s only small with a high pupil/teacher ratio. At the start of the closure they sent everyone home with a blank A4 exercise book and a couple of old exam papers. They’ve recently forwarded activity ideas taken from Pinterest and set some tasks such as make breakfast(?) and some other very, very simple things which I assumed all children should be able to do already.  They also seem to assume that everyone has access to reasonable technology, materials, printers etc as they’ve said to print x,y,z out as part of the activities which bar an old smartphone I don’t have. 
 

This, a hundred times.   Given how under pressure many teachers already are I can see lots saying "You know what? I think I'll call it a day".  On the other hand smaller class sizes might enable lots of others to engage with pupils in a way they have not been able to hitherto as they spent all their time doing crowd control.

Great post thanks James.  With absolutely no partisanship (is that another UKC neologism for me?)  about the viewpoints expressed upthread I'd like to take my hat off to all the teachers who are providing education to key workers and to those worrying about what will happen in the weeks and months to come.  You are all fantastic, take a bow.  

My kids are going to LOCKDOWN school and I try to thank every teacher I can for just turning up.  As ever you do a fantastic job.

James - Bald Eagle says you might be keen on a mine adventure, hopefully see you there soon : )

I only deal with Gr 9 - 12, but for us its hard to know what to do.

We're on the edge of Boston (well 40 miles, so the limit of the commuter belt) so getting hit (23 cases in our local walmart today), the students grandparents are dying of COVID, we've kids who are immuno-compromised, others mega stressed anyway and this has just killed them. As an independent school we get kids with long term health conditions who will have been held back more in a state school, we can adapt more.

Then like you we've loads of medic kids who are worried about their parents.

But we've also kids who want some normality, and parents who understand want a continuation of their kids education, they want their kids holding to account still, but especially early on I basically stopped grading work 

On top of that we've super driven kids who are missing big exams and worried about college and the impact on their education down the road. It seems very selfish of them but when we were 17-18 and had worked so hard with a career in mind, it would stress us. Especially the very type A who think they are on a set career path.

It really is the strangest of times. I'm so glad I have small classes and a school that's basically said do what you can, they've just said we'll support you. As the biology teacher I've spent lessons just talking through a lot of their questions, but other kids just don't want to hear about it. They just want it to go away.