1/ Thread: Draft DfE guidence
Initial thoughts
'How can we get all students back full time without spending any extra money?... Oh and make it look like we're being safe'
Also feels bit like CEOs wrote this to usher in the new normal of education https://m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/school-reopening-whole-year-bubbles-full-guidance-covid_uk_5ef9dd4ac5b6ca97091288e4?oo9&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvL1YwWWw4bE5DZTA_YW1wPTE&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANQKC3BqVmqGo48gAaNdqZeU3UwYlfnKGkHw_lCqrlHcSgOxQWVGrP1HMlAarYY_16QOR4MnP6XMBhLcX4LVUZvkdgTpXi2kH_1ikI8NqbHjoXqrPGvpnX3GQUD1sLV-YXJV4E5351Ws6Znf2teMsCJBKTsFXtV8bRZG87GEuLXL

Logistics is a reoccurring theme, particularly in secondaries which most the guidence seems to be designed for
7 yr groups staggered starts and finishes, but no rotas so 7 different different timetables of lesson start and finishes. How to timetable staff? Attach to yr groups?

Many classes are bigger than 30, most my classes last year were. Also some schools have more than 240 in a year group. My school would have to increase numbers in the lower sets, students who need more support would get less time with the teacher than usual.

4/ Big narrowing of curriculum, cramming Maths and English, does this mean lots of non core subject staff have to teach outside of their specialism.While they catch up on these will they ever be able to catch up on the other subjects,impact on students who love creative subjects?

5/ No social distancing in primary so you can squeeze them into small rooms.
1m advised for secondaries but not at all times, so probably doable in private schools, but not in state schools, in essence no distancing in state secondaries, the 1m is just a pretence so the gov can..

6/ claim they are encouraging infection control when they know the reality is there will be none.

Some small rooms with 30 students will be a struggle for a teacher to be 2m away, I also dont spend an hour close to someone in a supermarket however its advisory so in reality..

7/ there's no social distancing for teachers. I notice there is no mention of support staff, so what about teaching assistants who usually work next to a pupil and not at the front?

8/ I assume this means that staff will have to be attached to specific year groups? Otherwise they will be mixing 'year group bubbles'

Interesting that PHE have made a judgement on masks in regards to teaching and learning rather than on public health.

9/ so no 1m+, not even the +. I know a lot of people working in education would feel a lot more comfortable with masks being worn. How come other countries can teach their students with masks but ours can't? I would like to point out this is the exact opposite to SAGE's advice

10/ SAGE
High confidence schools are high risk of infection due to large number of contacts
High confidence enclosed areas for long periods are high risk of infection
High confidence social distancing is important to cut transmission
High confidence without 2m should wear masks

11/ Primary schools with circular tables will have to buy new tables, will struggle to 30 students in rows into some of our smaller rooms.
If they are crammed in all day with little ventilation it doesnt matter if they are face to face as two tables would keep a larger distance

12/ however it's a good way of enforcing the 'all students should sit in rows' comment from Williamson the other day, I bet this line came from an academy CEO, bit like the just catch up on English and Maths.
The new normal..

13/ Earlier it said teachers stay 2m away where possible, here it says 1m for no more than 15mins, but its advisable so on reality this isnt going to be able to happen

Fines: with shielding letters ending those households who dont feel comfortable will be divided by income

14/ Top private schools will be able to offer proper social distancing for high risk households, many middle classes may well be willing to pay the fine, but disadvantaged families wont be able to afford the fine, these are also the families most likely to be high risk, due to..

15/ multi generational households, and also due to the reductions in the benefit system, particularly mobility and other support to go to work many parents with health conditions have been plunged into poverty.

16/ I wonder what "robust measures" mean? I work with school refusers, main reason for poor attendance is mental health issues like high anxiety, trauma, impact of bullying or medical conditions. Robust sounds a bit like 'getting tough' when the reality is many of these have ..

17/ failed by austerity. Ever encountered a panicking older teen suffering from clinical depression on the verge of a panic attack talking about suicidal thoughts as they say school and family are doing what they can but they desperately need professional help but there's no..

18/ access to an underfunded CAHMS and all the child counsellor jobs in the area went long ago? Its heartbreaking you feel almost as helpless as the teen does. Another cause is SEND students who arent having their needs met in school, once again this is result of cuts to CAHMS..

19/ and school budgets, 15k support staff jobs have been cut, many supporting the most vulnerable students. CAHMS can take up to 2 years between applying for assessment and receiving report. Economic divide is also apparent here, theres a growing private industry filling the gap.

20/ This means that parents with the money can get an SEND child assessed and supported whilst the disadvantaged are still stuck in the queue. It's the same with counselling, I know someone who's daughter was the victim of grooming while in primary school, there is no state...

21/ support available for her child, so she pays £80 an hour every week to get her child the support she needs. This isn't an option for victims from the most deprived families. Robust better mean supportive measures rather than punitive, otherwise you are punishing the most ..

22/ vulnerable and likely disadvantaged pupils in the country for the government's negligence in providing adequate support. Let's not even get into cuts to child and social services etc which will also have supported these families, and the general stress of austerity on poorest

23/ Unlike the safety measures that are advisable, this one is compulsory and overrides all social distancing rules.
It also bans extra space, one of the main measures other countries have introduced to reduce risk of transmission and it's been banned.

24/ So the government might be desperate to get students back, but they arent willing to provide the extra money to make it safer. What happened to 'whatever it takes'? This is one of the measures that would have made union members a lot more comfortable.

25/Contingency is sensible, I wonder what they class as 'high quality'? Live lessons?

Once certain GCSE subjects are dropped will we ever get them back? Many big academies cut non-core subjects to save money. 'Broad balanced" curriculum going right out thr window, which is

26/interesting when gov and commentators has gone on about how school is so much more than just core subjects and this is vital for student wellbeing

27/ Yep students missing out on non core GCSE, what if they wanted to learn these at A level? Are those opportunities now gone?
Several non-core teachers have contacted me with concerns for their jobs, some schools were planning redundancies pre Covid,we now know who will get cut

28/ Does this mean secondary teachers are going to have to learn the year 6 syllabus and then write a curriculum? Not all primaries will have taught the syllabus in the same order so different students will have different gaps. Will they have to do SATs in secondary?

29/ They are predicting an increase in disruptive behaviour, I guess that's another reason they had for scrapping social distancing, but dont all schools try and reduce poor behaviour already?What does this new focus look like?I bet they have a zero tolerance approach

30/ championed by certain MATs. I point out that I believe in firm consistent behaviour policies however I think zero tolerance has become fetishised as a cure for issues in education. Zero tolerance behaviour management is shown to to disproportionately impact certain groups

3q/ particularly the vulnerable, SEND, MH nd other groups. Will provisions be out in place to prevent isolation, exclusion or offrolling? Another blow for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged with needs it being met
Reads like DfEs favourite CEOs had a hand in writing this.

/ Ofsted wont be inspecting schools, except where they will be inapecting schools. However by October it seems Ofsted will be back to normal.Does this mean the 6th Ofsted framework in 9 years?

33/ Staggered break and lunch so they can use the same area but with cleaning in between. Back to basic logistics again. 15 min lunch 10 min clean, 7 year groups is about 3 hours so will need how do we staff that and provide cleaners? Different toilet per year group as well

34/ Not multiple year groups in assemblies but fine for 240 students of same year group to be in a hall at the same time. I think it's time for all 650 MPs to cram into parliament with the high risk ones included as that's what they are expecting of education staff.

35/ School buses: I think this might win the award for WTF are they thinking. Looking forward to 7 different queues and enforcing seating by year group. Moment bus leaves school they are all going to switch seats. But they do have to wear masks on the bus but not in school?!

36/ What if they take their masks off once the bus leaves school? What about the bus on it's way to school, who is going to enforce the queues and the seating? Good luck bus drivers, at least you and the students are supposed to have the protection of masks and you wont have ..

37/ hours in less than 1m space with them. But if students take masks off on the bus it makes a mockery of the whole year group bubble idea, however considering families will have children in different year group bubbles it's already a joke

38/ Aim is to make parents feel safe about their children, but children are low risk so gov can take lots of risk, as for safeguarding staff, how well do you think this guidence protects them?
Guidence will be must and advisories, can see how this plays out

39/ Musts will be everything to do with having all students in and the CEO fetishes, facing forwards, uniform, narrowing curriculum, robust measures, zero tolerance
Advisory will be everything to do with social distancing and staff safety, the measures that will cut transmission

40/ As I said it's about reassuring parents, but staff concerns.. well read between the lines, they can get stuffed. Take your kid for a haircut with 8 ppl in the building and the hairdresser will have more protection than a teacher in classes of 30 for 4/5 hours.

41/ And if you need any PPE, I assume for cleaners and first side, buy your own PPE

42/ In summary everyone better do everything they can to get the number of infections down,and TTI and test capacity better be "world class" by September otherwise we risk schools being transmission hubs, in these conditions Covid can rip through schools and into communities

43/ It feels like the aim is to have all students back in, all parents back to work, children are low risk and staff can just take one for the team.
Also allows certain MAT practices to be forced onto all schools, I see various repercussions which I'll cover tomorrow.

44/
1/ Part 2: Repercussions
Staff who are either shielding or living with shielding family members. With no social distancing or even masks in schools which are essentially a mass gathering (consider a secondary with 2k pupils) many high risk household wont feel comfortable.

2/ I know of many older staff planning to take early retirement, I know, it's also worth remembering there's plenty of younger workers who have health conditions or live with those who do. Fed up with teacher bashing in the press, and SLTs brushing aside their health concerns..

3/ many of these are already planning exit routes out of working in education. Third of NQTs leave within 5 years, about half of teachers have less than 10 years experience, in recent years 8.5% of the profession are leaving for reasons other than retirement. What is the lack of

4/ concerns for those in risk categories going to do to these numbers? We are in danger of losing a lot of experienced staff and I theres also a danger of seeing many from those ethnic groups more heavily impacted by Covid also deciding they dont want to take the risk.

5/ So this could reduce diversity in the education workforce just at a time when voices are calling for the exact opposite. They also cant all go off to become DfE or MAT consultants like those #edutwitter Ed-Celebrities who will be praising this plan as it fits their narrowing

6/ vision of "no frills" state education. The CEO, consultants and those who get millions without tendering processes wont criticise the government, why would they? They are the ones who have benefitted most from academisation and marketisation, no they will post derisive

7/ comments about those who believe in a broader more diverse curriculum as jealous enemies of progress and throw up straw men arguements of binary choices of their sensible side of the scale against the "chaos" proposed by those they disagree with.

8/ Students shielding or living with those who are. With most shielding letters ending by August, how comfortable will these families feel about no social distancing, masks and whole year group bubbles?
Dont think the threat of a fine is going to work for many high risk families

9/ I seeing a lot of high risk families saying that if infections arent considerably lower and they havent gained more trust in the TTI and testing regime then they are seriously thinking about homeschooling. Many of these will be disadvantaged multi generational homes.