Kids back at school, really worried!

[AntsyVee]

Good luck on making over-12 year olds wear masks at school..

Yeah, exactly P. That's why at this point, I think I will get more taught online. If we go back with no vaccine, all I'm going to end up doing is being the mask and social distance police woman.

[pulisa]

You need to be the teacher figurehead, Vee and not, as you say , the CV police. When is term due to start..in whatever form?

[AntsyVee]

We started online last week. We just finished week one. Our county is getting closer to moving off the state watch list, but for the zip code my school is located in, we have a high concentration of cases in our neighborhood. Everyone wants to go back to school; well all know kids learn best in-person and parents need a break, but I don't know how that's feasible. Here are schools are designed for maximum occupancy, every classroom filled. We don't have space to spread out, and our campus has 4 buildings: one for elementary, one for middle grades, one for high school, and one for music/multipurpose.

[pulisa]

Very hard to factor in Covid then..How does online teaching rate in your opinion against classroom teaching? Do all students actually have internet access?

[AntsyVee]

Yes, 99% have internet access now, but some of them have very slow connections. The students who have parents or older family members home while school is on attend class and do work at a higher rate, obviously. But attendance rates were pretty good the first week. The kids who have a difficult focusing/paying attention have a hard time because I'm not there to constantly annoy them to focus. Since I can't see their screen, I have no idea if what is on their computer is the work or if they're just sitting there playing games or on instagram during class. My classes of older students, pretty much 90% are turning in assignments. My one class of younger kids, I'm at about a 50% rate. The independence with online learning is just hard for them.

[pulisa]

It's all about discipline really, I suppose? You would think that the parents of the younger students would make sure that they were accessing your online classes but who knows what the parents' priorities are or whether they rate education as being important?

Not an easy time to be a teacher in such difficult circumstances..In the UK the news is all about the return to school and the unpredictability of it all.New territory and all that..

[venusbluejeans]

I work in a school and the amount of things that are going on behind the scenes is phenomenal to ensure the safety of the children. I have a 30-page risk assessment to read which covers every possible scenario and what we are doing to ensure children are as safe as possible.

Knowing what I do and what goes on behind the scenes I personally would be more than happy to send a child to school...

Every school is different but all schools should be following the guidelines from their LEA

[pulisa]

I suppose it depends upon the health of other close family members though? The children will be safe enough but it's what they will be bringing home..

[venusbluejeans]

I suppose it depends upon the health of other close family members though? The children will be safe enough but it's what they will be bringing home..

Let me see if I can explain a bit of what happens in schools from a school staff point of view.

Just to say I work in a primary school ....

Schools are going to have home testing kits to send home if any child has any symptoms at all.

Children are in what they call 'bubbles' and the have specific staff for those bubbles and they do not mingle with other bubbles at all... different classrooms, different play areas etc. Staff from each bubble do not intermingle (is that even a word? lol) either.

If any child is tested positive in a test then the whole bubble will then be off school for 2 weeks, staff included.

Different bins are used for different type of rubbish.... any tissues or anything which have been used to wipe a mouth, nose or anything like that is put into a lidded bin which is emptied twice a day.... the person doing that will be in full PPE mask, visor, apron and gloves. that rubbish will then be stored for 72 hours separate from anything else before being put into the wheelie bins.

Children eat in their bubbles and have the same lunchtime staff each day for their bubble.

The children wash their hands... as they arrive at school, before entering a classroom, whenever they leave a classroom, before lunch and after lunch, and obviously after toileting.
Hands are also washed if a child sneezes or coughs or hand sanitiser is used.... children are allowed to bring in personal hand sanitiser too. This is all supervised by staff

Hand sanitiser is available for use whenever needed each classroom has a hand sanitiser pump near the entrance door.

Each bubble will come and go from a different door each day and arrival and leaving are at different times for each bubble.

Each child has a named water bottle which is placed on their specific seat in the classroom

If possible all windows and doors to the classroom will be open.

Lunch and playtime will be outside unless wet weather.

Each bubble has designated play equipment and that equipment is placed in a box with Milton at the end of each day.

any equipment such as trikes etc that cannot be put in Milton then it is steam cleaned with handheld steam cleaners.

Each bubble has its own toilets which is used by no other bubble.

Parents will be asked to send their child in clean uniform daily if at all possible.

If a child has PE then they will be asked to come to school in their PE kit to avoid having to all change at the same time in the same place.

All tables will face the same way in the classroom so the children aren't facing each other while sitting at desks.

No contact sports in PE lessons

No whole school assemblies.

Each classroom has a cleaning checklist which staff within the bubble will carry out as well as the school cleaners doing their job in the evenings after school.... The checklist is completed before school, before lunch after lunch if the children eat inside and at last break.... this includes anti-baccing, door handles, sinks, taps, tables light switches and any other things that is a high touch area in the classroom.

Any work or anything to take home will be put into quarantine for 72 hours completely away from anything else in the classroom so they are not touched.

There are many more little things which have been put into place... too many to mention.

[Scass]

Thanks for this Venus, I experienced some of this when my daughter went back for the last few weeks of year 1 and was very impressed. Keep up the good work!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk