forcing us to send primary back to school next week

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food4thought
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2016 1:28 am

forcing us to send primary back to school next week

Post by food4thought »

hello folks,

My daughter is in year 6. I have kept her home for now due to the pandemic.

I just got an email from her primary school saying that if she doesnt go back to school on Monday, then the school will be unable to provide a space for her. This is a bit harsh.

It's her last year at school. I wanted her to return towards the end of June, as i wanted to see if there any more increases with the pandemic..

Any advice. i feel the school is forcing me to send her back.

rgds
F4T
streathammum
Posts: 1252
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2016 6:02 pm

Re: forcing us to send primary back to school next week

Post by streathammum »

What exactly has the school said? That if she doesn't go back next week, she can't go back again ever?

Are there any other factors at play in this? Is it the case that not all Y6s have been able to be asked back (for space reasons or whatever) so if you don't want the space they will offer it to someone else?
solimum
Posts: 1420
Joined: Wed May 09, 2007 3:09 pm
Location: Solihull, West Midlands

Re: forcing us to send primary back to school next week

Post by solimum »

Unless she is in a high-risk group she will be perfectly safe at school herself. Any risk is due to the potential spread back into the community (ie to you and any other household members, plus the lone grandparent in your potential bubble). The school will be opening under stringent and lengthy DFE guidelines about capacity, so they will have limited space: they are offering that space to your DD first as Yr 6 were amongst those age groups prioritised but there will also potentially be demand from parents with DC in other years (maybe the siblings of those already offered a space, or newly unfurloughed workers) and understandably want to be able to offer them places if possible. They won't necessarily be doing normal Yr 6 things and she is likely to be with the same group of children (not necessarily her best friends) and the same teacher all day. Have you been looking at local case numbers? (There's a lot of info out there, but mostly only at local authority level, and not always easy to interpret). Only you can decide what is best for your daughter (what does she want to do?) , but the school is doing their best under the current restrictions.

Local authority comparisons here https://lginform.local.gov.uk/reports/v ... risonGroup" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is some ONS mortality data at very small area but that was a few weeks ago:
https://www.inyourarea.co.uk/news/ons-m ... -postcode/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - would be very useful if that could be updated, and (even better!) if positive test results could be uploaded onto the same interface. Now that would be "world class"....
food4thought
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2016 1:28 am

Re: forcing us to send primary back to school next week

Post by food4thought »

thank you, that makes it much clearer. This need the space to maintain social distancing.

i thought it was because they dont want to impact their ofstead scores.
solimum
Posts: 1420
Joined: Wed May 09, 2007 3:09 pm
Location: Solihull, West Midlands

Re: forcing us to send primary back to school next week

Post by solimum »

food4thought wrote: i thought it was because they dont want to impact their ofstead scores.
I'm sure Ofsted is the last thing on the minds of anyone working in schools at the moment - they've had to completely reinvent their way of working from scratch while keeping a skeleton/ childminding service going for keyworker children, with people attacking from all sides, balancing the usual employment responsibilities to staff (not all of whom are young, healthy females!) with ever-increasing social distancing "guidance" from above and trying to reassure parents and children. Plus there's all the usual admin associated with secondary transfer and the extra exam assessments for GCSE/ A levels. Meanwhile I imagine Ofsted are all on furlough!
Bigbirdcw
Posts: 85
Joined: Sat Sep 07, 2013 10:21 pm

Re: forcing us to send primary back to school next week

Post by Bigbirdcw »

My DD's school no longer has any space to take in any further year 6 pupils for the rest of the year. So my DD will be staying at home. I too wanted to wait a few weeks before sending her back. The opportunity has now passed. Due to classroom sizes bubbles have been limited to 7-9 pupils. All available space has been taken up by those initially saying yes and key worker children. Sad end to the year. I don't blame anyone for this, everyones priority is safety.
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