Government U-Turn On Back To School

[Gromit]

The plan for all primary school years in England to go back to school before the end of term is to be dropped by the government.

A victory for common sense?

https://www.bbc.com/news/education-52969679

[weecalf]

Got this wrong . Think they have got the relaxing of restrictions wrong too . No good saying we made mistakes Boris its lives we are talking about here and you are being warned by those experts that know .

[ichkeria]

Vaccine, yes, sorry!

[ichkeria]

I think the govt has made a lot of mistakes but I support the easing of the lockdown. We can't stay locked down forever. I just wish the PM would be more honest about that and say so.

[teacake44]

10.26 Have we? can you, or anyone else show me figures for ones that have been traced so far?

[dannyk13]

weecalf //warned by those experts that know //
The problem is that the experts are not of one accord.

[maggiebee]

Scottish schools are going back on the 11th of August. Soon enough IMO.

[bednobs]

I think all welsh schools are going back in June too aren't they?

[ichkeria]

It is also the case that the "lockdown" has been far from rigorously observed, and is fraying close to breaking now. Far more important is social distancing. In my opinion they should now devolve much of the measures to people's common sense. Because you might as well

[dannyk13]

ich//devolve much of the measures to people's common sense. Because you might as well//
Not much common sense been shown by the people flocking to the beaches and ignoring social distancing.

[Gromit]

fiction-factory

// We have test and trace already //

Not really. The Government claim 200,000 tests daily but that is undoubtedly not true. 287,400 have tested positive, but there aren’t enough tracers to possibly do all the work.
The tracing was suppose to be done automatically via the App (with manual phone calling just a bit of back up). But the App has turned into an embarrassing fiasco and is months too late.

[roslyn251254]

..... I very much doubt 6 months of non schooling for a 6 or 8 year old is going to make any difference in the long run....

Depends if they've actually done any schoolwork in the last 12 weeks...schoolwork is available "if" you want it..
I know a few who have done all their work , got it marked etc.......but sadly there are over 50% of primary children who won't have done a stroke of work since March 23rd...they are the ones who will struggle to catch up

[youngmafbog]

No, soon all this nonsence is going to be exposed for what it is.

The country needs to get back to normal, and not a 'new' normal. This has been overplayed and people for generations will be paying for it one way or another.

[New Judge]

Management of schools is down to the teachers, the headteachers and the governors. They should not wait for the government to tell them what to do. Schools have been prattling on about how difficult it will be to reopen ever since they were closed and if the supermarkets had behaved in a similar fashion we'd have all starved to death by now.

This country needs to get a grip. Its economy has been holed below the waterline and our institutions and way of life is beginning to disintegrate. Life cannot be put on hold until this virus disappears completely. In fact it never will and there are still remnants of the 1968 "Hong Kong 'Flu" still in circulation (during which pandemic, incidentally, there was no "lockdown" or even talk of one). Opening with a "new normal" is not sustainable in schools, pubs, restaurants, bars, dentists and public transport to name but a few activities. Life must return to normal - the old normal - and continually harping on about whether 2m or 1m is best for "anti-social distancing" is pointless.

I was speaking to a lady today whose son has been told that his GCSs are cancelled. Instead he will receive assessed grades. He has been off school for almost three months and he faces at least another three months at home. He is beginning to misbehave (whilst his mother has to work as she works for Tesco's) and who can blame him? Huge problems are being stored up by closing schools for six months or more and the problem is simply dismissed as if it's a couple of extra days off (e.g. "I very much doubt 6 months of non schooling for a 6 or 8 year old is going to make any difference in the long run"). You'd be surprised what a difference it makes and we are treading on very thin ice.