Thread by @karamballes

1/ Thread🧵A walk through the DfE guidence for the "big bang"

Not many changes from September to December, looks like government is willing to accept transmission in schools.
11th February SAGE said it should be phased.

Changes summarised at the start

2/ Starts off by claiming risks for staff are no greater than other occupations.

Latest ONS data on Sept to January put education staff as one of the groups at highest risk to infection.

Apparently not much needed to deal with the new variant

3/ School leaders have a legal duty to protect people from harm, reduce risk to the lowest practicable level.

Surely this should also apply to government? Leaders can't accomplish this with inadequate support and guidelines

4/ Summary of control measures, note they say that safety measures may be removed after Easter!

5/ List of symptoms to lookout for still too limited, particularly in regards to children

6/ Biggest change, masks to be worn in secondary classrooms by adults and students, not in primary.

However they say these measures are only in place until Easter when it will be renewed.

They admit masks are needed but will look to get rid of them as soon as possible.

7/ Bubbles, try to keep them apart where possible.
Translated
We know this isn't really going to work but we put it in because it looks good for client journalists to claim we have effective measures.

8/ Adults should social distance but not students. If adults can't social distance then take other measures?!

Also says if adults can't distance then have smaller groups, but we can't rota so this advice is unimplementable in most cases

9/ Ventilation, most important measure.

Open windows, open doors, turn heating on if cold.

Thats it, while Germany, France, US etc invest hundreds of millions in ventilation, this is how the UK demonstrate how serious they take safety in school

10/ Isolation policy
Still no acknowledgement of airborne transmission, you can't catch covid in a non ventilated room if you're more than 2ms away

11/ This is interesting,says LFT as replacement for isolation was paused cos they arent certain how well the already unreliable tests are with variants.

Yet it also says regular testing with these will protect the school population?

12/ Isolation still only 10 days, but data on B117 suggests a longer incubation time.

13/ Regular LFT testing, students can opt out, first 3 tests in school and then they do them at home afterwards.
Wondering how accurate LFTs done by students at home are?
I know some of my yr 11s just swabbed their cheek when they had to do PCR home tests

14/ Here is the logistical nightmare for heads.

Students must be tested 3 times within 3-5 days when they return.

So my school could need to carry out 4k tests in a week

15/ In reality not all students gave consent. So it's only a little over 3000 tests we need to do in a week.
Nationally, maybe 6million to 12 million tests in a week.

A test takes 15 minutes to sign in and use the booth. Booth open early and close late, 7 hours? 28 per booth

16/ So 25 booths running for 7 hours a day could squeeze it into a week. Our hall set up has 5 booths, so we just need to find space for 4 more testing areas. That's all the indoor space gone that we are being asked to use for after school clubs.

17/ No longer need for a PCR confirmation after a positive LFT.

Primary staff continue to test at home, nothing for students.

Acknowledgement that its difficult for special schools

18/ Attendance for students is mandatory, no parental choice, vulnerable families without a shielding letter could face sanctions.

Although they need 3 LFTs in secondary, they can start mixing after the first one.

19/ More children are being removed from shielding lists, they are expected to be in. Clinically vulnerable students expected in school.

20/If families who were previously shielding are anxious, reassure them its safe (even if its not)

Then remind them schools compulsory....and between the lines is the unspoken knowledge sanctions are possible.

Wheres parental choice?

21/ CEV staff WFH.

PAID ON USUAL TERMS- some schools have tried to pull this trick on at risk staff

22/Living with CEV? Go to school

23/ Clinically vulnerable? Go to school

Living with clinically vulnerable? Go to school

Really reckless attitude to safety of at risk groups who haven't been vaccinated yet

Why take the risk?

24/ General guidence for pregnant women applies.

Be aware from 28 weeks of pregnancy the risks of covid are increased

29/Other at risk groups, go to school the DfE measures will protect you, they claim.

Individual risk assessments will be needed, I don't see how risk can be effectively mitigated without good ventilation.

30/ Staff deployment, my advice to staff.

Changed should be discussed and agreed on, make sure appropriate training is done. No one should be forced to work beyond job description.

31/ Support staff agreeing to take on extra responsibilities should be properly remunerated in line with the pay grade for that responsibility.
Union reps can help negotiate this, I've advised several support staff groups in securing pay rises and contract changes this past year

32/ Supply staff should still be used and follow all expected measures.

Would be better if they recommended offering long term contracts, supply really need financial stability and schools will need them.

33/ ITT can go on placements and carry on as usual.
I hope previous advice about not penalising them because of restrictions due to covid still apply

34/ PM (should have been paused nationally)
Adopt targets (scrap data)
Should not be penalised for student restrictions
Anyone not on capability should pass, I recommend everyone who doesn't to appeal when the time comes,pay appeals generally have a good success rate anyway

35/ Canteens open normally.

36/ Unsurprisingly there's little detail on SEND, a side note in most sections.

37/ All extra curricular and after school activities to start straight away.

But we must provide wrap around care after school to support parents to work.

Am I reading this right? How do we staff this? Have we just become evening care?

38/ Curriculum expectations

39/ Early Years curriculum

40/ School uniform, if its cold with windows open schools should be flexible with extra layers, I know a few haven't been.

41/Elective Home Education

Tell parents they should send their kids to school, can't make them but encourage them

42/ Ofsted

In person inspections to start after Easter!

43/ Prinary assessment off this year, do internal tests and prepare for September when all testing will be back to normal.

44/ Exams are the greatest cause of stress for Yr11 and Yr13, government keeps saying it cares about their mental health so I'm sure they have it sorted by now...

...Oh

45/ So that's it.
Totally inadequate measures, a disregard for families that just miss out of shielding. Secondary schools could end up taking up until Easter to test everyone.
An assumption schools have endless resources despite a decade of austerity.

46/ CEV staff will be shielding, I hope many CV staff end up being protected as risk assessments could say it isn't safe for them. Then we will get cases and isolations, staffing numbers will quickly come under pressure.

SAGE advice for phased

https://twitter.com/andrewbaisley/status/1363890826988953602?s=19

47/ Some thoughts on why government policy concerns me.

https://twitter.com/karamballes/status/1363387958016040960?s=19

48/ And if your wondering about Early Years, they've been told to pretend theirs no pandemic for months now.

#MakeEarlyYearsSafe @KeepEYsUnique

49/ SAGE Advice

50/ SPI-M-O estimates on R
ONS new data on risk in education