Lockdown (And Beyond) Hatchlings

[Luce]

We've had playdates in the garden (we broke the rules, there was 7 of us, but my friend has 3 children and I wasn't going to tell her to leave one at home or not come at all) but nothing inside the house. Oh, one child needed the toilet but that was it.

I kind of enjoy socialising without having to tidy the house a bit first... If we had permanent good weather at this time of year it would be easy.

[Ruby]

All our local schools have delayed reopening until at least 22nd June as the R0 is so high around here. We are a hotspot nationally.

[Cerise]

Good for them! Glad that some places take a stand.

[Luce]

Oh, I saw that about the NW and wondered if the schools would react appropriately. Good. Obviously not for you lot but good that it isn't being ignored.

[Ruby]

I think our borough is particularly grim. I'm not sure why.

[Loralei]

We're between 1 and 1.1 in the south west, too, just as I was coming round to the idea of schools going back. I think we are skewed by a couple of small areas though (Weston super Mare and somewhere else in Somerset, although I may be conflating the two), and the actual numbers remain relatively low, which means the big hospitals are not only coping but have excess capacity. No talk of schools delaying in Bristol, although my nephew's school (near WSM) said they were pushing their opening date back a week before changing their minds today.

[Loralei]

No, wait. What's the opposite of conflating? I mean that.

[Dáire]

Ours are going for the 15th. Looks like the council are being advised to reconsider. I just told T today. Ugh.

[Dandelion]

I am in WSM. Apparently the outbreak has been confined to the hospital so the schools have been declared safe to open to all (not just keyworker kids) reception, year 1 and 6 as of Monday the 8th.
F is still enjoying school. She said her bubble has to stay in a square at play time (I can’t see the lines marked out as parents are dropping off outside the school gates) but she is struggling with all the hand washing. Her hands are red raw and she screamed in pain when she tried the new organic, essential oil sanitiser I bought specially in the hope it would help. :sad: She thinks the soap dispensers in the toilets nearest her classroom are sanitiser, not soap so she quickly has to wash it off as it stings her so badly.

[viggy]

Poor F! Our council haven't said yet if their part time provision will be week on week off or a split week, but if only to try and avoid the red raw hands of last time I hope they go for a split week so their hands have five days off to recover.

[Ruby]

Yep, as I understand it, the south west has low overall numbers and they are confined to hospitals and care-homes whereas the north west has got high community transmission. And our borough is particularly hard hit - our school basically got told by the public health authority to delay opening.

I think you might be in danger there, Daire, unforch as I think you're quite close.

[smalex]

The government are dropping the plan to send everyone back this term. Obviously I support this for schools, I'd realised it seemed unlikely that anyone else was going back now but the removal of any glimmer of hope that it might be safe to send everyone back is just. Well.
I'm beginning to doubt he'll go back this calendar year tbh. I honestly, genuinely won't keep my shit together that long.

[Ruby]

Our school has installed extra sinks, one way systems, 2m-distancing stickers etc. etc. They will definitely be back in some way before Xmas. But, yes, I think any hopes of it all being normal in September seem to be evaporating.

[smalex]

Everyone else is going to have to budge the fuck up* or something, come september. They have to instigate some sort of rota or de-prioritise some KW spaces or specific year groups or something so everyone gets at least a fucking day a week.

*Just not literally

Sorry this sounds really uncharitable. All normal caveats (I know loads of people have it far worse than me etc etc) apply. The removal of all hope has just arrived at the lowest I've felt for weeks, which is...unfortunate.

[Cerise]

I wouldn’t be surprised if my HT brings in more children, probably Yr5 but I know she’s twitchy about Yr3 too. Yr4 is a bit of a no man’s land for junior schools so D won’t go in.

Smal, have you arranged any meet ups? We’ve had a couple of picnic lunches and D kicked a football with a friend yesterday. They played frisbee too which made me a bit twitchy but I couldn’t do much about it. At least they were apart!

[happyhighlandcoo]

We were back yesterday and probably had 1/5 of the pupils in through the keyworkers and small groups from the allocated year groups.

It was very strange and challenging with lots of new routines to set up. The handwashing is extreme and I'm really sorry to hear about F's sore hands already. This is definitely going to happen. Hand wash on arrival in the playground, before going inside, before and after break and lunch, before and after using the toilet, after handling anything someone else has touched, home time etc. It is hard.

1/5 of the school used a lot of staff (all staff are involved in school at least part of the week, with the rest of the week at home to do remote stuff) and we had to use bigger classrooms and extra toilets and outdoor areas in the senior school which is part of our building so I don't know what we'll do when they come back.

The strangest thing was the older children. They've become a bit introverted after so long at home and having desks 2m apart meant they couldn't just chat to a partner like they usually do as everyone can hear. So it was quiet and they just wanted to put on headphones and do their remote learning. The teacher with them was doing lots of gentle resocialisation games and discussions and I'm sure they'll come round but it is a strange thing. The little ones were chatty and some of them very demanding as they've got used to having the full attention of a parent on demand which obviously doesn't happen in a classroom where you share the teacher.

[Ruby]

With the social distancing regulations and risk assessments, the best we can do for our Year 10s is that they will have one day per week in school from the 22nd July. I don't know what that means for you, but it might give you a snapshot of what we're dealing with in schools.

[Cerise]

My Yr6s were not introverted! But I suppose I had them on day 4. We’ve been issued with a folder of socially distanced outdoor games but the thing they enjoyed most was playing Wink Murder (although with only nine children, it wasn’t too hard to guess the murderer!).

[smalex]

I wouldn’t be surprised if my HT brings in more children, probably Yr5 but I know she’s twitchy about Yr3 too. Yr4 is a bit of a no man’s land for junior schools so D won’t go in.

Smal, have you arranged any meet ups? We’ve had a couple of picnic lunches and D kicked a football with a friend yesterday. They played frisbee too which made me a bit twitchy but I couldn’t do much about it. At least they were apart!

No. Not with friends. Just with his cousins. Out of his close friends 2 x are in school with KW places and the other is at home because his dad is shielding so. I guess there's the weekends but no one has suggested it yet. I'm anxious about seeing too many people too quickly (not least because I'm going out to other peoples homes now for work so I need to factor that in) so I've held off (and I feel bad for the kid who is shielding).

[wendy james]

I couldn’t see how our school could take in more years when they’re so spread out already, using classrooms, teachers, etc. that would be needed for the other 4 years.

We’ve already been discussing how we might structure the summer holidays with no camps or clubs, no camping, no visits to family, no access to usual haunts, etc. Hopefully some of that becomes over time but...