Schools closed until March/April? (part 4) **Mod warning in OP 22/01**

Locotastic

combat14 wrote: »

charming and students/staff doing there best and stressed to the eye balls in many cases

Contingency days come out of the February midterm or Easter holidays, what's the issue?

khalessi

Locotastic wrote: »

Contingency days come out of the February midterm or Easter holidays, what's the issue?

Well since they were called extended holidays wont be an issue.

Locotastic

km79 wrote: »

I , and many of my colleagues , were in school for the three days last week . The first day was wasted stupidly preparing to rejig things for the L Certs. The next two were spent getting ready for online and supervising students collecting books
There has been no mention of those days being looked for again .

Schools were officially closed for those days. Did your school not have any contingency planning done?

Many schools had not allowed students to leave books in school since the school year began.

Plenty of students both primary and secondary have also been getting some form of online work assignment even just homework since the start of the year.

Schools had already prepared for this eventuality as far as possible.

Locotastic

khalessi wrote: »

Well since they were called extended holidays wont be an issue.

Ah yes, it was Norma Foley who said "extended holidays".

She also said there would be provision for special education and leaving cert students.

SpacialNeeds

Locotastic wrote: »

But they won't though, don't you know how politics works?

Worse has been done and yet our short memories or questionable voting decisions means we have an endless cycle of the same elected types year after year after year.

OK so politics works like

TEACHERS BAD
NORMA GOOD

is that about the shape of it?

Locotastic wrote: »

Schools were officially closed for those days. Did your school not have any contingency planning done?

Many schools had not allowed students to leave books in school since the school year began.

Plenty of students both primary and secondary have also been getting some form of online work assignment even just homework since the start of the year.

Schools had already prepared for this eventuality as far as possible.

The wife said her principal (primary) told them not to send work home at Christmas "so as not to panic the parents".

She has had to go in several times and hand over books and post work home to the ones who couldn't come in.

She literally just closed her laptop now. As she's the admin for the school network, she has been getting tech support requests throughout the day while she's trying to prep the work for students.

She also is expected to have one to one with each student each week, record several classes and do two face to face group lessons.

I edited the videos for her earlier to lighten some of the load.

I'd give my left bollock to see her back school instead of whatever this is. It's insane volumes of work. It was slightly less last lockdown as she had a smaller class and fewer were engaging (so less tech support). She always worked evenings and weekends but this is unsustainable.

Locotastic

SpacialNeeds wrote: »

OK so politics works like

TEACHERS BAD
NORMA GOOD

is that about the shape of it?

No that's not the shape of it, we continuously seem to vote in politicians of a certain calibre.

Is it for lack of any or a better alternative when it comes to candidates/parties?

I don't know but it's been the same old story for many years and I don't foresee it changing any time soon.

km79

Locotastic wrote: »

Schools were officially closed for those days. Did your school not have any contingency planning done?

Many schools had not allowed students to leave books in school since the school year began.

Plenty of students both primary and secondary have also been getting some form of online work assignment even just homework since the start of the year.

Schools had already prepared for this eventuality as far as possible.

As far as possible

Do you really think schools/teachers just switched on their computers this Monday morning without lots of prep work being done last week to make sure it went as smoothly as possible ?
Maybe some did I don’t know
But we didn’t
I try to only ever speak for my own school rather than generalizing or pretending to know what goes on in every school.
All schools are different .

Locotastic

km79 wrote: »

As far as possible

Do you really think schools/teachers just switched on their computers this Monday morning without lots of prep work being done last week to make sure it went as smoothly as possible ?
Maybe some did I don’t know
But we didn’t
I try to only ever speak for my own school rather than generalizing or pretending to know what goes on in every school.
All schools are different .

No books were allowed to be brought in from home in our secondary here since September and homework/assignments for both primary and secondary have been done through Google classroom since the start of the school year.

Very simple things to implement in advance and ensures continuity in the event of a closure. One of the positive advances that has come from this situation is the accelerated adoption of technology where it wasn't necessarily there before.

Plenty of schools were prepared in advance for this as they should have been.

wirelessdude01

Locotastic wrote: »

No books were allowed to be brought in from home in our secondary here since September and homework/assignments for both primary and secondary have been done through Google classroom since the start of the school year.

Very simple things to implement in advance and ensures continuity in the event of a closure. One of the positive advances that has come from this situation is the accelerated adoption of technology where it wasn't necessarily there before.

Plenty of schools were prepared in advance for this as they should have been.

Ohh so sorry. We are all wrong and you sir are correct. Please accept our humble apologies.

🙄

Locotastic

SpacialNeeds wrote: »

She literally just closed her laptop now. As she's the admin for the school network, she has been getting tech support requests throughout the day while she's trying to prep the work for students.

She also is expected to have one to one with each student each week, record several classes and do two face to face group lessons.

I edited the videos for her earlier to lighten some of the load.

I'd give my left bollock to see her back school instead of whatever this is. It's insane volumes of work. It was slightly less last lockdown as she had a smaller class and fewer were engaging (so less tech support). She always worked evenings and weekends but this is unsustainable.

Sadly the reality of working from home, throw in two or three kids to homeschool and its easy to see why families are under tremendous pressure right now.

Hopefully we come out of this awful mess soon and at least have some sort of normality (whatever that might be anymore).

Locotastic

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Ohh so sorry. We are all wrong and you sir are correct. Please accept our humble apologies.

🙄

You don't think it was a mistake not to put some simple measures in place in case the schools closed?

A lot of schools have done this very successfully, it benefits everyone staff, students, parents. I don't why a school wouldn't make preparations.

History Queen

Locotastic wrote: »

You don't think it was a mistake not to put some simple measures in place in case the schools closed?

A lot of schools have done this very successfully, it benefits everyone staff, students, parents. I don't why a school wouldn't make preparations.

Give over. Planning and implementation of plans had to happen regardless of preparations schools had put in place. They did not know when leaving schools in December that they wouldn't be returning in January.

Locotastic

History Queen wrote: »

Give over. Planning and implementation of plans had to happen regardless of preparations schools had put in place. They did not know when leaving schools in December that they wouldn't be returning in January.

Some schools were definitely expecting it earlier, for the October midterm.

Guidance had been issued and according to some, at least in some schools, online education had been successfully implemented since last March. So switching back to that should not be difficult.

Really not great if some schools were unprepared for the possibility of closing again. Doesn't help anyone and causes extra stress for all involved.

History Queen

Locotastic wrote: »

Some schools were definitely expecting it earlier, for the October midterm.

Guidance had been issued and according to some, at least in some schools, online education had been successfully implemented since last March. So switching back to that should not be difficult.

Really not great if some schools were unprepared for the possibility of closing again. Doesn't help anyone and causes extra stress for all involved.

Do you work in a school? If so you might have some appreciation for the logistical challenges. Stop baiting.

khalessi

Locotastic wrote: »

Some schools were definitely expecting it earlier, for the October midterm.

Guidance had been issued and according to some, at least in some schools, online education had been successfully implemented since last March. So switching back to that should not be difficult.

Really not great if some schools were unprepared for the possibility of closing again. Doesn't help anyone and causes extra stress for all involved.

You talk about stress yet you come on here to bait teachers who obviously are working 11 hour days minimum, so off with ya and your trolling. Doing no one any good.

Locotastic

History Queen wrote: »

Do you work in a school? If so you might have some appreciation for the logistical challenges. Stop baiting.

Logistical challenges should be non existent after 10 months. Fail to prepare and all that.

You want to know about logistical challenges you might want to look at the many businesses that were opened and shut several times during that period.

Businesses that adapted and evolved to allow themselves to continue trading, be that online or through collection services etc. Of course they will be many businesses that also have closed for the last time.

Lessons and curriculum are planned regardless of the school building being opened or not. How they are delivered should have been prepared in advance as plan B.

I don't understand how some schools did this and others didn't? Surely most schools face similar challenges.

khalessi

Locotastic wrote: »

Logistical challenges should be non existent after 10 months. Fail to prepare and all that.

You want to know about logistical challenges you might want to look at the many businesses that were opened and shut several times during that period.

Businesses that adapted and evolved to allow themselves to continue trading, be that online or through collection services etc. Of course they will be many businesses that also have closed for the last time.

Lessons and curriculum are planned regardless of the school building being opened or not. How they are delivered should have been prepared in advance as plan B.

I don't understand how some schools did this and others didn't? Surely most schools face similar challenges.

Businesses did not adapt they were on the news looking for information trying to deicde if they could order food for restaurants or drink for pubs as they had to keep throwing it away and in some cases give it a way at less then cost price or for free as it would rot. They were begging not to be reclosed after reopening as they could not afford to keep ordering food.

Some businesses stayed shut, some closed for good and some if they were lucky moved online, if that is what you mean by adaptation but all were subject to a dearth of information.

Similar to how schools were kept in the dark because out government does not know if it is coming or going.

Locotastic

khalessi wrote: »

You talk about stress yet you come on here to bait teachers who obviously are working 11 hour days minimum, so off with ya and your trolling. Doing no one any good.

How am I trolling? Legitimately asking why some schools were not prepared for an obvious eventuality.

Happy to say our local secondary has been playing a blinder but there seems to be widely varying experiences.

History Queen

Locotastic wrote: »

Logistical challenges should be non existent after 10 months. Fail to prepare and all that.

You want to know about logistical challenges you might want to look at the many businesses that were opened and shut several times during that period.

Businesses that adapted and evolved to allow themselves to continue trading, be that online or through collection services etc. Of course they will be many businesses that also have closed for the last time.

Lessons and curriculum are planned regardless of the school building being opened or not. How they are delivered should have been prepared in advance as plan B.

I don't understand how some schools did this and others didn't? Surely most schools face similar challenges.

You don't understand because you don't want to. How a teacher plans a 6th year English class for example, is vastly different if they are delivering face to face rather than online. Teachers are not robots and don't flick a switch to enter "online mode".

khalessi

Locotastic wrote: »

How am I trolling? Legitimately asking why some schools were not prepared for an obvious eventuality.

Happy to say our local secondary has been playing a blinder but there seems to be widely varying experiences.

Oh you are trolling, it might be politely put, but you have recieved answers and keep digging away.

Smacruairi

Locotastic wrote: »

Contingency days come out of the February midterm or Easter holidays, what's the issue?

This was explained several times on this forum before. You can search back through the previous thread and it will be explained. The poster who liked this post im sure would be more than happy to explain it to you, they were comprehensively shown the way.

Locotastic

Locotastic wrote: »

How am I trolling? Legitimately asking why some schools were not prepared for an obvious eventuality.

Happy to say our local secondary has been playing a blinder but there seems to be widely varying experiences.

Go and have a look at how difficult it is for a school, at the best of times, to plan a timetable. Just a normal timetable, with everyone available to teach and with every room available. It's very, very hard to do. Then come back and troll about how it should be so very easy to recreate that same kinda timetable under the current circumstances.

Soulsun

Hi folks,

When is it likely that children will return to schooling on site?

I reckon mid March.

Or does a lot depend on the roll out of the vaccine?

Not sustainable long term home schooling for most families but I absolutely agree that both the teachers and kids (and parents) welfare is priority.

khalessi

Soulsun wrote: »

Hi folks,

When is it likely that children will return to schooling on site?

I reckon mid March.

Or does a lot depend on the roll out of the vaccine?

Not sustainable long term home schooling for most families but I absolutely agree that both the teachers and kids (and parents) welfare is priority.

Well what Nomra believes and and what the rest of us believe are two different things.

Case numbers will have to be wayyy down.
Testing and tracing of close contacts will have to be back up and running
Proper consistency with identifying close contacts
Enhanced measures to deal with more varient strains, British African Brazilian
for starters

Lillyfae

Smacruairi wrote: »

This was explained several times on this forum before. You can search back through the previous thread and it will be explained. The poster who liked this post im sure would be more than happy to explain it to you, they were comprehensively shown the way.

Ya not really, as referenced by people here so schools take a week for Feb mid term and some less so they have a couple of days to play around with during the year. It's no different to what I said, although I used the wrong circular. It just seems that some people here love a good scoff so will take any opportunity to have one, even if it's a repetitive waste of letters and thread pages. Some pages here every second post is a scoff. "Mehole" "Optics" etc etc are words I would happily never see again. Quite telling.

Nonetheless, it is a different year this year so differences are to be expected. Are the extra 2/3 days holidays going to be pulled from somewhere else? Some schools even used another 2 days this week for training and preparation, right? Where do those days come from?

khalessi

Lillyfae wrote: »

Ya not really, as referenced by people here so schools take a week for Feb mid term and some less so they have a couple of days to play around with during the year. It's no different to what I said, although I used the wrong circular. It just seems that some people here love a good scoff so will take any opportunity to have one, even if it's a repetitive waste of letters and thread pages. Some pages here every second post is a scoff. "Mehole" "Optics" etc etc are words I would happily never see again. Quite telling.

Nonetheless, it is a different year this year so differences are to be expected. Are the extra 2/3 days holidays going to be pulled from somewhere else? Some schools even used another 2 days this week for training and preparation, right? Where do those days come from?

The Government as they declared it an extended holiday due to the situation in the community.

Locotastic

Soulsun wrote: »

Hi folks,

When is it likely that children will return to schooling on site?

I reckon mid March.

Or does a lot depend on the roll out of the vaccine?

Not sustainable long term home schooling for most families but I absolutely agree that both the teachers and kids (and parents) welfare is priority.

A good chance they'll be back much sooner, once cases drop and testing tracing back to where it should be.

The vaccine timing won't impact schools reopening, healthy children are last on the list and teachers are not far behind them.
The priority order for vaccines won't change no matter how much unions call for it.

I'd guess they'll be back in about 2-3 weeks time.

redmgar

I think they will be back as planned on February 1st.
Daily case numbers will probably be around the 1000-1500 mark by then.

wirelessdude01

Locotastic wrote: »

Logistical challenges should be non existent after 10 months. Fail to prepare and all that.

.

I'm laughing at that comment given the current situation where my local Tesco has large sections of aisles that are empty due to supply chain/logistics issues. Theory looked great but then it has to be implemented.

Schools are the same. Plans are great but they have to be implemented and that requires work. I'm working pretty much 8 to 8 these days. And that's on top of 8hr days last Saturday and Sunday. You haven't the foggiest what goes on to get online/remote working.

wirelessdude01

redmgar wrote: »

I think they will be back as planned on February 1st.
Daily case numbers will probably be around the 1000-1500 mark by then.

Is that the cases they 'test' or a figure which is somewhat realistic?