Lewisham and all the other boroughs inexplicably left out of the primary closures by Gavin Williamson are now included reports the Guardian. It's a lesson on how to make a terrible decision even worse.
Our grandkids go to a Sydenham school that comes under Southwark and was therefore closed. Yesterday we got the form for critical/vulnerable workers kids to be excepted. It's complicated requiring lots of info. It has to be in by noon tomorrow. That leaves only 24 hours for the school to check, make some difficult decisions, inform parents and organise for Monday. My heart bleeds for the teaching staff destroying their weekend and sleep to achieve this.
Sydenham schools in Lewisham schools will have lost 48 hours to replicate this. I can't see how they can achieve this by Monday - so the workers for our essential services will not know if they can deliver or not.
I watched the Secretary of States statement on Wednesday. Whether you are a supporter or opponent of this government I can't see how you could not regard it as one of the most appalling performances of all time. He had clearly not read or checked his brief. "A very small number of schools would not open..."
Mind you the opposition spokesperson (Kate Green) was almost as poor reading a pre-prepared boilerplate address instead of holding him to account.
It's obvious to anyone with a moment's reflection that the pandemic is going to be far from over by spring. There are a lot of difficult complex education problems that are coming up. They would test the skills of the finest minister. Gavin is not. For the sake of our schools, teachers and children the decision on his future shouldn't be ducked again.
If he had any understanding of the unnecessary harm he is doing he would do the decent thing and get some respect for doing it.
I'll be doing a quiet clap for our teachers tonight.
Stuart
Back from school
-
Holaquease
- Posts: 76
- Joined: 2 Sep 2016 22:13
Re: Back from school
Our kids' school (in Lewisham) has pushed the start back to the 5th to allow a little more time for this. I received an email from them a few minutes ago, after 11pm on a bank holiday Friday... Your comment about destroyed weekends and sleep appears to be correct.Sydenham schools in Lewisham schools will have lost 48 hours to replicate this. I can't see how they can achieve this by Monday - so the workers for our essential services will not know if they can deliver or not.
-
JGD
- Posts: 1243
- Joined: 5 Feb 2018 11:39
- Location: Perry Hill, SE6 (free-transferred to Perry Vale Ward, next to Bell Green; distinct from Sydenham).
- Contact:
Re: Back from school
It would be reasonable to assume that teams of HT's and their staffs will be working up plans for the very late u-turn on primary school re-openings in Lewisham.
There will be the benefit of returning to plans for making provision for key-worker's children that were in place for lockdown #1.
However this will require re-examination of those plans, re-assessing risk in terms of the virus mutants' impacts and re-compiling lists of children who qualify for that provision. It might be assumed that this may take until Sunday before some schools publish firmed-up proposals.
MP Ellie Reeves has published a series of tweets (1 to 6) in response to an immediate increase in her case load where parents, quite properly, are seeking information on how this works.
https://twitter.com/elliereeves/status/ ... 04897?s=20
HT's and ALL their staff deserve at least a hand-clap - and a great deal more.