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"Not all exams can go ahead as planned". He fails to mention which ones which is rather important as there are exams going on, or supposed to be, this week. Edit - DfE just confirmed the 135,000 BTEC exams are going ahead this week.

I'm going in as the place will be open anyway. I can't be at home trying to deliver a lesson with my wife doing the same and Y13, Y10 & Y9 having lessons.

Luckily mine were all remote today.

Well, who could have seen this coming?

Note to self. Don't leave marking until you get back.

TBF they are if they are clinically vulnerable. I'm in group 6 due to having a damaged immune system thanks to radiotherapy and chemo. Friend of mine, HoD at a school in Telford, is in group 4.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tfc-children-and-transmission-update-paper-17-december-2020 Children are much more likely than adults (for older kids, nearly 8x more likely) to be the first case of COVID in a household. Also more likely to transmit to others in the household. This is why so many of us bang on about wearing masks in class at secondary and tertiary.

It's quite easy to say that we should just swap school holidays about but the logistics behind such a move are huge. It is an interesting proposition though. If we did that it would mean that we'd be losing another 4 weeks teaching now. That means that the exams would need to be pushed back another four weeks. That may seem easy enough but those exams have to be marked and who marks them? Teachers in the holidays so that needs to be factored in. Those results need to be in by late August ahead of A level and degree offers otherwise that means delaying the start of colleges and unis. Add into that all the practical/BTEC type exams and assessments (some are next week) that also need re-organising. If holidays were to be moved around then exams would need to be cancelled, or at least those whose final grade is only assessed by exam. I can't see a way of making it work personally. You would also have a massive issue of families wanting to go away on holiday. Me included. I know many, myself included, who had to cancel holidays in 2020 are planning "big holidays" in 2021 as replacements. That may seem a tad flippant but you'll not find many people who are willing to give up a holiday 2 years running, no matter how you wrap it up and I'm pretty sure the travel and tourism lobby would be all over the government like a rash if they thought a 2nd summer running was being robbed from them. Interesting idea though nevertheless.

I'm not so sure that's actually true under this government.

It would need some seriously creative thinking around exams / marking etc. Not sure I trust the DfE to do that. Everyone's health should be priority. Kids bringing it home is a huge risk now, otherwise there is no way they've closed London primaries.

This works.

They'll be a lot of this in the weeks ahead. Central government, who have been gash throughout this whole thing, perhaps need to sit the fuck down at let the decision be made at a local level.

That was before the variant. We have to accept that the evidence in London and the SE looks bleak and we either follow the science or doesn't is the crux. Regardless of any decisions about primary there is little doubt that we are going to see local/regional closures in the months ahead and bubbles in/out. I've experience of that already up here with the city 6th form and one of the big FE colleges both shutting for 2 weeks when it started ripping through staff and students alike.

The majority of teachers not in T4 will be there, no doubts. In T4 hotspots parents won't be rushing to drop their kids off I'd imagine and they will trust their headteachers and teachers as to whether the school is *safe* or not if the 1st wave and subsequent closures are anything to go by. Much of this could have easily been sorted with some thought but, yet again, to us northern lot, it looks like they only care about London. If you're in a T4 hotspot in the midlands or north with a higher R rate than those areas closing, you'll going to question why it's *safe* for your kids but not for Tarquin and Sophie.

I've 28, I think it's 28, that or 24, students that we have supplied laptops to that have no net access at home. We've been told, categorically, that we cannot pay for their wifi, even buying a dongle. They can have a laptop but that's it. Those students are expected to come in and access the remote lessons via our wifi. It's been a genuine problem from the off. I've a very large proportion of students whose only access is their phone. Originally we wrote everything from laptops assuming laptops would be used. It didn't take long to realise that what we'd produced for remote lessons often didn't work on a phone so we had to rapidly re-write everything and re-resource using phone friendly resources. I'm lucky, I have some young and very tech savvy staff in my team and we have brilliant relationships with the other schools and colleges in the city. I can imagine some older and less connected teams may well have struggled.

What, having their A levels fucked up, for some, for the 2nd time at the last minute instead of a thought through plan involving all the stakeholders? Yeah, cool life lesson.

You really don't have a clue how this all works do you? I would suggest you go away and read what the DfE have already published regarding exams, their content and marking.

Professionally I'd sooner have a 2-4 week full lockdown with full remote provision and a proper plan for exams than the inevitable in/out than will happen as hotspots occur and the variant spreads. The latter will mean another abortion of an exam season as everyone scrambles to cover the huge gaps in the curriculum, both from Y10/11 and Y12/13. This is so unfair on the students. I've already volunteered to be in the 2nd week of the Easter break for catch up lessons and May if I have to cancel my holiday with my own kids.

That has to be primary as secondary and tertiary are remote next week for Y11 and 13 anyway. Y11 & 13 back in the following week with the other years remote and then everyone back on the 18th. It's a decent plan and *should* allow a testing regime to be set up too. Neither my wife nor I, nor any of our friends who are teachers in secondary or tertiary, won't be going in. We were there in wave 1 and we'll be there tomorrow.

Everyone in education up in my part of the world fully expected secondary schools and tertiary to be closed for two weeks after the holidays. It didn't take a genius to see what could happen after everyone got together over Xmas. We'd already told the kids it could well happen and remote lessons we already ready for at least the 1st week back and the kids and parents briefed. Some of us are going onsite to teach so we can use our classrooms and others have opted to do it from home. Like many teaching staff I have school age kids, all of whom will be remote learning shortly and like other working parents, we won't be there to keep an eye on them. We have to trust that they are doing it properly. The structure for looking after those youngsters who need to come in is well established and works. As in lockdown 1 our canteen is open for all students/siblings/parents to come and get a hot meal. Our sports centre is open so people can get a hot shower and our computer centre is open for those who cannot access the web from home. The mental health teams will all be in situ and the mental health 1st aiders are all in too, of which I'm one. We serve a deprived area so we believe it's the right thing to do. Not many will come in, around 20/25 through the course of the day, but it's ready nevertheless. Perhaps because we have been hit so hard previously we were better prepared that other regions and the parents are behind the schools and colleges taking action when they feel it's necessary and schools and colleges have been excellent at keeping everyone informed of what is happening at all times. Even the local tory MPs have worked alongside the Labour councils to make sure actions are non-partisan. I feel so sorry for so many young people who have been put through the mill this past 12 months or so and whose exam prep' is again being impacted drastically and whose mental health has taken an absolute battering. I don't think any of us thought primaries would be impacted. That's a totally different ball game and out of my sphere of knowledge.

I really don't get that at all.

Lin Wood is clearly a QAnon, barking mad, fuckwit.

As a rule I would but TBF to Sufferfest, they're brutal but enjoyable workouts due to the way they're cut into UCI race coverage. The usually have me bob on for the early spring racing. Not that I anticipate any of that happening this year.

I accept it's not practical for the little ones, nor is is desirable for the reasons you raise. It certainly is when you're dealing with KS3/4/5 for example. They have to wear them everywhere around campus except the classroom anyway. A 19yo doing A levels or a GCSE resit is a very different proposition from a reception child. The adult students have to wear them in FE so why no the 16-19yo? As for the point I've highlighted, it's about minimising risk.