I really need to get some things off my chest today. This week has been challenging, and as always the government are making it harder for us. I feel that I have had the weight of the world on my shoulders and the pressure and stress of looking after the community and staff was extreme. I have worked 18 hour days every day since Friday last week, have not slept because of stress and know that this pace of working cannot continue.
There are so many things that have got to me this week, such as:
Schools are safe.
The DfE's use of this phrase is disingenuous at best, downright dangerous at worst. They know it is misleading, vague and can be interpreted in different ways to fit their narrative. Schools and unions have been claiming for months that schools are not safe. We have been saying this because we know that children do catch this disease and are a big part of community transmission. When we talk about schools being unsafe, we mean they are unsafe for the community and unsafe for the staff. The DfE use the word safe to mean the children are safe in school buildings as children generally do not get seriously ill from this disease. However, they never clarified this. They kept saying schools are safe on repeat, with no acknowledgement of how schools contribute to the community transmission. The bumbling Prime Minister of ours even tried to claim schools are safe, it is the mixing in them that isn't. How this man manages to get himself dressed in the morning amazes me, let alone run our country. Actually scrap that, he can't even dress himself properly!
I am writing this blog on the day that the UK has recorded its highest daily death total from COVID-19. This is only going to get worse as hospitals are overflowing and the Christmas and New Year mixing still has not come through in the figures. We are now in this mess solely because the government are always slow to act. Schools should have been closed before Christmas to mitigate against the risk of additional mixing. With forward planning and some honesty, this government could have saved lives and allowed schools time to organise their new provision.
Key Worker and vulnerable children
There are two gripes here - the government's list and parents pushing the boundaries.
Firstly, the list of key workers is absolutely ridiculous. The list is so vague that almost any job can fall into the categories. If any shop sells any food, they can realistically claim that they are involved in the distribution of food. The other one that gets to me is the staff associated with the financial services list. It really shows where the priorities lie. The biggest farce of the guidance is the fact that only one parent needs to be a key worker. So if one parent is a doctor is and the other is a stay at home parent, they can still send their children to school. How rubbish is that advice?
I fully appreciate that we should open for key worker children, and it is a privilege to do so. However, it is disheartening when we are in a lockdown, with a stay at home order, and we have 30% of our children in our school. I know of schools with more than this.
There needs to be clear messaging from the government. You should not use this service unless it is absolutely critical. To the parents who are sending your children when you don't need to and increasing numbers in school, you are:
a) putting your own child at risk
b) putting your wider family at risk
c) putting the wider community at risk
d) putting school support for actual key workers at risk. If you child caught the virus, the whole bubble would have to close, meaning key worker would not be able to go to work.
All we are asking for is reasonable adjustments from the government. Put a cap on the number of children who can attend school (I suggest 20%), make it so both parents have to be key workers and allow us flexibilities in how we organise this.
Alongside this, the awful decision to say if a child does not have a device or a quiet space to work should come to school. Do they realise how many other queries this has created? It also leads me on nicely to my next point.
Technology
Nine months down the line we should NOT be in a position where children do not have devices to work on at home. The government have had plenty of time to sort this. There should not even need to be a mention of not having a device or connectivity in the lockdown guidance. This lockdown was always going to happen and the government should have been prepared. I genuinely believe the government have actually had the right intentions when it comes to devices, they have just bungled the roll out again from a centralised position. A much better solution would have been to give schools a dedicated IT budget which must be spent on devices (we would have got great value for money for a refurbished laptop company we use). For schools to still be waiting for devices a week into lockdown is not good enough and primary schools cannot even apply for our devices until 15th. By the time these devices are received, three to four weeks could have been lost.
Live Learning is best
Another thing that really gets my goat is this assertion from some parents that live lessons are best. My school are giving our children a great deal in my opinion. We are giving each group a 30 minute live welcome at the start of each day and then providing links to Oak National Academy and White Rose resources. The teachers are then staying online all day, replying to questions on Teams, marking work and providing feedback and calling children in one to one or small groups support sessions. This, to me, is the best option. The children are learning with high quality resources, my teachers are working with children and not wasting time making resources and can provide a personalised and focused support package. If teachers went "live" or recorded lessons, they would not be able to do this. I know what I prefer.
Funding
We are struggling. Our Before and Afterschool club is losing money. It has never been a money maker, we never intended it to be; it is a service. However, when it doesn't cover its own costs it is worrying. This loss is having a significant impact on the school budget. We have also had to add 50% to the hours of our cleaning company to ensure the school is cleaned to the standards required. This again is coming out of the core school budget. We have also spent money on extra resources to enable the teachers to provide remote learning - new laptops, web cams, visualisers. These again are not cheap and have come out of the school budget. Additionally, I have had a number of occasions where staff have had to be off work. I spent my entire supply budget in the first half term.
To put it bluntly, the bank account will be empty if the pressure is not relieved.
Nursery
We have a nursery on site. The guidance we received has been contradictory, confusing and downright worrying. Initially, schools were told they could close their nursery provision to all but key workers, then we were told we must be open. We have then been told that if children do not take up their nursery provision, we will not be able to receive their nursery grant. Does the government want all nursery providers to close? Again, this is a community provision and it is illegal for schools to run these provisions at a loss. This must be sorted out as a matter of urgency.
Section 44
Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with the unions stance on safety in schools, the stress that the Section 44 brought to me as a leader was unbearable. I did not know if I would have staff in school, did not know if I had to close the provision or how to best organise my school. The unions and school staff should never have been put in the position in the first place as a well thought out plan from the government would have solved this issue.
Gavin Williamson and the Department for Education
Gavlar is the worst education secretary in living memory. He is indecisive, does not understand the sector, is weak willed and inflammatory. He seems to have a deep rooted hatred of teachers and the profession because that is the only thing that can explain away his decision making. His speech in the Commons on Wednesday was the most feeble and pathetic thing I have seen in parliament. He is insipid, monotonous and clearly has no passion for this sector. The only thing he got excited about was the fact he was going to set Ofsted upon us if we did not provide his expectations of home learning. What a tool. We must unite as a profession to condemn him. We do not have any confidence in him and he must go.
The DfE have also been their usual selves. Slow with guidance. The guidance that is released is often contradictory. There has clearly not been any consultation with school leaders. They do not seem to know what is going on at all. They still have not organised the free school meal provision, which must be done as a matter of urgency.
Ultimately, this last week has been horrific as a school leader. We have had to completely turn our provision around with no notice, no guidance and with confusing messages from above. We have had to support the most vulnerable with no notice or support. We have had to sometimes battle with our communities because of the rubbish key worker list and silly expectations of live learning. When I feel like this, I have to always focus on my values. I will never do anything in my school which compromises my values, no matter what pressure there is from outside. Sometimes it is hard to keep that up, but ultimately it is rewarding.
After my moan, it would be remis of me to not highlight the positives though. Our profession is incredible. How can we do what we do for our communities with the inept leadership we have is beyond me. The staff in schools are so caring, kind and dedicated. Watching my team go about turning our school around to provide for the key worker and vulnerable children and set up remote learning is nothing short or awe-inspiring. Reading Twitter has been been uplifting. Yes, we are tired, and we all have gripes, but to see the positive stories from the week, and to see everybody supporting each other is humbling. I am proud to be a head teacher, I am proud to stand up for my team, and I will always argue for what is right for the education of the children in our care.
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