#Covid-19 lockdown will take a lot of planning ahead…

Brian’s right and the time for closing all schools is Friday in England, Monday in Northern Ireland…

So to clarify Stormont sources incorrect re immediate closure for pupils – closure will kick in from Monday – a number of schools have already covered this week with “development days”

— Mark Devenport (@markdevenport) March 18, 2020

 

The extra time has been spent in focusing on the curriculum needs of exam years of 11 and 13. In my daughter’s school Year 8s and 9s are taking all their books home today.

That’s where I imagine a lot of the distance learning focus is going to be and to a lesser extent the pre-exam Year 10s and 12s. I think there was some expectation they might get through till the Easter holidays, but I’d be surprised if it gets beyond the weekend.

There is the question of what kids who get free school meals do. Coop Group has 6,500 students on free school meals at their 25 Co-op Academy schools and is giving them a £20 voucher for every week of unplanned closure to spend in their food stores.

But their CEO Steve Morrells is calling on the UK Government to make provision for 1.4 million kids on free school meals and has asked them to “lead a nationwide effort to make sure no child goes hungry just because they can’t go to school”.

And this particular school is offering its students (and anyone else) a set of exercises to do during the lockdown:

Want to keep fit whilst self-isolating? Missing your PE lessons already?

Complete 3 rounds of our PE teachers work out as fast as possible.

We will be posting one of these work outs everyday this week and next. #BeingCoop pic.twitter.com/WpsMRujXjK

— Co-op Academy Walkden (@WalkdenCoop) March 18, 2020

This lockdown is going to be hard for people. There’s a lot of advice online, but one thing most seem clear on is the importance of creating a routine. If the UK estimate is right kids will be off for nearly twice the length of the normal summer school holiday.

This Aussie parents and children’s survival kit offers following to working parents:

• Manage your expectations: you may not be as productive if you are working from home without your usual equipment and routine, or with family interrupting you.
• Step outside for a change of scene: even a walk around the block can relieve some of the frustration, when social visits or a workout at the gym are not an option.
• Allow extra time for everything: with fewer people providing customer service and more shopping online for groceries, medicines and deliveries of food there are likely to be delays and cancellations. Plan ahead and think of some alternatives in case what you want is unavailable.

And if you are in that situation, you will certainly want to bookmark the Remote Working Survival Kit website. There’s good stuff about building a strong collaborative remote working culture to vital organisations to develop efficiency and resilience.

As the epidemic progresses, there will be a huge streamlining of retail, health and other key public sector operations helping to keep vital services running. This has been another benefit of keeping the schools open that little bit longer.

The question will be asked whether those who have had the virus once, can get it again. So whilst workers will undoubtedly drop out, later on, many of them may be able to opt back in. This will all have to be planned, risk assessed before implementation.

Oh, and I like this…

https://twitter.com/EvertonRoseYT/status/1240335259453001730