Coronavirus and its impact on schools etc. in UK

[Pas de Quatre 3,269]

I thought it might be useful (as mentioned by several people in the other thread) to have somewhere we can bring each other up to date with what is happening in different regions in UK and pass on any helpful advice. 

 

For example, my students at local Senior schools say that they have been warned that the schools will probably close early for Easter i.e. in a week or two's time.  This is BCP Council - Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in Dorset.  They have been given codes to allow them to access online lessons if necessary.  In the meantime I plan to carry on with classes as normal until told I may not.  As my classes are held in a Village Hall (run by a Charitable Trust) and a hall owned by the Guides Association, they will probably be the ones who make a decision to close the venues.

 

 

[balletbean 1,416]

BBC News flash just announced. 
Republic of Ireland have just closed all schools and colleges and other public facilities from 18.00hrs this evening until 29th March. 

[margarite 384]

From what I can gather there will be an announcement today regarding UK schools. Seeing as vocational schools break up earlier anyway, I wonder whether they’ll be affected?

[Bluebird22 942]

If COBRA make the decision to close UK schools I believe local dance schools would also have to close as I suspect public liability would stop providing cover? 

[cloudbuff 19]

Kings College London has changed their courses to on-line courses and some departments decided to provide students with take-home exams, because 2 cases have been tested positive there...

 

The situation is not good. NHS has been only testing around 1,200 -1,400 cases everyday and there are 50-80 positive cases increase for each day. I can't imagine what is going to happen if they do what they claim, which is to test 10,000 cases in each day forward.

 

 

Edited March 12, 2020 by cloudbuff

[balletbean 1,416]

We (Jersey) have it slightly in reverse. Many travellers returning to the island from Italy after the 1/2 term break including a school group. 2 confirmed cases and 20+ in self isolation.  The local Government are holding an emergency meeting to consider options to reduce the risk to the islanders. Airlines have already reduced flights.  Being on an island we also have limited access to Health Care. Should the worse case scenario occur, and we follow Ireland then what happens to over 1500 local teenagers who are currently in the UK at vocational schools colleges and universities come the Easter holidays. 
Add into the mix, if COBRA make the decision to close the above then what happens to not just students from the Channel Islands but also all the international students? 
Preparing for the worst praying for the best. 

[alison 12,870]

PdQ, thank you for starting this thread.  I've renamed it slightly to distinguish it better, as I fear we are going to be running several coronavirus threads in due course

[balletbean 1,416]

MoveIt 2020 at the Excel have just postponed the entire event UFN. 

[Bunny 173]

Birmingham Royal Ballet have cancelled their training events that were due to run in Sunderland this weekend. We were refunded this morning. Such a shame but obviously understandable!

[shygirlsmum 326]

Just thinking about final auditions, dd has Tring next week & RCS the week after.  I wonder if they will be cancelled 🤔

[drdance 2,767]

My pupils are working hard for their ballet exams in Warwick on 28th March..... Seriously hoping we don't get cancelled  

 

[Bluebird22 942]

IDTA have sent an email saying report sheets should all be given in at the start of the centre rather than the children handing them in, to minimise the amount of people handling them 

[Bruce Wall 5,100]

Just read this - and while I realise this is NOT in the UK ... Certainly it does involve a lot of UK productions/personnel that are currently on Broadway:-

 

It has been announced by the New York City Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, that as of 5pm (New York time) today, all Broadway theatres over 500 people capacity, will be closed down for a minimum of one month, due to safety concerns over the spread of the Coronavirus.

Something like this has not been seen on Broadway since the 2007 strikes by theatre workers (which lasted nineteen days) and even during the events of 9/11, theatres were only closed for two days.

This news comes the day after a Broadway Usher was diagnosed with the virus.

Edited March 12, 2020 by Bruce Wall

[Aklf 163]

YAGP finals in New York now postponed. 

[Lusodancer 126]

Portuguese schools are closing from Monday(announced tonight), though many will not send their children tomorrow and all indoor events with 1000 people  and outdoor events with over 5000 are cancelled till April 3rd then  governement review. But most authorities have closed all  theatres, libraries, public government departments (archives, sports venues, swimming pools. council coach use, museums, monuments etc ). Doctors, health care workers , dentists being issued with special instructions to limit contagion . identify need and risk by telephone confirmation before the patient arrives at the surgery, organise plans of contingency, and only emergencies will be dealt with to minimise contact with none essential patients for at least a month. The object is to reduce as many social contacts as possible and control transmission. 

 

So most dance schools closing for 14 days till school hols start at least. All competitions and workshops cancelled or postponed . Performances  and concerts  are postponed regardless of the size of venue.

 

The object is to place everyone in self imposed quarantine to limit spread before it goes exponential. So far we have 61 cases I think confirmed, and a few hundred being tested in a few pockets. Contacts have been identified and spread is easily seen between family members and associates. Whether the population heeds the advice remains to be seen. All the kids let off school in Lisbon headed to the beaches of Cascais yesterday. It looked like August . So close together. 

 

The government has even issued an edict that says anyone deliberating breaking quarantine that results in deliberate infection of another can get 5 years in prison and those found guilty by negligence can get up to 3 years! So dance school directors are not waiting for the government to tell them.

 

We have high temperatures for this time of year already, 25-27 º C this week and dry and I  believe as much as anyone knows that this may reduce the time the free virus can survive if exposed to this type of environment,  but we do have an elderly population like Italy, albeit that they are generally rugged . 

 

But the message folks, is if you love your friends and family and students, don't wait for a government to tell you what's right to do.

  

[sunrise81 220]

Really hope Elmhurst finals next week isn't cancelled 🤞

[Pups_mum 4,688]

My children's academic school has cancelled all sports fixtures,trips, parents meetings etc, as well as most after school activities.

I have to confess to feeling a bit confused by a lot of apparently contradictory advice and actions from different sources. For instance, our school has pulled out of an academic interschool competition in the next town that one of my sons was due to be participating in. There would have been less than 100 people present I would think. Instead he goes to school, where there are 15 times as many people. Why is one safe and the other not?

Another of my children is competing in 2 fairly big youth sporting events this weekend. Both national bodies have issued guidance today that basically say that the domestic sporting calendar continues, with all participants and spectators urged to follow government recommendations re hygiene. Yet school sports fixtures with far smaller numbers involved are off. And advise has been given for one of his sports that teams should not shake hands before or after matches. But its a contact sport. There will be more bodily contact occuring during the match than hand shaking! 

I may be missing something, but there does seem to be a lack of consistency and logic in some of these decisions.

Edited March 12, 2020 by Pups_mum

[Peanut68 1,386]

16 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

 

For example, my students at local Senior schools say that they have been warned that the schools will probably close early for Easter i.e. in a week or two's time.  This is BCP Council - Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in Dorset.  They have been given codes to allow them to access online lessons if necessary.  

 

 

I have a child in same region at a state school & we’ve not had any such info....horrible seeing this situation develop.

 

[rowan 583]

I would have expected all finals to be cancelled. Likewise, dance exams. Anything that involves people travelling. I also would expect dance schools in general to be developing some procedures about limiting contact - though how you do that in a dance class I have no idea - hand sanitisers, cleaning the barres, etc. I would expect some dance classes to be cancelled or schools closed for a while. 

[BellaF 98]

Such a sad situation for so many people. Understandable but still. 
 

Personally we have auditions for JAs, Elmhurst YD and Tring CBA coming up as well as MTB performance, exams and Malvern all of which DD has worked really hard for and was looking forward to.
 

Much worse for those who still have finals to come - hope they can find some sort of solution for anyone in that situation 🙁

Edited March 13, 2020 by BellaF

[Yrosered 135]

Although state schools have all ensured contingencies are in place and some are circulating them,  they have to follow the Dept of Education guidance which right now is business as usual with extra hand washing and I suspect they're hoping to get as close to Easter as possible before closing.

 

As for Finals, I can't imagine those being cancelled without a direct government edict. These schools need to budget and plan for September and they need finals to do that so if they can hold them I am sure they will. But the uncertainty is very stressful and I feel for you all.

[balletbean 1,416]

Meanwhile our Chief Minister held a press conference yesterday. 
Message sent out :- 

Keep Calm and Carry on, including taking holidays. Yup they actually said that. 🤦‍♀️
But then added that they were ‘cancelling all non-essential Government business travel’🤷🏼‍♀️  

 

ps. Even though airlines are cancelling flights right left and centre. As parents we are obviously concerned just like everyone else, how our children will get home should the UK start closing the schools. Can Boarders stay on the premises if they can’t travel home? 
 

Edited March 13, 2020 by balletbean

[trog 1,004]

I work in a college and the official line is that we're open and will remain open. We are, however, ensuring that all staff and students know how to access the learning resources online. There is a feeling amongst some staff, that there will be a nationwide shutdown of schools closer to Easter, which will enable a four week closure. After Easter, there will be exams, which could be affected. Some teachers think the summer break might be cut short to allow exams to occur later.

 

We'll just have to wait and see.

[Peanut68 1,386]

6 hours ago, Peanut68 said:

I have a child in same region at a state school & we’ve not had any such info....horrible seeing this situation develop.

 

Well just got the email with the contingency plans as per Pups Mum in same region! Suggestions for all books to be taken home, more bring out online for home access etc....

Really hoping its doesn’t come to closure if schools near & far 🤞🏻

[Pups_mum 4,688]

I've just been informed that the concert my son was due to be playing in this weekend is cancelled, as is our local music festival in May. My husband has had a business trip to the US cancelled for June, which seems a bit extreme as the picture could be totally different by then. That's been cancelled from the American end, his own company has suspended non essential travel for 4 weeks, to be reviewed then.

I do agree that this is a serious Due to my professional background I've got direct experience of infectious disease epidemics so I know this is bad. BUT it seems that hysteria is setting in and there is a random and uncoordinated approach across the country. Other countries may or may not have it right, but at least they seem to have a more consistent national strategy. Here individual organisations seem to be being left to do their own thing and that's confusing for all concerned and is adding to the growing wave of panic. 

[drdance 2,767]

It appears that a lot of the advice is to stop people mixing with people they wouldn't normally mix with - hence interschool events (however small) are cancelled but normal school goes on. Re dance schools, I would follow the same logic really - practice good hand hygiene, avoid unnecessary touching (we're British!) and clean barres, door handles, props etc 

 

Hysteria really is setting in. The virus is here and it's going to be here for a while, if not every year. But lets remember that other illnesses are much more deadly. Food for thought - suicide is still much more of a threat to life than COVID-19.

 

[NotaClue 10]

Elmhurst Young Dancers Easter Intensive has just been cancelled now too ... 

[Lara Eschler 138]

Spring Intensive at White Lodge was cancelled earlier this week and JAs classes in London until April. 😭😷

[valentina 266]

I don’t believe this is hysteria at all. Looking at the intense pressure the health systems in other countries have been put under with nurses and doctors working insane hours ( sometimes days and nights on end without a break) and with a lack of necessary medical supplies too,  it makes complete sense to all do our bit, if we can, to ease the pressure on our own well underfunded NHS. I’m sure we can all put our own stuff to one side for a couple of months if it helps to contain, even a little bit,  the overwhelming pressure nurses, doctors, carers will be under in the coming weeks.

[Foreverdrivingtodance 470]

Yes sadly 27 people in intensive care with it and 20 of those caught it with no foreign travel. I guess our priority should be helping take the pressure off the NHS.