UK: Pupils at Eton 'sent home to isolate after coronavirus outbreak'

Eton College has been accused of 'spreading coronavirus around the country' after sending an entire year of students home following an outbreak.

All of the prestigious boarding school's Lower Sixth - Year 12 - have been told to isolate at their home after a 'significant' number of pupils tested positive for Covid-19, according to reports.

Parents whose children attend the £42,000-a-year boarding school, near Windsor, Berkshire, are understood to be 'furious' at the decision, reports The Telegraph.

It follows an earlier outbreak at the college last month when bosses confirmed several of their 1,300 students were found to have Covid-19 on their return from the summer holidays.

On that occasion, students were told to isolate.

But Eton chiefs told The Telegraph that, 'given the number' of students involved on this occasion, the medical advice from Public Health England was that the students 'could not safely isolate' at the school.

Bosses at the prestigious boarding school also told the paper that it had paid to set up its own track and trace and testing system in order to take pressure off the NHS.

However some parents are said to be angered by the decision. A source told The Telegraph: 'The children who live abroad are being farmed out to the families of fellow pupils.

'They [the parents] don't mind the extra children at all, but they do object to the spreading of the virus round the country when it could be contained in the school.'

Current Government advice is that boarding schools are advised to consult parents on the decision on whether to send children home to isolate.

This is in contrast to universities, who are being asked to contain outbreaks where possible, by keeping students on campus.

The latest outbreak at Eton comes following an outbreak last month, when 'a few' students tested positive for the disease on their return from the summer holidays.

Final year students were the last to return to the college in Berkshire and pupils were tested privately for the virus on arrival.

Eton confirmed several of their students were found to have Covid-19 and those with positive tests were placed in isolation. It is thought the outbreak affected three of Eton's boarding houses: Angelo's House, Wooton House and Keate House.

The college would not confirm which houses were involved but at the time said parents had been informed of the outbreak.

The £42,000-a-year school was founded in 1441 and has many notable alumni including Prince William, Prince Harry and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

It is also where former PM David Cameron was taught, alongside Bear Grylls and actors Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie.

The Government advises that international students travelling to the UK to attend boarding school self-isolate for two weeks before going back to the classroom.

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UK: Schoolchildren are banned from singing Happy Birthday in the classroom over fears it could spread coronavirus – and are told to listen to it on YouTube or hum the tune instead

Schoolchildren have been banned from singing Happy Birthday in classrooms over fears it could spread coronavirus.

Children have been told to listen to the song on YouTube or hum the tune rather than sing it at some schools.

Birthday cakes from home have also been banned by some schools to prevent transmission of the virus.

Singing can leave droplets in the surrounding air, meaning infectious individuals risk spreading the virus when they open their mouths.

It has not been banned in all schools yet but people have been banned from singing in pubs and churches.

Parent campaign group UsForThem has found certain schools across the country have imposed a ban themselves.

UsForThem co-chair Christine Brett, from Cambridge, said banning singing is one of the many detrimental measures being taken at schools, including limiting access to water and toilets.

The mother-of-two said: 'UsForThem believes children have suffered enough from prolonged absence from school and they should be able to return to a normal and supportive environment.

'Birthdays only happen once a year and its a day when a child feels special.

'Now their classmates are banned from singing to them, they are not allowed to bring in sweets or cake to share and due to the rule of 6, many are unable to have a party outside school.

'Singing represents a low risk in terms of transmission from children, who are the lowest risk of both getting and transmitting this virus. 'We cannot put their young lives on hold forever.'

The Department of Education said it is up to schools to decide whether children can sing around other classmates.

Official guidelines state: 'Playing instruments and singing in groups should take place outdoors wherever possible.

'If indoors, consider limiting the numbers in relation to the space.

'Singing, wind and brass playing should not take place in larger groups such as choirs and ensembles, or assemblies unless significant space, natural airflow (at least 10l/s/person for all present, including audiences) and strict social distancing and mitigation as described below can be maintained.'

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CA: Newsom vetoed high school ethnic studies bill after complaints from Jewish groups about curriculum

Jewish groups angered by their exclusion from a proposed ethnic studies curriculum for California high school students credited their concerns in large part for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s veto of a bill requiring the course for graduation.

It was the latest twist in a fight that has lasted more than a year over whether California’s high school students should be required to take an ethnic studies class and, if so, what should be included. The bill’s author pulled it in 2019 after a similar dispute over the course material. This year a revised version of the bill easily passed the Legislature, but Wednesday night, Newsom vetoed it.

In his veto message, the governor said only that the curriculum still needed more work because it was “insufficiently balanced and inclusive.”

AB331 would have added a one-semester ethnic studies course to the high school graduation requirement, starting with the 2029-30 academic year. Newsom’s veto infuriated the bill’s supporters, who said he missed a chance to address divides laid bare by the police killing of George Floyd and subsequent protests over racial inequality.

Assemblyman Jose Medina, the Riverside Democrat who carried the bill, called Newsom’s veto “a failure to push back against the racial rhetoric and bullying of Donald Trump.”

Newsom wrote in his veto message that he supports the concept of teaching students about the history of marginalized groups. But he said the latest draft of California’s “Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum” must be rewritten to ensure it “achieves balance, fairness and is inclusive of all communities.”

Newsom didn’t cite specific examples of bias in the course manual, but advocates and legislators said the Jewish community was the crucial source of concern about the curriculum.

Tyler Gregory, executive director of the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council, said concerns about the bill were reignited in recent weeks after Jewish leaders learned the draft curriculum had been updated to add lessons about Arab Americans and Pacific Islanders, but not Jews.

Gregory said Jewish groups and synagogues across the state sent dozens of letters to Newsom’s office urging him to intervene. Gregory said he wanted Newsom to direct an overhaul of the curriculum or veto the bill — Newsom did both.

“We think it’s imperative that education around anti-Semitism and Jewish identity be included in the context of ethnic studies,” Gregory said. “The Jewish community is more than a conversation about the Holocaust.”

However, the bill also had significant supporters in the Jewish community: Every member of the Legislative Jewish Caucus voted for it, and it was endorsed by the Anti-Defamation League.

State Sen. Ben Allen, the Santa Monica Democrat who chairs the caucus, said many who raised concerns simply wanted the curriculum to be revised, not have Newsom veto the bill outright.

“The Jewish community is a large and diverse community, with lots of different perspectives,” he said. “If anything, what I heard from the mainstream Jewish community leadership was not opposition to the bill, but was concern that the curriculum be developed in a way that was fair to the Jewish community.”

The veto reignited the debate about the purpose and nature of ethnic studies, a movement that began on Bay Area college campuses in the late 1960s.

Supporters of the curriculum argue the concept of ethnic studies isn’t intended to be a general discussion of diversity. They said the discipline is traditionally focused on people of color in America — their contributions and historic oppression.

They said they were caught off guard by Newsom’s veto and some Jewish groups’ opposition.

“I do very much think that it was a lost opportunity, given this historical moment,” Medina, a retired high school teacher who taught ethnic studies, told The Chronicle. “We’ve never seen students more hungry for the kind of knowledge that ethnic studies would provide them.”

Medina shelved the bill last year because of backlash over an earlier draft of the curriculum. Controversy appeared to have dwindled after the California Department of Education released the new draft in July.

The revised curriculum encouraged teachers to add lessons that emphasize the history of ethnic groups in their community. But it kept the focus on four groups that ethnic studies courses traditionally emphasize: African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

The draft also removed content that Jewish groups said evoked anti-Semitic stereotypes, in particular a reference to Israel controlling the media.

Some critics still said the draft was politically charged and excluded historically marginalized ethnic and religious groups, such as Armenians.

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UK: The cruelty of the Covid-secure classroom

School ‘protection’ measures are causing considerable harm to children.

‘Let Us Out!’, say the freshers, in bold capitals emblazoned on placards tacked to their bedroom windows.

For many, the student-halls lockdowns in Manchester, Glasgow and elsewhere have been a penny-drop moment. This no longer feels much like the progressive 21st century Britain we aspire to live in. More and more people have started to condemn this illiberal state of affairs.

As co-founder of UsforThem, the sight of students in lockdown sadly comes as no great revelation. We have been campaigning to get schools back open and to prioritise children’s welfare. I have spent four months now on the hidden front line of the largest educational experiment that modern liberal society has ever inflicted on its young people. It has been a shocking and at times upsetting experience. It has been clear for a while that Britain has gone mad.

Many schools are fundamentally different places to what they were back in March. The Department for Education has issued guidance on how schools should operate during the pandemic, and schools have different interpretations on how to implement it. The DfE calls these ‘protective measures’ – as if bubble-wrapping our children means the end of our worries. Well, let me burst that bubble now. The last thing some of the practices we have seen do is protect children. Instead, they are causing considerable harm.

For many pupils, school is now a bleak experience. Schooldays look different. More screens, less interaction. Less music, drama, art and whatever sport they once enjoyed. No playground tag, no singing. Many have to shiver through lessons as windows are open wide. Loo breaks and water refills are rationed, sometimes with unfortunate results. Teachers often look weird, sometimes scary, if they are wearing masks and visors. Some children have been given badges, which mark them out as exempt from wearing masks. One parent of a mask-exempt child was told her daughter would have to eat lunch in isolation.

You would be forgiven for thinking this was part of the plot of a dystopian novel. Certainly, not every school adheres to each of these practices, but we have seen each of the above examples countless times. The UsforThem inbox is inundated with messages from distraught parents and grandparents who despair of this new way of running schools. Parents of children with special-educational needs tell us their children have been left behind. Teachers tell us they have never been more concerned for the wellbeing of the young minds in their charge.

These harms are merely adding to the harms we have already caused to children this year. According to government statistics, 67 per cent of children suffered an impact on their mental health due to lockdown. One fifth of children did less than an hour of schoolwork each day (or none at all), while 94 per cent of vulnerable children were not in school during lockdown. We have baked a layer cake of harm, and yet we carry on baking.

The strictness of some school practices shows how politicians and schools have given a much heavier weighting to Covid considerations than to any others, including children’s mental health and basic welfare. The guidance was drawn up with a great deal of input from teachers’ unions (which initially opposed the reopening of schools entirely and have campaigned for compulsory mask wearing), but with no consultation with parents or any group championing children’s interests.

The lack of any system of oversight for these practices – and the lack of an exit plan – compounds the problems further. Many parents would no doubt be furious if they knew the extent of the problem. But many schools have decided that the guidance means parents should no longer have access to school premises, and so they cannot see the conditions in which their children are ‘protected’. Sure, teachers can see what is going on (and a few have bravely spoken out). But they are also in an impossible position: they are asked to oversee a regime that they know is damaging the children in their care. If teachers had a Hippocratic oath, the guidance would mandate they break it.

University students have proved what can be achieved when enough noise is made. They have won their battle against the government’s proposed Christmas lockdown. We can do the same for schools. Parents and teachers must speak up and reject this new dystopia being imposed on our children. We must force our politicians to recognise that such restrictive measures are unfit for purpose and need to be changed – this time in consultation with those who have children’s welfare at their heart.

The government could also help itself (and presumably many school leaders) by dropping social-distancing requirements for kids. This, in a single swoop, would rid us of so many of the logistical constraints that have hamstrung efforts to provide continuity and normality in our school system. Finally, parents must have the opportunity to enter schools to see for themselves the environment in which their children are being taught. Just as the students gestured ‘Let Us Out’, parents must now demand ‘Let Us In’. Then they will see things need to change.

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