BC EDUCATION
Saved by @SteveeRogerr

Given @GavinWilliamson failure to apologise this week for 'last-minute' decisions on schools policy during the pandemic, we thought it might be useful to put to together one handy thread of every U-turn from the @educationgovuk since April last

 Free school meals will come up a lot in this thread, but here is the first governmental U-turn before the Easter Holidays. (2/43) #FSM
https://t.co/Tw7gldA8jl
.@educationgovuk then decided not to fund #FSM in the following half-term break, they changed their minds after a public outcry. (3/43)
https://t.co/zvpY6CCQOW
Taking a break from #FSM, we head straight into the #Alevels2020 exams debacle, with Scotland’s grade U-turn putting pressure on the @educationgovuk (4/43) https://t.co/mOQdT6YsCh
Ministers in Westminster were determined not to U-turn (5/43)
https://t.co/u5iUJwyZWT
BUT... they inevitably did. @heymrshallahan had some questions (6/43)
https://t.co/3wNbkpXLKw
Here is a full rundown of how the summer A-level and GCSE fiasco happened by @CathImogenLough (7/43)
https://t.co/rD7s2ZMhyX
Unsurprisingly @ASCL_UK and @RealGeoffBarton called for an inquiry into the fiasco (8/43)
https://t.co/CBwliVehWQ
During the exams fiasco, @gavinwilliamson fended off calls for his resignation (9/43)
https://t.co/DQ3GtaYsXX
Experts gave five reasons why the crisis around exams last year was avoidable (10/43)
https://t.co/aNTvMbXTam
Now during this crisis, there was growing concern that school staff would be sent back in to teach without adequate protection from the Coronavirus. They were told that they didn’t need to have facemasks…….
until they did… (11/43)
https://t.co/Zc1yzw1LqJ
While this decision was welcomed, its late notice was a burden on headteachers who had to implement it with not much notice (12/43)
https://t.co/8GzMUC7C15
Let’s not forget the continuing saga around #FSM. Enter @MarcusRashford, who got the government to U-turn again (13/43)
https://t.co/AISq2HbrOA
Now let’s jump to before Christmas. Owing to rising infection rates, Greenwich advised their schools to shut before the end of term – several councils later advised the same. (14/43)
https://t.co/zt5PKT06Xr
But @educationgovuk threatened these schools with legal action, resulting in schools re-opening doors for the last few days of term. (15/43)
https://t.co/F0msj2r7HL
The General Secretary of @ASCL, @RealGeoffBarton, accused the @educationgovuk of using "bully boy tactics" to stick to a "robotic mantra to keep schools open whatever the cost" but added "the costs could be incredibly high." (16/43)
https://t.co/YOPeRqFzPj
On 16 December, our reporters @tweetsbyames and @JohnGRoberts started to hear that there could be a delayed return in Janurary after all. (17/43)
https://t.co/z5AGSjhn1c
There was also a whole outcry and U-turn over having school staff carry out Covid tests around the same time… (18/43)
https://t.co/NrFTWrHeVC
Then a Tes scoop revealed that most secondary school pupils would be learning online in the first week back next year, with only exam groups back in person. . .
This announcement came in the same week @educationgovuk took legal action to stop some London schools moving online (19/43)
https://t.co/66wpriA4Pk
In order to get the @educationgovuk testing in place for January, @MattHancock wanted headteachers to work over Christmas to make sure it was ready. (20/43)
https://t.co/u2pRzhiWFb
We revealed the government’s plans of school reopening after mounting pressure for a delayed start owing to Covid infection rates rising countrywide. (21/43)
https://t.co/yeYDz0KRcy
Some primary schools were to remain shut, raising questions over why some councils were chosen above others (22/43)
https://t.co/boQDtUPyFW
School leaders started to demand @educationgovuk’s reasoning around certain primaries being closed and not others (23/43)
https://t.co/Rx6lzCntc1
U-turn incoming! All primary schools in London were closed….raising questions over why some in other Tier 4 areas across England were still scheduled to open (24/43)
https://t.co/aczChktDlk
However, the government insists the U-turn wasn’t about safety concerns… (25/43)
https://t.co/xvmncmls6A
The unions then got involved, forming an alliance to protest @gavinwilliamson’s plan @NEUnion @NASUWT @NAHTnews @unisontheunion @GMB_union & @unitetheunion (26/43)
https://t.co/zLEc4W4rxo
The government then (you guessed it) U-turned, after sending school staff in to teach for one day. It also announced a volte face on exams - cancelling summer GCSE and A-level exams for a second year in a row (27/43)
https://t.co/o3IclFkKM5
January BTEC exams were required to keep going despite concerns about risks to students (28/43)
https://t.co/ouUBAPNbre
Even top Conservative’s said the government’s handling of school policy was a shambles (29/43)
https://t.co/eFr7kh4R1x
Turns out the @educationgovuk was in the dark by the PM’s exam announcement (30/43)
https://t.co/JyiTdhIwB0
Then decision to allow colleges and schools to decide where or not to run their January BTEC exams led to confusion (31/43)
https://t.co/Em0zr2YAwQ
Heads unions ask why a plan B for GCSE’s isn’t ready yet? (32/43) https://t.co/DZtsb8bS1u
From the beginning there has been a mad scramble to get laptops to all students in need, this process has not gone well (33/43)
https://t.co/0SpQIU6VDk
Now unions warn the lack of laptop previsions could undermine the lockdown effort to control the surging spread of coronavirus (34/43)
https://t.co/XzIXPcECt9
.@gavinwilliamson speaking at the commons has said that the DfE has learned lessons from previous problems with exams, remote learning and FSM…….. (36/43)
https://t.co/NUlUrdsoW4
However, some say that the DfE forgot about January Btec exams, leaving individual colleges scrambling to work out how to proceed safely - 60% of colleges cancelled their January exams (37/43)
https://t.co/MSFPT6fRyK
Just in case school staff thought stress levels couldn’t increase, we revealed that @Ofsted planned to send inspectors to schools (38/43)
https://t.co/Olf8zu8iER
We then revealed covid rates among school staff in some areas are as much as four times the corresponding local authority average - calling into question repeated assurances from government that school staff are not at greater risk (39/43)
https://t.co/g7XuEVmc56
The DfE strangely remains silent on phonics plans following cancellation of primary assessments in 2020-21 academic year (40/43)
https://t.co/dEuGY5GNBn
Then thousands of supply teachers are at risk of being “thrown to the wolves” with a sudden loss of earnings due to partial school closures (41/43)
https://t.co/EyfGf6uAIm
Next U-turn drum-roll: Ofsted announces it won’t go into schools until half term after all (42/43)
https://t.co/lxD303eZOE
If you have made it to the bottom of this thread, firstly well done you, secondly let us know if you think we have missed anything (43/43ish)

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A teacher in Louisiana in an area with high rates of covid & in-person school, has a class with just 2 students in it. The entire school has 37 students and 12 staff, in a building that can hold hundreds.
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