Opening secondary schools is quite a job
High school students are again allowed to go to school at least one day a week. It's a huge job for roster makers, educators, and support staff who are rightly concerned about their health.
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A deep bow to the roster makers. That is the first thing that comes to mind with the reports about the secondary schools in the whole country that again receive all pupils at least one day a week. Some schools have already started yesterday or today, others will start later this week or next Monday. Time is needed to arrange everything - especially for the roster makers.
After all, schedules are custom-made everywhere, a blueprint cannot be given. If a school has plenty of room to spare, pupils in one class may be able to be taught in two classrooms next to each other at the same time. If not, there are many other options. Classes are sometimes split, with students attending school for three days one week and two days the next week. Or working with morning and afternoon groups. Or maybe there are large spaces within the school - gymnasiums, the auditorium - to accommodate students from one class while observing the one and a half meter distance.
A school in Nijmegen was offered the boxes of football club NEC as classrooms
Or perhaps it is possible to divert to an external location, such as a sports hall, party hall or church? Fortunately, the outside world thinks along. NSG Groenewoud in Nijmegen, for example, was offered the boxes of football club NEC. 'Heartwarming, but not necessary for the time being', thanks rector Hanneke Arpots Trouw for the offer. Another school in Nijmegen needed extra space and set up three party tents from an event agency as a classroom on the schoolyard.
The Dr. Nassau College in Assen is taking a thorough approach and has rented a whole extra building. It accommodates a group of students with its own teachers, its own concierge and its own bicycle shed. "This way you get XNUMX students out of the school building," says chairman of the board Marcel Klaverkamp RTV Drenthe. 'This frees up space for the other students.'
I ate something nice, grabbed my phone or watched Netflix. Sometimes I heard: 'You can go'. Then I thought: 'Oh yes, I had lessons'.
The only common denominator in all measures across the country is actually that schools make up pairs of students. Because in that case the 1,5 meter gap does not apply and that in any case gives some space for the troubled roster makers.
The second picture that arises is that everyone is happy to go back to school. The students are tired of sitting at home. 'It was difficult to concentrate,' says student Nathan de Jager (15 years old) in De Twentsche Courant Tubantia. “Occasionally I walked downstairs to grab a treat, or I grabbed my phone or watched Netflix. Sometimes I suddenly heard: 'You can go'. Then I thought: 'Oh yes, I had lessons'.
Sports
The lessons that will be given at school in the coming weeks do not immediately consist of hard blocks. 'We intend to give way to social interaction,' says Kees Smit, director of the Willem van Oranje College in Wijk en Aalburg, in AD / De Dordtenaar. 'It is super important that the students see each other again. It is not good for children to sit in isolation at home. Let them exercise, or be practically involved with art or music. Let them pay attention to each other. '
Illusion
In addition, few have the illusion that students are going to stick to the XNUMX meter gap. Yes, maybe in the classroom and in the hallways. Although there are schools, such as the Amstelveen college, that use stewards to supervise this.
We appeal to everyone's responsibility. But yes, they are still teenagers
But once outside? Vice principal Chiel Melsert of the Erasmiaans Gymnasium in Rotterdam does not expect his students to take any notice of these distance rules during breaks, he reports in the AD / Rotterdams Dagblad. 'We don't want to walk around like some kind of police and therefore appeal to everyone's responsibility. But to what extent can you expect that from teenagers? And moreover: perhaps the social event is the most important thing for the children at the moment.'
Hug
'As soon as the break starts and the bicycle shed fills up, most students greet each other with a big hug', signals the Volkskrant in a report about the Amstelveen college. 'I'm not so afraid of the virus,' says eighteen-year-old Marie de Koning in this newspaper. Together with her friends Romy Chabot and Balder Verstelle, she is studying for a math test. 'We are mainly afraid of not passing our exam.'
In addition to the roster makers, the teachers and support staff are also faced with a major job, the newspapers report. Teachers must monitor two classes live, or teach physically and online at the same time.
Teachers must pay attention to the students in the classroom and at home. That way no one gets the attention they deserve
High school students are again allowed to go to school at least one day a week. It's a huge job for roster makers, educators, and support staff who are rightly concerned about their health. 'Colleagues find online teaching exhausting', says Johan van Putten, chairman of the board of the Pieter Zandt comprehensive school. Reformation Daily. 'And now physical education is also being added. That's a bigger challenge. ' Teachers should pay attention to the students in front of them as well as the students at home, adds Jan Bakker of Calvijn College in the same newspaper. "Actually, no student gets the attention he deserves."
Health
In addition to caring for their students in the curriculum, teachers and support staff naturally also have concerns about their health. 'A number of teachers find it exciting to be in front of students again', says chairman Eugene Kramer of RSG Enkhuizen in the Noordhollands Dagblad. 'The older teachers are especially concerned about their own health, or the health of the people around them. Lecturers are also just people who are at the heart of society. '
If I have to speak clearly in an online class, I'll be dead tired after one hour. It is also not possible to read more than two pages
That these concerns are not unjustified, is evident from a section in The Limburger, who records the story of a Dutch teacher who – incidentally not at school – became infected with the corona virus. She ended up in the hospital, is now out of there again, but teaching is still not possible. Also not online. 'If I have to speak loud and clear because of an online class, it costs me so much energy that I'm dead tired after one hour. Even reading more than two pages is not yet possible.' And that while she was always perfectly healthy. 'My condition is not bad and I am never sick. It still amazes me that it bothered me so much.'
In some places in the country, schools can contact the GGD with questions. The GGD in Twente has even deployed special school teams, reports RTV Eastt, who can think along about matters such as hygiene and measures to keep their distance.
Wrist thermometer
Furthermore, in schools across the country everyone is of course on the alert for strange coughs and coughs. The Kennemer Lyceum goes a step further and will place 'wrist thermometer poles' at the entrances of the school, it reports Haarlems Dagblad. This in collaboration with the VU Amsterdam. Students and staff hold their pulse at such a pole, which registers their body temperature. 'If people hear in advance that they are being screened using temperature measurement, they will become extra careful and will still stay at home even if there is a slight increase', is the assumption. Whether it actually works that way remains to be seen in the near future.
