Do teenagers care? Open the fucking schools.

[FreierFall]

All my son's friends are now meeting up in groups. Probably in each other houses. Of course I am the worlds worst mother for saying he can only meet one friend outside at a time. Pretty much everyone he knows is assuming they can do what they want now. Why bother keeping secondary schools shut now? It's pointless. Instead we are going to have groups of bored teenagers roaming around all summer. I am in despair.

[AhGoGo]

The teachers care.

[Bunnylove83]

As a teacher I’d rather keep me and my family safe from huge groups of people who aren’t social distancing.

[Tiatotheresuce]

@AhGoGo

Teachers care.
I'm NHS and we care because if we open schools and God forbid a lot of children end up unwell with covid they could end up in hospital.

[softjellycell]

That's not my teenager, it's too irresponsible.

[TeddyIsaHe]

STOP with the fucking teacher bashing.

Yes a child’s education is important, no one is denying that. It is not more important than someone’s life, or their family members life.

Teachers aren’t asking for people to sacrifice their first borns to reopen schools, they just want clear and measured guidelines in how the govt are going to keep them, and their students safe.

And parent your children better, it’s not the schools job.

[Wellhiyahun]

You just need to look then cos loads are

[brentwoodbaby]

OP, this will not go down well on Mumsnet where teachers ARE a protected species.

[Motherofasleepaphobe]

This can’t be real surely?

Erm because the risk to teaching staff and pupils is massive, Because the 2m rule cannot be applied in most school settings, because teaching staff are being told they cannot/shouldn’t wear PPE despite the opportunity to social distance being massively reduced, Because the public cannot be trusted to adhere to simple rules which means the exposure to the virus would be huge for those members of staff teaching multiple students who haven’t followed social distancing rules, because the health of teaching staff and their families is more important than teenagers being bloody bored

Get a grip on your kid before you start suggesting everyone rush back to forcing hundreds of people into the same building 5 days a week and kickstarting a second peak

[Motherofasleepaphobe]

Oh yeah I forgot about the supermarket workers teaching classes of 30 odd teenagers for hours a day in small rooms - my local Tesco haven’t been offering that service

[Wibu123]

Surely you can figure out why there's no comparison between schools and supermarkets?

Supermarkets have less people, all individual adults who can estimate 2m and who understand the gravity of the situation and the need to keep the distance. Grownups who can be subjected to the fines if they break the rules. Staff who are behind plastic shields unless restocking shelves.

Supermarket staff are doing an amazing thing but it is a different thing to asking people to go back to work in schools.

And besides, no matter how much some people hate teachers, it's not just teachers that schools opening will effect. What about the cleaners, dinner ladies, premises staff and teaching assistants?

[FreierFall]

@brentwoodbaby I don't give a flying toss. Covid hysteria seems rife in the teaching unions at the moment.

[AlohaMolly]

Shop workers have had at least some decent measures of protection put in? Have you been to a shop recently? I had to queue for 40 minutes to be counted in to my local Tesco last week, lidl has Perspex shields around their checkouts. My friend works in Asda and they asked several customers to leave last week because they were repeatedly breaking social distancing rules. Also Tesco - not allowing more than one person in so no ‘groups.’

School is about so much more than the pupils. What about the cleaners having to clean spit up from where some teenage boys thought it was funny to shout ‘corona!’ And gob on the table?

If class sizes are to be no more than 15, where do you think the new classes for the other half are going to be magicked from?

[Chillipeanuts]

Ours, on the other hand, is choosing to stay home until the situation is clearer..

Please don’t make assumptions and lump all teenagers together. They’re individuals too and lots of them are perfectly sensible people.

[TW2013]

Meeting even a group of friends at home is very different to being in classrooms of 30 and not even the same 30 children. At least in primary they are in one class, one teacher. They only need to be in slightly different sets for different subjects and they are mixing with 60-80 different children, not to mention the different classrooms, they can't have the same teacher all day because unlike primary Mrs Jones might be a fantastic English teacher but hasn't touched a bunsen burner since they gave up chemistry in yr9. Unless we give up on containment entirely, Secondary school will be a logistical nightmare.

[FreierFall]

@Wibu123 your wrong. Supermarkets gets hundreds of people each day, a lot not socially distancing at all

[CaptainMyCaptain]

All my son's friends are now meeting up in groups. Probably in each other houses.
Well my two teenage grandsons aren't doing that, they only leave the house to go with a parent on a dog walk. They are fully on board with the restrictions and understand why they are in place.

[TeddyIsaHe]

Op clearly your comprehension skills are lacking.

When do supermarket workers spend 6 hours a day in a single room with upwards of 20 people with no PPE or protection?

[Lostvoiced]

How many people should die so teenagers aren't bored?

Nobody is thrilled with the situation but it is what it is.

[YetAnotherSpartacus]

You'd rather put teachers in danger than parent your kid? Wow.

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Why bother keeping secondary schools shut now? It's pointless

To keep teachers alive and slow the spread amongst them and their families.

Instead we are going to have groups of bored teenagers roaming around all summer

That is not the problem of the school. Be a parent.

[Bunnylove83]

Supermarket workers are doing such good work for not enough money, but the shop is formatted to encourage social distancing, and many have screens, masks and gloves. Teachers are not allowed these measures, and will have hundreds of teenagers (we have 300 in y10 and 190 in y12) all arriving at the same time of day.

[SpoonyFace]

Also, if you think it's pointless to keep your son at home and stop him seeing his friends then don't do it.

[SmileEachDay]

The BMA are obviously hysterical also

The ONS have interesting data about age not affecting susceptibility to CV - which impacts how we open up schools

If anyone is more concerned about suppressing the virus than the OP, you can use this to write to your MP. You don’t need to work in a school

[G3m81]

@TeddyIsaHe we spend 8 hours plus dealing with hundreds of people and get verbally and physically threatened. No one cared at the start of this pandemic when we didn't have PPE, as long as people could stockpile they didn't spare a second thought. We were scared that we'd take the virus home to our families and still are but we just have to get on with it.

The amount of children visiting supermarkets has rapidly increased as well. For some reason parents don't seem bothered about them mingling with strangers but that's another story.