Air bridges for holidays abroad but no school until 2021?!?

[sunshineanddaffodils]

So they’re hoping for air bridges so we can all pile on a plane for a few hours for a holiday abroad, but according to MN there’s no chance schools will be fully opening until 2021. This whole situation is an absolute joke

[AuntieStella]

The contradictory speculation certainly doesn't add up!

I don't see airbridges actually happening for months (if ever)

The experiments with schools reopening for a few weeks this term should help the 'bottom up' solutions that might be ready for the autumn.

School is going to be such a different place until,social,distancing is not required for any pupil or teacher (I'm assuming that MNers don't really want vulnerable/shielded excluded)

[Splattherat]

Well we have cancelled our August holiday abroad and lost our deposit as we don’t feel it is safe or right to go (whatever the government might say in the meantime. DD is in year 10 probably one of the most important school years. They have had no online tuition/taught class lessons whatsoever. She was supposed to go back to school on the 8th June, then it was put back to the 15th and now its the 22nd. But she is only actually going back to school for one ling morning a week!!!
Goodness only knows whether the travel bridges will or won’t come off.

[Notonthestairs]

But it is just speculation around schools isn't it? What have I missed?

I don't particularly enjoy holidays (!) but understand that the travel industry employs thousands so I'm not surprised they are trying to find a way to make it work. Just every other industry.

[EdithWeston]

If schooos aren't sorted by September, then the current y9 and y11 are also going to have fairly considerable disruption (the long autumn term is when so much of the curricula is got through)

Teachers often don't like it when a government decrees how they do things. Echoing the 'bottom up' comment, this is a time when one size will almost certainly not fit all, and HTs and teachers have a chance to get it right for their own school community

[MoreW1ne]

@sunshineanddaffodils
So is your opinion that those who do not have children should not be allowed to go on holiday until your child is back in school? A bit selfish.

And do you think that those who work in the travel industry/other sectors (who again, may or may not be reliant on childcare) should not be able to go back to work until you're happy that your child is in school? Very selfish.

School might be the most important thing to you (and understandably others) around the country at the moment but it doesn't mean everything has to be put on hold until they're fully open.

And people flood the school threads saying they are not selfish or just thinking about themselves...

[sunshineanddaffodils]

@Morew1ne I totally understand that you want to go on holiday I’m just a bit shocked at the irony. We’re told (on MN) that millions will die if schools fully open. You’ve got kids falling off the radar educationally, some will be lost from schools now. Attainment gap’s widening at a ridiculous rate, people loosing jobs because of lack of childcare, I could go on all day. But that’s ok because you can go on holiday.

[GalesThisMorning]

Tbf it doesn't actually matter what we're told on mumsnet. Mumsnet has no bearing on government policy. Mumsnetters don't always know what they're talking about. It's just an internet forum.

[Greysparkles]

It's not so much just school, it's the complete lack of childcare available ful stop.
I'm a keyworker, my kids can go to school 9-3.
But I don't work 9-3 so it doesn't really help!

[CodenameVillanelle]

'According to MN'
I doubt all schools will be back full time before January - do you think they will?

[MoreW1ne]

@sunshineanddaffodils Valid and separate points that I fully agree with you on and would not debate.

However, it's not ironic if I don't have a child needing childcare, which was the point I tried to make. I appreciate the irony of parents demanding schools remain closed and then wanting to go on holiday. But for those who also want schools open, or the millions of people in the country not reliant on childcare it's not ironic, just an important aspect of their 'normal' life they would like back.

I don't believe the two points are/should be linked.

[UnderTheBus]

So is your opinion that those who do not have children should not be allowed to go on holiday until your child is back in school? A bit selfish.
Ii don't think that's what OP is saying. More that it makes no sense that its acceptable to be in an enclosed space for hours with many people on a plane, but not acceptable to be in an enclosed space for hours with many people in a school.

If it is an either/or situation (which I dont believe it is), I think most would argue that education should be a higher priority than holidays.

[Qasd]

Education is actually of benefit to the whole country since we risk having future skilled labour available- including to service the travel sector if we disrupted it long term. I do find attitudes to education odd on here, I think a lot of people think It just something nice that the government used to do for families rather than something that pretty much any developed economy considered a necessity since around 1870!

I do not by the way think the two (air bridges and education) are linked the issues are substantially different but I think it is odd to view education as an individual issue rather than one for society as a whole!

[puffinkoala]

School is going to be such a different place until,social,distancing is not required for any pupil or teacher (I'm assuming that MNers don't really want vulnerable/shielded excluded

It's difficult but I don't really see why the healthy majority has to put up with a makeshift or no education because some kids/teachers/school staff need to protect themselves by staying at home. It's taking solidarity a bit too far in my view. There has to be a better way.

[notimagain]

I don't see airbridges actually happening for months (if ever)

"Air bridges" are what were formerly called "routes" in the aviation industry so airlines will be back operating them before too long..

I think politicians like "air bridge" because it makes it sound all mysterious and they can kid some of the public they are organising something on a par with the D-Day landings.

[LittleRen]

notimagain - but an air bridge isn't just a route in this sense, it's an agreement between two low risk countries with no need to quarantine for 2 weeks at either end.

Is the UK low risk though? Perhaps why PP said it's unlikely to happen.

I myself can see it happening as other EU countries depend on us so much for tourism income.

[Nihiloxica]

"Air bridges" are what were formerly called "routes" in the aviation industry so airlines will be back operating them before too long..

[Moondust001]

We’re told (on MN) that millions will die if schools fully open.

I suggest that you get your news from a reliable source and not from MN. The hopeless speculation and hysteria on this site does not constitute "news".

[notimagain]

notimagain - but an air bridge isn't just a route in this sense, it's an agreement between two low risk countries with no need to quarantine for 2 weeks at either end.

Well OK, it's a "route" between an airport pair subject to some form of bi-lateral agreement/arrangement over traffic rights and/or passenger entry procedures..something not entirely unheard of before Covid..it's not Operation Varsity.

I don't want to get bogged down on semantics but since I've flown on a genuine official air bridge several times ( each time it involved sitting down the back of a military transport aircraft for well over half a day) I'll admit I wince just a little when I hear the term being used by politicians in the context of holiday makers going on their holidays...