How do teachers feel about schools being open in Sept?

[Meangallery]

So kid's education is to get priority, schools are to open in Sept and if infections rise the Government will close down everything else.

Will the Unions tolerate this? It feels like teachers will be on the frontline next year...

I'm worried for colleagues.

I have one who finished chemo during lockdown. Theoretically as shielding finishes mud August she will be back.

So going from "stay in, shopping delivered, be cautious" to "here's 180 kids facing you in 6 poorly ventilated rooms a day with no PPE, good luck"

Not surprisingly, it's daunting.

I think the inconsistency bothers me. I am desperate for normal life. My MH has taken a battering recently. But how can we have teens needing to wear masks indoors except in schools. Bubbles of year groups....but kids returning to own siblings and everyone on the bus together? It's nonsensical.

I'm ready to get back. I have been pushed to feel this way as I lost my job (TA) in a different school due to coronavirus and therefore have been forced to work over the summer.
In my summer role with children staff have to wear face masks and social distancing and cleaning is paramount. I can't see that the same council who are responsible for both jobs (summer and school) would have such vastly different rules that I wouldn't be protected in school like I am over the summer.

I know a few former colleagues who are very worried but also very close to retirement and I don't understand why they would cause themselves so much anguish rather than retire a year early. We've all had to make sacrifices and hard decisions and for me that's an easier decision. However I appreciate I am speculating and don't know the ins and outs of their situation.

Favouritepeople, I’m 56 so close to retirement. The last few years of paying into a pension are the most important.

Leaving now and leaving at 60 has a difference of an extra 7K pa.

The thing is, having brought up two children, I can think of countless times when there was a virus going around. A few kids would catch it - maybe five out of thirty. I can’t think of a single time when the teacher caught it.

Children catch the bugs going around because they are children! They haven’t built up the immunity through exposure due to age yet, that’s why the teachers don’t usually catch every sniffle going. Plus if they do have a mild cold they still go to work

Covid is different NOBODY has had a chance to build an immunity so the teachers stand a very good chance of catching it.

Comparing Covid with a standard cold or tummy bug really is not reasonable.

Just read on a train, you will catch covid from someone if on the train for 2 hours and under 2 meters away or around 2 meters away.

Each day teachers will be on that classroom, corridor train?
High exposure for LONG periods.
I understand for some age groups, masks and visors won't be appropriate but for many they will be fine.

I d love to have visors and masks be made compulsory. It's not just the teens, it's the other staff! If it was compulsory for staff that would be something.

Visor and mask.

Visor at front.. Teaching so dc can see face.... Mask on when doing closer work.

@Ohsuchaperfectday

Just read on a train, you will catch covid from someone if on the train for 2 hours and under 2 meters away or around 2 meters away.

Each day teachers will be on that classroom, corridor train?
High exposure for LONG periods.
I understand for some age groups, masks and visors won't be appropriate but for many they will be fine.

I d love to have visors and masks be made compulsory. It's not just the teens, it's the other staff! If it was compulsory for staff that would be something.

Visor and mask.

Visor at front.. Teaching so dc can see face.... Mask on when doing closer work.

I don't think you can insist on someone to wearing a mask continuously for 6 hours with only a break for lunch. Fair enough if you want to you should be able to - but to insist, I would not support that.

Guyfawkes it's utterly non sensical.

It's why people loose respect for the so called rules. Just as in the beginning of the crisis one week we are told major football matches and race meets are fine. The next week lone sunbathers with no one around them, are harried home by police.

Personally id have everyone alcohol gelling on way into classroom.... Visors at the very least and masks.

Windows open as much as possible...

Total relaxation on fines for non attendance and erring on the side of caution when dc seem unwell but don't meet covid requirements.

Parents will be sending unwell dc in, because that threat of fines is back with no leeway.

I don’t have an issue with it at all. We had 7 out of 9 year groups back by the end of term anyway.

The ‘unions’ are not voicing the opinions of teachers on the ground in my opinion,

Mean gallery the problem is, if its not made compulsory people won't do it like bike helmets.
Mask or visor at the very least.
Most teachers have a few tea breaks in day when dc on break time.
Other roles do it.....

@CountessFrog

Well I’m married to an ITU doctor, so I wouldnt say that.

But I also think there’s a lot of huge, huge drama. Your post is very dramatic and shouty. And patronising.

Seems anyone posting optimism or hope on MN, or even just a balanced view is shot down and told they must be wrong.

Which does suggest that a lot of people think this is total doomsday.

And I say that as somebody whose husband went to work without adequate PPE in the early days. On actual Covid wards for diseased people. In a hospital.

I coujd have run around the garden screaming that he was definitely going to die. Wouldn’t have helped much.

Are you a teacher, Countess?

I'm extremely worried. I've been on mat leave throughout all of this and it's not been good for my mental health, so I'm looking forward to going back to work, however I am pregnant again and the thought of being in a non ventilated room with up to 150 different unmasked teenagers a day makes me feel extremely vulnerable. Agree with a previous poster saying they felt like a target at the front of the room.

For those posters saying teachers aren't any more vulnerable than other front line workers eg shopkeepers, I suggest you take a step back and think about it more clearly.

@Ohsuchaperfectday

Mean gallery the problem is, if its not made compulsory people won't do it like bike helmets. Mask or visor at the very least. Most teachers have a few tea breaks in day when dc on break time. Other roles do it.....

DD works in a hairdressers they wear visors all day - she said if they had to wear a mask as well she just couldn't do it. The visors seem to be more comfortable for long term wear but she isn't trying to read anything and the visor is a bit cloudy. Shop workers do not have to wear PPE - it's voluntary and although I am keen on mask wearing - not all day - it's too much - too distracting.

@trinity0097

I don’t have an issue with it at all. We had 7 out of 9 year groups back by the end of term anyway.

The ‘unions’ are not voicing the opinions of teachers on the ground in my opinion,

Or are they not just voicing your opinion?

I have been in school doing my f/t hours since June-it has been fine. Small bubbles, tiny proportion of children, no vulnerable staff or children, outside loads, no mixing of staff/bubbles.

September will be nothing like this-I am very worried for the vulnerable people in our school and school community. We have massive classes, not enough support staff, shit ventilation, no masks and a tiny playground.

It annoys me that schools are so important yet the government won’t give them a penny to make any changes to make things better. The best way to open schools and keep them open is to make sure schools staff are protected from Covid. If you don’t do this, by making their work environment unsafe, there will be no staff to teach the children and the schools will be forced to close. No matter how much people say they ‘HAVE’ to be open. They can’t be opened and remain so, with insufficient staffing.

And the other problem with masks is that glasses get steamed up - anyone have a solution to this? Visors are not optical quality, so reading through them will cause eye strain, their will be lots of headaches and kids/teachers not feeling very well as a consequence.

@Meangallery

And the other problem with masks is that glasses get steamed up - anyone have a solution to this? Visors are not optical quality, so reading through them will cause eye strain, their will be lots of headaches and kids/teachers not feeling very well as a consequence.

I've been wearing a mask for 4.5 hours a day at my summer job working with children. My glasses only steam up to begin with. I am visually impaired so my glasses are vitally important to me. We wear the disposable masks at work which are better. I bought reusable ones for travelling on the bus and they make my face hotter. I find wearing a mask worse for short periods of time, once it's on and I'm working I'm okay, having it on for a 5 minute bus ride I'm conscious of it the entire time.

I am feeling SO excited to be back in September. Things will be different, yes, but I am so excited to see the kids and get them back going again. I agree with PP that unions don't seem to be representing opinions of most of the teachers I know. I also agree that for a small proportion of vulnerable teachers this must be tough - the same way I assume things have been/will be tough for vulnerable doctors/porters/shop workers etc

Allmyfavouritepeople And that's going to be quite a lot of disposable masks for the Government to supply - is it even possible? How often would they need to be changed? They can barely keep HCP in masks.

I think you are meant to put mask on first, then glasses on top of them, to stop steaming

@Meangallery

Allmyfavouritepeople And that's going to be quite a lot of disposable masks for the Government to supply - is it even possible? How often would they need to be changed? They can barely keep HCP in masks.

I'm just sharing my experiences and my feelings regarding going back in September as per the thread title. I've already lost a job and had to put myself at risk to keep food on the table. So far I've been happy with how the risks have been mitigated and that has impacted how I feel about going back in September. I don't have any answers regarding the supply of masks!

And the other problem with masks is that glasses get steamed up - anyone have a solution to this?

Nose wires help massively. Put mask on and adjust the wires. Put glasses in over the top.

Helped us loads last week when wearing masks almost all day with sunglasses. My parents both wear glasses and suggested this and it worked.

Allmyfavouritepeople Sorry you lost your job, - but this is an open forum - I am just asking questions in relation to your post - you can decide whether or not you answer them - nothing is compulsory!

Aragog Thank you.

@Meangallery

Allmyfavouritepeople And that's going to be quite a lot of disposable masks for the Government to supply - is it even possible? How often would they need to be changed? They can barely keep HCP in masks.

“The government” don’t supply anything! IF schools were going to have masks they would have to buy them form their already overstretched budget. Same as the government has announced the latest pay rise for teachers bit they aren’t actually giving the schools any extra money to meet the additional cost....

We need to do everything we can to support teachers and schools to make this happen. That means following the guidelines and not looking for loopholes or breaking the rules 'because no-one's enforcing them'.

Either we all work together, or the country goes down the tubes.