Or have they just not got a clue

[Yolo2]

Jenny Harries today at the Government press briefing suggested that pencil cases will be banned at schools in case children share their contents, but lunch boxes will be allowed as she could "almost guarantee" that a child would not share their lunch with anyone sitting 2 metres away. What a load of utter nonsense. Is that based on any science whatsoever? If the Government are following the science, and this is the sort of dross the science is coming up with, we should worry!! How can a child not borrow a pencil but we can order takeaway food to our homes? How can the Deputy Chief Medical Officer "almost guarantee" that kids won't share their lunches. I'm afraid her medical training doesn't qualify her to have a better idea of the likelihood of kids sharing lunches than the average man on the street

So now we know pencils transmit Coronavirus (!) can we ever be safe using the supermarket? I handle my products, pass them to the cashier, who handles them, after touching all the products handled by every customer before me. (I understand some people have taken to bleaching their shopping but come on ) But shared pencils - prohibited. If kids can be trusted to not go near each other (?), can't they be trusted not to lend pencils?

We are in danger of utter madness invading every aspect of life. Social distancing, yes. Ridiculous rules from government on pencil cases etc. is quite another and is making things seem ludicrous.

Loads of children in yR and 1 who have delayed speech and language development. I guess they are thinking of all that phonics training that they like to start so early in this country, and also the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged families which becomes an increasingly yawning chasm as the children get older and older. They don’t trust parents to teach their own children to read.

@SimonJT There is absolutely zero chance of a trained person opting to watch a child die whilst waiting for an ambulance rather than pop the top off an EpiPen and administer it immediately. I certainly would - with a side order of 'you can fire me later' if told not to do it because it meant close contact.

I'm a trained first aider. I'm also in the vulnerable group. I am not ever going to be a trained first aider in the vulnerable group who has to live with the knowledge that I sat and watched a child die from a distance of 2 metres when I could have potentially prevented it.

@Quartz2208 thanks for that. Mad really isn't it, I mean YR children have got six more years of primary school to catch up. I really think in six years you could make up for a lost term.

I think your explanation makes more sense.

@mitzik then why are schools sending this message home? It strikes me as a form of emotional blackmail to deter parents from sending children in

@MitziK could I ask you a question please, as you are a trained first aider. I've never seen an epipen, I'm assuming they are easy to use but in a crisis situation would it be better if the adult had some basic training, might only be 5 minutes if they are really easy but I'd hate to be in a position with a child needing it and me looking at it trying to figure it out. I suppose the actual question out of that is should all teachers, TAs or other adults in school get a crash course in administering an epipen?

@1forsorrow hopefully Mitzi can answer more but yes I do think all teachers should be EpiPen trained.
I ran a session on allergy awareness for the school (because they had made a couple of errors of judgement) and also advised that they should all get epipen training.

But the instructions on how to use are also clearly on the side of the pen, and a 999 operator will talk you through what to do as well.

All the staff in my school are epipen trained, I can't think of one who would refuse a child in need.

My DC are young adults at university so to be honest I’ve not really been zoning in on the school threads but some of the stuff here is making me so grateful they are older. I feel so sorry for parents of younger DC going through all this .

I think they should be because the training gives people the confidence to do it. But in all honesty, they are very easy to administer. All AAIs (and pen systems as a whole) are designed to be pretty much fool (and panic) proof.

In a previous job where I wasn't the first aider, I brought in my own medication (plus travel sharps bin) so that the person who was got experience of actually injecting somebody. It wasn't the training that was the issue, it was the idea of injecting somebody that bothered her. Obviously, that's not an official way of doing it, but she did say that knowing she had injected somebody with their medication once meant she knew she could do it in an emergency. I also volunteered to be the patient for my first aid course where they actually had dummy AAIs - because I could tell them 'You don't actually need to thump it into my leg quite so aggressively/you need to press it to my leg and not wave it about an inch away and hope for the best '

Essentially, if you need to use one, all you do is pop the lid off, hold it to the thigh muscle through clothes and trigger it, then lift it away. None of the movie dramatics required. You could watch a YouTube video or Google the versions we have here - EpiPen, Jext and Emerade.

Even needle phobics can potentially use them because you don't see the pointy bit.

I have no idea why a school is saying this. They must know that, like CPR, you will not get adults prepared to stand by and watch children die because it's 'not their job'. Just because the teachers' unions say it can't be expected of a teacher doesn't mean that you can order people to stand by and watch, either. Guess it's protection for the people who panic and freeze or run around screaming rather than being of use in an emergency.

Thanks MitZik. Yes I think it is the confidence and being "with it" during a panic that would worry me. I have done a first aid course, I found doing CPR and using a defibrillator straightforward but I'm not sure if I'd have thought the same if the first time I did it was a life or death situation

If it's that straightforward it would certainly make sense for everyone in schools to do it.

Guess it's protection for the people who panic and freeze or run around screaming rather than being of use in an emergency. I hope that wouldn't be me but if I was a teacher I think I'd definitely want to see one first and have a chance to figure out what to do. I think it is good in an emergency if you can go onto auto pilot.

My daughter is 5 and has safety issues at school in regards to escaping and lashing out. School have reassured me that safety of children is priority and her need for a 1-to-1 (as a couple of others too) will be factored in when working at staffing.

I would hope all schools don't put safety at even further risk than the children and staff already are at

@user1000000000000000001 that's a good point, I was thinking TAs would be taking some classes as there won't be enough teachers but of course some children need their own TA so they can't (or shouldn't) be used.

@Quartz2208 it's also harder to give YR and Y1 home school work they can just get on with without too much input (because they can't yet read instructions etc) and it's typically less screen based, which may be a factor.

But yeah,