To Think some schools won’t reopen in September

[Lardlizard]

Yanbu if you agree

Because so many school are not reopening for year r,1 and 6 in June

Because of reasons such as a quarter of the staff are shielding etc, so how on earth will they we able to reopen all years in sept
They will still have the same staff in September

This annoys me so much. Why do we bother to train teachers and pay them reasonably decent salaries if all we need is for parents (mothers, lets face it) to stay at home and educate them.

Ridiculous argument.

teachers are not the ones who have started the pandemic and decided to take a year off work on full pay. Teachers are actually working (many schools are still open for a start) and sending material for children at home, because as everyone else, they are doing the best they could in the current conditions.

Homeschooling on your own has nothing to do with doing a few weeks of school work provided by your child's teacher!

Parents have to step up, so what? Do people genuinely never bother with schooling and leave all the education to the school in real life? Is that such a shock to be more involved?

cologne4711
the majority are probably happier and better off in school and seeing friends.

that I absolutely agree with, but I was responding to the usual drama lamas lamenting about the lack of education, teaching and the end of civilisation because traumatised kids have a few weeks "off".

They may need to use supply teachers

Day to day supply will be out because you can’t have teachers in and out of schools like yo yos. That’s asking for trouble. Longer term supply to cover shielding staff can probably be sorted but normal illness in staff is going to prove far trickier to manage. We are going to see schools opening and closing, I suspect.,

Why do we bother to train teachers and pay them reasonably decent salaries if all we need is for parents (mothers, lets face it) to stay at home and educate them.

Indeed, one might well wonder.

I never thought I'd see so many teachers arguing that they are useless, do a completely pointless job, and that it makes no difference if they don't do it.

But then I always think of the hard working, creative teachers who love children and bring something fresh to every day in the classroom.

For some reason I forget the lazy assholes I worked with who hated kids, thought their concerns were silly and foolish and only went into teaching because they considered to be an easy number.

They were always in the unions and would have absolutely fucking LOVED lockdown. Full pay for sending a few sheets home and never having to interact with the filthy little fuckers?

Heaven.

Just remember that in every job there are people who are shit at it and shouldn't be doing it.

School overall is still better for children.

Hopefully these teachers will love their new normal so much that they'll be happy to continue their life away from their stupid annoying pupils forever.

It really is a big deal for children to be removed from public life for months.It's an unprecedented experiment with their welfare

What would have happened if we hadn’t locked down? There seems no doubt at all that more people would have died - that includes more younger people, people with children, children themselves. I suspect loss of grandparents and parents is very much more an ‘unprecedented experiment’ with children’s welfare.

Instead of building wasted hospitals, they should have built a couple of extra classrooms for every school that needed them. We have a small village primary school with only 4 classrooms- there is no logical way to only have 15 in each room and have school back to normal. Literally half the school will not fit.

What would have happened if we hadn’t locked down?

Nobody knows for sure, but I think my children would have been better off in Sweden that in the UK.

But worse off in Spain where they treated their children worse than dogs.

Either way, the NHS wasn't overwhelmed. It is under capacity. We no longer meet the criteria for an epidemic of Coronavirus, and community transmission is virtually non-existent.

So time to ease up on the lockdown and stop treating children like filhty little typhoid Marys.

I completely agree. We are looking at things upside down and parents are so keen on getting their "me time" and give their job to someone else that they are completely forgetting what is the best interest of the child.

It’s nothing to do with bloody ‘me time’. I love spending time with my child; I just recognise that it’s not in her best interests to be isolated from her entire peer group for months on end. Not every child has siblings (and those with siblings don’t always get on with them). It is entirely unnatural and detrimental to children’s mental health to isolate them in this way.

My daughter attends a specialist vocational school they have been given no advice as to how they can manage boarders.

Either way, the NHS wasn't overwhelmed. It is under capacity. We no longer meet the criteria for an epidemic of Coronavirus, and community transmission is virtually non-existent.

Why do you think the NHS wasn't overwhelmed? If we suddenly lift lockdown, there is a very high chance we may end up overwhelmed.

We are still having 2000+ new cases a day. Spain has less then 900 new cases per day, Germany 500, Italy 400, Sweden 600.

No other country has eased lockdown while there daily new cases were so high. We really need to stop comparing the UK to other countries which have dealt with Covid much better, and have better testing and track and trace methods, and use their figures and projections as a predictor of the UK's.

I love spending time with my child; I just recognise that it’s not in her best interests to be isolated from her entire peer group for months on end

But school is not the ONLY way they can have their social needs met.
There were two options. Open schools in some form, or allow people to decide to create their own small bubbles and socialise. The government has decided on the school route, which so far is not benefitting anyone, has made things harder for key workers, benefits a small percentage of children, but due to the socialisation in groups of 15 means its not safe for siblings and children not in the years which will go back to socialise as theres too much risk of uncontrolled spread. Therefore this route has actually had a more detrimental impact on children socialising.

Either way, the NHS wasn't overwhelmed. It is under capacity.
so the lockdown is actually working...

It is entirely unnatural and detrimental to children’s mental health to isolate them in this way.

oh for god's sake, really? People do love to be martyrs don't they.
YOU are the one who is responsible for your child's mental health, UK was NEVER on full lockdown, there has always been plenty of things to do, places to go, ways to catch up with friends within the guidelines.

I feel so sorry for these kids stuck with parents who have decided a little inconvenience is the worst thing that has ever happened in a civilised world and are trying to make everybody as miserable as they feel. Enjoy the time with your kids, they didn't ask to be born, you own them that. It's only a few weeks.

I'm sorry some kids have parents who don't give a shit about their welfare

Bubbles wouldn't exactly make socialising any easier for children if you look at the maths- unless your children happen to be friends with another sibling group of the same age. Or chose friends over grandparents. Or ignore the fact that essential workers see colleagues, so that's their bubble.

Even with the benefits of lockdown, we are allowed to be concerned for our children. And I find my 7yo crying because she misses her friends and school concerning, despite the fun she's having at home. And thinking her brain doesn't work anymore.

Back in October we were threatened with all sorts by the council for suggesting that my 8yo could stay out of school for one more week while awaiting our school appeal instead of sending her to the allocated school. Now it's fine for them to receive a worksheet once a week for several months. I'm doing a lot of my own stuff with them (like I did back in September/October when they had no school places).

Supply teachers as a replacement for those teachers who are shielding won't work, schools have no budget for them unless the government decide to properly fund schools. We were looking at job losses at my school in around six months time even without COVID as we're likely to run out of money in around 12-18 months. Long-term I suspect that we'll be sympathetic to those who are on the government's shielding list on their own right, anyone else will have to resign or take unpaid leave so that we can hire other teachers. We simply can't afford to pay someone who could work but chooses not to, while also paying supply teachers.

children happen to be friends with another sibling group of the same age. Or chose friends over grandparents. Or ignore the fact that essential workers see colleagues, so that's their bubble.

That is why you can't expect a one size fits all appraoch.
Sibling groups would have to be managed one way or another. Potentially exploring potential rules such as only meeting one other child per child in the household, which would then in a household of 2 siblings result in 3 households potentially getting ill, compared to schooling, were theres potentially 15 households who are at risk if one child gets ill, up to a potential 45 households if in the initial class a few of them have siblings in only two other years. Then you have the teachers, any support staff, canteen staff etc. So thats still potentially less potential to spread by keeping small social bubbles without schools.
Essential workers or key workers, may have had to use schools eg key worker childcare as a form of socialisation.

Choose friends over grandparents
with children going back to school and adults back to work, It will be even less safe to visit grandparents then it was in the midst of lockdown.

Yet again mental health concerns are belittled and dismissed. How dare you tell me I’m not allowed to be concerned for my child’s mental health? What the fuck is wrong with you?

How dare you tell me I’m not allowed to be concerned for my child’s mental health?

you are missing the point completely. You should be concerned, but pretending that spending a few weeks at home with clearly concerned parents is not going to damage anyone's mental health. Or you have a much bigger problem.

I would be embarrassed to make such a fuss and be the one creating problems, what IS wrong with some of you? Is life more interesting when you can make it a drama? Poor kids, they must feel suffocated.

Kids going away, kids missing school, it has always happened for valid reasons. Only very bored people are shouting about damaged mental health for a few weeks off.

Ok, I stand corrected. No face to face contact with another child for months is entirely normal and not detrimental in any way. I’ll stop worrying now. Thank you for helping me see the light!

No face to face contact with another child for months is entirely normal and not detrimental in any way.

if that's the way you play it for your poor kid, it's a worry indeed.

I don’t understand what you mean. We aren’t supposed to socialise with anyone outside our household. What other children am I supposed to be providing for her to socialise with?

I would love to keep fuelling your misery, but I have finished work so I am taking my own child out for the day, because we are allowed (and always have been in England). Good luck

Wanting your child to grow up to be independent and have a life away from you is considered terrible parenting by some on MN who think children should be with their parents all the time.