To be appalled at the amount of people who think school staff should be collateral damage.

[Witchcraftandhokum]

This is not a response to teacher basing thread, I know full well that all teachers aren't perfect and all schools have not responded to the Lockdown in the same way. But I'm amazed at some posters in here demanding that things return to normal immediately. I've seen someone promoting a petition demanding that schools reopen with no social distancing and no safety measures. People saying schools should have never closed and people saying that teachers should "just bloody well get on with it".

[Witchcraftandhokum]

And if you think people aren't saying that then today someone said they don't think schools should have closed at all and last week someone was promoting this.. www.usforthem.co.uk/

[Witchcraftandhokum]

Allie I agree completely. As a teacher and a safeguarding lead I have never been busier, and I worked over Easter and Half-Term which was unpaid.

[ToddlerBumpBorderCollie]

Yup it’s horrendous. They’ll undersupply you with essential equipment and expect you to manage an increased workload in completely new territory. May the odds be ever in your favour. Love from the ICU nurse.

[Namechangeapril20]

I understand where you are coming from. I have the upmost respect for teachers and the amazing job they do during normal circumstances, even more so now. My dd teacher has been amazingly supportive and helpful throughout homeschooling and you can see how invested she is in the in her class, and how much she is missing them.

That being said - there are many people still working, dealing with the same issues facing schools. We cant all opt out of going back to work. My mother works in a supermarket, and while she is "free to wear PPE" the PPE available to her is not hospital grade and not effective in protecting her - and also it would have to come from her own pocket, which is not affordable given the amount of times of for example gloves have to be changed to give protection.

Interesting that you view it as treating teachers as collateral damage if schools return, but not children as collateral damage for them remaining closed.

[Witchcraftandhokum]

toddler. Thank you for your work. It must be so difficult

[NameChangedToProtect1]

My Don's school is not returning, we asked if they could do some online sessions 2x 30 minutes a week in small groups... they replied that they are too busy! Yes teachers need to go back to work, just like everyone else who can!

[OnlyFoolsnMothers]

I think schools need to go back for all year groups. I don’t think social distancing is hugely possible or At least not significantly enough to have a huge affect. It’s not about teachers being collateral damage it’s about the statistics- obviously if a teacher or immediate family is shielding that’s a separate issue

[Witchcraftandhokum]

Namechange I view it as that because that's what I'm seeing it on here. A view that we should all be back with 30 in a classroom with no safety measures. That puts school staff and students at risk.

[W00t]

@Pollyputthepizzaon All the job roles you mention are given PPE to wear. We were told by our HT no masks. Refuse collectors work outdoors, supermarket workers have extremely clear enforced distancing. You're not comparing like with like. School staff stuck in a small classroom with small children for six hours a day are in a different situation. For N, R and Y1 they are doing personal care for some children, just as care home staff are.
It's not acceptable that school staff are told to just get on with it. MPs are complaining (rightly) that returning to work puts them or their families at risk. Schools are no different. (Though as adults, MPs should be able to police their social distancing themselves).

Someone was moaning on another thread that school had made it a condition of coming into school that parents must collect children from school that display covid symptoms. What kind of selfish asshat thinks it's ok to leave a child with symptoms in contact with others?

[Witchcraftandhokum]

onlyfools If we went back like that we currently wouldn't have enough staff to run the school.

[Lynda07]

I agree with the op. The pressure on some teachers at the moment is horrendous, nobody is considering their health or that of their families. September is soon enough for schools to get back to normal.

[OnlyFoolsnMothers]

Then I ask without a vaccine will schools never be able to operate?

[YouTheCat]

So how would that work, OnlyFools? What if someone brings the virus into school and infects staff and children? And that will happen if all year groups go back. How would a child cope knowing they've infected their friends? How are we supposed to find the extra space and fund extra staff to ensure hygiene? Come up with solutions or shut up about something you know little about.

[Witchcraftandhokum]

As I've said onlyfools we can return to school, but not all year groups on a full-time basis. This will have to be the new normal for a while. Certainly is our school there is no other way to do it.

[Mascotte]

It would be nice to see more concern for the children to be honest.

And factory workers, supermarket staff, police, builders, social workers, doctors, nurses, care home staff and many others have been working throughout with none of this sort of drama. I'm sure most teachers are keen to get back in the classroom but this sort of thread is why they get bashed.

[Rosebel]

Not every other job has PPE and yes they have been expected to get on with it. I don't know why teachers keep going on there has been no indication that schools are returning to normal any time soon.

[Pollyputthepizzaon]

Agree Mascotte

[OnlyFoolsnMothers]

I don’t have a 100% safe proof answer but I know that covid won’t disappear and I know that we won’t have a vaccine for possibly a year. I know that lockdown and kids being off school will eventually cause more harm than the covid risk. Everyone will have to take a risk at some point.

[SimonJT]

The problem is not only poor guidance from the government, but guidance has continually changed. So when a school has a plan in place they have had to scrap and start again, this has happened several times. It would have been helpful is the government had given clearer guidelines to all work places to make sure employees were protected, not just employees with good bosses.

Members of staff have been ill with covid at my sons primary school, these adults did not come into contact with each other due to the way staffing has been arranged. But they were in charge of the same key worker bubble. One (who is my sons usual TA) lives alone and walks to work, so it is very likely she became infected at home.

[itsasmallworldafterall]

I wonder how much of wanting their kid to go back to school is just so they don't have to be around them all day.

[attackedbycritters]

We have been rightly horrified at the lack of PPE for doctors, nurses care home staff, people who are at high risk of catching the virus


Yet some people see, to be happy to put teachers at high risk without any protection

They are at greater risk than a shop assistant who also has limited protection, but can at least keep distance and isn't spending all day every day with the potential carriers

[Namechangeapril20]

supermarket workers have extremely clear enforced distancing

Not at all. You're leaving it up to the whim of whoever is in the shop to follow the measures, they arent being enforced. The amount of people stretching across me to grab stuff (when I'm very visibly heavily pregnant) has been ridiculous. And despite the one way systems in place, numerous people think the arrows dont apply to them. My mum works in a smaller supermarket that hasnt had the resources to install those clear visors at the tills, and doesnt have security to enforce social distancing. And if she isnt working on the till but on the shop floor, she says shes constantly swarmed by people coming up in her face asking questions, taking things off her while shes stocking shelves and coughing and spluttering all over the place. People in supermarkets are not safer, so please stop making out that they are. Social distancing measures are only useful if they're being enforced, which they are not.

I'm not teacher bashing. I do think schools need to go back, for the sake of the children. I empathise greatly with the challenges you face going ahead and I know there will be no resemblance of normalcy. I don't agree with people you're referring to suggesting you should just go back to normal with no measures in place, that's plain stupid. But you most certainly are not the only workforce facing these challenges. Shop workers (to name just one profession out of a vast many) are having to go out working in abnormal times, with a lack of normalcy in their jobs, without adequate protective PPE and amongst people who are not following social distancing measures.

[Goldenbear]

Surely, there is a consideration for the children as many of us don't want our children going back to some haphazard set up of 30 children in the class room with no ability to socially distance whatsoever.

[attackedbycritters]

Well if individual shops are not protecting their staff, please start a thread naming and shaming.

The failure of some shops to protect their staff is not a reason to therefore put more people at risk . It's a reason to raise formal complaints through the HSE

[GoddamnGodBless]

I am not sending my children back. For the good of the teachers.

Teachers should not be expected to risk their or their families' lives for the sake of other people's children.