Would you send your dc back to school in September if there was no social distancing?

[wakeupitsabeautifulmorning]

I worry about how much longer dc are going to be expected to learn at home considering a lot of them aren't. However, if they're going to have to socially distance I can't really see a way forward.
YABU = No I wouldn't send them without social distancing
YANBU = Yes I would

@OverTheRainbowLiesOz

Sad to see how little people care about teachers' health. I think if this happens, those of you WFH should be expected to get back to the workplace because your lives are not more important.

Quite.

We are expected to. People are WFH because schools are off.

We’ll I’m expected to be back in the office (as opposed to wfh, which I’ve been doing) at least two days a week from Monday.

Oh and redundancies are imminent, because revenues are 75% down.

No childcare though. Thankfully childminder can take DS2 from the end of the month.

DS1 though isn’t back in school til September. And even then we’ve already been told it won’t be full time.

Doesn’t take a genius to see how this will pan out.

Some areas of work you just have to get on with it now that includes teachers and we absolutely need to. COVID could be round for years before there is a vaccine. It’s not that I don’t empathise but I have not heard one of my colleagues (work in mh) moan about having to go to work apart from when we had NO PPE we just got dealt with it and no we don’t social distance at work we can’t

Children need to get back to school they need be properly educated, that structure and to socialise and parents need to get back to work the country needs to return to some form of normality

I do think theres an issue with the fact that schools have to come up to the response to this pretty much on their own.
The NHS has done amazing things to prepare but each trust didn't work alone and they were pretty much given a blank cheque as far as I can tell.
Schools as a whole could prepare for the new normal (hate that phrase) a lot better with more support and a unified approach.
This could include building or using empty buildings, recruitment drive from those recently left the profession or about to qualify, and doing something to ensure a more consistent approach to the online material.
Because I know I have to say this so I'm not accused of calling teachers lazy or schools unhelpful, I must stress I do not expect teachers or schools to do any of this alone and without support and funding to do so.

Completely agree @Nighttimefreedom

My school has no social distancing between children within the group/bubble when they're playing. They do have separated tables and reduced equipment, own pencil pots etc but they play together. They sit at tables for many activities now and not on the carpet together. they aren't holding hands and hugging but especially when outside they are close together. This will be the case for the reception returners too.

The staff within the bubbles are not as close to the children as before. Infant school children are normally very tactile including with their teachers but that's just not happening to the same extent now. There are two adults per group and they are generally apart from one another too, though not always 2m as that's impossible all the time in a smallish room full of 10-15 children.

The bubbles don't mix though and there are no communal gatherings such as assemblies and eating together in the lunch. There's no sports and after school clubs as they would mean mixing the bubbles.

We are simply following the guidance.

I do worry somewhat for the adults involved though at the moment, but hopefully by September we will know a bit more and will have seen what works best and how we can take those and extend them further.

Every teacher and ta I know want to be back - but they all want it to be safe. We have several adults classed as vulnerable (albeit not extremely vulnerable) so we want it to be safe for all of our staff and for all of our children, not just the robust ones.

No teacher or ta I know are really enjoying doing this strange version of our job. We'd all rather be back to normal some how. I hate being at home working remotely away from my colleagues and pupils. I called in briefly this week - can't go in much as class as vulnerable - and the little 6y I've done a lot of work with in an informal basis this past two years or so was wrapped round my legs and waist within seconds of me opening the gate. All she wanted was a hug and to see me and there was no way I had the heart to tell her no. Just washed my hands and anti bac'd after and changed my clothes when I got home - just in case.

Hopefully we can be doing that to a greater extend in September. I can't really bear to think about it not being by then to be honest.

Absolutely as long as infection rates in the community remain low. I believe the risks are very low for children and young people, they are at greater risk of getting hurt or killed in a road accident travelling to or from school yet we do not choose to keep them at home.

I would like to.

It all depends on the number of infections and the rate of infection then.

I have no way of knowing what that will be in September.

Lots of people on this and other threads appear to think it's only the U.K. who closed schools and who have had or having a gradual reopening. It's not. Many many countries did this and some for much longer.

My ex colleague works in China though not Wuhan. Her year 1 and reception classes went back to school this week - some social distancing but no masks - and that was the first time they'd been to school since the end of January.

We are not unusual in closing our schools for most children in the U.K. And we haven't held children out of school for as long as some countries. Infact our children have had more freedom than the children in many countries across the world.

It's not great and we all hope it will come to an end soon, but we are not unusual in this approach and we and our children will come through this.

My sister is in Australia - they started with social distancing in her kid's schools - they lasted a week and gave it up as a bad job.

It also seems that lots of people can't understand that we didn't hit higher numbers of deaths because we were restricted in what we could do and where we could go. The must have reduced deaths greatly. It has to, by its very nature.

It's impossible to say for sure what deaths would have been without isolation and distancing. Who knows? It could have been huge numbers or it could have been lower than predictions.

@Aragog

It also seems that lots of people can't understand that we didn't hit higher numbers of deaths because we were restricted in what we could do and where we could go. The must have reduced deaths greatly. It has to, by its very nature.

It's impossible to say for sure what deaths would have been without isolation and distancing. Who knows? It could have been huge numbers or it could have been lower than predictions.

It's not that impossible - best estimates are that 10% of people have had covid.

So unchecked about 400,000 deaths. More if it was over a short enough period that the NHS becomes overwhelmed and can't treat other serious illnesses / accidents.

People are wfh because schools are off.

But that's not true for many. None of the people I know are wfh purely due to child care issues. They're all working from home as there work place is closed.

Dh is wfh because his office is closed. Dd is 18y. It's nothing to do with childcare why he's home. He is allowed in the office for 2-3 hours one afternoon a week to swap files, sort paperwork and mail, etc. He is a solicitor and classes as an essential worker due to the nature of law he specialises in. By the end of the month they hope to be on two days a week and wfh three days. They will be Covid ready by then apparently. They have rearranged office space, dry clean only clothes such as suits aren't allowed, they can't share a kettle and cups and need to take in their own, they have masks and gloves available and if seeing a client they have portable Perspex or glass desk screens to separate them. They will be practising strict social distancing or will be asked to not come into the office.

They're taking it really seriously and dh's work place is not unusual amongst our friends who work in offices.

Yes I would

Yes

I believe the risks are very low for children and young people

Other work places are putting in place PPE, social distancing and deep cleaning. Teachers are employees and deserve the same consideration for their safety. It has to be done properly and the employer has a duty of care.

Yes, in a heartbeat. This virus is risky for the older generation but not for us.

Yes

If all children are to go back in September then there will be no social distancing.
If the government deems it safe then you could potentially be accused of unauthorised absence.

Best wait and see.

Yes I'd send them back tomorrow if I could.

People are WFH because all workplaces, other than ones where it was essential that key work was carried out in site" were closed.

They would have closed even if schools had remained open

Pre-symptomatic people (including DC) can transmit COVID, and the asymptomatic can too (though less commonly than first thought)

It's nitnabout the safety of DC, but of everyone else

The shielded are already supported to remain at home entirely and indefinitely. That's not an age related group, they're those of any age -including children - who have certain medical conditions. That's the equivalent of over the entire population of NI taken out of society already.

Would all the vulnerable need to go indoors as well? So that even if DC took it home, they wouldn't be making anyone unduly ill. You'd add millions of people to the numbers who couid not be compelled to leave their homes for any reason.

That wouid lead to huge dislocation and further inequalities, and probably wouid prolong economic consequences.

Not least if DC who had a vulnerable household member from whom they could not isolate were included in the 'stay at home' category. Not least because pregnancy is considered a vulnerable time.

And what policy do you propose to put around those who are at greater risk because the disease strikes harder, and in younger people, of the BAME community?

Yes. My 3.5 year old hasn't gone back to pre school (lack of staff so only Key worker's children and vulnerable children allowed back). By September I think the lack of socialisation will have a big impact.

I doubt 400,000 people would have died by covid now If schools had remained open. I suspect schools shutting has made little difference. 10 percent of the may have antibodies but is likely many more have already been exposed to this virus and either haven’t made antibodies or just don’t get infected easily.

This has become a disgusting political football. Poor children and parents.

Depends on the infection rate by September. I think people believe covid has disappeared now for some reason and are keen and eager to return to life as usual. There were 1700 new infections yesterday and still over 200 deaths, it isn’t going anywhere.

Also, I wouldn’t necessarily worry about my primary aged DC catching it but I’m currently 8 months pregnant and I would be afraid of the newborn catching it.