To think the idea that schools won’t be back full time by September is an absolute disgrace?

[LovingLivingInLockdown]

The government and teaching unions need to pull their fingers out. There should be no excuses.

The effects of 6 months out of school is going to be damaging enough, both educationally and mentally for hundreds of thousands of children. Not to mention the unnoticed abuse and neglect.

Teachers should be wearing PPE with spit screens if they are vulnerable and this should be being organised now. Temporary classrooms should be being built in playgrounds and school fields. Random testing routines in all schools should be being devised as well as guidelines regarding children’s contact with others outside of school and home. Whatever it takes, it must be done.

Our society expects parents to work while their DC are at school and if they want to get the economy moving again, schools being back by September should be non negotiable surely?

I can't see my mum inside her house yet it is OK for me to teach a class of 30 children inside?

The government guidelines are to meet people outside at a distance of 2m and to work from home if you can. Even those working in Sainsbury's et al have to keep SD of 2m. They are limiting the number of people in the shop.

Therefore schools are the same. 2m social distancing. As much time as outside as you can (I spent last week freezing because all of the doors and windows are open for ventilation). We have time slots for the toilets, break and lunch. Even for the photocopier. I have to antibac the children's tables at break and lunchtime. A TA is cleaning the toilets after each use. We have to clean the toilet after we use it. I can only enter /exit school a certain way. I can't use the staff room.

Until the SD rules are relaxed schools can't have as many pupils in or operate as normal.

A bit like supermarkets.

I haven't heard people moan about reduced hours the banks are doing.
Or
Lack of takeaways.
Or
The fact that people who work in Next, WHSmith, the independent clothes and gift shops are doing fuck all.

Just how shit schools are. If they are that shit, home school. Or here's an idea... Maybe it is your children's school that needs to be contacted and asked why no work is being set or online lessons being done. Then you may get an answer which helps you. But then, you will also be marked...

Our parents are desperate for the children to go back. We are reopening tomorrow for Year 2 and one other KS2 class on top of Year 6 on a rotation. If that works OK, then the week after we will add in another year group and then in the final week of term (for us) we will see if we can add another. We've scrapped lunches and assemblies, and had to be creative in what rooms we use as some are too small for desks to be separate. Those not willing to send in are either shielding, or have family shielding, or have relatives in China/disagree with the government approach to Covid-19. This final group went into lockdown earlier than everyone else too, before schools were told to close.

@LaurieMarlow

The kids will not be able to understand what you are saying with a mask on your face.

Visors strike me as a much better option for schools.

These all cost money. The government won’t fund them. I don’t have access to a visor myself. If they won’t FUND the hospital I doubt they will fund a SCHOOL.

Also you wear a mask and a visor TOGETHER. If somebody with COVID coughs you need to wear BOTH!

The 2m rule will be removed
The infection rate will be at zero or close to that by the autumn

Schools will reopen full time from September, and if and when there is a second wave, schools can expect zero support for a school closure, because no parent or politician in their right mind would support a call for school closure ever again after this!

I dont want my kids back at school till it's much safer. I dont understand why so many parents seem to want to put their kids at risk

"When, in your opinion, will this be then? Are you waiting for the vaccine? Meanwhile, their peers at school whose parents have realised that the risk to their children is tiny, steam ahead in their education??"
I think life comes before education. I dont know when it will be safe enough, but its certainly not now, and not the end of June, and at this point, I'm worried about September. I think a lot of people think bad things wont happen to them, but they do. Bad things happen to anyone and I just dont want to put my kids at risk. And I don't want them to bring it home either. Theyve only missed a few months, and a lot of what they do at school isnt that necessary, so I think they will easily catch up with what they need to. (I'm talking high school).

I haven't heard people moan about reduced hours the banks are doing.

Because that isn’t affecting people adversely.

Schools not delivering means my child’s education and well being is suffering. I’m also increasingly at risk of losing my job as we’re expected back in the office and redundancies are on the horizon.

What about the schools where there literally is no space to accommodate any social distancing? Our two tiny village schools are overcrowded at normal times. The only option to allow any social distancing would be part time attendance.

I feel like the gov should have been honest from the outset. Ireland said right at the start, when schools closed it would likely be until Sep, unlike the extreme uncertainty we have had in the uk, where we hear a different plan every week. The lack of longer term planning in the UK is appalling.

What was the headline the other day ..... there is more chance of a child dying through being struck by lightning than from coronavirus?

These all cost money. The government won’t fund them. I don’t have access to a visor myself. If they won’t FUND the hospital I doubt they will fund a SCHOOL.

If I was a teacher, I’d fund a visor myself so I could get on and actually do my job, that I’m paid for.

We’re all different though.

Maths question op- 1 If your school has over 3000 pupils and those pupils have to now be 2m apart, what additional surface area of room is required?

An extension activity op:

1. Given the additional surface area what is the additional cost ?

because no parent or politician in their right mind would support a call for school closure ever again after this!

There’s truth in this.

kokeshi123 is the voice of reason here. Flu is more deadly to children than covid I believe 12 or 13 children died last year and they spread it in a way that they don’t appear to spread . No one suggests shutting schools every year for a month or two over Christmas as we are used to the risk. Covid is a novel virus, it isn’t disappearing, there is no vaccine and we have to get used to the idea that we can’t shut schools until it is safe. There is no such thing as completely safe in life anyway.

a lot of what they do at school isn't that necessary
Jesus.

What about the schools where there literally is no space to accommodate any social distancing

Then they go back without social distancing.

I haven't heard people moan about reduced hours the banks are doing.
Or
Lack of takeaways.
Or
The fact that people who work in Next, WHSmith, the independent clothes and gift shops are doing fuck all.

I haven't heard that the lack of any of these facilities presents a significant risk to the educational and mental well being of a generation of children. A pretty disingenuous comparison!

"Ffs. Anyone with a functioning brain can analyse the statistics and see children aren't at high risk."
So how come the science arent advising Governnent to open them then? Do you know more than top scientists?

I think life comes before education. I dont know when it will be safe enough

Children die in road traffic accidents on their way to school. Many teenagers have been the victims of knife crime. If we stopped children from ever going to school or even leaving their house, that would stop all the deaths from knife crime and traffic accidents.

Do you think that's a good idea? I mean lives are all the matters right?

Do you want extreme sports banned or cars?

It's pretty short sighted to say that lives are more important than anything else. We balance risk all the time.

But yeah, better safe than sorry hun

I dont want my kids back at school till it's much safer.

What does that even mean?

Health sector has risen to the challenge by:
Constructing addition field hospitals in short amounts of time (I work in aid, so I know what this takes)

Massive investment from central govt - and also, the staffing of these hospitals was never sorted.

Compressing years of vaccine development work into months

Massive investment from central govt.

Recruiting former staff to come back and support

See the union document I posted. That’s a suggestion they have made for when reopening is wider.

Adapting provision internally within hospitals to ‘Covid free’ and ‘Covid affected’
GP appointments remotely

Yep. School buildings are being changed/adapted as are teaching methods in order to be Covid safe.

Etc etc etc

You mean, closing for all but essential cases and covid? Rightly so; reopening only as cases have dropped? Warning that if cases rise, they’ll have to close back down?

Hmmm sounds familiar.

They have been pragmatic and done what they can within the limitations they have

Indeed. Education and Health have much in common.

Not seeing the same willingness in education - quite the contrary in fact
This is divisive bullishit.

And Govt’s performance has been shameful Where is the plan??

Agreed.

jas

www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/scientists-predict-exact-date-coronavirus-18296432

*I don't think we will end up with a lack of teachers. I suspect on the contrary we will find more people going into the profession. There is going to be an absolute tsunami of job losses soon. Mass unemployment. Maybe that will be to the education sector's benefit.

Actually I totally agree with this.

What’s coming will be far far worse from an unemployment POV than anything we’ve seen before. Teachings security will be very attractive to many and recent grads will have little else to tempt them out there.*

The problem is unless you really want to do the job you won't last. 40% now don't! Research now tells us it takes 10yrs to really become great in your profession. Many new teachers have gone by that point. The effect on teaching standards is huge as it ends up full of inexperienced staff making mistakes old hands won't.

I've don't grad jobs, worked in The City. Teaching always was my calling but teacher parents put me off until later. It's not a job you can do unless you put some heart and soul in. The "it'll do, it's just a job" teachers......are they going to be the ones going the extra mile?

We need teaching to be respected. We need to not be spoken about as lazy layabouts by government and people on here. It's a catastrophic waste of money and time training people who don't stay in the job.

Only then we might get enough people choosing to join and staying long enough.

people seriously need to get real. "When it's safer" - newsflash, it isn't getting any safer. This virus is here to stay and we need to learn to accept the risk of living with it.

I’ve popped up on teacher threads before and urged those amongst you who are dissatisfied to overthrow the education system. Dismantle state education (it doesn’t work). As many of you feel teachers and support staff are lazy snowflakes, who are stupid and feckless and easy to replace, please campaign to do so.

I’ve been a teacher for 18 years. My mum was a teacher. My sister is a teacher. You could say it was our family trade. I grew up knowing I wanted to teach. I admired my teachers so much.

I went to a very good university and got a first class degree. I trained to be a teacher. I’m sure there are plenty of you sitting there saying teacher training is a piece of piss and only for the stupid and pointless, but I found it extremely hard. I have put in hours and hours of effort to support my learners, my kids as I see them. I’ve been to court to support kids, sat in TAC meetings, spent time after school on 1:1 support, I gave up every lunch break for kids who felt vulnerable, I spent hours and hours planning and creating the best lessons I could. I plugged resource gaps - lack of books, no paper, no pens- with my own money. I loved my subject and I loved teaching. I really, really cared. I taught the way I would want my son taught.

I’m honestly sick to the back teeth of these threads. I can promise you, no-one wants schools to reopen more than teachers do.

The state education system has been decimated over the last 15 years. Huge cuts have been made, class sizes have been increased, staff numbers have decreased. In my school, a number of the classrooms had leaking windows, the limited number of computers we had were vastly out of date. We went through old exercise books to scavenge lined paper.

Teachers did not do this. Teachers do not want this.

I see maybe 3 or 4 of these threads a week, where posters shoe horn the old ‘2 teachers live on my street and they’re just smoking crystal meth and masturbating all day so all teachers must be doing that’ in. I’m really saddens and depressed that people see teaching with such little value and cannot understand that it is the GOVERNMENT short changing your children. They have done for YEARS and you have done NOTHING. We have been the dam holding back the wave of excrement that is the effect of government cuts to education.

There may be some mediocre teachers out there, the same way there are mediocre doctors, but I promise you most went into the profession because they are/were passionate. I was passionate.

But this shit just brings all my resentment, disappointment and frustration at the system to a head. Fuck caring about your kids. You deal with it.

I think life comes before education. I dont know when it will be safe enough, but its certainly not now, and not the end of June, and at this point, I'm worried about September. I think a lot of people think bad things wont happen to them, but they do. Bad things happen to anyone and I just dont want to put my kids at risk. And I don't want them to bring it home either. Theyve only missed a few months, and a lot of what they do at school isnt that necessary, so I think they will easily catch up with what they need to. (I'm talking high school)

That is entirely your prerogative, of course.

But how far do you take the ‘life before education’ thing? Do you avoid doing absolutely anything that is even remotely risky? Because where does it end? Not walking down your stairs? Not crossing the street? If you yourself are medically vulnerable then I understand your point.

But Covid-19 is so dangerous precisely because it is such a mild disease for most people.

@Findingapath

What about the schools where there literally is no space to accommodate any social distancing? Our two tiny village schools are overcrowded at normal times. The only option to allow any social distancing would be part time attendance.

I feel like the gov should have been honest from the outset. Ireland said right at the start, when schools closed it would likely be until Sep, unlike the extreme uncertainty we have had in the uk, where we hear a different plan every week. The lack of longer term planning in the UK is appalling.

You’ve made a good point it’s time the government were honest

Everybody would like different things to happen come September. The government need to tell parents that Social distancing is not going to happen at full capacity and then we can resume some sort of normality.