to feel beyond annoyed every time someone says 'schools have never been closed'

[thisisthebestoftimes]

Because to the vast majority of children they have been. I feel it completely dismisses how serious this is for most dc and their families. Schools may have been open to 15 or so keyworker dc throughout this, and now to a couple of years worth of dc in years which seem completely illogical (except for the few hours years 10 and 12s have been afforded which is essential).

I understand what you mean op. But for me 'school' has now become my study or conservatory. I've just swapped my classroom for rooms at home. It's not ideal and intrusive.

@SomeoneElseEntirelyNow

I think though that the majority of "the schools have never been closed" comments are in response to the disgustingly huge number of people who seem to believe that all school staff have just gone off on a jolly. Saying that schools are closed implies that staff haven't been working, which is very very far from the truth. Even if the buildings have been closed, the schools themselves have still been running.

Exactly this!

But it's true that that schools have never been closed, even over the Easter holiday, bank holidays and half term.

They have been open for the children of key workers and now other year groups. If the school premises that the key worker children go to is closed, they are offered a place at another school in a local hub.

However irritating and difficult your individual experience is, it remains true that schools never shut up shop like opticians, dentists, restaurants etc did.

The national curriculum was suspended, public exams were cancelled, national directives around lock down were implemented, but schools themselves were never completely closed.

Saying that most children won't have been inside a classroom for 6 months come September is a different matter, and that it true due to the global pandemic.

Totally agree. To the vast majority they remain closed. Including thevtear groups that supposedly returned.

They have been open. In Ireland they shut all of them on 12th March at 6pm along with all crèches and other childcare facilities. And what's worse is they are all still closed and will be until the last week in August. Some creches are reopening on 29th June for children of health care workers etc.

My point is that, in general, schools have been closed to most dc so to say schools have never been closed is not accurate for most families.

But conversely, you can see that the statement ‘schools have never been closed’ is true for most schools. They haven’t. Ours has been open every day, through the holidays and weekends.

You are annoyed about the wrong statement.

It’s usually said at the same time that someone is being critical of teachers. Everyone knows the majority of children haven’t been at school, but the same number of people don’t seem to know that teachers have been working throughout lockdown.

And school has been open, whether the majority of children have been in or not.

YANBU.

My local schools have been closed. Shut. Empty. No staff. 4 or 5 local primaries were merged into one central hub school which remained open for key worker children ONLY - and only for children where both parents were key workers, or in single parent families with one keyworker.

Teachers may have been working but schools have most certainly not "been open".

Has anyone actually said the schools haven't been closed?

Technically they haven't, but they have been closed to the majority of children for quote some time now.

Oh look more teacher bashing thinly veiled as something else

Actual fact: most schools never closed.

Get over it.

Hollyhobbi have no schools or nurseries been open to health care and other key workers since 16 March in Ireland?

@GabriellaMontezThe issue is there is so much variation from school to school. At the primary where I work we have opened full time to the year groups in the government guidance teaching proper lessons to address gaps in learning including key worker children who are also expected to attend full time. We can offer these full time spaces as the school is a large, modern primary with very few shielding staff. This may not be the case for a small school in an old building with several people shielding.

I appreciate that the school is still shut to other year groups and it is frustrating for those families to hear that school is open. If the government had consulted properly with the education sector before releasing guidance for reopening I think a lot of primaries would have tried to get all year groups back this half term but it would need to be part time attendance to accommodate the bubbles of 15.

The physical building might have been closed, but as a teacher on part time hours I’ve worked way over and above my usual hours (for no extra pay).

Yes. The buildings might have been open, and the staff might have been there, but “school” was closed. It was childcare only.
You wouldn’t say the a school who runs a holiday club is open all summer, staffed by teachers or not. Same now.

Most schools am have remained open.

Just not to the majority of children. They have been open though.

Oh for pities sake! The school where I am Chair of Governors has been open everyday with the exception of weekends and including holidays to key worker children. Other staff have been delivering online lessons together with paper lessons for parents without access to the internet. The SLT have been calling our at risk children and families either daily, weekly or fortnightly. I won't even talk about the joys of the voucher system.

Yes, there are staff who are not in school but that has been for good and valid reasons. Initially we only had staff in school who did not use public transport to lessen the risk. Our duty of care extends beyond the children in our care.

I wonder how many of you would have coped with the changing landscape in the week before Half term with 42 pronouncements from the DfE at all times of the day and night, including nine on the Friday. None of the documents had track changes so we had to physically review paper copies to see what was changed. However the coup de grace was the guidance for EYFS released on the Bank Holiday Sunday at lunchtime.

Yes, the schools have been open, but despite what some of you seem to think the staff have not been sat in the staff room having a high old time working out ways to keep your children at home. FFS, some of you need to catch a hold yourselves and realise that schools are trying to do their best with both hands tied behind their backs and no cash in the budget to buy a pair of scissors.

Some schools remained open, even with the building closed. To me, school is about educating children, not about a building being open. Our school was very much open (full online curriculum), with the building closed (no children with 2 keyworker parents). Others had the building open, but “school” closed. Or both. Or neither.

I'm not remotely criticising teachers but DD's school is closed to year 6. They plan to open for yr 6 for one day in
Mid July so they all get to say goodbye

Most of mine in the area have been closed, I know of 1that was a hub school. My youngest is a sen pupil and I've had little support for him, they did offer him 6 hours spaced over 3 days in 3 weeks but it's not worth the stress for him for 6 hours. All I've had is 2 phone calls since March to see how we are doing. I'm not pointing fingers at teachers can I just add. But one thing I've seen that the amount of support and help varies so much in different areas.

In our area, 7 schools, 6 closed, one open as a hub for keyworkers.

OMFG yes. We had a letter from the head teacher saying they were unable to RE-OPEN the school as it had never been closed. He put it in block capitals and underlined it.

@TabbyMumz

In our area, 7 schools, 6 closed, one open as a hub for keyworkers.

Same here. Appreciate staff are still working, I have no complaints about the teachers at all, but yes most of our local schools have indeed been closed.

Oh here we go again. More teacher bashing. New MN favourite pastime.

YANBU. Really annoying

Agree op. It’s very annoying to hear the same crap over and over again. Other examples include:

‘You can go home at 3.30’
‘You get 13 weeks paid holiday a year’
‘Lucky you, you haven’t had to work since March’