@CallmeAngelina
Obviously I can’t say it’s 100% safe, absolutely no-one can, we’ve never faced this before and we just don’t know. You’ve obviously decided you think I’m wrong and idiotic with your “is it because Boris told you” comment. I’m not interested in changing your mind or arguing with you. I’m simply saying what I think the government will do and why I support it.
We’ve been going in with keyworker children since lockdown began. At least with the bubbles, it’s the same adult and same children every day. It wasn’t for key workers children as we were on a rota (as were most schools) so it was multiple adults mixing within the same groups of kids over the space of a week. Group sizes were much larger than bubbles are now, as the bubble of 15 guidance didn’t exist at the start of lockdown. There hasn’t been a single case of a child catching it at my school and I think only a handful of schools across the country have actually had to shut because of a confirmed outbreak. A couple of members of staff have had it but they could have caught it anywhere. A lot of us still have spouses or adult children that live at home and have been working throughout and most of us have had to leave the house for food shopping at some point, so the virus could have been transmitted anywhere. I don’t see how the risk of infection is much higher than other jobs and it’s a lot less than the NHS workers who are actively dealing with positive patients. We just kept very good hygiene and tried to social distance as much as possible with the older ones and just kept hand washing and cleaning with the younger ones, for whom socially distancing is virtually impossible.
We have now been back in our bubbles for a month, with close to 150 children from different year groups and virtually all staff. Again, everyone is absolutely fine. Of course I can’t guarantee that they will all stay fine but I think it’s a positive indicator for a wider opening in September. We have to try to get our children back into school. Like I said in my earlier post, restricting mass gatherings in schools like assembly and lunchtimes is probably sensible for the autumn term (maybe longer) and continuing with staggered starts and finishes as it reduces unnecessary parental contact at the gates but I think children need to be back in school.
Education is a social construct. What they know isn’t necessarily that important as it’s humans who dictate which body of knowledge children should acquire by what age. That can be adapted. The curriculum is constantly being adapted! In the last 8 years I’ve seen two new curriculums; EYFS in 2012 and KS1 and KS2 in 2014. The reception baseline assessment and new EYFS curriculum are apparently coming in in 2021 now instead of this September. My point is that education is constantly changing. What is irreplaceable though is the sense of routine and comfort children get from school, the social interactions and opportunities for them to develop their social skills, and the chance for schools to support families and their children. School is more than just textbook learning. It’s an institution that helps to raise and nurture children alongside their parents. I’ve seen how my children have clearly found it challenging being away even though I know some of those parents have been brilliant at doing all the weekly work we send home and have been making this as positive an experience as it can be. Even though we’ve been having phone calls and email conversations with families, it’s not the same. The children whose parents have been unable to do the work with them or who I know have stressful home lives have really regressed. We need our children back in school and at this moment in time, I don’t think the threat posed from corona is enough to justify keeping them off. Obviously I’m prepared to eat my words if everything goes totally tits up in a few weeks but I don’t know for certain if it will and neither do you. I understand people’s anxieties. Initially I felt the same but now that I’m back working full time I’m not anxious. I think it’s a big mindset shift. People need to learn how to leave the house and start interacting with others again as most of us have had the fear of god put into us by this awful virus and we need to slowly start releasing that fear and re-entering society. Some of us that are working and have been working for months, are further into that journey than others.