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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To say I don't think schools will be back in September?

180 replies

Crockodoodle · 26/06/2020 21:13

In fact I don't think they will be fully back until Easter 2021.
I'm posting this now because I've enjoyed looking back at my Feb posts (under a different name) that predicted what was going to happen and loads of people saying I was barmy/lost the plot etc.
I've read loads of posts this week celebrating that kids will be going back in September. Gosh I do hope they are right, mine are going stir crazy and haven't learnt a thing, however I think it's all fantasy and come September it will be the same as now, keyworkers and at best the odd year group. Please vote IABU all schools will be back in Sept or IANBU most will still be at home. Then come September I will update this post and see who was right.

OP posts:
FlowersAreBeautiful · 28/06/2020 12:41

Schools will be open in September and it will be compulsory. There will be classes of 30 and no social distancing because there is no alternative. How long they will be open for, who knows. It depends if local lockdowns take place or if the whole country will be affected again. I think it would have to be very bad for Boris to close schools again though

Leodot · 28/06/2020 12:43

@Coffeekisses

Thank you 😊. I might be completely wrong about September and I’m totally prepared to be wrong. I just don’t think speculation about dates months in the future is helpful. None of us know what the academic year is going to look like but we need to prepare for it now. If schools prepare to open and can’t open then fine but if we don’t prepare at all then we definitely can’t open!

blackpoe · 28/06/2020 12:52

@FlowersAreBeautiful

Schools will be open in September and it will be compulsory. There will be classes of 30 and no social distancing because there is no alternative. How long they will be open for, who knows. It depends if local lockdowns take place or if the whole country will be affected again. I think it would have to be very bad for Boris to close schools again though
Nobody can reliably say this with any conviction, you might as well make it up.
Boulshired · 28/06/2020 13:08

I think the government will use Scotland’s earlier return as either a green light if it works or a shield to hide behind If it fails and blended learning is needed. I do not think they are going to give too much details at presents because they know the unions are going to scrutinise any proposal and they will not have the answers. I know my sons special school is just not going to have the staff, they rely on a large number of elderly members of staff, especially for school transport who are prepared to leave than put themselves at risk.

Lazypuppy · 28/06/2020 13:20

Hopefully Borris will make it law that children have to go back (he is hinting at it now).

This is a virus we are going to have to live with for a very long time, like other viruses and illnesses.

We can't keep the country in lockdown, and children need their education

ThatDamnScientist · 28/06/2020 13:30

I am hoping so much that you are wrong, I want school back, more than I have wanted anything, even 2 days a week would be fine, and I say this as a person who wipes their shopping (bit controversial on here I believe), someone who is choosing to walk 16 miles a day (that is 4 journeys) to take reception child to school rather than risk public transport but my child is suffering so much (5 and ASD), this has been hell for her and getting back will do her the world of good.

ThatDamnScientist · 28/06/2020 13:32

@Lazypuppy

Hopefully Borris will make it law that children have to go back (he is hinting at it now).

This is a virus we are going to have to live with for a very long time, like other viruses and illnesses.

We can't keep the country in lockdown, and children need their education

I still think it should be choice at present, but I do think they should be open.
YgritteSnow · 28/06/2020 14:00

Hopefully Borris will make it law that children have to go back (he is hinting at it now).

Why are people so intent on forcing other people to believe/think/behave they want them to these days? 🤷🏼‍♀️

FlowersAreBeautiful · 28/06/2020 14:00

@blackpoe
Everyone is making it up at the moment as no one knows. Even the government aren't sure are winging it

Keepdistance · 28/06/2020 14:35

Well they cant enforce attendance for the first 2w if there is still quarantine from any country in the world...

I think it would also put children of shielded parents in a position as even if shielding is stopped they arent at less risk of dying just less risk of coming into contact with it.
Putting those kids (or teachers) in with 30 kids /families etc who may be at pubs or wherever with no ppe when the parent themself can wfh doesnt seem a good idea.
Outbreaks in schools although low in numbers 20 something are rising weekly and will likely continue to.
It's not a means of protecting the individual just slowing spread.

If gov were on top of this they wouldnt need to threaten fines. We would believe they would locally lockdown,
The problem with bubbles is you take on the risk of the riskiest participants. So maybe you didnt fancy going to protests or on a plane or to the pub or cinema. And if you did you would wear a mask wash hands and stay away from people. But on the other hand others may do none of those get falling down drunk and end up in a&e.
Or other parents send ill kids in.
Which will be more likely with fines too. You can already imagine people having a dc be V and going it's not covid so ill send them in tomorrow.
When there are people like the man in soain/canaries where he got on a plane while waiting for results. Or people saying they will take a test when returning from somewhere to avoid quarantine - byt it doesnt work because you need to take it at the right point in the illness.
Will/do people comply if it means they get at most ssp for both parents for 2w.

Educationwhateducation · 28/06/2020 14:46

Well they cant enforce attendance for the first 2w if there is still quarantine from any country in the world...

Why? Common sense would tell you not to go to one of these countries at the end of August if school is due back at the beginning of September and you would be required to quarantine for 2 weeks.

Norabird · 28/06/2020 14:47

[quote cardibach]@Norabird that’ll work well for science, music, pe, art, technology and probably a few other things I haven’t thought of...
What about setting?
It’s not tenable. At secondary they have to be able to move or it’s not an education worth having. And for passing exams, Y10-13 need teachers. Remote learning is better than nothing g but won’t get people through exams.[/quote]
Apart from PE there are ways all those subjects can be taught in class. Yes it would be limiting and yes there might have to be a bit less practical hands on stuff but it could be done. As for setting, there is a lot of stuff out there that suggests mixed ability classes are better, so it may not be a disaster. It would be impossible from y 10 onwards because they all do different combinations of subjects.

Flapdoodles · 28/06/2020 15:08

I agree @Crockodoodle I don't think children will be back full time in September, particularly in secondary schools. I think for secondary school, depending on the size of the school, it will be 1 or 2 days a week for each year group.

FizzFan · 28/06/2020 15:50

So why is it OK for secondary children to be thrown under a bus? Absolute nonsense. Even if it’s about childcare, my youngest is 11 so while he can be left alone for a time it’s too young to leave a child all day several days a week so parents can work.

All children need to be back at school, in full, after what will be 6 months off. Utter nonsense that anything else is being contemplated. An absolute joke.

blackpoe · 28/06/2020 16:06

[quote FlowersAreBeautiful]@blackpoe
Everyone is making it up at the moment as no one knows. Even the government aren't sure are winging it[/quote]
Exactly. Whatever they say today will change by tomorrow. I have multiple theories for September, each one as plausible and implausible as the last.

Coffeekisses · 28/06/2020 20:55

Agree @Leodot. My philosophy is “nothing would surprise me”, if the last 3 months have taught us anything it is to expect the unexpected!

HipTightOnions · 28/06/2020 21:05

So why is it OK for secondary children to be thrown under a bus?

It’s not through spite, it’s about trying to keep people safe.

All children need to be back at school, in full, after what will be 6 months off.

While some of the children I teach do indeed seem to have taken this time off, most have not. I certainly haven’t.

Bollss · 28/06/2020 21:42

While some of the children I teach do indeed seem to have taken this time off, most have not

But presumably they've not learnt what they would have learnt in that same amount of time at school have they?

HipTightOnions · 28/06/2020 21:55

You know, the ones who have engaged well - done all the work, asked questions, responded to feedback - probably have.

Bollss · 28/06/2020 21:57

@HipTightOnions

You know, the ones who have engaged well - done all the work, asked questions, responded to feedback - probably have.
Wow. I imagine that's not a common scenario though unfortunately! Brilliant for them!
shinyredbus · 28/06/2020 21:59

My daughter and son have been back at school for weeks now 😂

shinyredbus · 28/06/2020 22:04

^^ full time as well might i add. So yeah. Yabu. And wrong in my case.

HipTightOnions · 28/06/2020 22:11

Brilliant for them!

Indeed. They’ve been great. I’d love to be able to tell them so in person.

FizzFan · 30/06/2020 12:48

It’s not through spite, it’s about trying to keep people safe.

Why is it unsafe though? 1 in several thousand with the virus and falling seems pretty good odds to me. Children need to go to school and they need to go full time. It’s as important as the health crisis now.

And the kids who haven’t logged on or engaged deserve an education as much as the ones who have.

The whole thing is nonsense. I hope one day we are embarrassed as a country at how we treated the people we need as our future to protect people who’s lives are all but over. Absolutely ridiculous.

FizzFan · 30/06/2020 12:52

I was talking to someone who is a secondary teacher who said 2/3 of her students hadn’t logged on. So it’s ok for them to not get an education now is it? Because they might have parents who don’t prioritise it and push them the way middle class ones do?

Total nonsense. Schools need to open as they were in March. Half a year of fucked up schooling is already so beyond acceptable without it going on even longer.