To say if you don’t agree with the way schools are reopening de register your dc

[whenthejoyreturns]

I’m sick of reading about people moaning about school reopening, lack of social distancing etc. What do you want? DC off school for years and all the long term implications that will cause /is causing.
If you don’t like it, don’t send your dc but stop complaining.

@dreamingbohemian

I agree jacks11

People are focusing exclusively on risk, the idea seems to be that unless risk is effectively zero, you can't reopen.

But as with anything, it should be a risk-benefit analysis. The benefits of reopening are enormous. How should we think about risks relative to this?

It seems increasingly likely that a risk-benefit analysis supports reopening primary schools with some adjustments. Secondary may be different.

This is a useful point regarding risk. I'm sure schools are not 100% risk free for Covid but how many of you drive your children there? Because you and they are more likely to die on that journey than by contracting coronavirus in school. Why aren't you more worried about that? Your child is more likely to die of flu, just like every year!

[quote KeepOnKeepingOnAgainandAgain]@epythymy - the Sun newspaper is not a good source of evidence . Yes it will do the TLDR but not in an objective way. It will cherry pick and tell you what to think rather than enabling you to think for yourself. And then when you repeat it, you will appear opinionated and bigoted and unable to see other perspectives because you have nothing else.

You don't have to read medical journals to widen your thinking. Just consider what other people have read and listen to real life experiences and other opinions. [/quote]
Yes I'd never considered reading "medical journals". Only The Sun. It's absolutely, 100% where I get all of my information. Definitely don't get it from a great deal of different sources on both sides of the argument, or from my job/colleagues/lived experiences. I haven't even opened my copy of this months bjgp because it's not The Sun and I'm worried I might accidentally read a different viewpoint.

In Scotland we are back Wednesday. I’m not worried in the slightest. My area has had no new cases for weeks. The parents round here though (mainly looking at you, SIL) want 2 days a week at school and that’s it, she doesn’t work so can feel free to do so

This argument pisses me off no end.

Not everyone has the right to deregister and it can cause all manner of complications to do that.

But also, removing my child doesn’t change the fact that opening schools in the way that is being proposed increases the risk massively to the whole population, not just the ones who attend.

Yep, back Wednesday here and very happy about it. We've had 14 new cases in our area with a population of over 600,000. That's 0.0002% of the local population. Tiny risk. I am concerned about schools getting the blame for any rise in cases when all I see around me are adults flouting social distancing, having parties and packing pubs and beaches. I suppose English parents have the advantage of watching what happens in Scotland over the next few weeks.

Wow - get schools even more defunded . Great idea OP

darkwader

I’m sorry, but what?

You’re using the analogy of Chernobyl? I’ve heard it all now. Usually the race to the bottom goes like this:

“Nurses, bus drivers, shop workers have all had to carry on working. Teachers should stop being such lazy bastards and get on with it”.

But you’re using Chernobyl. Where the operating managers ended up getting 10 years in a hard labour camp for causing the accident, and thousands of workers had absolutely no bloody choice but to carry on.

By your reasoning, because thousands of Chernobyl workers under a totalitarian regime died, teachers and school children should STFU and go back to school regardless of how disrupted this makes education for the next 12 months. Rather than doing something a bit more measured.

(As an aside.....the reason they were forced to carry on was to stop further deaths in a wider community...)

Completely agree. Some of us need to go to work and can't afford to be off with our kids.

I am quite desperate for my A level dcs to get back to school, unlike (most) other schools - their school decided not to provide much in the way of educational support during lockdown - the quality of their distanced learning support was incredibly poor - not just for A level students though - the school just decided education wasn't a priority and were quite public about this in their newsletters - teachers were encouraged to prioritise their families and they did just that!
My dc have less than a year to make up for missing 4 months of teaching, I have no faith that the school will be able to improve their attitude to distanced learning in the event of another lockdown - so imo they need to get back to physical teaching - I'm just not convinced it's going to happen.

It wasn't schools who decided to not provide much, the government suspended the curriculum and educators became carers.

@dreamingbohemian there are also younger people without underlying health issues dying. Teens, primary school, in their 20's, 30's etc.

Germany's plan for opening

www.dw.com/en/german-schools-reopen-despite-coronavirus/a-54415687

German school system
www.german-way.com/history-and-culture/education/the-german-school-system/

We know that at least 2 schools have closed down.

And Switzerland, local news warnings of a second wave

www.thelocal.ch/20200618/switzerlands-coronavirus-r-rate-rises-above-1

Average global primary class size (does need updating)

www.statista.com/statistics/1078190/students-per-class-in-europe/

When I find something for secondary class sizes I will post.

@canigooutyet

It wasn't schools who decided to not provide much, the government suspended the curriculum and educators became carers.

@dreamingbohemian there are also younger people without underlying health issues dying. Teens, primary school, in their 20's, 30's etc.

Unfortunately they did not cancel A Levels or GCSEs and many schools continued to teach and support their pupils. Ours was very poor at this, putting our dcs at a disadvantage.

@canigooutyet

It wasn't schools who decided to not provide much, the government suspended the curriculum and educators became carers.

@dreamingbohemian there are also younger people without underlying health issues dying. Teens, primary school, in their 20's, 30's etc.

And according to lots teachers on here they have continued to work their normal hours - or have I misunderstood that?

I agree! Put up or shut up people.

Yes I live in Germany. My son goes to a state school here in Berlin.

They re-opened schools part time in May and June. There were no school closures that I'm aware of.

They are re-opening today, full classes, 5 hours a day. Minimal mask wearing and distancing.

Of course parents here are still concerned but there is a very strong feeling from all quarters that schools must be open.

Actually there may have been one or two brief school closures. But that's in a city of 3 million people, and I don't think there were any deaths associated.

Well enjoy your month or so at school because with the current guidance (back to school as usual) they’ll all be closed pretty swiftly when numbers start exponentially increasing. And I for one can’t wait to resurrect these threads to say I told you so. Nobody should have to go to work with no protection in a pandemic.

Numbers ramping up in my locality across the process of illness, diagnosis and admission without school's reopening. Unless there's some intervening activity enabling infection that will cease in England in September to compensate for school's reopening, let's hope the magic words '250-year group bubble' work as a substitute for administrative competence.

@NellNorth

I’ve had to remove my children from private school, due to our business collapsing. We are in a village with a very good state school, which is our only catchment school. The year groups for 2 of my children are full. I want my children to attend school, and have no money for on line tutoring. If a parent doesn’t want to send their child back to school, there must be questions asked about that child taking a place that someone else needs. Around here, private schools have lost about 15percent of their pupils- they’re not being homeschooled, they’re all trying to get into decent state schools.

I fully understand you are in a tight spot, but if you opt out of the state sector this is the risk you take.

It's not that I don't understand the predicament, but it is what it is.

I hope you get something sorted soon.

I wouldn't feel I had to immediately deregister though, because I am a state school parent and always have been.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-decontamination-in-non-healthcare-settings/covid-19-decontamination-in-non-healthcare-settings

This is the cleaning regime required.

What I disagree with is the government's refusal to see without them injecting money, schools cannot do the basic cleaning they advice.

NHS, store worker, office jobs, banks, police stations, council offices, etc all have often dedicated people to do the cleaning. Those it do it on a ad-hoc like in stores try and rely on staff.

All this cleaning equipment cannot just be left in the classrooms and toilets in schools.

Average total toilets in a secondary of say 1500 is what 30 for everyone including staff, and a handful of classrooms - art, science, cooking.

When they arrive they are supposed to line up at a safe distance and wash their hands. When they have finished break, line up and wash their hands.

Many secondary and even primary schools already have staggered lunches 11:45 - 1:45. It's the only way they can try and feed several hundred children.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#section-1-public-health-advice-to-minimise-coronavirus-covid-19-risks

Interesting read
rs-delve.github.io/reports/2020/07/24/balancing-the-risk-of-pupils-returning-to-schools.html

www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/schoolsnet/school-provision-during-covid-19-crisis/dfe-and-other-national-guidance/

Wow I am very impressed with Gloucestershire council. If you go digging on council websites you find loads of CV. stuff, some just refer you to the gov site. But Gloucestershire links to DoE and more is impressive.

Worriedmum what do you mean no-one should go to work without protection in a pandemic? You surely aren't being serious.
What protection did key workers have at the actual height of the pandemic? And I'm talking about key workers who actually had to go in to work not those who could work from home.
Interestingly our local nurseries have all been open the whole time and no-one seems to think the staff there need protecting. I only say this because people seen concerned about young children not being able to socially distance at school but no-one seems care if they can do it at nursery (and a lot of preschool classes are not much smaller than reception class). I just wonder why people in the same situation are,treated so differently.
The children will go back and perhaps the schools will close again but let's hope not. All the children I know want to go back as they're so bored.

OP, you are not the only human being on earth entitled to an opinion.