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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think schools should not reopen in Sept?

711 replies

SusanFrimp · 09/08/2020 14:15

I think that schools should not fully reopen in September and instead be partially reopened to some years. It is just not safe enough to reopen yet. I'd say December at the latest for full reopening. If they can't reopen other smaller places, how can they reopen schools with 1000's of kids? AIBU?

OP posts:
Oxonlady · 10/08/2020 19:21

This is just nonsense. At what point will life be safe enough for you?! We could hardly be any safer than we are currently.

ineedaholidaynow · 10/08/2020 19:22

But it does illustrate that children do get it @Parker231, even if mildly or asymptotic.

From some posters on MN who are in the US they have said schools are putting in more measures than UK schools, well in the areas they are in anyway.

ineedaholidaynow · 10/08/2020 19:24

@Oxonlady schools could be safer more safety measures were put in place in school, hand sanitiser and a few tape markings on the floor probably isn't going to cut it if someone brings the virus into school

Vinomummyinlockdown · 10/08/2020 19:27

Agree @waxonwaxoff0 👍🙏

amispeakingenglish · 10/08/2020 19:31

My daughter is a teacher and basically I might never see my Dad again because of this. She lives at home and my Dad is 87. Its senior school so teens and they will have siblings in other bubbles and schools and parents who might be travelling on the tube to work etc etc... I think the bubbles are a fake construct to try to make is sound better. No such thing in reality. So how can I ever see my Dad, and you never hear about this side of things. Teachers families.

ineedaholidaynow · 10/08/2020 19:32

@Vinomummyinlockdown DS's school is setting up webcams in their classrooms so lessons can be broadcast to pupils who can't be in for whatever reason. It is a private school and has a number of boarders from China/Hong Kong so might be targeting them more if they can't travel here, but it could be a work around for other schools (if the Government would fund it).

Thewordgame · 10/08/2020 19:43

Don’t send your child in then, keep them at home and deregister and go ahead and homeschool if you think it’s as simple as that! Children are being impacted by this in a way that you cannot even begin to imagine. What a shortsighted view you have.

Blueblue26 · 10/08/2020 19:43

My parents are in Sweden, no schools have been shut down due to covid.
England seem to be catastrising the risk

ineedaholidaynow · 10/08/2020 19:53

@Blueblue26 I saw an article about Swedish schools which showed social distancing and splitting classes in half, so open but not as normal.
www.tes.com/news/have-swedish-schools-really-carried-normal

This is sort of what teachers want in our schools.

simiisme · 10/08/2020 20:03

YABVU.
I'm a secondary school teacher & my school has come up with the best possible plan; in a nutshell, separated year groups, staggered breaks & lunches, teachers move to classes.
I wish that people who are cramming beaches (and leaving crap - literal and figurative everywhere) and filling up pubs with little regard for social distancing would think about their actions & whether they want their kids to go back to school.

Vinomummyinlockdown · 10/08/2020 20:37

@ineedaholidaynow that sounds so good! Mine are at an academy so even though we were supplied with amazing online learning during lockdown, I can’t see this happening sadly.
My family and I have adhered 100% to all rules and no going out, no seeing anyone etc etc and I feel like it’s all been for nothing because come September they’re expected to be in a class with kids who I KNOW have been on holiday all over the world, not social distancing, having sleep overs, BBQs etc so I dismay. How can I protect myself from a cauldron of THAT coming together?

SueEllenMishke · 10/08/2020 20:45

@Vinomummyinlockdown

I get the feeling that those not really affected by covid think it’s all fab. I personally know a sadly growing list of young healthy people affected and killed by covid so I’m very worried. Scares me a lot as an immune compromised person. No idea what to do about my kids and schooling now
I don't think it's all fab but I do think my child ( and other children) deserve an education and both me and DH need to work.
Loulablake · 10/08/2020 20:57

I get that your nervous, but your children are very lucky to have you as a mum. What about the children who need school for far more than an education?

ineedaholidaynow · 10/08/2020 21:00

@Loulablake and why is that down to schools to sort, why isn't society as a whole questioning why there are so many children having to rely on school being their safe place as their home life is so awful.

Loulablake · 10/08/2020 21:27

I didn’t say it was their responsibility but it is a safe place for some. That’s a very sad fact

Mummato2864 · 10/08/2020 21:54

Defo a tough one but I think kids need normality back. They have been off for long enough already and if we keep panicking about what might happen life will come to a complete halt. We need to move on this virus isn't going anywhere for a long while i don't think. Can't stay inside forever.

syskywalker · 11/08/2020 00:10

Do not minimise because some of you are willingly blind to the truth. I knows many people who have lost loved ones. At work I hey at least 2 or more accounts being reported as deceased and to put into perspective I used to get 1 every 1-3months before lockdown and I am not the only one working those accounts.

And you also seem to have missed that many a teacher has died during lockdown. There were less children I school so better restrictions in place yet they died but of course it wasn’t published widely enough for people to pay notice.

It is unreasonable to send kids back to school just when you’re heading into Flu season. This Virus is gonna mutate something fierce if people are not careful.

And the government’s decision is unsafe.
It’s purely political by their own admission not influenced by science at all as those cretins think they are above science.

All scientists with actual knowledge about the issue say everything they have done is wrong.

Parker231 · 11/08/2020 07:10

@syskywalker - what do you think should happen? When should the schools reopen? How are children to get their education?

LaurieMarlow · 11/08/2020 07:21

It is unreasonable to send kids back to school just when you’re heading into Flu season.

So they don’t go back til spring? No education for basically a year?

Ffs this is ridiculous. I wonder how teachers would feel if food production staff and rubbish collectors decided they should be facilitated to not do their jobs properly for a year.

echt · 11/08/2020 07:29

Ffs this is ridiculous. I wonder how teachers would feel if food production staff and rubbish collectors decided they should be facilitated to not do their jobs properly for a year

You analogy certainly is, and that is not what syskywalker has proposed. And do stop saying "teachers...." when it is the POV of one person.

LaurieMarlow · 11/08/2020 07:33

and that is not what syskywalker has proposed.

What exactly is being proposed then? Flu season lasts the winter, no?

FlySheMust · 11/08/2020 07:37

The Times has an interesting article

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/older-pupils-spread-virus-like-adults-5ts6jr2pp

Underhisi · 11/08/2020 07:54

"why isn't society as a whole questioning why there are so many children having to rely on school being their safe place as their home life is so awful."

Children can need to be in school for reasons other than their home life is so awful.

Society should be questioning the lack support given generally to some of the most vulnerable children and their families.

starlight13 · 11/08/2020 08:02

Children have been protecting the vunerable by not attending school. We should be respecting children for what they have done as most are desperate to go back to school. They are amazing for having dome this for the past 6 months.
If anyone still feels worried then they themselves should shield, not the millions of children.
This/these type of viruses are never going to go away, we have to learn to live with them.
Most schools have implemented staggered starts and finishes. Year groups in on different days would not work for parents who need to actually work.

talkingkrustydoll · 11/08/2020 08:10

@Orchidsindoors

Why does everyone presume the mental health of kids is damaged. Mine and most I know, are perfectly happy and loved having time off school. Lockdown pretty much ended ages ago and most have seen their friends already (socially distanced), if not constantly online with them throughout lockdown. Just not sure why it's almost presumed most kids are suffering mentally. They arent. Not at all.
My dd 15 has had a breakdown during lockdown and been diagnosed with anorexia which they think was mainly caused by lockdown. In the hospital staff were saying the number of children with mental health problems being admitted had gone through the roof since lockdown. So it clearly is affecting children's mental health. Not all of them but more than before.