Do people think schools will have to close again

[louise4745]

Jut curious.

PS it is a large primary with 2 classes per year group so easily hundreds of stupid parents at the gates waiting until the 9 am but there at 8.30 onwards!

School my ds goes to, I reckon will close before half term.
Secondary, no social distancing, over 300 pupils per bubble and several teachers who will be mixing bubbles. They have no space to put hand wash stations outside classrooms, not all floors have toilets, and only specific classes have sinks. Windows are the hotel standard don't open that much. Classroom doors to remain closed as they are all fire doors.

Things like lunch and assemblies to be done in their year groups.

PE cancelled because the off-site facility they use isn't fully open. One suggestion for this is they all stand outside and get changed which teens aren't happy to do.

Individually and locally, yes, nationally, no
I don't think it would be fair to anyone to nationally shut everything again because we have twins with residents completely ignoring the restrictions and police who are too inept to step up and put fines and sanctions in place.
Our area has had 4 new cases this week. The week before we had 2. Why should we suffer again when clearly we are taking heed of advice?
I do believe though that towns shouldn't be put on a "area of concern" watch list. Lock them down with full restrictions straight away. The town next to us was at one point an area of concern but many travel for work in our area from there and I felt as did many others that they would spread it whilst the government sat and twiddled it's thumbs until they were locked down. All travel should be restricted at the point they are an area of concern or rise, to keep it contained.

WALKING2 at our large primary they have staggered the drops off times between year groups and asked parents to leave the premises between drop offs of siblings. This has created a big crowd round the gates as there's not enough time (between 10&20 minutes) to go home again between drop offs. Also means more parents passing each other e.g. a parent with 3 children is supposed to go in and out 3 times rather than enter the premises once to drop off siblings and exit promptly

@MJMG2015

I do agree that parents need to take some responsibility though.

Not organising play dates
Not doing sleep overs
Not letting their teenagers out, hanging around with their mates
Not having big meet ups with friends/family Inside (or even
Outside really)

Social distancing & hand washing

Not just blowing it off because schools are back & deaths are currently low.

If they are in the same class then why not?

Parents/guardians need to start taking responsibility and not send in their sick children. To make sure their contact numbers are updated and people are around to collect their children. To not leave it hours before someone can collect their child.

More about isolation for - cold, flu, chicken pox and more

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/infections/how-long-is-someone-infectious-after-a-viral-infection/

There might be local-style lockdowns of schools, either because of a local outbreak or pupils/staff testing positive, but I think the Government would be very wary of a mass shutdown again - and if they do shut them all down, they'd better shut the pubs and restaurants first!

Just popping up to say that anecdotes about individual school closures & confirmed cases within schools need to be seen in statistical context.....there are THIRTY TWO THOUSAND schools in the UK. I really wish our over-excitable media was capable of that kind of statistical context.

I'm in Bolton with two kids in school as we have the highest rates of infection in the country I'm anticipating it's only a matter of time before schools have to close.

School closures need to be last on the list. Stop flights, pubs, cinemas, restaurants. These are not necessary in the grand scheme of things

PE cancelled because the off-site facility they use isn't fully open. One suggestion for this is they all stand outside and get changed which teens aren't happy to do.

All the secondary schools I know are telling pupils to arrive and leave in PE kit so they don't have to change. It could be smelly but I suppose we'll see.

@mrpumblechook

PE cancelled because the off-site facility they use isn't fully open. One suggestion for this is they all stand outside and get changed which teens aren't happy to do.

All the secondary schools I know are telling pupils to arrive and leave in PE kit so they don't have to change. It could be smelly but I suppose we'll see.

That's not an option unfortunately. Even though the windows barely open, the classrooms are often cold, and usually from October even teaching staff have on coats, loads of layers or whatever. It's an old building and the more the school budgets get cut, the less works they can do.

THey will probably sort something out within the next few weeks as I cannot see pupils/parents will be happy with this long term.

A scary number of bars, salons, restaurants and schools in my area have reported cases and closed just in the last 24 hours so I really don't know now. Before I was sure it wouldn't happen.

Honestly no, I don’t think so. I do think the infection rates & death rates will rise again, but I don’t think schools will close again on mass.

Similarly, I think hospitals will see more cases again but I don’t think operations, clinics & other treatments (such as cancer treatments) will stop again. It can’t afford to. Lives have already been lost due to delayed diagnosis, treatment etc. Whatever Covid throws at us this winter it is not the only illness.

I think blanket school closure as we had back in March will be an absolute last resort. It's relatively easy to close, but bloody hard (as we have all seen) to re-open 'safely' to everyone's satisfaction.
But for now, it will be 'whack-a-mole,' with affected year groups closing for isolation if there are proven cases. This might be more widespread across a school with sibling spread, or if numerous staff members go off sick and there is no back-up.
My prediction is, that as time goes on, they might stop routinely shutting down year groups and just say that anyone testing positive must stay off and everyone else takes their chances.

The school is Samuel ward. Suffolk. CB9 postcode

@MJMG2015

@CoffeeRunner Unfortunately, clinics and treatments haven't fully opened yet.

Apparently 62 schools already have pupils and staff in isolation

www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/coronavirus-uk-covid-19-confirmed-4490952

Haverhill. @ElizabethMainwaring

yes.
and our schools have published a contingency plan for online learning when this happens.

@canigooutyet no, I know. But they are starting too. At least at the hospital where I work. The oncology outpatient service has recently returned to us having been relocated to another hospital within the trust in March, and other outpatient clinics are starting up slowly. Day case surgery has also restarted. But the backlogs & sad cases of patients literally dying on the waiting list (or dying earlier than they otherwise might have as they were too poorly to make the 50 mile round trip to the other hospital for chemo) are why I’m saying I can’t see how these services can just stop again.

@CoffeeRunner I still in shock that all those other places have reopened, but these health services who knows when they will reopen.

Do we know how many schools have been impacted till now?

I suppose the reality is, if we want schools to have any chance at all of staying open, we should all act as though we have the virus. That means wearing a face mask when outside in crowded areas (school drop offs for example); face masks at absolutely every opportunity indoors unless we are in our own homes; hand washing and sanitising continuously during the day; curriculums in schools need to be changed to exclude activities such as PE, drama and music activities that involve singing or playing wind instruments; no physical contact whatsoever with people who are not in our household (watch a soccer or rugby match and you’ll see the players high fiving/hugging; managers and trainers shaking hands, etc) and still keeping our social contacts as low as possible. But a lot of people aren’t prepared to do all of this unfortunately. All of these precautions are surely preferable to having to shut schools, restaurants, pubs and gyms, etc.

I'm very much of the opinion that when the deaths start rising again to ask 'shielders' and people over 70 to self isolate again for a while.

Let everyone else crack on and get it and then we can just live life again.

There is a reason deaths are low at the moment - because it's predominantly under 40's getting infected. Most people don't even realise they have got it.

This illness is not going away. The vaccine will provide protection like the flu jab but won't eradicate it, it will just provide some protection to those that need it most. I half expect when it comes out healthy young people won't even qualify to get the vaccine.

Might get flamed for this opinion but I'm not really bothered to be honest. It's now I feel.

I think they will likely close by default - eg lack of staff due to illness or needing to isolate.

I think the government will do anything and everything they can to avoid another national lockdown, so no, I don't think schools will close again.

Even in the areas with local lockdowns (Bolton, Oldham, etc), those schools have gone back.

I would expect that schools with outbreaks might be temporarily closed, if the outbreak affects more than one year-group bubble, but I'd expect it to be for two weeks or so only.

It has been such a job to get schools back that I don't think there will be another closure like this year, particularly if hospitals continue to be empty of Covid cases and deaths remain low. After all, the lockdown wasn't to prevent the spread last time, it was to protect the NHS. If the NHS is coping fine then there is no reason to close schools.