The government have fucked up the re-opening of schools

[noblegiraffe]

They have, haven't they?

Back in June their five tests for reopening schools were:

First we must protect the NHS’s ability to cope, and be sure that it can continue to provide critical care and specialist treatment right across the whole of the United Kingdom.

Second, we need to see daily death rates from coronavirus coming down.

Third, we need to have reliable data that shows the rate of infection is decreasing to manageable levels.

Four, we need to be confident that testing capacity and PPE is being managed, with supply able to meet, not just today’s demand, but future demand.

And fifth, and perhaps most crucially, we need to be confident that any changes we do make will not risk a second peak of infections.

I'm pretty sure I know the reason for not reminding people of those five tests this time round, but particularly test 4 - capacity within the testing system.

I was listening to the radio today about how the lack of testing is damaging the NHS's capacity to reopen services as nurses with symptoms cannot get tests and therefore cannot return to work. The same goes for schools - if teachers cannot get tests, either for themselves or for family members with symptoms, then they cannot go to work. This has been the case even with priority referrals.

There also seems to be utter chaos around who gets sent home when there is a positive test. Some schools are sending home a year group, others close contacts. Teachers often have no idea if they'll be sent home if one of their pupils tests positive.

But surely the government are tracking cases in schools carefully? No, it turns out they're not even storing that data. schoolsweek.co.uk/its-official-dfe-doesnt-know-how-many-schools-have-covid-cases

And a survey suggests that covid protection measures in some schools are poor. www.tes.com/news/third-teachers-lack-soap-and-water-school

So with an abysmal test and trace system, less than adequate measures to prevent the spread, and a department that isn't on top of its brief we can expect more disruption to come.

Even if your own kids' school is fine so far, parents really shouldn't be happy with this state of affairs, particularly the lack of testing capacity that will mean children will be out of school or missing a teacher unnecessarily.

YABU: The government have done a sterling job
YANBU: The government have not done a sterling job

@DoubleDolphin

Nurses get tests at separate venues to the general public, so they will always be able to get tests.

There were hospitals on the radio this morning saying that staff were unable to get tests, which was limiting their ability to work as normal.

Yup.

It's an ocean-going, fur-lined fuckup of epic proportions.

One child having to self isolate, several positive staff (inc one pregnant staff member) at DC's school, massive disruption.

In my own school, one class off due to a positive and it feels like children are dropping like flies.

Birmingham so a hotspot. Not now allowed to see my family / friends but have to mix with 30+ households every day at work.

I drive past a test centre - one you can walk in. At 7:30am, the queue was already half a mile long. And if people hadn't actually got COVID, I reckon standing near someone that does for hours is probably an excellent way to get it.

Fucking ridiculous. I blame the utter incompetence of the Government and it's useless handling of the testing situation 100%.

"There were hospitals on the radio this morning saying that staff were unable to get tests, which was limiting their ability to work as normal."

That crazy when most hospitals have separate testing centres for hospital staff and local govt staff alone, that the general public cant use. They are run by the nhs.

YANBU. It's a fucking omnishambles.

I want schools to remain open to all, I want to "crack on" as one PP put it, I want the economy to improve, but in order for that to happen the testing system needs to work efficiently.

It works in other countries, like clockwork. 100% of tests back in 24 hours and no availability issues.

The people who are blaming those with colds for the problem, saying they are taking tests unnecessarily - how fucking dare you. The people managing this shit show should have built an element of overcautious behaviour into their modelling. The govt boasted of their world beating testing capacity. They lied. They fiddled the figures earlier in the summer so they could claim they hit their 200k target. It was all spin.

The problem lies squarely with the Govt and their private sector, corrupt, didn't-even-fill-in-a-tender Randox mates.

Hope this comes to bite them all on the arse.

UK did not get hit early. In Asia schools were going back in May. Plenty of time.

I am very much enjoying all the metaphors on this thread.

@MarshaBradyo you quoted my whole post but appear to have only read the top half.

I said, I do not want schools to close, we need better testing.

@Mumratheevergiving
Please explain this absolute mess Dido?

She's very busy preparing for her new role as the head of our new public health body. She really earned the role after her huge success with testing and tracing. Oh... wait...

Shit...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54156889

NHS staff unable to get tests.

[quote FatGirlShrinking]@MarshaBradyo you quoted my whole post but appear to have only read the top half.

I said, I do not want schools to close, we need better testing.
[/quote]
I did read the whole post. I just don’t see the point in saying level 4 should trigger something if you don’t want that to happen.

The problem is not schools.

The problem is testing and tracing. It's s government failure, pure and simple.

The rate things are going school will be teaching online mostly soon as there won't be enough staff to teach.

I can foresee us going to a rota of two weeks in school, two weeks at home to firebreak infections. Teachers will be in school but teaching the year groups at home via online lessons.

Actually, following my earlier post about a cold spreading rapidly round my school, I do know what my point is.
My point is that school staff said all of this would happen. And we were told that we were being negative, that we didn’t want schools to open, that we just needed to get on with it...
No, we were saying what we could see the problems would be. So they could have been solved or at least considered more seriously. But they weren’t and now we are where we are.

@mumof2exhausted

Schools needed to go back

Pubs / clubs etc need to close

Why do you think that pubs closing will mean schools can remain open? If pubs are operating as many are, safely and with appropriate distancing, then there is no more reason why they should close than any other place (e.g. non-essential shops). The venues that are failing to limit numbers or apply social distancing rules should be closed down by the authorities.

@Piggywaspushed

I am very much enjoying all the metaphors on this thread.

Just for you then: Imagine a huge block of flats with enough spaces to house thousands of homeless people. You tell everyone who will listen about this amazing block of flats and how you've dealt with homelessness for sure. They congratulate you on a job well done. However most of the flats don't have doors or windows and can't even be accessed. You can only house a hundred people. But, don't worry, 12% of Mumsnet will still think you've done a great job.

No children here but totally with you! Hats off to parents juggling schools and isolation and work. As a team it was easier when people were WFH or on special leave. We knew where we were at.
Now everything is up in the air. Constantly having to cover for those with children (no hate) but because child had a sniffle and the school wont have them in! Annual leave being cancelled constantly.
I completely get we have to muddle through but the Government need to get their finger out of their arse because behind the scenes I imagine like my workplace we are completely burnt out and when the flexible ones go on sick and the schools close again (if)

The job will be absolutely fucked....

@millymollymoomoo

However, we shouldn’t be in a situation where 1) every child with a cold has to get a flipping test 2) sending home 300 pupils because one child is positive

Agree. They really need to review the fact that schools are sending home 200-300 pupils for 2 weeks if just one single pupil tests positive.

The figure of 1 is appropriate for 30 primary school pupils who spend all day together in the same room.
It is not appropriate for GCSE and A level pupils who may never sit in the same classroom as that infected person.

I know, maybe I'll just start multiple threads on this topic and whine on each one individually. I don't know of a single school closure in my local area nor a single teacher off with confirmed or suspected C19 but you guys cling to your bad news story, I'll just go sift through several more threads banging on about this until I find something worth reading. Have a ball, guys

My DD and her bubble (2 yr groups) have been back for 8 school days since March, and now all have to isolate for 2 weeks.

This is so distressing and confusing for children 😔

So, Littleposh, do you believe that because you are not aware of any closures (or partial closures?) in your area, that means that it is not the case that it is happening elsewhere?

And I don't understand why you would wish to click on and participate in a thread that annoys you and you disapprove of.

The trouble is Iam you did it all correctly but 10,000 turned up because they were not homeless but had to get out for the day.

We have a shed load of negative tests and colds it seems.

It wouldn't be so bad if we could get tested. But we can't. No matter what MH says in parliament about the number of tests per capital, it simply isn't happening in the real world - we can see it with our own eyes on the TV and read it by the hundreds of posts on Mumsnet.
And even if you can get a test, you have to wait ages for the result.

They had months to prepare for schools reopening in September after calling it all off in June. They didn't prepare one single bit. No extra testing capacity. And a ridiculous blanket policy for responding to a single case that means 200-300 pupils miss 2 weeks of education and can't even leave their house, no matter that they had no contact with the infected person at all.

It is not appropriate for GCSE and A level pupils who may never sit in the same classroom as that infected person.

The number of pupils who have sat in the same classroom can be pretty high for these students because of sets, option choices, timetabling blocks etc. Also, if they are all mixing freely outside the classroom it’s not straightforward to identify their contacts.

Here yes it’s meant to be close contacts.

I do wonder what the procedure is for assessment of closing whole bubbles. Does PHE talk to anyone?

It is NOT the school sending bubbles home . It is Public Health. Who probably think that is considerably easier and expedient then tracking the movements of one child amongst hundreds and hundreds of students.

Journey to school
Movements at lesson change/break time/lunch time
Form time
5 ish lessons with different students
possible clubs

It is not always feasible in a large school to track contacts. they are following the same protocols as any other setting.

@Littleposh

I know, maybe I'll just start multiple threads on this topic and whine on each one individually. I don't know of a single school closure in my local area nor a single teacher off with confirmed or suspected C19 but you guys cling to your bad news story, I'll just go sift through several more threads banging on about this until I find something worth reading. Have a ball, guys

Lovely. Lucky you!!

I live in Birmingham. Every single local school is now affected and has a Covid positive staff member or child or both. And increasing on on daily basis.

Despite the large testing facilities nearby, the problem is escalating massively without any realistic solution.

So sorry for 'whining.' Here's an idea - don't read the thread if it baffles you so much that some people might be having a different experience from you!!!