#closetheschools is trending

[Allthestarsarecloser]

I work at a university on the front line seeing students 1-1 (I work in student support) and have continued to see students this term at a distance & with measures in place. ALL the students I have seen have been grateful for the human contact.

I also have 2 kids in primary and secondary. I want them to stay in school as my eldest had to have counselling after the last lockdown.

Aibu to say that schools need to stay open and I say that as someone on the front line.

YABU - they should shut
YANBU- they need to stay open

@StepAwayFromGoogle

There needs to be a release valve somewhere and I'm afraid schools are not it. I watched my happy, outgoing, confident little five year old disintegrate into terrified hysteria every day in lockdown. She developed severe agoraphobia and was so unhappy. Then she became afraid of going back to school. We are just about back on an even keel but I dread to think what another lockdown would do to her. She's not alone, it was well reported that Infant and Primary pupils suffered psychologically in lockdown. You can't keep putting them back into that situation and taking them out again. You'll cause untold damage.

I had the complete opposite!

My non verbal autistic ds was visibly more relaxed, had not a single meltdown and started to talk. Just came out with full sentences and shocked the hell out of us!

3 years at school and he learnt more in six months at home. Between work times I even found out he was capable of picking up quite advanced maths concepts easily.

It depends on the child and their environment.

I think a lot of this could be settled by allowing parents who can look after their dc home to do so without being fined. Then the dc who really need school can keep going, vulnerable teachers and dc are better protected and no one is inconvenienced.

@ohnothisagain

Other countries are keeping schools open and cases are going down. I also find it interesting that teachers unions (where members have nothing to loose from lockdown, but are very comfortable) push for closure, but you don’t hear anything about the need to close from early years practitioners who’s risk is much higher (bodily fluids etc), but who will loose their jobs and income....

Could that be down union membership in early years being less widespread, perhaps?

And would they be in the NEU, or some other union?

All the more reason to treat this like any other flu and carry on with life as normal

Its the spreading to other more vulnerable people that's the issue though.

Perhaps parents should take more responsibility for their children's educational achievement or indeed lack of?

Is your child in primary?
Mine are secondary so I can't suddenly learn new foreign languages overnight, A-level material in subjects that I didn't even do at O-level, never mind remember stuff that I may or may not have learned 30 years ago.

I agree schools should be closed & distanced learning introduced. We are living with my 82 year old dm, ds is Y12, both him & me are constantly terrified that he may bring the virus home. Dm & I have been shielding since March, she hasn't left the house & I have only been to hospital appointments, I know shielding ended months ago but neither of us feel confident that we won't be at risk of contracting the virus or of getting treatment should we need it.

@SueEllenMishke

Perhaps parents should take more responsibility for their children's educational achievement or indeed lack of?

Can you tell me how I'm meant to that while also working full time?
We do homework, spellings and daily reading but it's pretty much impossible to work full and homeschool.

Get up earlier. By starting the day earlier you then have time to dedicate. 2 hours intensive focussed 1:1 is great. Use your lunch break Set educational challenges.

As I said, I managed it...

Perhaps parents should take more responsibility for their children's educational achievement or indeed lack of?

Totally agree.

So whilst I’m working full time from home, looking after my toddler for 7 months I should have also cracked on with learning advanced higher chemistry and biology to help my daughter, you’re a fucking genius! Why didn’t I think of that? I’m ok helping her with the AH maths as I’ve got a maths degree.

Need to pop out and grab textbooks to cram for my exams, toodlepip!

@TicTacTwo

Perhaps parents should take more responsibility for their children's educational achievement or indeed lack of?

Is your child in primary?
Mine are secondary so I can't suddenly learn new foreign languages overnight, A-level material in subjects that I didn't even do at O-level, never mind remember stuff that I may or may not have learned 30 years ago.

You just need to get up earlier apparently 😂 some people are bloody idiots.

@TicTacTwo

Perhaps parents should take more responsibility for their children's educational achievement or indeed lack of?

Is your child in primary?
Mine are secondary so I can't suddenly learn new foreign languages overnight, A-level material in subjects that I didn't even do at O-level, never mind remember stuff that I may or may not have learned 30 years ago.

Again it's a case of could research and support if you wanted!

@SoloMummy As I said, I managed it...

Well that’s great for you! I have O Levels (NOT GCSEs) and A Levels but none of those are in IT which is what my son is studying.... and as for helping DD who isn’t even living at home in her masters studies.... 🤯

Not everyone has the skill set needed to teach their children THATs why teachers have to get qualifications!

@SoloMummy
Parent of the year award for you!

That’s unimaginably smug and unhelpful. There are plenty of reasons why parents can’t take responsibility for educating their children themselves. I’m not against schools shutting again temporarily but parents can’t be expected to educate their children themselves. The great scandal last time was the government’s decision to suspend the national curriculum and tell schools not to worry about providing an education because the BBC would sort it out.
In my school we ignored that, we’d already closed and begun online learning when the government made that particular batshit crazy announcement. We did online learning last time and will do the same again if we have to close for a couple of weeks. We already provide online learning for self isolating kids and bubbles and teachers use a video link to teach classes (who are in school with a cover supervisor) from home if they have to self isolate. We’re ready to go if needed, because expecting parents to be able to teach GCSEs and A Levels around working full time, often out of the home, is bonkers.

Teachers unions seem to have the opposite interests at heart

Any union must act in the best interests of its members, whether that's about health and safety, terms and conditions or any other matter. That's what their members pay their union subscriptions for and to do otherwise would be a massive breach of trust.

I'd be very pissed off if my employer expected me to do something that risked my health, without taking meaningful action to mitigate the risk, and my TU refused to do anything about it.I stump up £30 a month for that support and protection and that's the minimum I'm entitled to expect.

[quote Squashbanana125]@SoloMummy
Parent of the year award for you![/quote]
Totally. Her trophy is in the post.

I think schools should stay open but as someone who works in a school I think there needs to more done about students and parents who do not follow the rules. We have now started to report families who send their child to school despite having symptoms or having other positive people in their household. I dont have any PPE (cant wear a mask due to working with children with a hearing impairment) and I cant stay 2m away from the children I support so its vitally important that the law is followed properly.
I personally do not feel worried at work but we have a number of people hand in their notice as they have vulnerable people at home, we wont be the only school where this happening.

Is @SoloMummy deliberately ignoring PPs questions about what key stage their DCs are in?

Or is SoloMummy quite simply a genius polymath with a masters in pedagogy?

They SHOULD shut. But selfishly, I don't want them to.

SueEllenMishke
Perhaps parents should take more responsibility for their children's educational achievement or indeed lack of?

Can you tell me how I'm meant to that while also working full time?
We do homework, spellings and daily reading but it's pretty much impossible to work full and homeschool. 

Get up earlier. By starting the day earlier you then have time to dedicate. 2 hours intensive focussed 1:1 is great.

Fabulous. I'll ask my university timetabling team to rearrange my timetable so my lectures take place at 5am. I'm sure my students won't mind.
I'll also arrange for their tutorials and seminars to take place after 8pm when DS is in bed ... again, I'm sure they won't complain.

Use your lunch break

Haha haha what's one of those??

Set educational challenges.

Of course, I'm sure my recently turned 6 year old will be absolutely fine with an educational challenge that last 3 hours ( the length of my lectures). I'm sure he'll sit quietly working away and not disturb me at all.

As I said, I managed it...

Well done you. I'm not sure if you're aware of this l, but not all jobs give you the flexibility to work early/late and take hours out of your day to dedicate to home schooling.

They really need to stay open as long as possible.

Dd2 7 was in tears on the last day of term last week. She said she didn't want to leave school. I know it's because she was worried they might not open again. This is from a child who previously complained about going to school - mostly loved it when she got there but not a morning person. We haven't had one complaint about school from September.

I am so glad they aren't closing schools and nurseries but I don't think it's going to be successful without doing so.

Not sure where that puts me?

@SueEllenMishke Solidarity here.
HE lecturer with key worker partner out of the house 5 or 6 days a week. 6 year old whose schooling experience is still recovering from closures & 18 month old who can literally kill herself on every innocuous household object if I look away for 2 minutes. It’s a miracle if I can reply to an email in her presence.
There is no way I can provide a high quality teaching experience for my students, home school, and care if schools and nurseries close again, my mental health went to an extremely precarious place last time.

“If you take away a woman’s childcare, you take away her life” - opening line of a Guardian article in the last day or two.
I’m beyond petrified about it.

AlwaysColdHands I completely sympathise. It's worrying isn't it? And it is women who are being disproportionately impacted in terms of career and the ability to continue working.

I only managed last time because the vast majority of my teaching had finished and even though my workload went through the roof I did have more flexibility than I do now.
I really don't know how I'll cope if I have to do it again this side of April.

As I said, I managed it...

And many people didn’t. It doesn’t mean they’re not interested in their child’s education. Getting up earlier (I’m up at 5:30 every day so not really sure how earlier you want me to go...) won’t make a jot of difference.

What level of input did you give your child educationally during the lockdown? My child has additional needs and made amazing progress due to what was bloody hard graft from me, despite the fact that I worked from home throughout. Perhaps parents should take more responsibility for their children's educational achievement or indeed lack of?

Sounds a bit like that mythical MN roast chicken.

Great that you have a job that allowed you to homeschool and entertain your dc! You should consider home schooling you dc! I suppose it gets harder the more children you have to homeschool as they have to share the technology and you have to be on top of different curricula.

Wanting my dc in a formal educational setting is the most responsible stance for me. They enjoy the social aspect of interacting with the teachers and peers and love learning in a classroom setting. But greta that your dc did so well in lockdown, consider yourself lucky. Maybe try and be a little less judgemental though as empathy goes a very long way!

My child has additional needs and made amazing progress due to what was bloody hard graft from me, despite the fact that I worked from home throughout.
Same here, BUT: it almost killed me. I got about 5 hours sleep during lockdown, gained 1 stone and was stressed of the scale. plus the house was a tip and interactions with the kids were pretty much reduced to teaching. But with SENDs you can’t risk them falling behind. it was hell for all. i’m not going to repeat that.