#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

Have trouble believing he could actually be a teacher as teachers generally can’t afford golf club fees

@Piggywaspushed

Tempted to start a mysterious DH's hobby thread now, though!

But that's where you went wrong. You named his hobby. You aren't supposed to do that! If you'd just said Hobby & left it all mysterious then it probably would have just been another Mumsnet hobby thread. Learn from this

I'm a teacher and I go skiing every year, sometimes twice. I also (pre-Covid) travel abroad long-haul each year and do a number of city-breaks. Is that OK with you, @Susanwouldntlikeit ?
Or shouldn't I be able to afford it?

@TheKeatingFive

I remain surprised that parents will risk the health of their own children.

They clearly have better risk assessment capabilities than you. Children are at far more risk from other illnesses/accidents than Covid.

It's got nothing to do with YOUR risk assessment of YOUR child !! An you really not get that ? It's about YOUR possibly asymptomatic child passing it on to someone who will need hospital care at a time (Nov-Feb) when hospitals are overwhelmed with the normal respiratory infections... when they ALSO have to deal with heart attacks, chemo, MS , FLu.. There is only so much space. Keeping Covid low will help them deal with the rest ... you would t want any doctor having to make a choice about who comes 'first' ... if YOUR child is not first...

Those campaigning for schools to close do not give one solitary shit about children, their education, their mental health and well-being. Lock up the children so we'll be alright. Fuck sake.

YANBU. I totally support the schools remaining open. My 2 are in primary so perhaps my view is coloured by that

However I seem to remember in the last lockdown packs of teens wandering around this area as well and people writing in to the local rag that schools need to reopen!

@ForthPlace

Are parents not worried about the health and safety of their own children? As an LA we've been sued by parents for bump on their child's head, yet with this it seems parents are prepared to take a risk on their child's health.

When it comes to covid no, not really. The kids will be fine.

It's about YOUR possibly asymptomatic child passing it on to someone who will need hospital care at a time (Nov-Feb) when hospitals are overwhelmed with the normal respiratory infections

The poster I answered was referencing the health of people’s own children, not others.

In any event, it is in no way acceptable to lock away our children and deny them their rights to education, for a disease where the average age of death is 80 something. That’s not proportional or reasonable.

As I keep saying, I’m ROI, cases are going down very significantly with schools still open. There is no need to deprive children further of the many benefits school can give them.

Noted shit. Thanks for the tip !

@DressingGownofDoom

Those campaigning for schools to close do not give one solitary shit about children, their education, their mental health and well-being. Lock up the children so we'll be alright. Fuck sake.

And what were you doing, pre-Covid, to help raise awareness of children's education, mental health and well-being? Teachers have been advocating for them for decades, whilst the government bled schools dry of funds and parents looked the other way. It's precisely because they care about the best way to provide education long-term throughout this pandemic that people are "campaigning" for schools to be opened SAFELY, not to close altogether. Fuck sake.

Those campaigning for schools to close do not give one solitary shit about children, their education, their mental health and well-being. Lock up the children so we'll be alright. Fuck sake

What about those of us saying that the choices are:

A) Keep schools open as they are until so many staff are off it becomes impossible, and they have to close. Remember- in the meantime bubbles will be in and out and individual students in and out in a totally unplanned way.

Or

B) Put at least secondary schools, but ideally all schools, on a rota so that class sizes are smaller, distancing can happen and learning can be delivered in a planned way to those in and out of school.

Do the people arguing that this is the choice also not give a fuck about kids or are they just pragmatic?

@Ilovexmastime35

I think they should shut high schools / colleges/ universities as that's where the highest infection rates are. Infant and junior schools should stay open.

Also from a personal view, my children are y2 and Y5. My son in Y5 had a terrible time over lockdown. He needs routine and to be in school. He has undiagnosed sen but he is on the SEN register. So he was unable to go in last time.
He couldn't cope with the home school side of things and learned practically zero. Him and me cried every single day of those 6 months. Since he's gone back to school he's like a different child

Your self interest is written rather large, here, isn't it?

'I support the closing of everything that doesn't affect me'.

@herecomesthsun
Yes lots of bold formatting, caps locking and general rude and sneery posts from some posters who are adamant schools ought to close.

The thing is people are going to die, and not just people over 80.

And people are dying as a direct result of lockdown as the lack of routine, purpose and social contact can wreck havoc with people's mental health. It was reported today that the first Brit who caught Covid in Wuhan died very recently. A young British man who has never recovered from the effects of lockdown.

According to his mother He endured more lockdown than anyone we have even known - 16 weeks harsh lockdown in Wuhan, two weeks in Australia and a further three weeks in the UK.

This is utterly heartbreaking.

@Norabird, how's that going to work with children who are boarding a very long way from home? Are they supposed to trail the 300 miles back by train, potentially infecting people if they are asymptomatic carriers, and then do the same in reverse two weeks later?

Schools are not a 'one size fits all'.

[quote BlueStethoscope]@herecomesthsun
Yes lots of bold formatting, caps locking and general rude and sneery posts from some posters who are adamant schools ought to close.

The thing is people are going to die, and not just people over 80.

And people are dying as a direct result of lockdown as the lack of routine, purpose and social contact can wreck havoc with people's mental health. It was reported today that the first Brit who caught Covid in Wuhan died very recently. A young British man who has never recovered from the effects of lockdown.

According to his mother He endured more lockdown than anyone we have even known - 16 weeks harsh lockdown in Wuhan, two weeks in Australia and a further three weeks in the UK.

This is utterly heartbreaking.[/quote]
There are sneery posts from a number of people at the moment.

Posters on this thread saying things like

Fuck you, God ruined a perfectly good arsehole when he put teeth in your mouth

are sounding pretty unpleasant, too.

I'm so happy that schools are staying open. I have 4 dc in school, and I work in one so it does effect us massively. My kids love school and I worry for their mental health of this is taken away from then, especially my eldest who has already had to endure her gcses being cancelled this year (she took it very badly).
Although as I write that, I cannot see how schools will remain open to all years all of the time. I wouldn't be surprised if we go to a part time schooling instead with year groups on a rota. Back in march most schools had partially shut before they were ordered to simply because there were not enough teachers in due to shielding and isolation. This will happen again, it will be idiotic to believe that all school staff will just sail through the winter completely unaffected. But even if our dc just attend 1 day a week, that 1 day has massive benefits for them so please, KEEP SCHOOLS OPEN!

I'm so happy that schools are staying open. I have 4 dc in school, and I work in one so it does effect us massively. My kids love school and I worry for their mental health of this is taken away from then, especially my eldest who has already had to endure her gcses being cancelled this year (she took it very badly).
Although as I write that, I cannot see how schools will remain open to all years all of the time. I wouldn't be surprised if we go to a part time schooling instead with year groups on a rota. Back in march most schools had partially shut before they were ordered to simply because there were not enough teachers in due to shielding and isolation. This will happen again, it will be idiotic to believe that all school staff will just sail through the winter completely unaffected. But even if our dc just attend 1 day a week, that 1 day has massive benefits for them so please, KEEP SCHOOLS OPEN!

I don’t think being in a union is for you.

Well, as I said, my union has NOT called for schools to be closed so I think being in my union IS for me.....

I won’t apologise for putting the children at my school first.... as do all my colleagues, teachers, admin, premises, kitchen .... we all put the children first.....

@IncyWincyTincy

Don't let them get to you!

People like @SoloMummy and other posters who are scolding parents accusing us of being selfish for wanting routine and child-centred education are in the minority even if they seem to dominate these thread. Look at the voting here 73% (n= 2230) of posters on this thread want schools to remain open yet the conversation seems to be largely dominated by those who want schools to close.

Many of those who shout the loudest that 'schools must shut' on this and similar threads come across as super grumpy and, I must say, not emotionally not very literate. Ignore them!

@Appuskidu

You are right, I let my upset and anger at being told that I had not put my child first and failed as a mother when my PND is already telling me that direct my reactions to a poster.

I still don't think that poster is a very nice person, but I actually think they are just a GF and unfortunately - I gave them what they wanted.

Primary should stay open.
High school and higher should all go to distance learning.
I say this as a primary teacher.

They need to stay open. To allow parents to be able to work where possible during school hours (there's enough people unable to work at moment already and it must be awful for them), to allow the children some level of normality, minimise impact on their mental health and any further impact on their education and socialising.

Our school runs from age 3-18. It's a massive school. So far since september one primary class bubble had to isolate and two senior school classes. That's not as bad as I expected. And we're in a high risk area.

I appreciate that other sides argument but I really think after previous lockdown the children need to be at school where possible.

Primary schools and nurseries should stay open fully.

Secondary schools should move to blended learning - split each year group in half and have half the kids in, half learning from home on either a one week or two week rotation depending on how the timetable is structured.

Then proper social distancing could be achieved, and teachers could be better protected. They should have done this from September, fully opening all settings was a bad move.

Of course this would only be a workable solution if the government had actually distributed laptops to kids that needed them, like they promised they would.

Having taken a step away I would like to try and reply again to @SoloMummy with some advice (which I will take on myself too!)

"Guess what, I managed it if you WANTED TO, so could have you.
This pandemic has really shown which parents have stepped up as parents and really behaved in the best interests of their children....
It's all about priorities and sacrifices."

You have to realise that your words have an impact. You are obviously well equipped to teach, have one child, and only part time responsibilities at work - this allowed you to excel at homeschooling.

I am not a teacher, I had just had a baby in a global pandemic, I found myself without a support network and developed PND - i felt like a shit Mum, i felt like i should have been able to do it all. Putting words out there that I didn't 'step up' or 'put the best interests of my children first' immediately put me back to where I was 5/6 months ago - feeling like a failure. It was an incredibly scary place to be am not one I wish to revisit.

Interestingly I wonder if you would cope well if you found yourself in a war zone trying to provide first aid, I wonder if you could walk onto a tube train and immediately drive it safely and correctly. Just because you have the skills doesn't mean everyone does - and people not having that ability does not make them a failure.

But on a lighter note I truly hope we see 'How to Homeschool with SoloMummy' out on ebook with a youtube series too so we can all learn how to have it all like you!