Longer lockdown or shut secondaries ?

[Coffeeandteac]

YABU - keep open
YANBU- Go to online for 4 weeks to reduce spread for secondary.

I know they say lockdown may be extended now. Though it is clear from today that the lockdown will be longer while schools are still open. It is also clear older children spread the virus like adults from watching Marr and news channels today.

Which would you prefer? Which do you think is right?
In my opinion I would shut secondaries as I think it may not take the R below one anyway.imo.
However if I had a choice I think it would be better for business to have a shorter lockdown and close schools.

AIBU?

Oh they are definitely keeping how bad it actually is, quiet.

Why should the schools not have been proving any work last time ?
Government suspended the curriculum and changed the roles of teaching staff.

You are right though some schools didn’t or did very little, however some did full school days online and that’s the argument / disparity, it was so unfair some students how is that defensible ?

It really isn't. I really do hope those schools that continued were just using old material, as a kind of revision/catch up.

"The predictions by some were that children and teachers would be dying - they aren't"

There have also been posters saying ta's have passed away also. I don't think many predicted child deaths unless they were very vulnerable.

There were also posters claiming that kids don't pass on the virus. If you disagreed you were a hysterical scaremongerer. At least the news reports are confirming that transmission in secondaries is high - albeit no one seems inclined to do anything about it.

People also said that teachers weren't dropping like flies in march so why would it happen this term. I can tell you from personal experience that teachers are my school definetely are now. We've had between 20 and 30% off for nearly 3 weeks.

Can any teachers tell us why online lessons via Zoom/Teams aren’t possible if children stay off school en masse?

In my son’s Year 7 class, he was the only one who put his hand up to say no laptop at home for learning (we do have a desktop and tablets so not sure why he did that) but shows that the idea ‘millions’ of children have no access to the internet or screens for online learning is probably wrong.

DP is an account but works for a company that services hospitality. A 2 week lockdown would've been tight but saved his job, a four week lock down very might well fuck him over. Staying closed for schools would definitely fuck him over. This plus th rates of infection amongst teens plus the risk to staff- close the fucking schools.

Of course things are being kept quiet about whats going on, they'd have to admit they massively screwed this up.
They were knew this would happen before the doors opened.

It's an absolute travesty how these young people are being treated especially year 10+

Why isn't the media questioning where Gavin Williamson is?
Come to think of it, why hasn't the media been all over the education situation from the start? Even DM aren't ripping education threads from here!!

They’ve said by law they cannot extend lockdown past the 2nd of December and that it will go back to tiers from then .
I think if any learning has to be from from home then it’s university’s that don’t have to have face to face learning so medical courses etc can go back but others should be remote from home NOT remote from uni accommodation.
That’s just my thoughts anyway .

So I’m getting the impression that people want schools to close so we can open the high at and pubs before Christmas. Even though in the summer people were literally spewing because schools were closed whilst pubs were open.

People really can’t make up their minds can they. Infuriating for me. Must be pretty infuriating for the government.

Wife I'm not a teacher, but have knowledge of their systems.

Schools have to be cautious about what systems they use. Their providers/systems also block various websites. Zoom isn't on all the schools "grid for learning" because of the various issues. Some also block things like skype hence a number of schools use Apple products because of facetime.

And can I just remind everyone how difficult it is to get schools to reopen once they’re shut. It will be like June all over again. Madness!

"And can I just remind everyone how difficult it is to get schools to reopen once they’re shut. It will be like June all over again. Madness!"

Rubbish. Schools in ireland/ni and Wales will open again without problems.

Lockdown 1 schools were closed at very little notice with no chance to set up procedures or train staff on online provision and await DfE guidance which changed dozens of times often on Friday night whilst coming into force on Monday.

This time schools have all been trained on online provision and most have had been able to practice it due to bubbles closing etc.

@Greyscreendream

And can I just remind everyone how difficult it is to get schools to reopen once they’re shut. It will be like June all over again. Madness!

Nope.

The government would say, ‘we are closing all schools for two weeks to suppress the transmission rates on Friday X and reopening them on Monday X‘ and that’s what would happen.

I would hope there is a middle ground.

I personally think a part time rolling rota for secondary works best, with colleges and universities all online.

@walksen if you really think we can close the schools before Christmas and teachers and their unions will happily skip into school come January then you are deluded.

We will be on the midst of the worst of the flu and COVID rates by then. Unions will refuse and then they’ll be a huge debate until the feb half term at least if not Easter as the government aims to make education mandatory again.

Close the schools by all means but in my view that’s writing them off until Easter and you’re all naive to think otherwise. As a previous poster said - be careful what you wish for!

[quote Greyscreendream]@walksen if you really think we can close the schools before Christmas and teachers and their unions will happily skip into school come January then you are deluded.

We will be on the midst of the worst of the flu and COVID rates by then. Unions will refuse and then they’ll be a huge debate until the feb half term at least if not Easter as the government aims to make education mandatory again.

Close the schools by all means but in my view that’s writing them off until Easter and you’re all naive to think otherwise. As a previous poster said - be careful what you wish for![/quote]
You seem to be under the delusion that the unions have been dictating government policy-they haven’t.

The government tell schools when to open and the government tell them when to close.

@Fedup21 yes because that’s what happened in June wasn’t it!?! The government was really keen to get students back in some capacity before the autumn. The unions and many parents had other ideas 😂

[quote Greyscreendream]@Fedup21 yes because that’s what happened in June wasn’t it!?! The government was really keen to get students back in some capacity before the autumn. The unions and many parents had other ideas 😂[/quote]
No.

The government said that some year groups should go back in primary on 1st June-starting with the youngest and based on capacity, and secondary from the 15th.

That’s exactly what happened.

@walksen if you really think we can close the schools before Christmas and teachers and their unions will happily skip into school come January then you are deluded

Speaking as a teacher myself you are wrong.

There is no appetite for a strike or refusing to go to work. Even the neu calling for them to be closed for lockdown is posturing.

I do want clarity and proceesses in place for outbreaks,e.g testing of all staff if it happens, closure for deep cleaning if cases exceed a certain level or maybe switch to online only for 2 weeks for Individual schools if infection is high.
There could also be extra steps in schools maybe but even if nothing is done the vast majority of teachers will go in anyway.

I know many parents whose reception children went back one day a week in June. Wouldn’t call that being ‘back’ myself.

@Fedup21 if teachers strike and say no which, judging by the many posts on here from understandably worried teachers, isn’t beyond the bounds of possibility. What then?

So I’m getting the impression that people want schools to close so we can open the high at and pubs before Christmas. Even though in the summer people were literally spewing because schools were closed whilst pubs were open.

Nope - to save lives. Protect the nhs for other conditions etc

There should be a compromise. Blended learning etc. Leaving schools open will not be enough to drive down figures.

@LastGoldenDaysOfSummer if the teacher in Wales you are referring to is Angela Stanton she didn’t die from Covid. It was very tragic though. Apologies if it was someone else but the initial headlines were a bit unclear.

The government said that some year groups should go back in primary on 1st June-starting with the youngest and based on capacity, and secondary from the 15th.

My Y5 son went back for 3 days between the 1st June and the end of term. My Y8 daughter didn't go back at all in the summer term so everyone might have gone back in your school, but its far from the case elsewhere.

@Greyscreendream

I know many parents whose reception children went back one day a week in June. Wouldn’t call that being ‘back’ myself.

@Fedup21 if teachers strike and say no which, judging by the many posts on here from understandably worried teachers, isn’t beyond the bounds of possibility. What then?

Do you mean you think that schools would be closed and then teachers would all strike and say no to going back?

If you think that’s possible, please familiarise yourself on balloting, timescales and the laws surrounding industrial action.

The suggestions you are posting about are both untrue and scaremongering.

Shut secondary schools but leave open to Year 11 and 13 with masks. Remote learning for the rest of the years until Christmas break.

Keep nurseries/childminders and primary schools open as they are needed not only for childcare but they are too young to learn at home, especially reception to year 5

@Fluffybutter

They’ve said by law they cannot extend lockdown past the 2nd of December and that it will go back to tiers from then . I think if any learning has to be from from home then it’s university’s that don’t have to have face to face learning so medical courses etc can go back but others should be remote from home NOT remote from uni accommodation. That’s just my thoughts anyway .

I fully agree, but it's all about the money paid by students for Uni accommodation. Unis encouraged/coerced students to move onto campuses by promising/suggesting that there'd be face to face teaching, yes, reduced/limited, but they made it clear that there was a reason to be on campus. As soon as we reached end August/Early September as students signed their accommodation contracts, some Unis changed their websites to reality, which is that for most subjects (not medical/lab based degress), the amount of face to face teaching would be minimal. It was all very cynical. Get the students to sign up for accommodation on the promise of F2F and then reduce it when they're committed. My son is at Uni and has just one F2F tutorial with a phd student every 2 weeks - he's been there 6 weeks and has only had two short tutorials (30 mins). Just what is the point of them being there? Most staff aren't on campus - they're at home. Staff car parks are virtually empty, entire buildings in darkness. Except for students who want/need to be there, the Unis need to accept their mistake, and allow the students to vacate their halls/flats at Christmas and not require them to pay for January onwards.