Schools should close for 2 weeks after the Christmas mixing

[OverTheRainbow88]

I think that schools should remain closed for face to face teaching 2-3 weeks after the end of the period in which Boris will allow families to all mix.

I don’t want to be in a classroom with 30 different kids 5 times a day who’ve mixed inside with all different family members and friends.

I say online learning until mid Jan, if Boris will allow us all to mix at Christmas

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

Agree a water birth is not essential and it’s not like anyone has to have children at any time so if they do so during a pandemic then we should be grateful that the health service is still there for that.

I’d rather the nhs wasn’t overwhelmed so cancer treatments, emergencies, treatment for children etc can continue than give into a group who can’t change Christmas for one year.

Grateful the health service they pay for us still there?

I am grateful in the sense that it exists, sure, but I am not more grateful now. And I bloody work for it.

We all pay our taxes for it.

PrivateD00r That picture is awful.

But there is no need for schools to be like that.
DD's school has implemented one way routes around school, mandated masks in corridors, staggered lesson change overs so different year groups don't mix. etc.

It's not ideal.

Do I feel for the teachers? Yes.
Do I think schools should close to enable social visiting over Christmas? No.

It's threads like this that show so many of us as being completely self-centred, and only really concerned with the effect on our own circumstance.

I had a lot of sympathy for teachers at first but getting annoyed with the way they keep thinking they should get extra privileges or time off

Extra privileges? Like every other workplace with PPE, screens, airflow, no more than 2 people in a shop at a time, masks?

Not one teacher has asked for time off. We have asked for the same safety measures every one else has been afforded. That might include a period of blended learning and/or online learning to keep transmission rates as low as possible. A member of staff at my children's school has died this week. Should we be waiting for it to get any worse?

Surely this is unreasonable for the households who aren't planning to mix though. What if school is a key part of their children's routine so they choose to not go outside their own household during the festive period (outside of essential shopping)

@Isthatitnow

I had a lot of sympathy for teachers at first but getting annoyed with the way they keep thinking they should get extra privileges or time off

Extra privileges? Like every other workplace with PPE, screens, airflow, no more than 2 people in a shop at a time, masks?

Not one teacher has asked for time off. We have asked for the same safety measures every one else has been afforded. That might include a period of blended learning and/or online learning to keep transmission rates as low as possible. A member of staff at my children's school has died this week. Should we be waiting for it to get any worse?

To be fair, I have seen many teachers asking for time off. Just because it hasn't happened around you, doesn't mean it isn't happening.

Icecream

It doesnt matter on a population level for the purposes of the government making decisions for the good of the population as a whole .

Do try to stop taking it personally. Of course its rubbish for individuals but the government must make decisions to maximise benefit for all.

@TeenPlusTwenties

PrivateD00r That picture is awful.

But there is no need for schools to be like that.
DD's school has implemented one way routes around school, mandated masks in corridors, staggered lesson change overs so different year groups don't mix. etc.

It's not ideal.

Do I feel for the teachers? Yes.
Do I think schools should close to enable social visiting over Christmas? No.

Absolutely and they aren't in my area, my DC go to different schools and say they have never saw anything like this. But it seems many schools in England are like this, which is terrifying. I don't even mean in current times, I couldn't cope with being squashed in there even without covid!

@TeenPlusTwenties, but have you actually been into your dd's school and seen a lesson changeover in practice? Or lunch-hour? Or waiting for buses after school? Or whatever?

I can assure you that what many schools (and the Government) say is happening, is often not actually the case in reality.

@AzPie

Millions of people WILL mix over Christmas/New Years, I know lots of people on MN are saying they don't intend to but there are plenty of people who will, and not just because they are rule-breakers in general (it's all a conspiracy brigade). Just ordinary people who can't face Christmas without their loved ones, it will be people who think where's the harm in having my parents, my sister and her family over, we know they don't have covid so it's fine. They won't be considering all the potential contacts before and after, so their own kids at separate schools, their separate workplaces, the sister/BIL workplaces, the nieces/nephews schools and the possible workplaces of the parents if not retired (and that's not even factoring in any social mixing, shopping trips etc). That is the reality we are facing so it only makes sense to try and find something to reduce the fall out from that. My suggestions are;

1. Close secondary schools 2 weeks early (except for vulnerable/keyworker kids) as the transmission is higher in secondary than primary.

1. Come out of lockdown on December 3rd with regards to businesses re-opening (to boost the economy/save jobs) but still restrict household/social mixing and encourage WFH if it's possible.

1. Relax penalties over Christmas/New year, so encourage low key single household Christmas and staying in for New Years (with bubble/terminal relative exclusions) but people will not be fined between certain dates (24th-26th and 31st-1st) but with a stark warning that mixing over the holidays may lead to further and longer lockdowns if we have a really big spike.

1. On January 2nd have a 2-week strict circuit breaker; all but essential shops closed, schools/colleges/unis closed (except to vulnerable/Keyworker kids and for any exams/mocks that need to take place that can't be delayed), 1 outdoor exercise, no mixing at all (apart from childcare for parents who need to work), everything back open on the 18th.

Hopefully, any rise in transmission from Christmas/New Years will have been contained as much as possible. I know people keep saying schools can't close but I would much rather see a short fixed-term closure (like a circuit breaker) than keep them open at all costs and we end up with a full lockdown for months on end like we had earlier this year. Also the less transmission in schools the less of the hokey cokey self-isolation situation we should have next year.

So essentially children should be off school for 6 weeks

@Peboh, "To be fair, I have seen many teachers asking for time off."

For what? And how do you know about this?

When children are home at Christmas they will probably mix with family and other families too.... giving them an extra 2 weeks to mix with lots of others!

They have had enough time off and need formal education.

@peboh

Surely this is unreasonable for the households who aren't planning to mix though. What if school is a key part of their children's routine so they choose to not go outside their own household during the festive period (outside of essential shopping)

The whole thing is unreasonable for those of us who have followed "the rules" though isn't it? We've done as we were told the whole way through... Still getting locked down and restricted. If people choose not to mix during Christmas they have to do that in the knowledge that others won't make the same call.

To be fair, I have seen many teachers asking for time off. Just because it hasn't happened around you, doesn't mean it isn't happening

Are you sure? Wanting a period of home learning isn't time off, is it?

That’s should have had a question mark at the end.

I’m certainly not prepared to sacrifice 4 weeks of my child’s education so that some people can mix over Christmas.

If the government do insist on going down the route of reducing restrictions, it should be do Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day as a maximum.

[quote CallmeAngelina]**@PrivateD00r, never mind "in January." I wonder how many people who are happily sending their secondary-aged pupils into school now are aware that this is what they're exposing themselves (and their wider families) to.[/quote]
No surprise to me. They are only mixing with their own year group and wearing masks and have windows open which is different to normal. Nobody has caught covid in our school despite rule of 6 and crowded corridors, Highest risk of transmission is poorly ventilated spaces for prolonged periods without masks. The thing I find most worrying is that people are knowingly sending children in to school when they should be isolating- that’s what needs urgently addressing imo

Callme No I haven't. They aren't letting parents on site. (And for full disclosure, my DD hasn't either as her mental health plummeted in lockdown and now she won't even walk past people on a footpath let alone go into school.)

However I have seen the measures, and spoken to other parents whose DC are OK, and there have been no known cases of transmission within the school. (Yes I accept there may well have been unknown cases).

@LadyCatStark

That’s should have had a question mark at the end.

I’m certainly not prepared to sacrifice 4 weeks of my child’s education so that some people can mix over Christmas.

If the government do insist on going down the route of reducing restrictions, it should be do Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day as a maximum.

What about people who work those days? You know the keyworkers everyone clapped for? Or don't they matter anymore

To be fair, I have seen many teachers asking for time off. Just because it hasn't happened around you, doesn't mean it isn't happening

Ern...nope. There is no call for teachers to not be in school en masse, although for some teachers - those of us over 50 or who have underlying conditions which are likely to make covid problematic - it might be sensible to keep us in the bigger, more ventilated spaces and with extra PPE in place. Allowing teachers to decide their own risk level and use masks if they want to in classrooms (and demand that their students use them also) would make a huge difference to how many of us feel in school on a day to day basis. Schools open is by far the easiest way for teachers to do their jobs. Few of us want a return to online learning but can see it is heading that way given the levels of transmission that are happening in some schools. Blended learning would have kept people a lot safer. None of that involves teachers asking for time off.

@CallmeAngelina

It's threads like this that show so many of us as being completely self-centred, and only really concerned with the effect on our own circumstance.

Yep, another thread by a teacher that wants more time off. Honestly you don't see doctors and nurses on the threads moaning all the time. What is it about some (many) teachers on these threads.

No we don't need the schools to shut (to the majority of students) again. Looking at the stats shared by another teachers are not dying in any greater number than other professions and despite some teachers protesting that 'teachers would die in huge numbers/they were being thrown under the bus/blah de blah' the more sensible knew that wouldn't happen.

No one has to teach if they don't want to.

@BungleandGeorge, "Nobody has caught covid in our school"

Sorry, but you don't actually know this. As has been evidenced on numerous threads on MN by teachers in many schools, confirmed/suspected cases are not being broadcast. Even staff don't always know.

@LITHIUMcomeasUare, You what?!

You know, I can't even be bothered to start countering your ridiculous claims (that have been shot down in flames SO many times already).

Enjoy your day. I will go back to planning my week for the children in my class. As I do every weekend. No "time off" here.

@LITHIUMcomeasUare
Oh, I took the post your quoted by @CallmeAngelina to mean that everyone is self-centred and concerned with their own circumstances- including those who want to see their family at Christmas without restriction, and those who don’t want schools to close (for example a PP on this thread saying they’d drop their kids off at the teacher’s home in the morning), as well as teachers looking out for themselves as you’ve mentioned. Everyone is most concerned with their own circumstances, obviously.

premiumhob Sun 22-Nov-20 09:05:49
Not a lot of learning gets done in that last week of term - it’s usually class parties, carol concerts, nativities etc... so I don’t feel the children will be massively missing out.

Maybe, given the huge loss of teaching time suffered this year, a lot of learning should be happening in that last week.

Indeed one would hope but I suspect not.

[quote CallmeAngelina]@LITHIUMcomeasUare, You what?!

You know, I can't even be bothered to start countering your ridiculous claims (that have been shot down in flames SO many times already).

Enjoy your day. I will go back to planning my week for the children in my class. As I do every weekend. No "time off" here.[/quote]
For someone who has no time off even at weekends you manage to get on MN an awful lot