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

[quote BustopherPonsonbyJones]@CallmeAngelina is quite right. It has to be a collective decision. You are all fine, upstanding members of the community who won’t party like it’s 1999 but all it takes are a few families in each class who don’t show your restraint and the end of January will be a bloodbath. So many of you don’t seem to worry about this as long as the schools open on January 4th. This seems very odd to me given how (quite rightly) you value your children being in school long term for their education . I really hope it works out for you. I have my doubts but I’d really love to be wrong on this one.[/quote]
I genuinely don’t see how it’ll help. Do you think those who are going crazy over Christmas are going to stay dutifully at home for the 2 weeks that the schools are closed?
Doubtful. Teens will socialise with their friends for that 2 weeks. Working parents will be forced to use friends/family for childcare. It’ll just push the problem back for 2 weeks.

But as I said earlier (I think on this thread, but it could have been elsewhere), we are all inherently self-interested on this one (not criticising that; it's just the way it is).
How can people with school-aged children expect their own kids to be put above people without a school interest situation?
Especially when we have all seen lots of families who aren't that fussed about getting their kids into school or engaging with remote learning.

@WhoopsSomethingWentWrong
I’d give it a go as there are the middle ground people who will abide by most ‘rules’ but want to see their family and friends at Christmas. This isn’t a snarky question (I haven’t got time to go back and check) but are you a teacher? Even a little bit of help to make it safer would make me feel better about standing in front of a class. I appreciate not all teachers think the same way.

How about keeping the schools open and forget this rubbish of trying to save Christmas. It's only one Christmas and hopefully Christmas 2021 when the majority of us have received a vaccine can be one massive party.

By partly closed I mean secondary’s closed except for year 11 and Upper 6th. Massively reduced class sizes. All other year groups expected to be old enough to be home alone.

My daughter is year 7. By your reckoning she should be old enough to be home alone.
After months out of school and a new school in September, her MH is very rocky. She's barely 11. I can't just leave her at home alone to educate herself for weeks while I work full time. That's ridiculous and completely unfair.

The local hospital is up shit creek now.

Let alone in Jan.

Maternity services are impacted massively by lack of staff at present. Extra being off due to childcare will be catastrophic. Me and my colleagues are exhausted, I would welcome 2 weeks off but not to the detriment of the women and families in my care.

Ours can't get out of the bloody school gates before class bubbles go out of the window. We have a current outbreak cluster because one parent runs a mobile beauty parlour with many other parents as customers. She thought it would be a good idea to go house to house round the village during lockdown whilst symptomatic and then wondered why we have an outbreak and children isolating. Can't wait for Christmas😟

Schools need to stay open.

I have DC in years 11 and 13. I'm prepared to write Christmas off completely and see no family for them to have an interrupted education.
These two year groups must be in. With teachers in ppe if necessary. I have consultations with patients and other staff wearing a mask all day. It's perfectly possible.

@cptartapp

I would recommend you tell both kids to bring home all their textbooks and books/folders/notes etc over the Christmas holidays just in case.

@cptartapp, "It's perfectly possible."
Yes, we know that. Unfortunately, we are hearing numerous reports of schools where IT'S NOT ALLOWED!!!

@GettingUntrapped

Schools need to stay open.

Is that all you have to offer? Have you even read the thread?

@Thepilotlightsgoneout

I thought all this had been done to death already. Schools are always going to be the absolute last thing to close. The situation will need to be desperate before we do that again. Teachers need to get their heads round that.

What makes you think we haven't got our heads round that? It's been made abundantly clear and tbh it's a total PIA to teach online - I'd much rather teach in person.

The situation will need to be desperate before we do that again.

The situation is desperate already; we’ve had 1100 kids self isolating in the last 3 weeks. Freely
Mixing over the holidays will make the situation even worse.

I’ve got school aged children so I’d have no childcare issues if they shut the schools since I work in a school but I hope they don’t.

@Thepilotlightsgoneout do you not understand the situation is becoming unsustainable. Schools are closing because staff are isolating, year groups are closing as kids are isolating. We have no idea who will be in our lessons tomorrow, which of our colleagues will be off and work load is ridiculous. But hey, if we keep saying school must stay open then that will scare the virus away. Teachers just need to die or get sick - tough shit.

"Schools are always going to be the absolute last thing to close...Teachers need to get their heads round that."

And some people need to get their heads around the fact that whilst schools remain open with no safety mitigations in place, the virus will continue to rage out of control. And any vaccine on the horizon is not going to help us yet awhile.

@OverTheRainbow88

The situation will need to be desperate before we do that again.

The situation is desperate already; we’ve had 1100 kids self isolating in the last 3 weeks. Freely
Mixing over the holidays will make the situation even worse.

Who

Is

Going

To

Look

After

The

Kids???

@00100001 well not teachers in the new year if this continues. Too many will be off.

YANBU OP. Although I would also like to see secondary schools go remote from 11 Dec (apart from for vulnerable pupils) to give two weeks before christmas to reduce the risk for those who choose to mix (we won't be mixing regardless). And I would like to see primary parents be given the option to take their kids out of school without the risk of fines from 11 Dec too - if they want to and are able to (this would still reduce risk for those still in school as numbers would be less).

Anything that reduces the risk of spreading it between households at christmas is all good by me, and anything that reduces the risk of a spike in January I support too. I can also see the difficulties for working primary parents though because of childcare issues. Obviously key worker kids would be catered for anyway as they were through lockdown1 but not all working parents are key workers. But giving primary parents the option and removing threats of fines would be a start.

I really hope people are as careful as possible over christmas regardless of what is permitted in the rules. We're so close now to getting back to normal, I hope all the mixing over christmas doesn't set us back really far :-(

There’s an argument I often see on these “close the schools” threads that goes something like this: “schools should close because if they don’t close, they might have to close in a more piecemeal way, and THEN where would you selfish lazy parents be?!” And the people who endlessly trot it out like some big “gotcha” argument don’t seem to realise how stupid it is. Any parent concerned about their child’s mental health and education, any parent who’s already seen how poor online teaching provision is, isn’t going to be scared by the threat of possible school closures if they don’t support definite school closures!

Most parents will take the possibility of schools having to close, over the prospect of them definitely closing. Possibly having to do homeschooling as opposed to definitely having to do homeschooling. Possibly losing their job as opposed to definitely losing their job. Possibly watching their child struggle with loneliness and lack of structure as opposed to definitely seeing his mental health suffer. Possibly struggling to pay bills as opposed to definitely going hungry or losing the house.

Now do you see how the threat of bubbles bursting is less of a worry than you seem to think it should be?

@NaughtipussMaximus that's all right then. As long as you're ok. I'll keep turning up and mixing with 2,000 non socially distanced, non mask wearing people. What could possibly go wrong ? Oh yes, dying. Like my colleague did in March. But that's ok, she wasn't important. As long as no one is inconvenienced.

Why doesn't anyone listen ? It's not closing schools, it's making them safe we want. Masks, some distancing, screens. Then they won't sodding close.

I'm not convinced that (primary) kids do catch it and spread it amongst their bubble. The instances in our school are just as likely to have been caused by parents passing it onto their children. I don't see any evidence that the children are spreading it. They are certainly suffering the consequences, though.

Why doesn't anyone listen ? It's not closing schools, it's making them safe we want.

Erm, read the thread title. Or the NEU press release.

For all the protests on here, it seems plenty of teachers do want schools closed.

Otherwise, presumably, their efforts would be channelled into lobbying for masks.