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

[Baws]

@CallmeAngelina
Sorry my post was in support of you. I tried to quote your post but it didn’t work for some reason.

[monkeytennis97]

@EvilPea I'm assuming that's Gavin Williamson.

[sleepwouldbenice]

@noblegiraffe

Why is it that the government has been spending money left right and centre, furlough, nightingale hospitals, PPE from all their mates' companies, Eat out to help out etc yet when schools say 'can we have some money for hand sanitiser and windows that open please' posters will rush to say how outrageous these demands are and teachers should be funding their own safety measures or going without.

This us my reasoning too. I am very firmly in favour of schools staying open as my daughter really suffered with her A levels being taught by PowerPoint last year. But these changes take time and resources if they are so important. Starting at the beginning of the day with the overcrowded school bus

[RattleOfBars]

I had a hospital appointment on Friday and I must admit I was very surprised. My consultant, health care assistant and the nurse were in a tiny room, with no windows at all and only a mask

Standard procedure in most outpatient clinics IME. Surgical masks only unless they need to take blood or bodily fluids, then they should wear gloves and apron. And possibly a visor if the procedure is likely to make you cough or sneeze.

Ideally windows would be open but many clinic rooms are windowless or have blinds drawn for privacy.

[RattleOfBars]

Yes, I expect schools to pay for safety screens, cleaning spray, sanitiser and so on. Do you expect shop workers, bus drivers and NHS staff to buy their own?

I don’t know of any wards that have safety screens, apart from covid wards and ITU.

We bought our own gloves, have gel, overalls and sanitising wipes in the peak, when they were in short supply. Not ideal but necessary.

[Mover437]

@RattleOfBars

Yes, I expect schools to pay for safety screens, cleaning spray, sanitiser and so on. Do you expect shop workers, bus drivers and NHS staff to buy their own?

I don’t know of any wards that have safety screens, apart from covid wards and ITU.

We bought our own gloves, have gel, overalls and sanitising wipes in the peak, when they were in short supply. Not ideal but necessary.

I'm still buying all of these things. (teacher)

We do have some sanitising wipes and spray available, but it's not enough. I spend about £2 per week on wipes to supplement and keep my space clean. Schools have been given exactly £0 additional to clean.

[Kettledodger]

Yes, I expect schools to pay for safety screens, cleaning spray, sanitiser and so on. Do you expect shop workers, bus drivers and NHS staff to buy their own?
and
Do you think that secondary schools are working well at the moment?

A good school/academy will have enough resources to provide adequate PPE. If not why not??

Again a adequate/good/outstanding should be working well within the confines of Covid restrictions by now. If they found it hard in the first lockdown then things should be in place by now 7/9 months down the line. If not then there are more questions than just fucking 2020 to answer for IMO

[RattleOfBars]

The obvious solution would be to allow schools to close a week early, or move online a week early, giving a clear two weeks 'quarantine' before Christmas day

I don’t think this is an ‘obvious solution’ because so many parents work and can’t just take 2 weeks off at short notice. It may work for older students who can work from home alone eg those over 14 years old?

But a lot of working parents of younger children rely on school to enable them to go to work. They plan their holidays and childcare carefully in advance, use wraparound care etc. A lot of these working parents are keyworkers including NHS staff. December is the peak of winter pressures on the NHS (slips, falls, pneumonia and flare ups of respiratory illness caused by cold weather, bed shortages, breakouts of flu and norovirus, staff off sick with winter viruses etc).

Schools suddenly closing a week early (or staying closed for a month as some other posters have suggested) would cause chaos in the NHS. So many of us have young children, rely on wraparound care for shifts. So if school and wraparound care closed we’d have to take emergency annual leave (or unpaid leave) which would leave our wards short staffed and our teams struggling to care for patients!

Personally our family’s not going to mix at all at Xmas, I don’t think it’s worth the risk. I’m a bit shocked the government relaxed household mixing rules mid pandemic!

I’d love to visit my family but I have a total of 3 days off over the Xmas break, and even if I had a full week off I wouldn’t take the risk of spreading covid. There’s no way I could ‘quarantine’ much as I’d love to see my elderly relatives.

[noblegiraffe]

A good school/academy will have enough resources to provide adequate PPE. If not why not??

Because the government hasn’t provided any covid funding to schools and budgets were already cut to the bone?

[Kettledodger]

I know our school had left over funding from the last term of last year because of the first lockdown were able to get Covid related things such as PPE, extra cleaning facilities, covid notices etc in place. I know I am just talking of one school, but it is a normal state secondary

[BustopherPonsonbyJones]

@RattleOfBars, if you are honestly happy with that situation, then good. I’m not happy. I feel worthy of protection and feel employers should make my workplace as safe as possible. I shouldn’t have to pay to make my workplace safe because it isn’t 1820. It is easy to be made to feel it is our duty to keep working in our ‘essential’ jobs but I’m not prepared to be shamed (or glorified) into becoming cannon fodder.

[BustopherPonsonbyJones]

To be very clear, I expect the government to fund safety measures in schools.

[WitchesBritchesPumpkinPants]

An extra week before two weeks after the27th.

Anything else is very wrong.

[Kettledodger]

Surely schools heating, lighting and class needs such as paper/ DT stuff etc was non existent in the last term of last year so saving were had there. Though again I caveat that with only seeing it through one secondary schools eyes.

[SmileEachDay]

Surely schools heating, lighting and class needs such as paper

My school was open to KW/vulnerable children - so heating/lighting still needed.


Our paper/photocopy bill was increased because we have so many children who can’t access online provision. We printed out work and delivered it, often alongside food and pastoral care.

[Danglingmod]

We have covered this issue in numerous threads but, no, generally schools did not save money but lost money from April to the end of term.

Open to KW/vulnerable children so heating/lighting the same.
Increased cleaning hours because of Covid and schools still open (see above).
Massively increased photocopying and postage costs because a huge percentage of families requested paper packs.
Loss of canteen income because fewer numbers of children in school and excess stock, some of which had to be thrown away.
Loss of hire income (sports hall/pitches/assembly halls) from local sports clubs/dance schools/church groups/scouts etc.
No savings on supply in secondary as by this time of year, absence is usually covered by permanent staff who get "gained time" from exam groups being on study leave.

Savings...a bit of petrol money for the minibus? (not much because probably sports fixtures only are covered by school but trips must be self-funding/chargeable).

[Kettledodger]

We are a family that has FSM through disability. But I acknowledge that chaotic households (I was brought up in one) can have an effect on the school budgets and time having to "catch" them.

[SomelikeitHoth]

@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

I don't want my child to miss any more school. He's already missed so much over the first lockdown. Some children have missed 4/6 weeks due to having to isolate from school contact tracing. Sitting at home for days on end is not healthy for children. Why should they miss more school just because people want to mix at Christmas?

[RattleOfBars]

@RattleOfBars, if you are honestly happy with that situation, then good. I’m not happy. I feel worthy of protection and feel employers should make my workplace as safe as possible. I shouldn’t have to pay to make my workplace safe because it isn’t 1820

I’ve never given it much thought TBH. I happily buy my own pens, hand sanitiser, notebooks and scrubs because I prefer to choose my own (the NHS now provides all these but basic ones eg scratchy biros and polyester scrubs that don’t fit properly). Buying gloves and sanitising wipes was a bit frustrating, but we needed them at the time and it wasn’t the hospital’s fault we ran out.

I don’t think any workplace can be made completely safe at the moment. Hospital staff always risk catching viruses and infections from patients and I guess schools are no different? Covid can be serious but so can flu and a number of other infectious diseases. I think of it more of an occupational hazard.

I know my surgical mask won’t stop covid particles if a patient coughs in my face, but I wear it because the rule is staff must be masked at all times. Unlike in the first wave, when we were told not to wear them! I’ve never thought of myself as ‘cannon fodder’ because I could leave my job if I wanted to. I stay because the job satisfaction outweighs the risk for me.

I agree your workplace should be made as safe as possible and I hope the government listen and give schools the funding they need.

[FemaleAndLearning]

I'm thinking my kids might be 'ill' for the first week of term to avoid them catching and giving it me. We are not mixing at Xmas but I know lots of people who will be so it's not worth the risk.

[OverTheRainbow88]

@FemaleAndLearning

That’s a good idea, we are thinking of doing the same for my boys at nursery.

However, as school staff we cannot make that decision for ourself, we must go in and face the consequences

[Clavinova]

noblegiraffe
Because the government hasn’t provided any covid funding to schools and budgets were already cut to the bone?

School funding has increased this year - the government have told schools to use this extra money first;

"2019 - Multi-billion pound cash boost announced"

"Next year [this year] schools will receive a £2.6bn uplift, rising to £4.8bn the following year - with schools spending £7.1bn more than at present by 2022-23."

( "It is also on top of an extra £1.5bn per year to cover rises in teachers' pension costs." )

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49515002

School funding allocations 2020-21;

dfemedia.blog.gov.uk/2019/10/11/school-funding-allocations-2020-21/

Danglingmod
Savings...a bit of petrol money for the minibus? (not much because probably sports fixtures only are covered by school but trips must be self-funding/chargeable).

You have forgotten to include the partial refund of examination fees from the exam boards - a potential refund of tens of thousands of pounds per school, money saved on exam invigilators and Easter revision courses, pupil premium money saved on cancelled educational visits and subsidised residential trips, money saved on providers coming in to schools such as theatre groups.

No savings on supply in secondary as by this time of year, absence is usually covered by permanent staff who get "gained time" from exam groups being on study leave.

"80 per cent [of supply teachers in the NASUWT survey] were not able to secure any supply teaching work between March and the end of previous school year."

"Another teacher told the survey: “Since the beginning of September there has been no work offered by any of the three agencies that I am now registered with and I will need to claim benefits and look elsewhere for a job after teaching for 25 years.”

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-exclusive-14-supply-teachers-forced-skimp-food

[Clavinova]

October -
"Schools minister Nick Gibb said: “We are providing new funding of over £27 million to local transport authorities for additional school and college transport, on top of more than £40 million provided just six weeks ago."

www.tes.com/news/ps27m-covid-secure-school-transport-fund-unveiled

[Mintjulia]

We aren't mixing with anyone at Xmas. Just because the rules will be relaxed, doesn't make it sensible or advisable, and probably half my friends are taking the same approach.

Education is more important than roast dinner with relatives. We're planning a big family party in June instead.

So no, I don't want schools to stay closed. And as far as I can tell, infection rates in schools are very low, so I don't think children are a significant risk.

[CallmeAngelina]

"And as far as I can tell, infection rates in schools are very low, so I don't think children are a significant risk."

Taken from the latest react study

“While previously all age groups were experiencing a rise in infections, now most are seeing a fall, with the exception of children between the ages of 5 and 17 where positive tests are increasing. This trend could be linked to schools remaining open during the current lockdown, in contrast with the first national lockdown, the researchers suggest. In those aged 13-17, the prevalence is now over 2% or 1 in 50 testing positive.”