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

No they shouldn’t close my dd who is year 11 is going into her 2nd week of isolation due to a positive case in her year and although she is ok doing her online classes she is desperate to go back to school
We are having a Christmas by ourselves this year which I’m actually looking forward to as we usually host for both sets of parents so will be nice not to have that added pressure.My mil is going to my bil’s as they are in a bubble together (she provides childcare) and my mum has my brother living with her as he has recently sold his house but waiting to buy another so they will have dinner together which my mums quite happy about doing.

The majority of people I know who lost their jobs over corona were working mothers, coincidence? I doubt it. I only know one person who has lost their job over corona and he is a man. My DD and my DsIL all still have their jobs although two are working from home.

I'm happy to do this if it means we can see my family that we havent seen for nearly a year. Would quite like them to finish a week early as well so we could isolate before going to see my parents.
Probably wont be allowed to travel though and my family live miles away.
Know this is completely unrealistic really as well as they want people working

@NailsNeedDoing

Seems strange how that two weeks matters to parents when on here pre pandemic there was often a lot of support for parents taking their children out of school for term time holidays.

When all this is over, I’ll look forward to never again having to deal with the disruption of a suntanned child coming back into class either trying to lie about where they’ve been or trying to excitedly share holiday stories with the rest of us who’ve been at school working. It won’t happen now that parents have realised how much children need every week of their education, right?

In fairness though , this isn't two weeks. It's two weeks on top of the months and months already missed.

More important to me is no return to university for a few weeks after December 25th.

@MeowMeowLikeACow
No, the idiot parents like you who don’t give a shit about teachers and all their bothered about is childcare so they can work as the ones who are “fucking unbelievable” as you describe it.

@ZombieAttack

There were a lot of kids that fell under the radar during lockdown last time, closing schools is a real risk to these kids. We saw a massive increase in child protection and camhs cases during the last lockdown.

As a pp said, home schooling might work if you have interested parents, WiFi, a laptop, clothes and warmth. Lots of kids don’t. Lots of kids have parents who don’t give a shit.

Yes and yes. I am as middle class as they come but I do get annoyed at the blinkered middle class view on this, the assumptions made that every child has the same circumstances.

@Doordine
If you are concerned that the measures in place in your school aren't enough to control virus spread then take it up with your school.
If you’re in a school that you feel safe in, then you’re very lucky. Just read the Union pages and other forums and you’ll see you are very much in minority.

We won’t be mixing over Christmas, I think it’s ridiculous and only those who lack common sense will be mixing, the virus doesn’t stop spreading for Christmas and I don’t understand why anyone would want to put themselves and their elderly relatives at risk just because it’s Christmas. Fair enough if you live alone and want to pair up with one other but families mixing with other families is just crazy. Is it really worth it for a extra month in lockdown? I’m sure most people working in retail, events and hospitality would rather they got back to work sooner than later and would rather sacrifice Christmas mingling for it?

I don’t want my kids to have 2 extra weeks off just because you want to visit Your family for 1/2 days. You have all year to visit them.

@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

This just seems a little bit ridiculous when they're already mixing indoors with 29 other children in classes 5 times a day.

A visit to their nana is hardly going to make them much higher risk than they already are.

The problem with that, at least for secondary schools and 6th forms, is that we have over 150 students sitting BTEC exams starting on 6th January. Only Applied Science has any form of mitigation for the exam (practical cancelled and students given data) but all of there other units, our Health students and our Creatives students (who need hours of supervised prep) are totally running as normal. As in, "Global pandemic? What pandemic?"

In Feb we have our Year 11 Health and Sport students sittiing exams.

I spend most of last week 1, doing cover and 2, sitting with HoDs trying to come up with more plans to try and make all of this work. I am so fucking angry with this Government.

No thank you. How about Boris Johnson gives his head a wobble and has a rethink about 6 DAYS of relaxation of restrictions over Christmas. 1/2 days is perfectly fine for people to get together but 6?! So students returned from being locked up at uni can go out and party with their mates from the then see their Gran. Sounds like a cracking idea

My children will not be mixing. I am completely against this mad idea if allowing people to all meet up over Christmas. Poor teachers why can't we just keep it low key and keep on as we are for that period. Or each family decides either meet up with extended family and keep your children home for 2 weeks or stay in family bubble and back to school?

I just think we shouldn't mix at Christmas. I'm a Dr so if no school in January, no working for me. Kind of defeats the point!

Some of us haven't seen our kids since September (university) so quite frankly I don't care about any of this, I just want to be allowed to see my kids (we are split so they can't travel to my house under current laws because their home address is the old family home that exh lives in, we did this to "protect" them so they didn't have the upheaval of moving whilst at university at financial cost to us).

@Sewsosew
I would say if people choose to mix in their homes, they have to live (or not live) with the consequences. What is wrong is to ask me and my fellow teachers to live with the consequences of their decisions.

@breadwidow

Speak for yourself, I want to see my kids, banned because they have just turned 18

I’d prefer no mixing but given how many already think it’s fine to break the rules and wouldn’t even report someone going out with covid then I have no faith many people would follow it anyway.

I agree OP, not fair on the staff or children whose families didn’t mix so remote learning for three weeks in January. Protects those that followed the rules and would certainly help the NHS.

I can’t even believe relaxation is on the cards, the fallout from it will be awful. How could it not be.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones
would say if people choose to mix in their homes, they have to live (or not live) with the consequences. What is wrong is to ask me and my fellow teachers to live with the consequences of their decisions.
Sums it up perfectly!

I totally agree - there should be no mixing over Christmas. However, this is because I am an antisocial fucker not because I am a teacher. I was REALLY looking forward to avoiding extended family politics this year 😂

It would make far more sense to have people isolate before Christmas to prevent widespread infection in the first place, rather than attempting to firefight a massive spike in cases afterwards.

Also, as someone has already pointed out, there is a significant chunk of time between Christmas and the start of term, when you consider that statistically the vast majority show symptoms in 5-7 days rather than 14.

Either way, I don't think there will be blanket school closures either side of Christmas. There are reports of various academy groups opting to close a week early, and plenty of parents will choose to pull their kids out, but I don't think the government can afford to backpeddle on their 'schools are safe and must stay open at all costs' narrative.

We'll be having a quiet Christmas at home regardless and I work in a school so haven't the luxury of pulling my kids out before the end of term anyway.

Yanbu at all, but as the parent of a child in year 11, I would prefer that nobody mixes over Christmas and schools open in January as usual. Yes, it's shit, but it's a pandemic. We won't be spending Christmas with our extended family this year anyway, as they are vulnerable and it isn't worth the risk.

If it isn't possible to enforce a no-mixing rule over Christmas - either because the government isn't brave enough or the public is too selfish to comply - then yes, I think schools should be closed for an extended period in the new year in order to protect teachers and other school staff.

[quote LadyPenelope68]@MeowMeowLikeACow
No, the idiot parents like you who don’t give a shit about teachers and all their bothered about is childcare so they can work as the ones who are “fucking unbelievable” as you describe it.[/quote]
Can we please get rid of this idea that school doesn't provide essential childcare. Of course it primary function is to educate but it also serves a vital function in allowing parents, usually mothers, to also work. And just because thats the case it doesn't mean people don't care about teachers.

@WokesFromHome

I work in a massive mall where 000's of people traipse through every day and touch things. We have no PPE, only a mask. When this place opens on 3 Dec it will be swamped.

If I am happy to put myself in the front line then others can do it too.

No. of covid positive results at my secondary school to date = 0

Well at least that's more PPE than in school. I hate the way that as soon as teachers raise this all they get is 'I have to go to work, so can you.'

It isn't right that teachers and pupils will be put at risk because some people want their Christmas parties but I don't know what the solution is - a 2 week extension to the holidays would just mean 2 weeks longer to socialise.

Definitely not! This is ridiculous. Show me the evidence to back up that this is helpful.