To think schools will close soon

[hibbledibble]

We may well have as many cases by new year as we did in the first peak. In which case school closures could be a very real possibility.

I’m really not looking forward to it, but if the new strain spreads rapidly in children then there really isn’t going to be much choice. I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole term was at home for non exam years, though there’ll probably be a horrible period of trying to avoid that by initially only closing schools in tier 4, then only closing them elsewhere when the new strain is embedded everywhere, causing far more deaths than if the government had the guts to take difficult decisions when they’re needed.

That’s only if you make it all about adults and not children themselves. Which is the issue - adults overriding a group that has no voice and putting themselves first.

It sometimes does have to be about the adults - you know, the workers who need to work to feed the kids, keep a roof over their heads and pay their tax and NI.

It's the parents responsibility to put their children first, not mine, not anyone else's.

@SecretSpAD

That’s only if you make it all about adults and not children themselves. Which is the issue - adults overriding a group that has no voice and putting themselves first.

It sometimes does have to be about the adults - you know, the workers who need to work to feed the kids, keep a roof over their heads and pay their tax and NI.

It's the parents responsibility to put their children first, not mine, not anyone else's.

Luckily decisions have not been made that way.

I do think that secondary schools should close for the time being.
On a personal note I want my children to continue to go to primacy school as we had disastrous experiences during the first closure. My mental health and my child's mental health can not suffer through another closure.
We have caught bugs from the children since September, its inevitable, but I'm willing to take the risk because my children's wellbeing needs to come first meaning they need to be in school with the structure and their friends

I hate the not knowing. I'd support a lockdown in that I think its necessary -but I want to know about schools closing so I can plan for it. I hate the not knowing.

I don't want to, but 'If' we lockdown we need to do it properly or not all - Novembers was pathetic!

DBML they can’t see you. They can hear you but can only see the power point.

@Leagueofgentlemen you want primary schools to remain open so it dosent continue to affect your and your child's mental health but in the same breath you are saying secondarys should close. What about tne mental health and education of those high school kids? Don't they matter? Despicable attitude. Your kids have years to catch up on education, high school kids don't have the luxury of time on their side. If it's a pick one over the other dicision then high schools should remain open

I think you’re correct but as a key worker this time around the 3 days a week I work, my kids will still be in childcare.

*school sorry, not childcare. My parents and inlaws do adhoc childcare the other two days a week

This thread has highlighted what a complex issue schools are-everyone wants what suits them and their personal situation to be the priority.

There’s also something you can do in your keyboard that changes the views on the whiteboard. I never know how to do it, but what the kids see on the whiteboard is different to what you can see on your scteen.

Press windows key and P. Then you can duplicate or extend screen. I never know how to do it though!!! So in theory you could do a demo, and still conceal kids on screen.

@ToffeePennie

*school sorry, not childcare. My parents and inlaws do adhoc childcare the other two days a week

Toffee it’s not far off being correct. The issue is that school becomes incredibly over resourced childcare for some. And others languish.

It is really complex and of course individual parents will have biases but it isn’t a decision that can be made on pure education. There are safety and welfare aspects as well. Eg I think most people would prioritise exam years but beyond that you are probably looking at prioritising across year groups

Eg reception versus year 8. For me it would be clear cut that you’d prioritise reception (need for childcare, smaller bubble, introduction to the basics, years 8s much more independent and able to access curriculum online). Now there will always be exceptions. A reception child with a sahp would find it easier at home than a year 8 young carer with additional needs but the government will have to make decisions on a population basis and childcare and societal implications will be one of the things that has to be considered.

I’m getting sick of how selfish so many parents are being - teachers have worked throughout this lockdown and are putting themselves and their families at risk every day. I have a colleague with a daughter in intensive care and a pupil who passed the virus to his father leading to his father’s death. So I’m sorry that some you don’t relish the prospect of home learning but please know that teachers are at the end of their rope....and I’m keeping my own children at home with my partner to ensure that their teachers don’t have to deal with what I am at the moment.

My dd has sen and thrived during lock down, she hates school and did well at home, even though that was at great cost to me, supporting students on line whilst simultaneously supporting her.

Many of our students also really enjoyed learning from home so please do not think that every child will suffer being at home.

It's not for ever, just a few weeks I imagine.

Doing what I did was stressful but not as stressful as watching nurses try to get dd breathing monitors on a heaving ward one-year and no ambulances so I had to drive her there half passing out.....if we allow this to run rampant which by the sounds of it, it already is... Then we won't get any medical support for other things.

I think at the very least they should remove fines, and let parents that can, keep children at home.

I have 2 SEN kids,. My daughter yr 7 has a chrome book so could attend classes virtually but will still need additional help,. My son yr 3 still hasn't been able to get back to pre covid because of his issues and will require full 1 on 1 time in order to do anything. I will be working very long days due to the time of year so we just aren't going to be able to cope with both at home and still getting theim through their school day. My son's primary school has also had zero cases and the school have been brilliant at keeping them safe.

IF they insist on shutting some schools I am hoping it is the secondary where they can still have teacher led lessons all day albeit online but the only way for my son to progress is in a classroom and he is already 2 years behind. Not to mention he was supposed to finally be seeing Ed Psych in Jan.

The duchess it's very stressful isn't it, being told to hands face space etc but the literally going into a squash with so many other people who are themselves linked to other people, every single day..

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

There’s also something you can do in your keyboard that changes the views on the whiteboard. I never know how to do it, but what the kids see on the whiteboard is different to what you can see on your scteen.

Press windows key and P. Then you can duplicate or extend screen. I never know how to do it though!!! So in theory you could do a demo, and still conceal kids on screen.

this depends very much on the program that you are using to teach the pupils.

In teach stream you present the app that you want the pupils to see, amongst other things.

You, obviously don't know what sen he has but maybe start a thread about it and ask for help.

Over lock down our school didn't offer any support or help, we didn't even get work sheets. My dd didn't know hardly a thing, I knew she was struggling... But I was able to do only a little bit every day with her and she came on massively with me 1:1.

It was a massive learning curse for me, but dd has really come on. Ie don't despair. I had a thread about it early on in lock down and got pointers.

I strongly disagree with tne poster who suggested reception should be a priority over year 8. In my child's school the year 8s will be chosing their options within the next few months to start in year 9. As it currently stands due to being at home for an entire term of year 7 they have only just completed year 7 work. They need to be in school to ensure they have enough experience of all subjects and to try to catch up before they make the incredibly important discussion of choosing their gcse options. This is far more essential than a child in reception who has years to fill the gaps.

Not sure what you mean.....

On that windows p thing, you can extend ( so kids can’t see what’s on your laptop) duplicate ( so they can) and I’m
Not sure what the last one is. But it controls what you want students to see.

So if you want them to see the app ( on your laptop) l think you would press extend. Then they could see the app on your whiteboard but not see themselves on screen.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow

I use windows P in class, but it doesn't always work when teaching online. it depends on what program you are using.

Teams has present so they can only see what is on the power point.
Teach stream in present app.
not sure what zoom is.

(not having a go, just saying that it doesn't work for all online teaching)

Marzipan12 I don’t disagree from a purely educational point of view but most 4 year olds can’t look after themselves and that will end up being one of the factors. Ultimately by taking out infants, you’re also taking out a percentage of the workforce. I would absolutely prioritise exam years over my own small children if I had the choice and I think most people would. They have suffered enough but closing secondaries has a different set of social and economic implications than closing primaries. I have a niece and nephew in years 9 and 10 and they are independent and can access online learning. Homeschooling for them means that they are still being educated, it has limited impact on their parents’ ability to work and there are no safety concerns. They don’t like it and are no doubt better off at school but they are still accessing the curriculum, still able to progress in their GCSE subjects etc.

Someone will have to make really tough decisions about the balance between teacher safety, children’s well-being and education etc across all of the age ranges. I’d rather see some students in school (even if not the ages I’d agree with) than blanket closures.

I'm a TA in a primary school.

We're still seeing the fallout of the previous closures:

• The % of children accessing either online or paper-based home learning was very low in our school.

• Many had lost the ability to sit still and focus for even a minute.

• There were clear signs of regression in some of the children, particularly with toileting and general social skills.

I'd like schools to stay open for as long as possible and for them to be given enough funding to do so. We were being asked to be as sparing as possible with the cleaning sprays and cloths while simultaneously being expected to keep our classrooms extra clean.