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.

[quote twinkletoesimnot]*@Ohdoleavemealone

Problem with this is that there has been no notice for the teachers.
If they announced tomorrow that I have to teach online the first week back, I would have to spend the holidays getting ready as I am not prepared for that.*

Surely your school should have a plan in case if this happening in place? Tbf it could have happened at any time if your bubble burst and you would have 24 hours to be ready.....

That's what has happened to lots of us!
[/quote]
It is a college, and not a very well run one!

Last time a bubble burst, they found out on the thursday that the class was teaching on Monday had to isolate and be taught online. They told me on the Saturday!

Because of the way we teach it is hard to have a back up plan. All classes work at different paces, are different lengths of time (some 45 minutes some 2 hours!) and start at different times of the acamedic year so I can't just have a stock back up lesson that I can teach live. We have resources they can access online but they don't do it. Most of my students need co-oercing when in the room so they aren't going to do it online!

Am I the only person who thinks they need to introduce proper track and trace in schools. Both occasions we’ve had to isolate due to covid in class we’ve had an email from school. I’m compliant and followed it to the letter.l but I’m bored of the number of kids I’ve seen out and about.

In Ireland you get an official notification from their track and trace system. That clearly carries more weight.

Our track and trace is shoddy, despite the billions sent on it. There should be an uprising!

@HonestTA

God I hope not. I am a TA, keyworker care was absolute hell on earth. I will hand my notice in and go off with stress for my notice period if I was asked to do that again.

Sorry to read this, what made it so bad?

I'm a teacher and I hope they don't but I'm starting to think they will. I just wish they'd give us more notice. I have to have all my lessons planned and resourced at least a week in advance to get photocopying done and so the technicians can prep practical work (and they don't work or get paid school holidays, so can't count those), so, for example, all my lessons for the first week after half-term were prepped by the Wednesday before we broke up. The announcement to move most lessons to on-line teaching came on the Thursday evening!

I've just spent all day yesterday replanning everything for on-line learning for the first week back, and I now don't know whether to bother planning anything for the 2nd week back, but if I leave it until they announce something, it'll be too late, especially if it turns out that they are in school.

I wish the powers that be realised the time and work involved in planning lessons - I'm sure a lot of people think we just swan into the classroom and do it all off the top of our heads and all the practical work/photocopying just appears by magic.

I asked this on a different thread (and it's a genuine question, not meant to be goady)
Can any teachers explain what their ideal would be?
For months I've read a lot of teachers on MN really furious about being let down, fearful of the escalating cases in schools, run ragged because half the staff are isolating and campaigning for something to change.
But dont want remote teaching. (If you had your own , particularly very young children, I can see this would be virtually impossible)
I just want to understand if there are any workable alternative options?
Obviously schools being underfunded for years, having too many children to a class room etc is a huge issue but no government could provide bigger, fairer classrooms, with better ventilation and reduce classes overnight.

As a parent I think I would rather a planned closure for maybe 3-4 weeks, if it meant less chance having children off isolating , multiple times throughout term. (But I realise I'm privileged that this would probably be workable with my job, which I know is not the case for many)

Fairer = airier

High schools certainly they’ve openly admitted it was younger teenagers (high school children) driving the spread in the south during the last lockdown and just after. We can’t justify another futile lockdown without it!

We have had to remind parents, time and time again, that isolation means exactly that, it's not an excuse for a holiday! We have had supposedly isolating children turn up to deliver and collect younger siblings, whole families becoming positive because they're not keeping apart, isolating children out shopping and having sleepovers! There's no wonder it spreads.

Agree with you @Jangle33 it’s becoming very clear that teenagers are driving the spread yet they’ve just been allowed to carry on as normal and do as they want!

YANBU - there’s a reason the numbers didn’t fall as much and for as long when we had a lockdown in November...and that’s coming from someone who made it to the summer holidays and swore blind they’d never home school again. Even I’m starting to think I’ll have to find my way with it now.

Ds is in year 6 this time so hopefully he would still get to go.

Listening to a science podcast this morning - statistically people under 50 who don’t have a severe and recognised underlying health issue have 0% chance of dying of Covid (I think 0.4% in actuality) we are in the 10th tier to get the vaccine (ie probably won’t at all) so why shut the schools? People won’t die. We shouldn’t have shut down in the first place. 70% of those who have died have been over 80. Half of those are in care homes. We should have asked people who are vulnerable to shield and carried on with life. We have fucked the country for no reason. They definitely should NOT shut schools.

I really hope they don’t close. DS1 is in Y11 and despite working constantly through lockdown, his grades have dropped considerably. He is supposed to have his mocks when they go back so without having done then the schools won’t have those results to base their CAGs on in the summer if the exams don’t go ahead. His school have had no cases up to now.
I’m also a TA and we have had no cases either. I worked all the way through on rota as well as trying to homeschool DS2 who had a full timetable on google classroom. It’s the same school so the days I was at home I was also working on my year group google classroom supporting the children on there. We are lucky in the sense that we are all set up and ready to go, all the work we do in class is automatically uploaded to GC as well so for the teachers to plan it’s no more work but it’s much harder to monitor.

@curlycat

I'm in Scotland. Schools close on 23rd. Will not reopen til 11th for staff only. Online learning for pupils til 'at least' 18th. That is all schools, nursery, primary, secondary. DD works in a private nursery and will finish at 4pm on christmas eve then that's her furloughed again until 'at least' 18th. They can only stay open for children if keyworkers or vulnerable children ans her nursery doesnt have enough if either. The whole of mainland Scotland goes into level 4 which is basically full lockdown from Boxing Day again until 'at least' 18th

I just want to say that staff not being in until the 11th is incorrect. We will be in from whatever the first day of term should have been to set up online learning. Personally, I’m quite glad of this as it’s harder to accuse us of having an extended holiday if we’re in the building.

@thegreenlight

Listening to a science podcast this morning - statistically people under 50 who don’t have a severe and recognised underlying health issue have 0% chance of dying of Covid (I think 0.4% in actuality) we are in the 10th tier to get the vaccine (ie probably won’t at all) so why shut the schools? People won’t die. We shouldn’t have shut down in the first place. 70% of those who have died have been over 80. Half of those are in care homes. We should have asked people who are vulnerable to shield and carried on with life. We have fucked the country for no reason. They definitely should NOT shut schools.

Unbelievable.

Ageist shite.

A person over 80 is as valid a human being as any other. With as much right to a life as you. Shame on you for thinking otherwise.

People will die. People are dying.

Idiots take risks, that's why it is our of control again. The deeply dim don't give a fuck for anyone but themselves. While that continues then the virus will run rampant.

Schools need to be safe for staff and students or to close.

I'm in Scotland and schools closed here until 18th jan, although the rumour is it will be at least Easter before the kids are back in the classroom

DecemberSun so we all shut down, rather than just those who are actually affected? At the moment everyone is acting as though it will kill them. It won’t! Better resources would be available to those shielding if we still had some shred of an economy. I’m still not sure how closing schools will protect 80 year olds or those over 50?

@thegreenlight plenty of teachers over the age of 50 you know.

I don't want it to happen but secondary will definitely be online and I'm hoping mass vaccinations in schools won't be far off 🤞.

Primary school seems less of a risk but the teachers are exposed. Our primary has been so lucky and had far fewer cases than any other in the area but the parents have been very helpful and worked hard to stick to the guidance. It's a big school as well.

We can't control this and I'm trying not to get to affected by things out of my control. It's pointless and I'm exhausted enough. Self care and all that.

GrammarTeacher if they have no underlying health condition then they still have a vanishingly small chance of dying of Covid and are more likely to be killed in a car accident on the way to school than Covid. If they have an underlying health condition and are over 50 then they should be shielding.

I have predict a lot of people applying for care work or supermarket and commit to work the minimal hours needed to get their children back to school, under key workers scheme. Hopefully reducing the shortage of care workers.

@clpsmum

I'm in Scotland and schools closed here until 18th jan, although the rumour is it will be at least Easter before the kids are back in the classroom

Oh God I hope it's not til Easter. My sanity can't take it and my DC will be so lonely and bored. My P1 is already struggling with learning to read and this is going to push him further behind.

Dd is in year 10 and we have already been told that lessons will be online for the first week, except for years 11 and 13 who will go to school as normal.
They are also setting up lateral flow testing for everybody.

@thegreenlight I think you need to listen to more science podcasts pet, just because children don’t get sick doesn’t mean they don’t pass it on!

For lots of illness they are super spreaders, have a look into why we know have the mass flu vaccination for toddlers.

And FFS it’s not just about dying www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-55369349

Also the other 30% under 80 did they deserve to died is it ok cos it’s only 30%, still a massive proportion.

I’ve said this on another thread but anecdotally I don’t know anyone over 80 whose died from COVID, but I do know 3 under, all 55-62, working, healthy (bar one who was a diabetic - this should never have killed him) one of the gents even had a 17 year old still at home. Do you think their families would agree with you?

Our primary has been awful. We are tier 3 but an area with pretty low rates. My primary aged dc have been off for 8 weeks between two of them

Yep :( unfortunately

I have a year 10 and 12 and some in primary. 3 of my children have SEN and struggle without school.