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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Schools open or shut?

162 replies

Andrea87 · 31/12/2020 09:13

Should schools stay open?
A tricky one to answer. I have to add I have an interest in shutting them as I am a teacher who had to give up my job in the summer because I couldn’t risk bringing the virus home to a family , so I have spent this time creating an online course for teaching parents how to teach reading plus become an online tutor so I would do better personally if schools were shut plus I have lots of teacher friends who would be safer if they don‘t go to work.
On the other hand I know how challenging it is for parents who are working, trying to keep their job in these difficult times, plus home tutoring their children and the online educational support has been ranging from excellent to some schools doing very little in lockdown. Such a wide response by schools in terms of what they provided at home, it amazed me.
Then there is the important social aspect of children missing out even if they were home educated with excellent support from school and parents.
It is not an easy answer. I live in an area where the virus has been prevalent and know about 3 primary schools and none of them seem to have had the transmitted at school, so it seems primary schools have been safe.
Primary children seem safe. What about the teachers?
Having said that I know teachers who say they do not feel at school and then go to large shopping centres for non essential shopping which surprises me.
So what can happen to keep adults in schools safe and parents the opportunity to continue to work but also keep educating children?
So that teachers like I don’t have to make that difficult decision and leave teaching ( believe me it was hard , I loved my job of 20+ years and miss it dreadfully) maybe the government could furlough teachers who are in the high risk category or live with people in that category and have supply teachers cover their classes. As said children seem to be safe. This would make it safer.
However it is not an easy decision.
Stay safe everyone.

OP posts:
arethereanyleftatall · 31/12/2020 09:16

I think primary schools should stay open.
I think secondary schools should be open on a rota basis - half the kids in, half at home watching the same lesson on teams (or whatever)

Mrscaptainraymondholt · 31/12/2020 09:29

I would rather they stayed closed in all tier 4 areas for an extra two weeks to see how the Xmas day relaxation impacts on cases properly as that’s what’s hitting the NHS and we/they expect a peak mid Jan

OhBaublesBaubles · 31/12/2020 09:33

@Andrea87 FFS what is the YABU or YANBU actually for? That it's BU for giving up your job or BU to close schools???

SmileEachDay · 31/12/2020 09:33

You realise that this will just become yer another thread where posters slag off schools and teachers? I’m sure you’ve read the eleventy million other threads that have done this over the past few months.

I give it 10 posts before someone generalises about teachers during the last lockdown.

OhBaublesBaubles · 31/12/2020 09:34

You left your job after 20yrs...so basically you took early retirement. Nice to be in that position.

noblegiraffe · 31/12/2020 09:35

Having said that I know teachers who say they do not feel at school and then go to large shopping centres for non essential shopping which surprises me.

And yet you claim to be a teacher who has quit their job over safety concerns so I would expect you to know the difference in conditions between a classroom and a shopping centre?

I live in an area where the virus has been prevalent and know about 3 primary schools and none of them seem to have had the transmitted at school, so it seems primary schools have been safe.

So why did you quit your job?

Alfaix · 31/12/2020 09:36

Personally I think they should all be open on rotas with half class sizes for social distancing. I also think teachers should be allowed to wear masks and masks should be worn in class in secondary.

RedHelenB · 31/12/2020 09:38

My son won't learn if not at school. I can nag him to watch the online lessons at but he won't or at best they will be in and he won't engage. He did nothing during lockdown. Where I love the vast majority of secondary school.pupils will be like this, if they're lucky enough to have the computer Wi-Fi at to access them.

MrsMomoa · 31/12/2020 09:39

Open! Just stay open.
None of this half and half bollox, which isnt feasible.

CraftyGin · 31/12/2020 09:41

My DIL's primary school had to shut for two weeks in the first half term. A child came to school with known Covid and over 10 people got ill, including a staff member who was quite unwell.

A child tested positive on the last day of term, so DIL and everyone else in contact with the child had to isolate for the first week of the holidays.

ivfbeenbusy · 31/12/2020 09:42

Primary should stay open. Every primary teacher I know has been splashed all over social media going out, meeting family etc so can hardly then say with any certainly that they caught the virus from a pupil

AlwaysLatte · 31/12/2020 09:43

I for one am glad to be able to keep them home and safe. At the end of last term both my sons (one primary, one secondary) were told to isolate as they had each been in contact with a positive case, and we're in a quiet village (the primary is a very small school). It was the closest it got to us and I was very worried about sending them back when the numbers started rocketing. Both their schools are shut now till 18th at least :-)

42isthemeaning · 31/12/2020 09:44

This thread won't go well

blowinahoolie · 31/12/2020 09:45

I feel that they need to remain open. Not healthy to have no routine or structure to the day.

SmileEachDay · 31/12/2020 09:45

Ooh here we go.

Primary school teachers “splashed” all over social media. Do you work for The Sun?

Tumbleweed101 · 31/12/2020 09:47

I’m in the schools should stay open camp. There should be provision for children who are vulnerable or have vulnerable family members at home so there is a choice for those families. My children have been much happier being back at school and made far more progress with their learning. We have to avoid vulnerable family but we’ve had Covid in the house now so I suspect we have a degree of immunity. With cases so high id expect this applies for a lot of households now too.

Twickerhun · 31/12/2020 09:48

I have the utmost respect for teachers and appreciate the enormous challenges they face but I do believe schools need to be opens.

purpleboy · 31/12/2020 09:53

I think schools need to be open.
I think teachers should be way up the list on getting the vaccine and then I think parents should have the choice to send in their dc or keep them at home without repercussion.

I really think everyone should have the choice but appreciate that wouldn't work if all teachers didn't want to work because they didn't feel safe, so that why I think they should be pushed up the list to get the vaccine.

Pixiemeat · 31/12/2020 10:02

As a self-employed mum with DC in primary school, I’d like primaries to stay open. Even though I’m a T1 diabetic (moderately vulnerable)

As the daughter of a 60+ school teacher (who cannot afford to retire yet) I want them to shut to keep her safe.

I swing between the two several times a day. But ultimately, keeping them shut keeps teachers and school staff safe. Some schools are on their knees with staff sickness and the strain on those having to cover all this is immense.

If the government want to keep schools open, they need to vaccinate all staff.

ivfbeenbusy · 31/12/2020 10:15

@SmileEachDay

Ooh here we go.

Primary school teachers “splashed” all over social media. Do you work for The Sun?

No but I have lots of primary school teaching friends

thepeopleversuswork · 31/12/2020 10:20

Well it certainly doesn’t make sense to have this ridiculous patchwork approach to primary schools in SE London. If schools remaining open is dangerous in one borough it should be consistently imposed across the whole Tier 4 region.

I am in a SE London borough with cases of well over 600 per 100k and mysteriously our schools are opening while the surrounding ones are not.

They need to be consistent about this.

Original poster
Andrea87 · 31/12/2020 10:21

@allnoblegiraffe i quit my job in the summer term when we did not know about safety at school, how it was going to work out and did not have the hindsight we have now so that decision was based on the news. Now we know more.

OP posts:
CallmeAngelGabriel · 31/12/2020 10:23

No one I know has been posting anything at all on FB recently.
So, that either means they're at home doing nothing of note, or they're out partying like mad and keeping quiet about it.

Have to say though, that part of me is tempted to say 'fuck it' and go out tonight, seeing as how the government think Covid is so "not risky" that they've said it's fine for me to be mixing with hundreds of different families come Monday.

"Covid loves a crowd," apparently. Yet not in schools.

noblegiraffe · 31/12/2020 10:24

Now we know more.

So you'll be going back to work now that you've declared schools safe? Despite not working in one since they fully re-opened and despite knowing teachers who say that they aren't safe?

Original poster
Andrea87 · 31/12/2020 10:26

@all OhBaublesBaubles - Post was about keeping schools open and not me. Early retirement? Not really, that’s why I am working from home and doing what I can from here, I shall be applying for teaching jobs soon again hopefully.

OP posts: