Schools open or shut?

[Andrea87]

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.

Shops were packed today - parks looked full. There is no point trying to protect the NHS when people are not bothered following the rules.

It’s not schools versus everyone else it is about fighting a pandemic

I'm not on that thread, but I was on a Union Zoom call earlier, and someone pointed out that only a few of the LAs local to us are closing primaries, yet we ALL use the same hospital, which is at critical level.

Go figure!

@spanieleyes

Of course people are worried about their children. I'm worried not just about the two of my own but the other 250 I'm responsible for and meant to be keeping safe. How can I do that with a bit of fresh air and some hand gel?

But they are giving you 48% efficient tests now. What could you go wrong

Hopefully the statistics will mean more areas get the no go like mine. If not give it a week or two. You're going to be closing again.

@SantaAssociationRepresentitve

Shops were packed today - parks looked full. There is no point trying to protect the NHS when people are not bothered following the rules.

It’s not schools versus everyone else it is about fighting a pandemic

Yep

You are right about hospitals. Closing according to hospital admissions instead of LEA would make more sense.

Though probably be way to may school cases before it started showing in hospitals. The kids are still less likely to need help after all.

There may not be kids in hospital, no, but they will pass it on to those who might be. Maybe 3 weeks from now?

The thing is, people seem to forget that it's not just about the teachers (no disrespect meant as they are in a hugely vulnerable position, which is wrong). The danger comes from the fact that when schools are in, we might as well just go and sit in there with them! Our little poppets go and sit in a stuffy room for six hours with 30 other cherubs and basically bring all the lurgies home with them! So as a result, we're all in the firing line! This is why schools NEED to be closed. Nobody wants it, but it's necessary ☹️

If kids were as likely to die as the older people, would you want schools closed then? Isn't this new strain meant to be more likely to harm children?

@CakeRequired

If kids were as likely to die as the older people, would you want schools closed then? Isn't this new strain meant to be more likely to harm children?

It is more transmitable between children than the previous variant. Same as adults at a guess.

No evidence yet that it is more harmful though. They are still looking into that.

My gut feeling is hospital admissions look like they are rising because cases have sky rocketed. Not because it is making people sicker. The admissions and deaths be way worse in my area if it was more dangerous.

All a gamble though until they are sure. So are we gambling with our kids health? Possibly yes

Shops were packed today - parks looked full.

Broken record? "How could you know unless you were there too... in which case, you helped make the problem"

I can't comment on shops & parks in my area yesterday. I didn't go myself...

Also being blinkered is a mental health survival thing

Seeing this more and more. I am trying to take deep breaths and not judge but the number of utterly stupid things I have heard. Even my own family. I am really getting pretty ragey with the types who talk about :doing their own risk assessment' then processing to do something utterly dim.

My sister is a nurse in a Tier 3 area up north. She’s been redeployed to ICU - the unit is full but as soon as beds become free there is a plan to begin shipping patients up from London and the SE because the hospitals there are maxed out.
Nightingale hospitals are also being utilised.
It’s much, much worse than the spring.

If we do not have hospitals, people are going to die from all sorts of things that are nothing to do with covid.

We absolutely need a national plan that includes school closures, not a half arsed semi closure that relies on tests which reveal less than half of positive cases, leaving the rest to stay in school.