To question why primaries are closed here, but secondaries stay open?

[QueenieButcher]

I am dreading sending DD back to school. We live in a Tier 4 London borough where rates are going through the roof, hospitals are bursting and primary schools are to be shut. However she's in Year 11 so feel I have no choice; if it's open, she has to go.
I can't understand the rationale of why it's ok for secondary schools (where rates and transmission are higher) are ok to open but but primary schools are to be closed. I know they have said they will test secondary schoolchildren but that's one optional test; there nothing to force them to take one and nothing stop them catching it on the bus on the way home and infecting classmates later in the week.
AIBU to question why primary schools are closed but secondaries are ok to open?

As a fellow year 11 parent in a high case area I completely agree and feel very conflicted. The evidence on the lateral flow test accuracy in untrained hands, which they are proposing on return and when in contact with a positive case (rather than SI) will imo lead to an increase in spread in schools and the wider community. How hospitals will cope with this I simply do not know.

Both are closed to all but keyworker or vulnerable children. Secondaries open only for exam years so as to minimise damage to their futures.

Because parents will kick off about their kids’ exams, which the government could have admitted by now would be better cancelled for 2021.

Nothing about this situation is logical or about what’s right. Government are playing politics with lives.

And I speak as a terrified secondary teacher.

Secondaries will be closed for the same time Primaries are in those areas, apart from Y11 (and Y13 if have a sixth form) and for vulnerable and critical worker pupils. It’s so they can make sure GCSEs still happen

What Livid said!

Unfortunately for every person that wants their child to go to school, you will get another wanting schools to completely close. I really don’t know what the answer is.

They're hoping something will turn up in time.

If it doesn't, secondaries in contingency plan areas will remain as online learning, with onsite provision for keyworker and socially vulnerable families, plus fuller onsite teaching for years taking public exams.

Secondaries are shut aren't they? The first week they are only open for keyworker/vulnerable children. The second week they are open for year 11 and 13. Then on the 18th they open for all students.

I thought secondaries are closed everywhere until the 18th? Except for exam years and it's obvious why they need to be in.

Primaries and Secondaries are both due to open fully on the 18th.

Think about the the rate at which government plans change. (And I don't mean that as a criticism of the government.) By a couple of weeks from now they could well have decided to keep secondaries closed and cancel exams.

(And no, that won't be a "U-turn", it will be a possibility that they had always had in mind. It will just be that the weight of statistical evidence will be slightly worse than they'd planned on.)

Because they haven't cancelled the exams yet

Even though winter was fucking predictable in London ...

My secondary goes back after primary here. (at the moment.) Also Tier 4. And I am working in a nursery that is open.

It's the opposite where I live. Secondaries are shut until February but primaries are only shutting for a week.

DD is due back in school on 11th. Covid rates here are eye-poppingly high and still rising.
I know she has exams this summer, but that's not her decision is it? It was bloody obvious, even in September that pressing ahead with them with no Plan B in the bag was a gamble. So she has to risk her health (and that of her family and community) for her education. What a position to put a 15 year old in.

Primaries in all London boroughs are going to be closed now

Childcare and the economy. Secondary school students are thought to be old enough to look after themselves, Primary school children need to be looked after. If you shut primaries then parents can't go to work. It is not about the safety of those children, It is most certainly not about about the safety of school staff - it is because if you shut a primary school you have childcare issues for working parents.

GCSE and A Level exams will not go ahead this summer in my opinion. It was never a workable option.

Are special needs schools in London also going to be closed?

Because, apart from vulnerable children, primary school children being off school for a bit won't have a massive impact on their education. Children in public exam years are up against a rapidly ticking clock and really need to be in to continue studies that have already been much disrupted/do mocks so that schools have something to go by if exams need to be cancelled again. These are also the children who should have been prioritised last year over the year 6s going back to the festivities and fun of the end of summer term. Also Gav has a year 11 I believe so he's not going to be sacrificing her education in case he gets an earful over the kitchen table...

How much notice did we get that Christmas was cancelled? I wouldn't assume anything was going ahead as planned until it's actually happening.