Face coverings in schools?

[Georgyporky]

What am I missing?

Why can't all staff & pupils wear masks and/or visors?

I have pupils that lip read

[quote switswoo81]@1Morewineplease I teach 4/5 yr olds (in Ireland) and teach all day with a mask. No frightened Children at all. Got funky dinosaur/spaceship etc ones made . They don't even notice we all have them on.
Mask is only removed for eating put in a plastic bag and then a fresh one is put on.[/quote]
I'm so pleased to hear that you do.
Alas our superiors have decided that we should not wear masks.
As we are now in tier 4 then I'm hoping that I can freely wear one. My fingers are crossed.
All good wishes to you .

They are of limited value if there's no distancing etc as well.

They are of questionable value if they are also being handled frequently and not replaced often.

I already have to raise my voice to be heard in the classroom constantly through a lesson, this would mean me raising my voice more and some kids still wouldn't hear me.

I found when I had a recent ear infection that impacted my hearing just how much I rely on lip reading in a busy and noisy classroom so I'd struggle to hear them.

The chance for misbehaving while wearing a mask (It wasn't me, miss who said that) is going to be annoying.

Teach in a secondary school in Ireland, since the end of August all staff and students wear masks in classrooms and corridors, all seats are 1m apart, 2m where possible but that’s rare as space is obviously limited. There are sanitisers placed all around the school and students sanitise hands as they enter the classroom and also have sanitiser wipes for desks and chairs before class begins, documented seating plans are in place for every class group specific to the classroom they’re in at the time to help with contact tracing.
I found after the first couple of days students got used to it so it’s not too hard to police, just the occasional reminder to students to cover up their nose. It probably helps that the Minister for Education was asked in a press conference what happens if a student doesn’t wear a mask, her answer was that they’d be sent home. Exceptions are obviously made, we have some ASD students with sensory issues who wear a visor or sit at designated stations with perplex screens.

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

Agree they should from year 1 up. Children adapt quickly so would soon get used to wearing them. Anywhere public and indoors.

😲😲😲😲😲😲

@1Morewineplease you too and stay safe.
@DrMadelineMaxwell most of our classrooms are fitted with voice amplification systems as we had a child who required these some years ago but the ones without the school purchased Hand held amplifier s (40 on Amazon).
Totally agree though they need to be used properly and replaced on removal and stored properly.
(Our principal insists we treat our masks as we would our knickers!)

Interested to hear the concern about frightening children.

In the hospital we see sick children and both we and they are wearing masks. Parents too. Everybody is in a mask. Nobody is frightened, it’s the norm.

To date it’s only been adults who have refused.

Teacher in France. Everyone from 6 up has been wearing masks since September. Many of my pupils are second language but they have adapted really well. So far I have had two students with Covid which they caught at home but no spread within th class.
I can’t believe the UK are expecting teachers to teach with no masks.

Puzzled by Madeleine Maxwell’s experience also.

Obviously examining and treating sick children we are not able to social distance.....masks are certainly not of ‘limited value’ they are even more important when we are close to patients.

Masks make communicating more difficult when the other person is relying on some degree of lip reading; they do not muffle sound. I am having no problem at all making myself clearly understood in multiple high stress, difficult, noisy situations such as running cardiac arrests every day.

The masks are changed at lunchtime. I actually find the children are much quieter as the visual codes are missing and they need to really concentrate.

My DD has been wearing a mask in all indoor areas of school (including classroom) since Oct half term. The only time they don't wear them is when eating or outside in their bubble on the playground. Not surprisingly the number of Covid cases has been tiny.

The rationale behind yes in corridors and no in classrooms comes back to our internal t&t system. In a classroom, we know who has sat where and been in close contact. In the corridors, they could have interacted with any other student in the year group bubble.

They are legally required to wear them on the bus home. We enforce (until it's too bloody exhausting and you give up because if a 14 year old doesn't want to do something, they won't) until the bus leaves School site. Can't do much more than that.

Being an adult working in a secondary school at the moment is terrifying. Maybe not every school, but enough.

I have hearing impaired students I teach so they need to be able to lip read. I also can't be heard well when wearing one.

We have compulsory wearing in communal areas, plus they can choose to wear in class although if it leads to poor behaviour - ie increased chat as they think I can't tell it is addressed.

I wear it when I am in closer contact with a student helping etc.

I have lots of phrases - ie your nose is pretty offensive, I don't like to see noses - it makes them smile and sort the mask. I spend my whole break and lunchtime reminding students.

One thing I ask of any parent really really go on at your children about wearing the flipping things - even my 'nice' students try it on.

I do think masks muffle sound. I really struggle to hear some colleagues but not others. Maybe certain tones or something. Awkwardly the HT is the one I find hardest to understand in her mask.

There have been hundreds if threads on this

@millymollymoomoo

No My secondary school sons best friend tested positive a month or so ago. My son sat next to him all day for days prior to diagnosis. Walked to and from school together, spent lunches and breaks together. Not one person caught it in his class or contact group

What’s your point? Are you suggesting it isn’t infectious then? That seems a little...odd as a contention. Actually, you only know none of them developed symptoms, anyway.

Not sure what troubles you about my experience trixie?

I imagine if you wear one with a patient you wear it properly, handle it properly and change it frequently as well as wash your hands between every patient.

And you don't sit by that patient, shoulder to shoulder from 9-3 inc taking it off every time you want a drink, or for your lunch.
Nor do you suck your mask or play with it in your hands when you should be wearing it.

Therefore your correct mask wearing is more protective.

@dingledongle

I have already posted elsewhere, however both my children have been wearing masks in school since September. They caught covid, along with their class mates and us too

That’s because they won’t have been wearing them correctly.

Any update on this

@Safersch101 how do other countries cope where masks have been used in schools for months?

Teacher in Korea, children from the age of 2.5 years wear masks here. Have done since Schools went back in May, they are pretty good at keeping them on apart from when playing football.
They were then at all times apart from eating where they are zoned off from others with Perspex. They also sanitizer hands when entering and leaving a room and cleaners clean the room 3 times a day. Deep cleaning is done once a week.
We have had 2 cases in our entire town (both had traveled out of region) this year.

I honestly don’t get how teaching friends in the UK don’t have sanitizer, are cleaning their own classrooms and are not wearing masks!

*wear

I teach at an independent secondary school in Canada.

We have been wearing masks any time while inside a building since September (except when eating but the dining hall is open in shifts and the seats are 2m apart). This includes during lessons. It took a bit to get used to projecting my voice in the mask but I’m used to it now and don’t even notice it anymore. I sometimes have to remind kids to put their mask over their nose but they do it no questions asked. It really hasn’t been a big deal.