To think that those people calling for the schools to shut should check their privilege

[berryfull]

It’s all very well and good to decide to keep your kids home or call for the schools to shut when you have enough space/have a garden/ have enough bedrooms/ have a home office/ can work from home/one parent doesn’t work/ you can work flexibly / your work can furlough you/ you have enough savings/ you have enough money/ you have WiFi / you have a device per child/ your children can read and write/ your children are independent/ your children are neurotypical/ your children don’t have disabilities/ you’re not scared of your partner/ you’re not scared of your children/ your mental health doesn’t make you a danger to your children/ yiu can cope with the stress/ your partner isn’t a danger to your children/ your health is good enough to allow you to look after your children/ your education level is sufficient for you to help educate your children you can feed your children throughout the day ..... etc etc

Stop presuming that all children will be safer at home. There are bigger and comparable dangers to the Covid that school keeps children safe from. And the vunerable ones are not being looked after.

Keep the schools open .... please!

@chocolatepowder

You are not keeping kids at home for their well being. It's for the teachers. The nhs. The vulnerable. More needs to be done for vulnerable kids generally. I hate the phrase by the way. And I'm sending my children to school for as long as I'm able despite living in a big house being a sahm with lots of resources.

I don't agree that teachers are in a more hazardous position than most of us unless they are shielding in which case of course they shouldn't go to work.

Actually, as much as mine loves school, I am keeping him at home for his well being, until it's a bit more under control, as he has been very ill before with mystery illnesses that caused sky high fevers. He can't communicate so it's difficult to tell how bad things are. I would rather he was a bit bored and in reasonable health than the possible awful alternative.

School has always been open to vulnerable children, even at the height of the first lockdown, and the government has always said they expect and want them in. Get your facts straight eh.

As to the general ‘check your privilege’ thing I do see what you mean but ALSO it is pretty darn privileged to have children of an age when they need constant supervision/care and assume that the State will always be able to do that for you while you go off and do whatever. THAT is privilege.

School has always been open to vulnerable children, even at the height of the first lockdown

no they were not. it has been discussed hundreds of threads how special schools up and down the country were closed (i.e. schools were every single child has an ehcp and complex needs), it's in the media. where do people get this silly ideas from???

@DeeCeeCherry

Too many people fully expect teachers/school staff to take risks that they'd never take themselves. & A huge sense of "so what it's your job" entitlement underpins that.

This! Quite frankly, its disgusting.

@SaltyAF

Stop asking members of school communities to cure all society's ills by risking their health.

i assume teachers with this attitude spend all their time at home locked away and dont go to supermarkets which btw if you work at a supermarket you have far greater risk teachers see 30 people supermarkets see hundreds

teachers see 30 people supermarkets see hundreds

You think teachers only come into contact with 30 people at school?!

Bloody hell.

Have you never been inside a school?

That's just not true @Skysblue ,my son's special school was closed from march untill September and has announced today that if schools close again only children whose parents are key worker,s can attend ,it's a complex learning disabilities school so every child is considered vulnerable and every child has an EHCP ,so the most vunerable children are not able to go to school ,lots of special school,s are doing the same

@flattyres

School has always been open to vulnerable children, even at the height of the first lockdown

no they were not. it has been discussed hundreds of threads how special schools up and down the country were closed (i.e. schools were every single child has an ehcp and complex needs), it's in the media. where do people get this silly ideas from???

This needs to be taken up with the individual schools and then taken further with the chair of governors and then the LEA.

That's not the fault of the teachers. My school remained open to those with ECHPs and has continued to ensure they attend where parents or carers are in agreement this time (school closure area)

I agree it's completely unacceptable, however we can't lump all schools together.

@DeeCeeCherry

Too many people fully expect teachers/school staff to take risks that they'd never take themselves. & A huge sense of "so what it's your job" entitlement underpins that.

This is also very true and evidently more so as the pandemic has progressed.

I'm still amused at the thread that said teachers were being entitled wanting to be vaccinated one week and not too long after demanded we are vaccinated to keep schools open.

I'm still amused at the thread that said teachers were being entitled wanting to be vaccinated one week and not too long after demanded we are vaccinated to keep schools open.
Some people will find any excuse to stick the boot in.

Teachers: We would like schools to be open in a way that is safe for all because if staff get unwell there's no float to keep schools open,and schools risk making community transmission worse
Goady ones: Teachers want schools closed. Why not just vaccinate them and that way they can stop trying to skive. They are ALWAYS going about this and moaning.

... several days later...

Teachers: So with even more expert guidance, lots of unions who usually disagree and SAGE agree with our concerns. We need schools to be safe.
Goady ones: Look at teachers wanting to get out of working. It's a bit convenient that they only mention this now there is a vaccine.

Schools are not childcare.

FractionalGains

No I responded directly to what you said (including quotes), seeking further info, whereas this response is pure snark and lacking in any substance whatsoever.

I think it’s a real shame people like you do not appreciate the efforts of our NHS workers, to the point you’ve chosen to have a go at me for a post where I literally only pointed out the risks they took in first lockdown without proper POE, in response to someone who minimised this risks they have taken at work

Still making stuff up. you should write fiction.

Schools are not childcare.

I can't believe people still spout this shit.

Well said OP.

Well Boris just announced lockdown & school closures in London so quite a few people will just have to get on with it in most cases won't they.

@DeeCeeCherry

Too many people fully expect teachers/school staff to take risks that they'd never take themselves. & A huge sense of "so what it's your job" entitlement underpins that.

Exactly.

As I've posted many times, the same people will be tutting like mad at someone wearing their mask under their nose in the supermarket and putting them at risk, while simultaneously saying there's no problem with a teacher or TA standing in a room with 30 completely unmasked people all day every working day.

If they were asked to go into a waiting room with 30 unmasked people in it for even five minutes, they'd (rightly) freak out.

Raging. If they'd followed through on schools being a national priority and put more measures in place in sept/ October instead of schools are safe / no evidence of transmission gaslighting we'd have a lot less cases and this lockdown may not have been needed.

@walksen

Raging. If they'd followed through on schools being a national priority and put more measures in place in sept/ October instead of schools are safe / no evidence of transmission gaslighting we'd have a lot less cases and this lockdown may not have been needed.

This.

The government has allowed school staff to be vilified over the last few days despite knowing full well that we couldn't remain open and save the NHS and the wider community and we needed to lock down.

Boris states schools are safe but admits that schools are vectors of transmission?

Fuck you Boris.

Also shame on you to those posters who jumped on the bandwagon and told us that we (school staff) were selfish for wanting to move to remote teaching.

Boris states schools are safe but admits that schools are vectors of transmission?

I know. What on earth sort of crazy logic is that?

@Deadringer

Schools are not childcare.

This is often banded around. What exactly does it mean? Just remember that there would be no food at Tesco if lorry drivers had to stay at home to teach their kids. You don’t provide childcare you educate kids and you get paid more than childcare workers.

And all those months of being in a class of six year olds with no social distancing, no masks and questionable hand washing has just proved that schools are not safe. I'm just surprised that that I haven't caught it but I'm still having to go in , mask free, to vulnerable and key worker children.
And yes, I'll still cuddle a child who is crying.

But so many were saying school is the only place children get a square meal, oh I must go to work so schools must stay open, I work from home can't cope so children must go to school. Hence I'm not surprised "schools are not childcare" has been bandied about. Some speak as if school is childcare, and that's been going on for months now.

Can't have it both ways and expect no retaliation. There's so much individualism around this whole thing. It's shit for everyone but I don't feel teachers should carry so much of it. Lockdown around here and I think it's the best thing for everybody.

All I'd say is teachers should put in a school day whilst at home. Yes that's hard but it's tough for everyone. I find working from home harder in several ways but I get on with it. As do many.

Well not Lockdown really, as borders and ports are open. Just schools been added to Tier 4 really

This is often banded around. What exactly does it mean? Just remember that there would be no food at Tesco if lorry drivers had to stay at home to teach their kids. You don’t provide childcare you educate kids and you get paid more than childcare workers.

It means just that: schools are education institutions, not childcare.

Usually this comes up because outside of Covid (and these are very unusual times) there are people who endlessly complain that the school day or school holidays isn't convenient for them, or that school are wrong for sending their child to the wraparound club when a parent doesn't turn up to collect their child at home time for over 20 minutes, or when someone starts a goady thread about teacher inset days being days off for teachers when they should be teaching (reality: inset days are on top of the 190 days that schools are open to pupils).

Personally and a teacher I find pointing this out at a point where many reasonable parents are worried is a bit much, and so many do need schools along with other provisions in order to work, but it is true. In this time of need however, we all have to do our bit and we all have a responsibility to play, which is why schools are open to key worker families and vulnerable children.

On the pay, you lose my support though. Teachers are paid more, but it isn't comparable to childcare and it's those sorts of arguments that annoy me (and I think skilled childcare should be better valued and appreciated btw).

30 students a class, charge each parent a nursery rate of £60 a day for the childcare that's being provided = £1800 for childcare per day to provide childcare to a class. £9000 a week to pay schools nursery rates to provide childcare. That's one class. For a year nursery rates for that whole class would be £351,000. A teacher is typically paid between £25-35,000 if they have no leadership responsibilities. Suddenly the 'but you're paid more than childcare workers' looks a bit if a silly line to take.

To ask those saying school isn't childcare... Well, childcare workers aren't teachers either, but do our children learn from them? Why, yes they do!