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!

@ChloeDecker

Where were you, OP, when the thousands of vulnerable children had to endure self isolation periods, without even being able to get fresh air and exercise outside their home, some running over a month, last term because schools did not have safer Covid measures?

Where were the threads you were starting, campaigning for safer measures to keep schools open more?

Or are you just starting now because it’s only just starting to affect you?

Exactly. OP Tell you what, why don't you volunteer to help such children if you feel so strongly? Come into school and volunteer?

It’s going to be horrible for a time, whether schools close or not. None of this is ideal. Rather than sniping at other parents, hold the government to account for their appalling management of this pandemic.

Stop presuming that the vunerable children are being looked after, they are not!

This pisses me off when people presume this. No one is going to say "My husband is a raging alcoholic and we physically abuse our child so can they go to the hub school please".

Yes, I agree with this. People say ‘the vulnerable children get school places’ to make themselves feel better about it but it just isn’t true.

I think back to my own childhood - from the outside a lovely middle class family, from the inside a dictatorship ruled by a physically abusive alcoholic. I loved school, it was safety for 8 hours a day. Noone pinned me up against a wall and told me I’d taste the blood as they knocked my teeth out.

I shudder to think of what would have happened if Covid had happened when I was a teenager.

I can see the arguments for and against closing schools and ultimately the science must prevail. But I agree with the OP and other posters - I wish people would be honest with themselves about the true impact of it rather than just saying ‘vulnerable children get a school place’. Vulnerability takes many forms and it’s frequently not visible.

SAGE have said schools need to close for rates to reduce. There will be deaths. Unnecessary deaths.

Yes. Every discussion about what should happen should come down to this.

Johnson said schools are safe. And yet if even a fraction of a class of 30 kids got together indoors somewhere other than school NO-ONE on this board or in government would say they were behaving safely.

A party of 20 seventeen year olds would be closed by police and people would be fined. Yet a classroom of 30 seventeen year olds, unmasked is safe?

Listen to SAGE. Protect our communities. This isn't even about scholls as such. It's about providing the perfect growing conditions for the virus to be taken home. Or shutting that greenhouse.

Why didn't you volunteer to open up your house to a vulnerable child. Forgo your holiday in the sun?

This x 1000!!!

@zoemum2006

1000 people a day are dying. Schools reopening drove these numbers. It’s horrible but until the vaccine is rolled out schools need to be closed (except for vulnerable children).

1000 people a day are not dying stop scaremongering bollocks

@zoemum2006

1000 people a day are dying. Schools reopening drove these numbers. It’s horrible but until the vaccine is rolled out schools need to be closed (except for vulnerable children).

Not to minimise but the numbers the last few days have been around the 450 mark. December 30th -31st recorded 980ish each day but it hadn't been as high as 1,000 per day since April IIRC.

@SatishTheCat

It’s going to be horrible for a time, whether schools close or not. None of this is ideal. Rather than sniping at other parents, hold the government to account for their appalling management of this pandemic.

Actually yes, this. It is all the uk govts fault.

Foxinascarf,

I’m going to assume that neither of us can prove whether the percentage of vunerable children that are falling through the gaps is big or small.

I’m also going to assume that neither of us can prove whether the harm from closing the schools or keeping them open will be greater.

Thanks everyone. All very interesting and lots to think about and learn from.

@Fortherosesjoni70

Why didn't you volunteer to open up your house to a vulnerable child. Forgo your holiday in the sun?

??? What on Earth does this have to do with the OPs post. Just rude

Most of these threads have posters commenting "if schools close how will we cope without childcare" which I think sums up how a lot of people view schools - free childcare.

I have seen this in my school. Kids who are there (as "key students" - 2 are neighbours kids who usually are absolutely fine on their own when the parent is out ) who age wise would be fine at home - teens. But sent to school meaning, as kids dont learn in a vacuum, that a whole swath of staff have to look after them as opposed to looking after their own health. Receptionists, TAa, LSAs, cleaners, teachers, caretakers etc etc

The only caveat is yes, the vulnerable pupils. But we still have to balance the health implications of staff (let's not mess around, this could and has led to death) with these vulnerable pupils. That is something that isnt resolved easily

Today 19:17 CallmeAngelina

Hmm, how long before the first teacher basher pops up?

It’s hardly teacher bashing is it, it’s reality. Not everyone can afford for the schools to close, people are having to take unpaid leave , suffer abusive partners, stuck in tiny houses with no garden, no money for electricity, addicts. It’s bloody awful for some people

@berryfull

The vunerable children are all not in school! I have two kids with learning disabilities, they were not in school in the first lockdown.

Stop presuming that the vunerable children are being looked after, they are not!

And you stop presuming that all staff who work in school are as fit as a butchers dog therefore wouldn’t feel any ill effects if they caught COVID. 2 of my previously well teacher colleagues have died over Christmas.

No not all DC will be safe it is a very tough situation for many.
It isn't privilege to keep your DC safe it is suppose to be the norm?
May I ask what you do/did pre covid to support or reach out to vunerable families? Are you involved in community support? Or just shouting at posters.
Every family makes sacrifices.

Well, much of that is true. On the other hand I'm thinking of 2 people I know who were furloughed and very happy about it - But are adamant schools shouldn't close as they 'dont want the kids under our feet all day'.

So there's that.

Government should have done a 6 month lockdown including borders and schools closed. We'd be in a better position now if they had.

& Schools should be closed to protect both pupils and teachers, "either/or" argument is silly point-scoring.

That phrase is cringeworthy. Until the government makes an effort to make schools safer, I think they should be closing. DS' teacher has been in the icu all holiday, so forgive me for putting teachers lives above a few months of education. You can't make everyone happy and solve everyone's problems.

Completely agree, op. It's a decision driven by unions with their own political agenda. I can't believe how many people are falling for it and genuinely believe that this is about safety.

I agree OP. If only people could see some of the poor little mites I know of, cooped up in tiny flats with a barely literate mum and the new boyfriend in tow. I've seen awful things in my old estate, you wouldn't believe how much some kids need the crumb of kindness from teachers and a hot meal (or any meal) inside them.

I've just posted on another thread but as this one irks me too..

Where were all the people now clamouring for school closures, 2 weeks ago? When half the adults in the country were crawling over each other to grab goosee fat and a tin of biscuits? Why were there no threads and yelling about closing the supermarkets, or as a minimum only letting people in with strong health and safety measures, and only for essentials?

Alright for the adults then, wasn't it - just so long as they got their trolleys and bellies filled.

And now the opposite when it comes to children, their education and mental wellbeing (and some of them will only get those things by going to school).

Utter selfish bastards in this country.

Some of those that I know who are keen for the schools to stay open are furloughed from their own work so can stay safe at home not working but don't fancy having the kids around all the time. 'Check your privilege' is inflamatory. There are all sorts of winners and losers in this situation ...mostly losers, but keeping schools open leaves another opening for the virus and the mutating strain is even more infectious than the last strain so I can't see what else can be done. Especially in High Schools where the year group bubbles are up to 150. As kids in general get the virus mildly or are asymptomatic when the get it, the potential for them infecting others is high. They need to roll out regular tests in schools pdq if they are to stay open.

‘ Stop presuming that all children will be safer at home. There are bigger and comparable dangers to the Covid ’

Our school is closing so I have no choice. The biggest danger to my kids is COVID. Vulnerable, adopted, looked after kids, kids of key workers, kids who’s parents can’t cope at home for whatever reason are all allowed to go into school on Monday.
No/one thinks or assumes closing schools is a good thing.

Completely disagree

Unless someone wants to swop my ‘privilege’ with me?

(it’s leukaemia, btw, but if schools are open my DC have to go in)

Not denying that anything you described in your OP is a privilege, but also don't forget there are vulnerable children in terms of 'underlying conditions'. Some kids have vulnerable family members. Lots of parents are calling for schools to shut because they're terrified of losing someone they love.

@berryfull

The vunerable children are not all being looked after and getting places. They really aren’t.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4113739-Disabled-kids-the-forgotten-Covid-victims

Where was the huge spike in Covid cases that happened when the schools reopened?

Look at the fucking graphs!

If your children are vulnerable they have a right to be in school,talk to the school, take it higher if you need to. But stop throwing every other child under your bus.