AIBU to ask parents who also believe ...

[alwaysraining123]

...we need to open schools ASAP, and ensure the government is true to their word that schools ARE the last thing to close and the first thing to open, to put your thoughts and experiences to those in power and those with influence (e.g by writing to your MP, government ministers, newspapers).

I appreciate not everyone will agree.

Awful idea it will lead to more mass deaths higher than the scale we are already on. Kids transmit to adults

I’m So happy the schools are closed. I feel like my family is now safe. I hated last term with the emails about bubbles bursting as the numbers got worse and worse.

I feel like we’re on the home stretch now. Get the vaccines out and the numbers down and we can have our life back.

[quote Coldilox]@Whyisitsodifficult your 83 year old relative is a priority because she is at high risk of getting seriously ill. Right now the priority is to ease the pressure on the health service, so we need to v city ate the most vulnerable groups first. Once those are done, then we can start prioritising by risk of exposure[/quote]
He’s not really at risk because he doesn’t go anywhere or see anyone! He’s quite happy at home.

Couldn't disagree more - & concerned more & more children qualify as vulnerable/children of key workers that the alleged closures will make sod all difference anyway.

When schools went back, it was thought because children rarely had covid symptoms, it was low risk. It is now known that asymptomatic children AND YOUNG ADULTS to pass on the virus, particularly with the new mutations.

Keep schools closed, particularly secondaries, where pupils are young adults and not children. And for all those bleating that children will miss out - they will miss out on even more if they kill their parents by passing on covid.

Not for me (I’m a teacher) unless children wear masks in class from Y1, social distancing is manageable, the R rate has dropped and I have been give the vaccine. I would really like to be back in school without worrying about serious illness so I would even pay to get the vaccine before September - but that only helps me and not the community transmission.

Schools aren’t Covid safe as things stand.

I disagree schools should open anytime soon. I say tat as a parent and as a member of staff who is having to work under very difficult circumstances and provide support for children who are not attending school. It's been a crazy couple of weeks at work I really wish work could go back to normal, but I'd rather my DC were at home for now. I can't risk DH getting ill.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has not updated its published data since June, showing 148 education workers in the UK had died of COVID-19.
so that was when schools were still closed in the first lockdown- and total deaths in the UK were around 43k.
ONS have a new report coming out later this month - will be interesting to see the changes/

I'd love to be able to open schools ASAP, but right now infection rates are so incredibly high that I don't think we'll be able to do it this term, they need to be got right down before that's an option.

If school was to offer for DD to go back tomorrow i'd decline. I wasn't going to send her on the first day back as it was.

Home schooling is stressful but it's not just about protection for teachers, it's about how much the young DCs are little spreaders outside school. Not to mention the amount of mixing the parents in our village seem to do as soon as the kids are at school. The walk to school, the walk home, gathering round the gates chatting maskless. Popping to each others houses ect.

First teacher I know of has died.

No way. And whilst I completely agree with prioritising vaccinations for teachers and nursery workers, that won’t solve the problem. Children will still bring it home to their parents. Community infection levels need to be much, much lower - last summer levels - to reopen. The question is will the infections then stay low? Probably not, until the vaccine is fully rolled out to everyone. So in the meantime the government needs to put its money where its mouth is and invest in actual safety measures for schools. And blended learning might have to be part of that, given the current state of our state education system - vastly overcrowded schools, not enough teachers, crumbling facilities etc.

Stupid thread, but I am so heartened by the responses. Finally most people seem to realise that is teachers never wanted schools to close, but it's not safe!

*us teachers

Nope! Plenty of teachers at my kids school have had it along with many many pupils, some of whom took it home to vulnerable parents.

Also know of a head teacher and a subject teacher that died locally.

Schools will be opened when it’s safe, when the NHS can cope. There’s nothing else to it, your post is completely pointless and ignorant.

If school was to offer for DD to go back tomorrow i'd decline. I wasn't going to send her on the first day back as it was.

Same. My dc weren't due back until the Tuesday, but my plan was to keep them at home that week anyway, as i expected BJ to close schools by the end of the first week due to Christmas mixing. Luckily dh can work easily from home. I am in school every day. I have small classes. The classroom itself has not been cleaned in weeks.

No don't agree. Schools should only reopen when all the over 50's, all those considered at risk and teachers have had their 2nd vaccine. I'm thinking September.

@formerbabe

Whilst children don't generally suffer from Covid, teachers, TAs and other school staff may well suffer

I think now we have a vaccine, teachers and school staff need to be prioritized and vaccinated asap. I understand schools need to be shut right now but they need to be opened up soon...the damage this is doing to children is terrifying.

I'm more terrified that there are no blimmin hospital beds...for covid patients, cancer patients, other serious illnesses.....

I hate to be harsh, because I do want children to have the best, but... there are entire generations who survived years of war as children and separation from families. I think the majority of kids (not talking about very vulnerable children who I believe should be ebign supported by a whole range of social services, not just schools) will be absolutely fine in the long run

Lots of DC are still in school as the uptake of places has been higher than Lockdown 1. But before they are open to all the schools need actual funding to be able to make them as safe as possible. Not 'make your school safe' (but only if it doesn't cost any money).

@Whyisitsodifficult that's not really the point though. He can reduce his chances of getting it by not going out much but he can;t stop himself from catching it (I know someone who barely went out, only occasionally to the supermarket and was super careful...he died of covid. You can't control others around you)

Point is as was said by Coldilox, its to reduce pressure on NHS. If your 83 yr old relative does get it, they are more likely to take up a bed in an ICU.

I don't think schools should be the first to reopen, and definitely not on the same basis that they were open last term. It spreads rapidly in schools because there are no other mitigations like masks or distancing. There's speculation that schools are part of the reason that the new variant was able to take hold because of the lack of measures to control spread in schools.

Personally I would like them to now decide to go for a zero covid approach - if they used this lockdown to get really tough on measures for about a month, coinciding with vaccine roll out, and big improvements in test and trace. Otherwise this is going to go on for a long long time - the vaccine is going to take at least a year to get all adults vaccinated (that want one), and even then there's no vaccination approved for children yet.

If they don't do that, they need all teachers and school staff, all over 50s and all vulnerable people vaccinated as a bare minimum before they should even consider opening schools. And they still need a plan for doing it much more safely than they did last term (I think at least initially we need a blended approach, apart from for vulnerable/keyworker kids). I can't see them opening before Easter really.

How many bloody school threads do we need?! Jesus wept...

pollylocketpickedapocket your posts are truly awful.
Yes, a teacher near me died and yes it was in the news - the tv in fact. She wasn’t that old. So sad.

What will happen once children are back as they arent being vaccinated?