Covid/school closure. Children made to feel so unwelcome

[Lettuceforlunch]

Has anyone else had this? AIBU? I’ve never known a school be so ultra conservative in their interpretation of the rules around Covid. I’m at the stage where I think they’re now using it as an excuse not to have the children in. This week they’ve had all of four year groups out because of two confirmed cases in two individual classes. They’re in class bubbles FGS! Or at least, that’s what parents have been told.

[Whinge]

[quote Happymum12345]@Lockdownbear
I don’t expect the first thought of teachers with students at their school with covid is ‘oh no, my holiday will be ruined’.[/quote]
Me either. The only time I think about holidays and Covid together, is when I desperately hope the children and staff can make it to the holidays without any more disruption.

[TheMoth]

Yes, schools don't want any children in school at all. At any point. They are very unwelcoming places for children. Teaching is much, much easier when there are no children in school.

[TheMoth]

And bubbles are bursting all over the school I teach in and the one my kids go to. I just want ds to get to the end of yr6 without having to isolate.

[Awalkintime]

Our school closed because we had no staff left. We had 1 member of staff in the whole school including office staff etc. It was not safe to have kids on site with 1 member of staff.

Staff change rooms often, the cover while other staff attend meetings etc. We have had a run of other issues too which we would NOT tell someone - staff have had bereavements, children in hospital, personal issues all at the same time that we have had covid cases leaving us with 1 person to teach the children left in school and manage the office and leadership stuff. We have closed. You are not privy to that information about who has had a death in their family or who has a child ill in hospital.

The council will NOT allow a school to close on a whim, even our council disputed the closure being necessary.

Lettuce as for why online learning didn't start until after dinner - we had the same situation last week. Staff also need time to collect their own children who will need to isolate. They need time to go and get their tests done. Things that are required to be done. It isn't all about you.

[Basil2021]

If there is a risk of covid going through a school so close to end of term I can well imagine HT and Teachers being keen not to have their holiday plans interrupted.

I’m a teacher and I find the above insulting. I teach in an area that has been (luckily) fairly lightly hit however it is coming into local schools with a vengeance now.

OP the child you mention wasn’t made to feel welcome. Well, to put it bluntly, she wasn’t. I’m sure nobody was rude to her or unpleasant. But the fact is this is a pandemic, not a birthday party. I am not welcome at school today because dc is awaiting a covid test result.

As soon as there is a positive test (LFT or PCR) the school rings PHE and gets advice from them.

Look this is crap for everyone. Please don’t start blaming teachers.

[Getawaywithit]

According to our school, four whole year groups are close contacts. That is physically impossible

Depends how many people have tested positive. If it’s the music teacher who has been in every classroom this week, not hard to see why they may have made that decision. Or more are positive than you realise.

We’ve been told specifically two cases. Again, that may be wrong but why state that in an email to parents?

Because it’s not a fixed thing? Two at the time the email went out. 8 by the end of the day. 20 by the end of the week.

[Lettuceforlunch]

To clarify, this is a primary school.

[Whinge]

@Lettuceforlunch

To clarify, this is a primary school.

It will still have lots of the issues mentioned. Teachers / TAs in different classes covering PPA, and for other staff. Lunchtime staff crossing into different year groups, siblings in different year groups. A few cases can mean several year groups out, especially as the children aren't social distancing.

[fluffythedragonslayer]

Schools are guided by public health. Academy schools are told what to do by those higher up in the academy hierarchy. The poor teachers are being pulled in all directions and they are the ones who get the shit from grumpy parents.

It's a global pandemic. We are all doing our best. FFS.

[Lettuceforlunch]

Some people are doing their best, of course. There are some absolute shining stars amongst my DC’s teachers. BUT - the SLT are known for taking the easy option, the pass of least resistance, always in the school’s favour. I know I won’t be able to convince anyone on here just how dire the situation is and maybe the answer is to look at another school.

[Cookiecrisps]

I work in a primary school. With regards to the work being set, we are required to mirror the exact learning that would have taken place in school so it must be the same learning objectives supported by high quality video content and resources and differentiated to meet the needs of all the children in the class (in some classes the children’s levels span 3+ years so very different work / scaffolding resources are required.) This remote learning is monitored by the deputy head. It is therefore not possible to provide this work within an hour of having a positive test result, even though we have the format and platforms for remote learning ready to go. It is expected that it is provided by the afternoon of the first day of isolation.

Rather than point the finger of blame at school staff who have to arrange all this (plus phone calls to all parents some of whom will give verbal abuse back, multiple children being collected from school if the case is known then, arranging free school meal packs to be sent to every eligible pupil and packaging up resources for remote learning to be sent out etc..) I suggest you contact your MP and ask where the funding is for decent risk mitigation measures in schools.

[Whinge]

BUT - the SLT are known for taking the easy option, the pass of least resistance, always in the school’s favour.

You think closing year groups is the easy option?

As many have said on here the school will have been acting on advice from PHE, no matter what you think of SLT they're not the ones making these decisions.

[Lilibet2022]

I’m a teacher, bubbles are closing and I’m worrying each day it’ll be us and I need to do home learning, whilst making sure my own children are able to get to school

Well then as a teacher you'll be aware already that the government guidelines say the remaining household can carry on about their daily business around the one person who gets sent home to isolate as a close contact so you've no need to worry about your DCs still being able to get to school. Lobby your MP to make your work environment safer.

[AliceLivesHere]

I totally agree with you @Lettuceforlunch

It feels like an excuse to do nothing. I have had similar this week. Last week child at school 1 was isolating and just his bubble of 35 children (large school). This week child at different school - the entire school shut - the head is over the top cautious and none in son's year at all but hey ho got to be careful. They are working on line but not teaching just set work and not enough for a day. A teacher I know from the school has taken this as an opportunity to go off to see family for an extended weekend (I'll add that she and most children in school have no direct contact with the infected children in different year group) - it's lazy, and wrong and I am hoping lots of parents complain to the school/LA/Ofsted. No need to shut the lot down.

Again children are being let down.

PS No covid cases in the local hospital and no deaths for months - so over the top responses are really not needed.

[AliceLivesHere]

@Whinge

BUT - the SLT are known for taking the easy option, the pass of least resistance, always in the school’s favour.

You think closing year groups is the easy option?

As many have said on here the school will have been acting on advice from PHE, no matter what you think of SLT they're not the ones making these decisions.

It is an easy option to shut a school though. All home very little work set and long weekend for some - they are not all teaching online - some appear to have taken this as a bonus holiday (again)

[Lilibet2022]

If there is a risk of covid going through a school so close to end of term I can well imagine HT and Teachers being keen not to have their holiday plans interrupted.

I’m a teacher and I find the above insulting. I teach in an area that has been (luckily) fairly lightly hit however it is coming into local schools with a vengeance now.

@Basil2021 I'm a parent and find it insulting to your profession too. The idea that teachers are putting their feet up during the holidays when our school was literally doing track and traces job for them Christmas eve for free (they didn't get a cut of servos billions for doing their job for them did they?) is insulting. But then this thread does have an UFT whiff

[strigiform]

It won't be the Head's decision, it will be PHE. Also, you won't know the ins and outs of the cases and exposure. Near me, a school has had to half close because there were a couple of cases in the lunch staff, who are the one group of people who have contact across most year groups. As for the short timing, I'm afraid when you get 'the call', you have to act immediately, and trust me it takes a long time to contact 100 parents who all want to ask questions (yes, we email/text, but we can't rely on those being read, so in an emergency we phone as well).

Incidentally, parents are really not all blameless either. The ones who send their kids in with classic symptoms. The ones who send their kids in when a parent or sibling has tested positive. The ones who don't bloody tell us when they've tested positive. The last time we had to close a bubble, at 9.30am when all the kids had just been dropped off, was because we'd made a routine absence call home and the parent said 'oh yes, Fred had a positive test last night. Sorry, I was going to email you later'.

[AliceLivesHere]

@Awalkintime

Our school closed because we had no staff left. We had 1 member of staff in the whole school including office staff etc. It was not safe to have kids on site with 1 member of staff.

Staff change rooms often, the cover while other staff attend meetings etc. We have had a run of other issues too which we would NOT tell someone - staff have had bereavements, children in hospital, personal issues all at the same time that we have had covid cases leaving us with 1 person to teach the children left in school and manage the office and leadership stuff. We have closed. You are not privy to that information about who has had a death in their family or who has a child ill in hospital.

The council will NOT allow a school to close on a whim, even our council disputed the closure being necessary.

Lettuce as for why online learning didn't start until after dinner - we had the same situation last week. Staff also need time to collect their own children who will need to isolate. They need time to go and get their tests done. Things that are required to be done. It isn't all about you.

Let's hope our local authority area dispute our closure then (fingers crossed).

Most of the school are not isolating but just sent hope to (contain the spread) - again no one in local hospital and no deaths for months - no serious cases at all.

[yeahdarling]

@Lilibet2022

I’m a teacher, bubbles are closing and I’m worrying each day it’ll be us and I need to do home learning, whilst making sure my own children are able to get to school

Well then as a teacher you'll be aware already that the government guidelines say the remaining household can carry on about their daily business around the one person who gets sent home to isolate as a close contact so you've no need to worry about your DCs still being able to get to school. Lobby your MP to make your work environment safer.

What a patronising post.

How can you get two young children to school when you are stuck in the house? It takes some organisation.

[Lilibet2022]

It is an easy option to shut a school though

It really isn't. To be Frank. Teaching 30 children in a classroom successfully is akin to herding cats. Having to move online overnight whilst dealing with angry parents and trying to keep that same level attention of 30 kids on a zoom or teams call whilst dealing with the safeguarding curveballs is not the easier option at all.

[Lilibet2022]

How can you get two young children to school when you are stuck in the house? It takes some organisation.

The same way everyone else does. You manage somehow. It's called parenting and we've all had to do it even prepandemic times. To be honest I find it odd a teacher doesn't know that this is already the guidelines and has been since Sept. Other people can leave the house. Get your DH / DP or a friend to do a socially distanced school drop off?

[Basil2021]

@Lettuceforlunch @AliceLivesHere just stop being horrible to teachers. They’re doing their best.
You know, I am beginning to think that people who are rude about teachers and say how lazy they are etc are basically the same as people who are rude to waiters in restaurants when their food is late. Rude, entitled and basically bullies.

Teachers are not your servants. Leave us alone.

[Basil2021]

@Lilibet2022 adding you to my list of posters who clearly get a kick out of being mean to teachers.

[Lilibet2022]

PS No covid cases in the local hospital and no deaths for months - so over the top responses are really not needed..

Deaths are not the benchmark. There are 80,000 children in the UK alone with long covid. These children are future earners (not my words it was literally in a telegraph article how some economists were concerned they wouldn't learn to be clever enough to earn enough in the future to pay the covid debt back) who may possibly not be able to work at all. Google the Times article of the ballerina who is still ill a year on. There is nothing over the top about mitigating factors to control a virus. See Brazil.

[Lilibet2022]

@Lilibet2022 adding you to my list of posters who clearly get a kick out of being mean to teachers.

I've not had my coffee yet so can't tell if this is sarcasm or not. Please look back through the thread I've literally defended them after some people are wrongly assuming teachers must all cheer secretly when they have to self isolate or send staff and pupils home to self isolate.