AIBU to hope that school bubble isolation soon stop and to ask what you think is a viable alternative.

[Moelwynbach]

I'be been listening to radio 4 today and also read a Guardian article advising 1/4 million pupils missed school last week due the required 10 day isolation period.

The Minister for Education is calling for an end to the regulation stating that September is too long to wait. MPs have called for immediate change on 19th July.

My own thoughts are:

• School bubble shut downs disproportionately affect women as the main care giver. Affecting long term career options.
• Infection rates in poorer areas are higher, children in these areas are already at a disadvantage educationally.
• The time away from school is widening an already significant socio-economic divide. *Children from less well of families have less opportunities to access technology and internet.
• Parents cannot teach as well as a teacher. It is a skilled job.
• Many parents who have zero hours contracts will repeatedly have their child sent home and cannot earn money.
• Many parents like me cannot teach and work from home at the same time.....My kid just doesn't work that way he is 5.
• What happens after all the annual leave is used? I'm the main earner and can't afford to take unpaid leave.

To this end I agree that something needs to change it is not sustainable for children or carers. At some point we need to accept that this is part of lives. I'm not saying we need to all run out and carry on as normal but how we do sustain this unpredictably? What would be the best scenario for you? Mine would be for no requirement to self isolate unless you are the infected child.

I'm trying to form my thoughts and so many things whizzing through my head.

@MarshaBradyo

I really feel for you TheDevils

Horrendous all round. No thought of impact

Thank you.

The impact on women is particularly stark too. Women's career development has been set back dramatically. Another thing people don't seem too bothered about!

When did close contacts begin being asked to test in England?
I know it was only in this past term where I am.

@Iggi999

Every single time there has been only one positive case yet the 29 other children have had to miss nearly a month of school Most people reading this would think you mean children miss a month for one positive case. Which would be ridiculous!

Well I've now explained what I meant so that should clear up the confusion.

I apologise for not being particularly articulate- we're at the tail end of our third isolation and I'm having to work on a Sunday yet again to just keep my head above water. That combined with stressing about how little school work I've been able to get my 6 year old to do means I'm struggling a little.

@Iggi999

When did close contacts begin being asked to test in England? I know it was only in this past term where I am.

It depends where you live. We've been asked to test if identified as a close contact for quite a while now as we're an area of concern

I'd rather have a constant stream of supply teachers

I’m recently retired and in desperate demand by supply agencies, who could find me work every day and more if it were possible (secondary Maths). However nothing would induce me to go back into a school now or probably ever again, even though I’m a very good teacher and love teaching. This is partly because of the Government’s appalling treatment of schools and teachers, and partly because of some of the teacher bashing on here and in other social media. I suspect that in the near future many good teachers will choose to leave the profession, having had enough, and sources of supply will dry up, leaving schools in an even worse state than they were pre pandemic.

@TheDevils you know nothing about my life so please stop acting like you are the only one who has it tough.

[quote MiaMarshmallows]@TheDevils you know nothing about my life so please stop acting like you are the only one who has it tough.[/quote]
I'm not.
I understand that everyone has it tough in different ways. I completely appreciate that.

I was simply pointing out that saying things 'it'll be easier by September' and 'it's nearly the holidays' aren't useful phrases to be saying to people who are in a similar position to me right now. They don't help because people have being saying similar things since March last year!! It sounds dismissive and just seems like you don't understand how difficult it is - which you don't. That's not saying you haven't had your own challenges that I wouldn't understand.

I appreciate it far more when people just offer empathy and solidarity.

[quote sherrystrull]@BustopherPonsonbyJones

I remember reading that school staff wouldn't be in line for the booster. I was sad but also unsurprised to read it. I hope it changes. [/quote]
I think it’s one to campaign for if we want to stop classes been sent home again next term. As @borntobequiet has written, I don’t think supply teachers are that keen to set foot in schools at the moment. We have struggled to fill posts. I don’t blame supply teachers at all!

I suspect that in the near future many good teachers will choose to leave the profession, having had enough, and sources of supply will dry up, leaving schools in an even worse state than they were pre pandemic

My school has lost 3 mid to late 50s teachers who have enough pension years to retire. All 3 would have continued had it not been for covid and the way we have been treated. Only one of those posts has been satisfactorily filled. The other two we are seeking supply for for next year in the hope recruitment will be better. The posts are in shortage area subjects and have been with the supply agencies since April. I believe there have been interviews but no one considered good enough to appoint.

Happening in schools all over.

And yet this forum will still tell us how useless and pathetic we are whilst reminding us that we know nothing at all about the environment we work in with an expectation we put ourselves in close contact with covid daily. The crisis in education is only just beginning. I am pretty sure we are a matter of terms away from seeing classrooms led by non-qualified teachers, increasingly without a degree.

@BustopherPonsonbyJones

I agree. Something else to fight for.

I'm another experienced teacher who is leaving the profession. The hatred and vitriol from the media, the attitude of the government, the lack of protection etc has really got me down.

3 weeks to go, which as I work part time is only 9 days. And counting!

@PyjamaFan

I'm another experienced teacher who is leaving the profession. The hatred and vitriol from the media, the attitude of the government, the lack of protection etc has really got me down.

3 weeks to go, which as I work part time is only 9 days. And counting!

Sorry to hear that @PyjamaFan. I understand.

Thanks @sherrystrull

I'm trying to look upon it as a positive, giving me the opportunity to try new things. But it's sad though.

Absolutely. Good luck with your new venture.

@Tinysalmonswimminginastream

It is heartbreaking to be told your life is pointless and irrelevant so long as someone else can have fun you need to be sacrificed. It really is horrific to be on the other side of that being constantly told if you die, so what?

That is not what is happening and you are just being disingenuous. I bet you didn't feel this way about vulnerable children before Covid did you, when norovirus, flu, chicken pox and even just common cold would run rife through schools?

I get it, I have 2 CEV children in my class. I don't know what is going to happen for them in the next few months as everything starts to get back to normal. But it's pretty unfair to say that because the world wants to go back to some semblance of normality (and Covid is here to stay now) that they don't care at all about CEV people.

Plus I still don't believe your initial post on this thread and think that at the very least, it's heavily embellished. Because as I said, if what was happening in your school was happening in other schools, the national data would be telling a different story right now.

The thing is, chickenpox, norovirus etc aren't as transmissible and tend to be short-lived in terms of outbreaks (particularly if the children with them are quarantined according to guidelines and the school has good hygiene measures). Covid is much more transmissible, particularly the latest variant. And the health system is under greater pressure. When my kid with type one diabetes and asthma has had RSV, I've been sure that if we exhaust measures for treating it at home, he will get some sort of reasonable care in hospital. When there is a noro outbreak at school, I can decide whether to keep him off for a few days as a precaution, and he can protect himself by using hand sanitiser etc. We've got infection control in our house down to a fine art for D&V bugs and we know when to go to hospital and what will be needed if it gets to the point where it can't be managed at home. Covid is different for lots of reasons.

Yanbu. Children need to be in school and parents need to be able to work. Children are so low risk from covid, what about the mental health effects from missing education, being sent home etc?

Stop the bubbles and stop self isolation.

@Polomintee

Yanbu. Children need to be in school and parents need to be able to work. Children are so low risk from covid, what about the mental health effects from missing education, being sent home etc?

Stop the bubbles and stop self isolation.

That's fine if you offer vaccines to children too