To think schools just won’t be able to stay open in the medium term

[Schoolgrand]

In the medium term we are having thousands of people mixing from different households at a time of high community transmission and now we are hearing reports of an October lockdown. Aibu to think schools in their current form with no mitigation’s just can’t stay open in the medium term.

10 percent of our staff team are off with covid. Once we're at 20 percent we'd need to start closing classes as we wouldn't have enough staff to cover. It's not as simple as 'schools have to keep open' if we literally don't have enough staff on the ground to do so.

I know at least 3 families at our school who are keeping children off if theres covid in the household. You just say they have symptoms and you're not testing. Then send them back once all are covid free. No parent will thank them sending a child in whos living with someone who's tested positive for covid.

@LittleOwl153

Sadly schools are not even being notified of those who are close contacts now. You MUST send your child to school even if you or another member of your household has a positive test - UNLESS the have a positive test themselves - thats the law now. It is right screwing up our local schools with primary now hitting about a 35% +ve rate!!

I meant for in school cases. When a child in school tests positive, our school are defining close contacts as anyone who sits within 1.5m of the child in question. They’re asking that anyone they identify as a close contact stays away from school until they’ve had a negative PCR. They obviously can’t enforce it but people seem to be complying so far (we’ve been back 3 weeks and had a few cases).

They’re also asking that siblings of positive cases stay at home for the 10 days and providing home learning.

@FfrothiCoffi

They’re also asking that siblings of positive cases stay at home for the 10 days and providing home learning.

How, when the law requires that they're in school?

How, when the law requires that they're in school?

🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m just telling you what they’ve said. I’m assuming they’ll just put it down on the register as a Covid related absence.

Are you in Scotland, Ffroth?

If a parent in England kicked off about those rules, the school wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

If the parents who don’t work and are merrily testing their primary school aged children every other day and giggling about LFT’s filling up their recycling don’t stop testing their children who show no signs of illness, ours won’t even make it to October half term. I am sick to death of it. I’ll join any protest if they attempt to close schools. DD7 told me about her lesson today - it was something I sat and learned with her last year in lockdown so she’s not even learning anything new. I’m fucking sick of the shitshow my children’s education has become, sacrificed at the altar of covid.

@noblegiraffe

Are you in Scotland, Ffroth?

If a parent in England kicked off about those rules, the school wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

No, England. It’s worded as a request… they know they can’t enforce it. So if people don’t want to do it then they won’t.

My children are never more than 30 centimetres from each other when they’re at home, they live in each other’s pockets. There’s no way one would get it and the other not. Better to keep them both at home and get it over in one ‘hit’ so to speak.

I’m extremely vulnerable to Covid. I have cystic fibrosis. And even I don’t want to see another lockdown / school restrictions. I really think we’ve done all we can now. I was vaccinated with the first cohort, will be having the booster jab, our whole family shielded me for months and months. But I want to take my chances now, as I always have had to do every single winter. Even a cold could kill me, but I can’t stop the world for it. That’s only my own opinion of course, but I really really don’t want to see those restrictions back again, especially when it comes to schools.

@Confiscatedpopit

Christ, we really do need to move on. Enough now, children have sacrificed enough. You only get 18 years of being a child, all of us had ours, stop imposing this never ending shit on them!

Yup!!!! Well said @Confiscatedpopit 👏

@Echobelly

There probably should be a shut down for a period (though easy for me to say as have older kids, space, devices and flexible job) but I think this government is determined to keep things open at all and any cost.

They have been shut for 6 weeks, they’ve barely been back Somme children just two days.

I don’t understand this narrative that the government wants to keep schools open at any cost. We’ve had the second longest period of school closures in Europe.
If they wanted to keep them open at any cost, they’d have kept them open to all from March-Sep last year and Jan-March this year.

I really do think kids have suffered disproportionately so really don't want more school closures.

But I think scrapping household isolation is a mistake. My DS teacher is vulnerable. I would not feel right sending him to school if there was a positive case in the house.

I don’t get how we went from what we had on August 15th, to what we have now? With my very limited scientific know.edge of viruses, they spent months telling us that if a member of our household is positive, they are highly contagious so we must stay at home And not see anyone, to now If one of our household is infected, being allowed to mix freely and then go back home to our infected household. It makes no sense and I have no idea why household isolation has been scrapped. Before another lockdown is announced, household isolation needs to be reintroduced surely!

Honestly, I'm sick of hearing about how much kids have sacrificed. I know they have. But as a teacher, who the government deemed was fine to be in a room with 150 unmasked kids and who therefore didn't see her parents for over a year (elderly and a cancer sufferer) for fear of passing it on. Who was then unable to attend her mothers funeral because of a last minute self-isolation because of students who refused to wear masks and were having massive house parties instead of social distancing, this keeping schools open "at any cost" is just ridiculous.

@noblegiraffe

Are you in Scotland, Internetio? There's no requirement to stay off school while waiting for PCR results as a contact in England, and school doesn't count as being a close contact.

Am in Scotland and while kids are to be off until a negative pcr test, the schools have said that being in school doesn't count as close contacts - it's only contacts out with school that are considered.

Seems nuts to me

@2020in2020

If the parents who don’t work and are merrily testing their primary school aged children every other day and giggling about LFT’s filling up their recycling don’t stop testing their children who show no signs of illness, ours won’t even make it to October half term. I am sick to death of it. I’ll join any protest if they attempt to close schools. DD7 told me about her lesson today - it was something I sat and learned with her last year in lockdown so she’s not even learning anything new. I’m fucking sick of the shitshow my children’s education has become, sacrificed at the altar of covid.

Oh i'm very sorry for you. Unfortunately my child is CEV and regularly has covid symptoms, cough, fever etc due to their health condition. I will continue to test my child every single time I feel it is neccessary and quite frankly I don't care if that inconveniences anyone else by way of self isolation or testing or whatever. My child is put at risk every single day by parents who continue to send children into school with covid symptoms and without having been tested because they can't be bothered with the inconvenience.

Think the October reports are to detract from tax hike etc.

Aside from that, I really can’t see how things can continue to close. Just isn’t affordable.

@toots111

If they stop my kids from going to school again I will take my kids to Downing Street and let Boris look after them. My kids have been out of school too much over the last 18 months. They have isolated multiple times. And they have had Covid with literally not a single symptom. They have done everything that has been asked of them for a virus that has no impact on them. I am not a key worker and my young kids have to basically look after themselves whilst I work a really stressful job full time from home. It is not fair, not acceptable, that they have to sacrifice any more.

This x 1000000000

I think, aside from covid, we will see children missing days of school as any cold now will have to be isolating at home until a PCR test result. My DS just missed two days owing to a cold, PCR back today and thankfully negative. I hate to think what this winter will look like.

The whole school has a week of online learning - only coming in for covid tests - due to an outbreak amongst the teachers. Not even being able to start the year normally does not bode well for the rest of the year….