To think this class should be closed?

[Jenster03]

I'm a part time primary teacher and in the space of two weeks, 14 children have tested positive out of 30 in my class.
We've had 2 or 3 return in that time, but more and more are testing positive. Now my teaching assistant has it.
AIBU to think we should be sending the class home and remote learning? How would you feel if you were a parent of a child in my class?
Oh, and I'm pretty anxious about my level of exposure too!

gingercatsparky
We don't stop using the roads because people die thats true. However, we put measures in place to reduce the deaths. We use lighting, speed restrictions, crossings, patrols, warnings, seat belts. All sensible measures. We actively try and prevent the deaths. With covid in schools we are doing bugger all, there are no measures at all.

Should we remove all measures to keep roads safe and say we have to just live with the excess deaths? Drive as fast as you want, no more school crossings or lights, we'll take down warning signs and just crack on. Those that die were just vulnerable to it.

@User3456

YANBU OP Unbelievable that the UK are expecting all of us to put up with the level of exposure, this isn't the case in other European countries and it doesn't have to be like this. Learning to live with it means taking reasonable precautions to suppress it, not letting it rip regardless. 11 children died just in September FFS. That includes 3 with no underlying conditions. The argument that we should get it over and done with by letting all the kids catch it is the most ridiculous one I have ever heard - avoid a highly contagious and potentially dangerous disease by... catching it?! When there's repeat infections and no long term immunity anyway? Don't know what people are on. I'm a parent and my son was pretty ill when he had covid. It's a lottery. Not all vulnerable children are vaccinated, some healthy children are being badly affected too, school staff and parents' vaccines are now waning. We need to get a grip on the level of infections in the community and take some further steps to slow transmission in schools. I feel for all the school staff, children and their families who are being exposed to this who are not happy with the situation (there are a lot of us around). I hope someone sues the government very soon. Bring on the public inquiry.

Agree but the answer isn't another lockdown or sending whole classes home.

@Awalkintime

gingercatsparky We don't stop using the roads because people die thats true. However, we put measures in place to reduce the deaths. We use lighting, speed restrictions, crossings, patrols, warnings, seat belts. All sensible measures. We actively try and prevent the deaths. With covid in schools we are doing bugger all, there are no measures at all.

Should we remove all measures to keep roads safe and say we have to just live with the excess deaths? Drive as fast as you want, no more school crossings or lights, we'll take down warning signs and just crack on. Those that die were just vulnerable to it.

But there are measures in place. In My dcs school anyway but yes we probably should be doing more but not sending whole classes home.

@LaDamaDeElche

I'm a teacher in Spain. We wear masks inside, ventilate the classrooms and practice good standards of hygiene. I can't remember the last time I had a student with Covid. DD has never been in a class where they had to isolate, in fact no classes on either her primary school or her high school have had to. I don't know why U.K. schools are so resistant to doing this. People wanted their freedom day, to not have to wear masks in enclosed spaces etc, and the numbers have predictably gone up, while they are dropping considerably in other European countries.

I agree with you regarding the masks in enclosed spaces. I've continued wearing mine since freedom day and will carry on doing so. I can see this measure being brought back before Christmas as the uptick in infections and deaths is alarming.

@Awalkintime

gingercatsparky We don't stop using the roads because people die thats true. However, we put measures in place to reduce the deaths. We use lighting, speed restrictions, crossings, patrols, warnings, seat belts. All sensible measures. We actively try and prevent the deaths. With covid in schools we are doing bugger all, there are no measures at all.

Should we remove all measures to keep roads safe and say we have to just live with the excess deaths? Drive as fast as you want, no more school crossings or lights, we'll take down warning signs and just crack on. Those that die were just vulnerable to it.

Traffic regulation is constantly improving. We now have the 20mph limit in many urban areas based on research, and also smart motorways. Infrastructure is out in. Should be for bilious related risks too.

There are no measures in place in the majority it is back to normal in most and reinstating measures when it has started to spread is pointless, like fighting a house fire with a watering can.

How do you propose you keep a class in school without staffing?

So sorry I meant covid related. Hilarious that that came out as "bilious" on my predictive text.

Remote learning is not an option for lots of kids. What about parents that have to go out to work in hospitals, shops etc?

@Rekorderlig88

Are the parents not asked to do lateral flows on their children?

Parents are asked but it's entirely voluntary and the school can't enforce it.

@theemperorhasnoclothes

Pretty tough for the many CEV for whom the vaccine doesn't work. I guess at least they know how little others in society care about them now.

Plus, the higher levels of virus we have the higher the chance of a vaccine evading variant taking us back to square one.

How little they are cared for? We closed the entire country for these people for 18 months at the detriment of everyone else. What a load of bollocks. Should we just lock down forever?

Remote education is better than no education when the teachers get ill.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/coronaviruscovid19latestinsights/deaths#deaths-by-age

Information on child deaths is incorrect btw. There haven’t been any. Thank god.

No the class shouldn’t be closed; the kids have lost an eye-watering amount of education and have suffered enough. Expecting kids to continue to shield adults when most are vaccinated is unconscionable. It’s good that it’s rife amongst the kids; they are at next to no risk and this will help to build community immunity. With vaccination rates as high as they are amongst the over 50s I’m not sure what else people are looking for. Do they want to go on like this forever? Are we going to start testing and isolating for the flu as well?

The sooner people stop mass testing, the better.

Do you mean there haven’t been any in the week in question (as the link refers to a single week) or none cumulatively (for which you would need a different link)? Other posters have, I think, used data for more than a single week?

@Badunkadunk

No the class shouldn’t be closed; the kids have lost an eye-watering amount of education and have suffered enough. Expecting kids to continue to shield adults when most are vaccinated is unconscionable. It’s good that it’s rife amongst the kids; they are at next to no risk and this will help to build community immunity. With vaccination rates as high as they are amongst the over 50s I’m not sure what else people are looking for. Do they want to go on like this forever? Are we going to start testing and isolating for the flu as well?

One of our local schools has closed for three weeks (including half term week) as they don’t have enough teachers in school to open. High numbers of children, teachers and staff have Covid. Heard today that one of the TA’s has been admitted to hospital. Transmission this high is not good for anyone especially the risk that it is passed to someone vulnerable.

The schools that I know of where classes are closed are not closed die to children being ill (so how ill children are is largely irrelevant). They are closed due to having no staff. The children have passed the infection on to staff and there are simply not enough adults for safe opening.

Yes absolutely in this situation you should be able to switch to on line learning.

They aren’t using online learning as the teachers are off ill.

@Parker231

They aren’t using online learning as the teachers are off ill.

That’s ironic - if closure is timely, then there can ne online learning and even keyworker provision. If it is random and reactive due to staff illness, that can’t be provided.

What is better - planned online learning by a regular member of staff, or endless cover, or no learning at all when staff illness reaches a critical level?

@Cardiffwales

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/coronaviruscovid19latestinsights/deaths#deaths-by-age

Information on child deaths is incorrect btw. There haven’t been any. Thank god.

That graph is just for one week. None that week.

Here's a recent very sad case of a child death. As Prof Pagel keeps saying, a tiny percentage of a very very big number can still be a relatively big number. And I'm not sure death is really the metric we want to be using, is it, when it comes to our children's health?

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/02/portsmouth-teenager-dies-of-covid-on-day-she-was-due-to-get-vaccine

Link to proper source for child death information (thanks, data thread people) coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/deaths?areaType=nation%26areaName=England#card-deaths_within_28_days_of_positive_test_by_age_and_sex

@cantkeepawayforever

I agree with you and think it's what people forget. Poorly staff means substandard education. The government have provided no extra money to help schools cover increased absences. Classes are being joined up, 1:1 support removed and life insurance schools continues to be challenging and disrupted. Many people don't want to hear it though.

*life in

@Parker231

They aren’t using online learning as the teachers are off ill.

Which is exactly what school staff predicted would happen right back at the start of term. Sick staff (not always hospitalised but ill for three, four, five weeks) means schools close and children receive no education at all.

Thank goodness the voting doesn’t correspond with the dickhead comments on here - although I’m just waiting for the crazy klaxon to sound at U4T headquarters.