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!

Do you think it's ok yet for society to admit that in fact schools were never "Covid safe" and that anyone who said so was, at best, deluded and at worst, lying?
Still no talk of a booster jab for teachers though.

[quote Sherrystrull]@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.[/quote]
Completely agree with this, kids in my school are getting no education now as our staff are off sick with covid. If we had closed earlier we could've provided online learning but as it is the kids will get nothing now.

Too many people with their fingers in their ears saying its not good enough closing a school but they have no answers to the lack of teachers, supply or money. Things that have been said throughout this.

[quote worriedatthemoment]@Badunkadunk why would that help? Testing means cases get spotted and people can isolate
If we hadn't picked up my ds on LFT as he had no real symptoms , he would of gone to college , played contact sports for 2 different teams, gone to work ( customer facing) and gone to my parents in the 10 days he was potentially infectious for
Thats a lot of people he could of passed it on to without that test picking up[/quote]
I'm going to take a moment to say well done you.
And I'm not being patronising.
Since this thing started we have tried so hard to do the right thing. And it has been difficult. My DD testing without being asked when there is a case.

Reading your comment makes me think there is hope for humanity!

@Parker231 discharge rates rapid for covid now as they have so much effective treatment available. Most of the few who end up in hospital don’t linger long now. Even Deputy CMO states covid is no longer the main threat and that it’s on a par with flu (0.094% IFR). Folks need to calm down but I appreciate that’s difficult with the disproportionate levels of fear that have been peddled by the government and media for the last 1.5 years .

@boomwhacker if teachers have had AZ there is no booster jab and if the government wasn’t trying to push vaccines onto healthy 12-15 yos at next to no risk they might be a bit further forward with boosting the vulnerable groups with Pfizer. Whatever made them think they could pull off year-on-year mass vaccination is a mystery to me.

And @boomwhacker all the data has shown that teachers were never at serious risk. But why let that get in the way of a good story (and an opportunity for unions to make hay whilst the sun shines).

@Badunkadunk - I don’t take my information from the media but from my doctor DH. Covid is still incredibly serious. A friend buried her 54 year old father yesterday. You don’t get admitted to hospital unless you need additional help. For every Covid patient in hospital, it’s one more bed not available to treat someone from the hospital waiting list.
One of our local schools has closed because soo many teachers are ill with Covid. It may not be life threatening for them but as the school has closed it continues to affect all the children and their parents.

@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.

@LaDamaDeElche. The Government will not enforce mask wearing.

The Scientists, Doctors and People (on the whole) want mandatory mask wearing but Boris Johnson does not ( no idea why not).

Primary schools have never been allowed to wear masks which is why I will no longer supply teach.

Let us not forget covid has over a 99%, survival rate, it is only harmful to children in extremely rare instances, as others have said those who wanted the vaxx have it, it's not going to go away so we have to adapt and move on. And in happier news according to the latest PHE vaccine surveillance report there over 98% of the population has antibodies and therefore immunity to it so according to even the politicised figures for her immunity we're there. There are much larger and more sinister problems in the world than covid.

@Parker231 I don’t get my information from the media and I certainly don’t seriously consider anecdotes from NHS workers either. I work with data for a living and go straight to source - PHE, ONS, etc. For the vast majority (I.e. over 99%) covid does not represent serious illness (you may even remember Whitty stating this); it’s no worse than the flu and in most cases far milder. I quite like those odds and so should everyone else. Meanwhile there are over 5.7m people on NHS waiting lists with far bigger problems and a tidal wave of mental health issues in children. Any notion that they should bear further burden when vaccination rates are as high as they are is morally degenerate; society has already asked too much of them. During lockdowns referrals to child protection services dropped 40%; mass testing and an obsession with positive test results rather than what’s actually happening in hospitals (I.e. prolonged periods versus quick discharges) drive us towards further restrictions without it being evidence-based. After 18 months it’s a wonder they haven’t thought of anything better than restrictions en masse.

Badunkadunk
So should ill teachers come in and teach? What is the answer to sick teachers and no supply?

[quote Badunkadunk]@Parker231 off because they are actually ill or because they’ve simply tested positive? People catch viruses from each other all the time we just don’t test for them relentlessly and ask people with no or mild symptoms to isolate. I can only think of 2 teachers being off with covid in the last month in our school. Why are positive tests results so high in this country? Because we test so much; we’re testing more than 4 times the rate of Germany for example. Positive test results =/= cases, the vulnerable have been vaccinated (and those who cannot be should shield). Can’t go on like this, shutting down society, the economy, education (online learning is no substitute and does not address the mental health impacts on children); the NHS and government can’t continue to assume ‘suspending our lives’ is an available mitigant in the tool box to make up for their failures (what the heck have they been doing for the last 18 months to address capacity?). The only way out of this is if people stop mass testing. I’ve never been tested and neither have my kids; if any of us have ever had covid we’ll never know. We’re all vaccinated; this is as good as it gets unless people want to live in this nightmarish loop this forever?[/quote]
You are very lucky - we had over 20 members of staff off this half term and many still haven’t returned as they are too sick. Wait until it hits your school (and don’t tell me they’ve already had it because it comes round again) and see what happens. Your children might be the ones who are in, spreading virus asymptomatically because of YOUR nonsensical beliefs that no testing=no Covid=‘life back to normal’.

What we will find is that your children will spread it very nicely and you’ll still be stuck at home with them anyway as the teachers will be sick and no one will be there to teach them. You might also find that you (despite being vaccinated) are also quite ill from the viral load they expose you too and you can’t get back to work for a long time either.

I have given up caring up about people like you but I really, really wish they’d make teachers a priority for boosters as soon as the six months post second vaccine date is passed. We are dealing with the consequences of having anti-vaxxers/anti-maskers U4T crazies’ children in our classes and we shouldn’t have to deal with issues of their making.

[quote CallmeHendricks]@MrsArchchancellorRidcully, is there a reason why your child "refuses to learn from worksheets?" I'm puzzled as to why you think Covid should be allowed to run riot through schools because you can't get your child to do any work at home.
And it's not that schools "refuse" to provide live lessons; many don't have the infrastructure to facilitate it. Every single piece of work I provided for my class during lockdown was at my own personal expense. [/quote]
The reason is he can't cope with it. He needs personal interaction. He won't look at sheets.

Abs I'm not being funny but all it takes to run a live lesson is a laptop ffs. During lockdown I had to pay for live lessons from a private tuition provider to give him anything. Oh and that's on top of doing my own full time, business calm intensive work.

Children are NOT little disease vectors as some teachers seem to think.

MrsArchchancellorRidcully

That's funny because all it takes is a laptop but yet you can't work and support him at the same time yet its so simple for a teacher to work and support him at the same time.

You say its hard to do both working and home school. It is quite ironic what you are asking of others with a 'just' is what you are saying you can't do.

@Badunkadunk

And *@boomwhacker* all the data has shown that teachers were never at serious risk. But why let that get in the way of a good story (and an opportunity for unions to make hay whilst the sun shines).

Let’s play it safe and give teachers the booster early anyway! Then those lazy buggers (and their pesky child-hating unions) can’t close the schools again 👍😁. It’s a win for everyone! We’re all happy! You’re happy as teachers can’t escape from work and sit in the garden, drinking gin (this might need a winter update) and I’m happy as my risk of dying is reduced.

Children are little disease vectors, always have been

Badunkadunk doesn't take things from the media but then slates unions which proves they clearly read the DM instead of what the unions actually said!

@ImUninsultable

There us no point.

Covid is not going away. This is life now. We just need to accept that we are now living in a world with a virus that is mostly fine with a vaccine but sometimes people will get very ill or die. It's not nice, but its how we lived for a couple thousand years before modern medicine. And it's just how we need to live now.

It isnt going away. People die every year from the flu and we dont shut down. With a vaccine now, it isnt like it was back at the start.

If you dont want to live with the risk then maybe consider a career change.

I totally agree with this statement. We need to live with this disease. If you have been vaccinated then you are protected from getting seriously ill, unless you are especially vulnerable and then you need to have a booster shot.

But we cannot keep suspending life every time Covid raises its ugly head. Our children's education and the economy has suffered enough.

And the views here are why we still have a high death rate. I have covid and I am pretty sure I caught it from the coughing kid in the supermarket.

We’re you wearing a face mask in the supermarket and sanitizer your hands

Oreo78

Everyone said that to Drs 5 yeas ago when their workload was too high. They told them to go and get another job so they did. Now everyone is crying about not being able to see a GP because there isn't enough.

Tell lots of teachers to leave but then don't pull your face when there is a short supply later down the line and your child's education suffers as a result. We have a huge shortage as it is because of working conditions, where are they going to pull teachers from when all the vulnerable ones leave given those who are left will have to work extra on top of what they are dealing with now?

Recipe for disaster giving that advice if you care about your child's education.

worriedatthemoment
@Badunkadunk why would that help? Testing means cases get spotted and people can isolate
If we hadn't picked up my ds on LFT as he had no real symptoms , he would of gone to college , played contact sports for 2 different teams, gone to work ( customer facing) and gone to my parents in the 10 days he was potentially infectious for
Thats a lot of people he could of passed it on to without that test picking up
I'm going to take a moment to say well done you.
And I'm not being patronising.
Since this thing started we have tried so hard to do the right thing. And it has been difficult. My DD testing without being asked when there is a case.

Reading your comment makes me think there is hope for humanity!

Believe it or not I have done the same. Have routinely tested my children when the school has asked, kept them off when waiting for a PCR. Gone and got a PCR when LF was positive 3/4 times. I feel I have been as responsible as I can. I have followed the mitigations put in place. But I don't support closing schools, I do support teachers and think they should be protected but not by sending classes home.

The lines are blurry- not everyone who doesn't agree with locking down again or sending classes home , is some selfish, nasty person who doesn't care about the CV or teachers and is anti-testing. They aren't people sitting there doing nothing at the expense of everything else.

gingercatsparky

So how do you think we should cope with ill teachers? Should we just let kids in the school buildings without them? How do we avoid sending classes home without adults to educate or supervise them?

My schools are having to send classes home due to lack of staff. There is only so much swapping round of children/staff that you can do. Schools don’t have the budget for supply teachers, even if they can find them.

This seems very irresponsible. If the child already has had covid recently then that's different but why are they letting close contacts back in school without testing?

@Awalkintime

gingercatsparky

So how do you think we should cope with ill teachers? Should we just let kids in the school buildings without them? How do we avoid sending classes home without adults to educate or supervise them?

When there's a shortage of teachers yes, they would have to go home I guess. My Dd class had to be merged as one teacher was off very will with Covid for a few weeks and my Ds was taught by a substitute teacher for a week as his teacher was isolating. It's annoying, but necessary and better than being sent home.

But the OPs original post wasn't about that, it was about sending healthy children home because there are lots of COVID positive cases in the class.

I do think there should be more protection in school for teachers to avoid this. I also think teachers should have boosters.