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!

Classes have closed near us due to lack of staff (all isolating/ill) but I don’t think you can close because of case numbers alone because it will not stop cases/exposure, just prolong/delay the wave. Without a lockdown (which no one wants) it will still spread in other ways.

It's a race to the bottom situation.
The children
The parents
The staff
And only one of those groups is meant to care about all of those groups.
The problem is parents wilfully ignoring the advice.
Just like with any illness the parents seem to think that even when their child has symptoms they can't have it.
Got a temp, it's not covid, it was a late night. An ongoing cough, oh that's the asthma that I've just decided he must have. Throwing up? He ate too quickly.
Obviously it's some parents, not all. But 1 in a class doing that impacts the whole class.

I would still send my child to school even if half were off, they aren’t high risk. Similar happened to my DD in June, covid ripped around the school. Consequently when they went back in September hardly anyone has been off as they now all have immunity. Assuming you’re double jabbed I think we just need to get on with it now. It should in theory mean it’s now out of the way for the winter for your class as they will mostly have a level of immunity.

@flowerycurtain

Our school has just been through this.

I would hazard a guess the actual numbers are higher. We're in an area where parents can test regularly as they often work from home and frankly are wealthy. 32 out of 40 kids in my eldest year group got it. The 8 who didn't have parents who are self employed and in the words of one parent "didn't go looking for it". Not one child has been more poorly than a cold. A fair few teachers had it. All back at school within a fortnight. If we don't have herd immunity now I don't know what chance humanity has got!

Interestingly it hit year 6 first in late sept and then worked its way down the year groups. Funny how it fizzled out in year 1 about 10 days before half term when lots of families were booked to go away. Wonder how many people changes their approach to "not looking for it" then.

Problem is if your immunity is 3-4 months top - it goes around and around. It is crystal clear what the government strategy is - try heard immunity. Given our 50* are 4-6 months on from their jab with no booster - it’s madness as I’ve been double vaccinated but 5 months ago my immunity to it will be crap

[quote julieca]@ImUninsultable no one is talking about a lockdown. A booster vaccine is happening. Very few vulnerable people have had it yet. Protection for those vaccinated early on has reduced.[/quote]
How do you know most vulnerable people have not had it yet? It is simply not true where I am. I work in an NHS community team in a very large city. Most of our patients and staff have had the booster vaccine already.

I agree OP, I can’t believe my secondary is still opening. We’re all back in masks, no mixing year groups, everyone’s being told to do a LFT every day, we were hit by the false negatives so kids came back in with covid. We’re mixing classes as don’t have enough teachers, I taught my year 11 yesterday whilst watching next doors year 10s! Our behaviour team are all off with covid, our reception team has been replaced by art technicians yet we are still open… wtf!

I totally understand the urge to just get on with it but if our whole family gets it due to age and CEV status there's a chance (slim but possible) that my two children - both under 5 - will have no surviving relatives. DH and I have no siblings. No sign of the booster yet for either of us or my parents despite now waning immunity. Who will care for them if we all die?
It's not as simple as just let it rip. Although it does seem to be the gov strategy.
Im sending my DD to school every day and DH has to go to the office sometimes.
The rates the OP Is talking about in school really scare me.

Is it all right to balance the tales of evil uncaring parents with tales of teaching staff who made it very clear they were enjoying a long free holiday during lockdown, or are you going to throw daffodils at me if I do?

For example the teaching assistant at my child's school who posted on social media how much she was loving lockdown life and being able to concentrate on her kids. While I was struggling to do her job alongside my own.

Or my teacher friend who happily told me, in the 2020 heatwave, that he was spending all day with his kids on the beach?

Teacher and TA who both posted, in second lockdown, that people shouldn't be selfish and use keyworker school places unless they absolutely had to. When that was directly contrary to the local authority policy at that time which was to get as many vulnerable kids as possible into school.

I could go on but I won't! Teachers are not all saints either. They are a mixed bag like everyone else, some have indeed worked selflessly through all of this. Others have made it clear they loved the time off and would like some more. That's why people are a bit weary now of these type of threads starting again.

@julieca

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.

Do you mean that you passed a child as they did a cough? That's a pretty unlikely way to catch a virus that's airbourne isnt it? Presumably you mean a child shorter than you, did the droplets travel upwards nd follow you round? I know masks aren't magic sheilds but there must have been an element of protection from that. In all probability you caught it from somewhere else and closing a school would have had no effect if a parent takes a positive child to the supermarket. That's of course if the child was even positive in the first place, there are lots of coughs and colds going round.

Jenster03 Have the school had any contact with PHE? I live in an area which has been at the lower end of cases numbers throughout, so we've only had the odd couple off at a time. The last few days we've reported ten cases, we're a very large primary, so PHE aren't concerned but there's certainly been contact.

Just to add, many kids are asymptomatic and younger primary are not expected to take twice weekly LFTs so I don’t see how it can be stopped in those settings anyway.

Forgot to say, we've had two schools that I know of within five miles move to online learning within the last 24 hours.

@Lougle

We need to go back to the whole household isolating if anyone has symptoms and then tests positive.

The government dropped evry precaution. That was stupid. We need to adjust to being a society that lives with all the safety measures and isolates whole households for positive cases.

But we dont need to go back to shutting down sections of work entirely.

@wherethewildthingis

Is it all right to balance the tales of evil uncaring parents with tales of teaching staff who made it very clear they were enjoying a long free holiday during lockdown, or are you going to throw daffodils at me if I do?

For example the teaching assistant at my child's school who posted on social media how much she was loving lockdown life and being able to concentrate on her kids. While I was struggling to do her job alongside my own.

Or my teacher friend who happily told me, in the 2020 heatwave, that he was spending all day with his kids on the beach?

Teacher and TA who both posted, in second lockdown, that people shouldn't be selfish and use keyworker school places unless they absolutely had to. When that was directly contrary to the local authority policy at that time which was to get as many vulnerable kids as possible into school.

I could go on but I won't! Teachers are not all saints either. They are a mixed bag like everyone else, some have indeed worked selflessly through all of this. Others have made it clear they loved the time off and would like some more. That's why people are a bit weary now of these type of threads starting again.

Are you on about during the school holidays? I don't know any teachers who weren't working whilst teaching was remote, even before the tech was sorted they were doing plenty- especially for vulnerable children in their classes. I don't blame them for being relieved and pleased they didn't have to go physically into schools at the peaks and could keep their children out of childcare. Many were balancing looking after their own as well as remote teaching, you aren't special.

@Siameasy

I want it over with (I’ve had it). There’s worse things going around than this. No more disrupted schooling; it’s disproportionate

This

No, I am not on about in the school holidays. I know quite a few teachers and teaching staff who did not go into school at all during lockdown one, and had minimal time in school in lockdown two.

And of course they aren't saints, they are human, which means they're also not robots who are supposed to happily do their 'duty' without question or complaint. There are a shortage of teachers already, i hope those who have had enough of this crap manage to find other jobs and never look back, you'll do a whole lot more of teaching your little darlings at home with no teachers.

@wherethewildthingis

No, I am not on about in the school holidays. I know quite a few teachers and teaching staff who did not go into school at all during lockdown one, and had minimal time in school in lockdown two.

Those who didn't physically go into school on a rota were likely exempt for reasons that are none of your business. If they weren't doing anything from home (although how you'd know that I'm not sure) then you should have reported them. It's not reflective of the profession as a whole.

@Fetarabbit

And of course they aren't saints, they are human, which means they're also not robots who are supposed to happily do their 'duty' without question or complaint. There are a shortage of teachers already, i hope those who have had enough of this crap manage to find other jobs and never look back, you'll do a whole lot more of teaching your little darlings at home with no teachers.

This is what people seem to be missing. It's like if a teacher dare raise a concern they're lazy and work shy. No other profession gets treated like that.

See Fetarabbit, that's what I mean. Absolutely no need to refer to children as "your little darlings". That is patronising and rude. It's completely reasonable for people to love their children and want them to get an education. No need at all for the sneery comments. You can make your point without that.

do you have any say in the matter op?

@Chipsinthewoods

Classes have closed near us due to lack of staff (all isolating/ill) but I don’t think you can close because of case numbers alone because it will not stop cases/exposure, just prolong/delay the wave. Without a lockdown (which no one wants) it will still spread in other ways.

That’s what has happened at a local school. Closed for three weeks ((including the half term week) as they have run out of teachers.

@ImUninsultable

I guess you don’t work in education. Education staff are exposed to the virus in a way no other sector are and that’s been the same throughout the whole pandemic. Why should they be out through that just so you can get your kids of your hands? What an unpleasant and self-centred individual you are, with a total lack of empathy for anyone else.

@wherethewildthingis

See Fetarabbit, that's what I mean. Absolutely no need to refer to children as "your little darlings". That is patronising and rude. It's completely reasonable for people to love their children and want them to get an education. No need at all for the sneery comments. You can make your point without that.

I could have done yes, just as people can make their point without being sneery and rude about teachers. Cuts both ways I guess.

I swear people think that their vaccines have them the cloak of invincibility.

As opposed to less than 100% protection vaccine which wears off. Has no one paid attention to what happened in Israel? Huge numbers were double jabbed very quickly but they realised that a third booster is needed otherwise rates climb again.

People need to be cautious and use their actual logical brains.