School Tours

[Belle82]

I am so angry I could scream!!!! 🤬😡🤬😡

Our rubbish council has opened up every single non important event going around this area.
Yet something that actually matters is closed down, school visits for parents to actually decide on where they are going to send their children for years.

I know they were closed down last year but no pointless events were on either.
This makes me so so angry, priorities are so massively screwed up!

AIBU to think they should just put these restrictions on people who refuse to have the vaccine.
I think it’s something like 90% of those in hospital (with covid) are people who have refused the vaccine.

We have jumped through every hoop and still we are now being restricted in making a massive decision for our children.

Completely understand your frustration. DD1 started high school this year so we didn't get to visit any prospective schools last year. I've still yet to set foot in her new high school...parents evening is going to be virtual as well

It’s ridiculous, these kinds of decisions should be prioritised by our councils but all they care about is making money. Who cares about our children’s school life!

The death rate in our council for those vaccinated are way below the death rate for flu. And I completely appreciate that if you do get it (and show symptoms while vaccinated) it can feel like a terrible case of the flu, and I understand that it is very much a personal choice whether to have the vaccine or not. However if you are not going to have it you should be prepared to have certain restrictions put on you, not blanket the whole country because of the minority who refuse to have it for their own reasons.

Sorry, I’m ranting now!

I have been looking at the kids school's virtual open evening. It really does not compare to looking round and meeting the teachers. Yanbu. You should be able to visit. Masked, socially distanced etc ..lateral flowed or vaccinated etc...whatever but visit in person.

8 teaching staff out of 15 have Cv19 here this week
No visitors at all at the moment

We are doing tours, although by appointment on specific days rather than an Open Morning with lots of people in at once.

I will just say though - being double vaccinated doesn't mean you won't get ill. I did, and although not serious enough to be hospitalised, I was not in a good way. The number of 'new' people coming around schools will increase that risk, and I don't think you should dismiss it.

What non important things are going ahead?

Yabu and yanbu.

Schoolsneed to prioritise their current pupils and teachers. Lots of schools do have cases of Covid and restrictions to prevent mixing etc. Even parents of current kids can't go in... I had to do DDs SEN review by phone call today. I have never been inside their current school and they've been there since Easter.

But on the other hand.. you're right. I've just had to pick Secondary school by virtual events and I have absolutely no idea if weve made the right decision.

@xxxGirlCrushxxx
Where do I start? Racing days/weekends
Christmas fares
4 massive firework displays & funfair joined events
Beer and cider festivals
Big inflatable funday recently

@YoungGiftedPlump
That makes complete sense and I would assume any school would follow in your footsteps under the same circumstances.
This is slightly different in that this is a blanket restriction for all schools up to the end of the year.

@PearlAsylum
That’s what we had been booked onto, as the schools were understandably not holding open days.

& I fully agree with you regarding how ill you can still get (as I touched on in my response earlier in the thread) I have had a few friends / family who have had it and have felt absolutely terrible. I am not for a second downplaying how bad people can feel with it.
But if they are allowing the cases to spread with such pointless events then don’t cancel one of the only things that means anything to a child’s future.
Covid will never be gone, ever, are we to hide away forever?
The point of the lockdowns / restrictions was to not overwhelm the NHS, as above 90% of patients at hospital with covid are unvaccinated, so to be vaccinated is not a moot point.

It infuriates me that the restrictions are being placed on everyone when it is only a small minority who are putting the NHS at a heightened risk.
I have a group of friends who work in the nearby hospital and they totally agree, they have also told me the government plan on doing a big announcement on the 26th November. Can’t wait to hear what that’s going to be 😔

Just to say again I have not dismissed how bad it can be if you get it (vaccinated or not), my frustration comes from the priorities of our council putting pointless events over important matters.

They could put in place strict criteria for school visits to keep the people at the schools safe, lateral flow tests before attending (with proof if needs be), mandatory masks, no children only adults. The only school we had the chance to look around told us they had done outdoor tours last year, no access to the building but you could see the outdoor space & indoor space through the windows. There are measures that could be taken before a blanket ban is enforced 😔

@Aroundtheworldin80moves I’m sorry you are in this too, I hope you find you have made the best choice. It’s so hard with virtual tours, it’s great if they can be done (our no.1 school won’t even do that) but it is so hard to get a “feel” for somewhere based off a virtual tour. 😔

So they are letting all the money makers go ahead

Typical!

@xxxGirlCrushxxx
Exactly 😔
It’s just such a shame that moral responsibility is disregarded so easily by our councils these days. As it is the easy thing to cancel.

A lot of the events you’ve listed are outdoors.

I don’t disagree that schools are important but I think they are so worried about outbreaks of teachers/pupils and schools having to close. Which is arguably worse.

YANBU. round here it's up to each school so some are allowing one parent in for a tour, others allowing both and others not doing tours.

It's infuriating for such a huge decision but we're just being told everyone managed fine last year with video tours so look at those.

When I asked local primary school about tours, one small school is doing single person tours, one had an open afternoon after school and the two main primaries near us didn't bother to reply to my email. It's so frustrating.

@xxxGirlCrushxxx
Where do I start? Racing days/weekends
Christmas fares
4 massive firework displays & funfair joined events
Beer and cider festivals
Big inflatable funday recently

I can understand why you're annoyed that school open days aren't going ahead, but please don't suggest those events are unimportant.

For those people who make their living in the events industry, those events are really important. As in, they're the difference between being able to pay the rent or not. The difference between going to Tesco or going to the Foodbank. The difference between having heating on or freezing all winter.

Just because it's not important to you doesn't mean it's not important to someone else.

What makes me cross where we live is its clear some schools found it much easier for themselves just producing a video tour to bung on the website, and are keen to continue this despite it being rubbish for parents.

My local primary is a good example.

No covid cases. Yet from early on they seem to have relished the reduced contact with parents and are very clearly keen to keep parents firmly at arms length from now on. Everything via zoom, zero contact at pick up and drop off. It feels like they have gone into hiding.

They claim they are just following county guidelines but other local schools don't seem to have the same restrictions.

I understand where you are coming from but, where I am at least, councils have not dictated that schools should stop events. They have issued advice and schools have then made their own decisions. An outdoor event is very different to a school tour.

Things may differ area by area, though.

@SurreyMumOfOne & @PineappleWilson
I am so sorry both of you are experiencing this as well. It’s a shame when the council talks about our children’s futures being the most important thing and yet they impose restrictions on their parents faced with such a large decision.
I think those who don’t have children can’t or won’t see the point to my frustration.
I remember watching one virtual “tour” last year and it had just over 1 minute on the school and the other 30 minutes on the headmistress talking. How can they compare this to an actual viewing?

@UndertonesOfCake
“ UndertonesOfCake

Lockdowns were always said to be a thing "until we have a vaccine"

Except now we have a vaccine, and most eligible people are double jabbed.

... and now there's talk of reintroducing restrictions - plan B, plan C... full lockdown again?

I'm not prepared to live in a state of perpetual restrictions - I'll take the (relatively small) risk of dying.

I don't understand how they think this is all going to end, if vaccines have been insufficient? What else are we waiting for?”

One of your previous posts summed it up perfectly for me, and I completely agree with you.
Now we have had our vaccine the death toll from this virus is lower than with the flu.
Children, are among the highest rates currently, however it has been shown time and time again their symptoms are no where near as bad as adults. How long are we going to hide from this virus.

In the perfect world nothing should be shut down, our small businesses should be left alone and so should our schools.
But I will not agree with the council prioritising events for them to make money and restrict such important decisions to be made about, what they refer to as “our future generation” if it’s that important then the restrictions shouldn’t be in place, or are they simply paying lip service to keep people happy.

As above they could put in place very strict criteria to keep the staff / children at the schools safe, those who are willing to follow the criteria and are willing to take as you’ve said above the “relatively small risk” (which I fully agree with) then they should be allowed to attend. Those who don’t, that is their personal decision.

I am not holding my breath on there not being another wider scale lockdown.
From what I have read the way the flu vaccine is developed, is that we look at the virus on one side of the world, develop the vaccine based off this data so the other side of the world. The process is then replicated for the other way around to allow for the most effective vaccine against current strains.
With two years of lockdowns that data has been significantly impacted. Hence our government is preparing for an epidemic flu death rate this year, does that mean another lockdown to reduce the numbers, if so when does it stop? Covid is here to stay as is the flu, imposing restrictions on everyone in light of the vaccines is not going to change that fact.

Wow, so sorry for such a long message, just so sick and tired of having this virus control everything and everybody.

Where are you? Schools tours going ahead as normal around here (am in the Midlands). I was one of only a couple of people even wearing a mask on the last one I went on.

@DeepaBeesKit
I totally agree. It is far easier for them, the schools with a low intake were desperate for people to come and see them before these restrictions but the ones who will get to full capacity whether or not people visit don’t care.
Our closest school we saw as we were very lucky to get in for an early visit, no one even saw a glimpse of the headteacher, we were shown around by very young and quiet students, bless them, very sweet but we didn’t get an idea of the school from any teachers and it just shows they couldn’t care less. It would have only taken 5 minutes of her time to introduce herself.

@potoforchids
I am so happy there are other areas of the country where the councils are not imposing such restrictions.

Unfortunately I do think you are right, it’s a bit of a postcode lottery as to which councils are imposing which restrictions.