Schools closed for the Queen’s funeral

[Notme1980]

First off, Queen Elizabeth II was an amazing ruler and an inspiration, we are a forces family and my husband has served her for 30 plus years.

but - I do not want the schools to be closed for her funeral (or for any reason at all), I want us to do what I believe she would have done, press on.

I am sure you will be very understanding when your long-awaited medical appointment is cancelled because the doctor's child's school is closed and they can't work.

And even if you can afford to go privately, it won't matter. It will still be cancelled. Only difference is you won't have to wait as long for a revised slot.

"Let's hope the health care professionals, emergency services workers, law enforcers and food infrastructure workers who take care of us will be able find childcare while everyone else watches the TV"

The hysteria around this is ridiculous. If we really gave a fuck about healthcare workers we would give them payrises, take steps to fill the enormous vacancies resulting in the enormous pressure they are under. Similarly many courts were sold, legal aid slashed finally resulting in a barristers strike. We'd also not support real term pay cuts for the key workers that "take care of us"

None of these causes the wailing the government closing schools for a single day for the monarch's funeral has on this thread.

Why do people persist in thinking that classroom teachers actually have a say in how the government runs our education system?

Walkden, I resent you quoting my post to demonstrate hysteria.

And that is hard enough with kids in different schools, all the ad hoc closures of the past two years, and the usual exceptional closures/half days for this that and the other/child sickness. In fact, if you're on your own and haven't got any family to look after kids at short or zero notice, and don't earn enough to have a very flexible childminder to call on, you might as well forget about working anything like 25 hours a week. You'll need endless time off, your colleagues will resent you and your employer will be dying to get rid of you.

"Walkden, I resent you quoting my post to demonstrate hysteria"

Stop making hysterical statements then.

@jennakong

What do you class as an adhoc closure?

Thank you Walkden, you've just reminded me why I don't usually post on Mumsnet. Hope you're feeling important now.

If you've ever worked in primary education you will have seen how much soft royalist indoctrination of children goes on. We've had numerous assemblies over the last few months when the head- who's a real royalist- waxes lyrical about the 'service' and 'hard work' of the queen. She never mentions Andrew though....
I just encourage my class to think for themselves- eg when we've talked about Brexit I gave them copies of different headlines of a range of newspapers eg Express and Guardian and got them to sort them out into pro- and anti- Brexit headlines.
I've given them a picture of the queen and post it notes and asked them to write pros and cons on either side of the image. We've then discussed them.
I wouldn't dream of indoctrinating pupils, unlike my head with her pro-monarchy assemblies, but I do give them the skills to think independently and challenge where they get their news from.

"Thank you Walkden, you've just reminded me why I don't usually post on Mumsnet. Hope you're feeling important now"

I'm sorry I'm upset when I called you out on emotionally guilt tripping people with your hyperbole about a single day 70 years in the making.

Do you not want your children at home? Don’t you like them, OP?

Oh yes, and it absolutely is my job to tell my pupils that there is a range of views on different subjects eg the royals.
And before you ask, I've won a national teaching award for my work on history/topic/IPC curriculum development and perhaps more importantly parents often ask for me to teach their second and third children due to the positive atmosphere and wide range of learning that takes place in my classroom.

I'd hope someone intelligent enough to be a Dr would have the sense to ensure they had an emergency back up plan for such instances.

We know the dates of other Bank holidays more than 10 days in advance. Those of us who don't automatically get bank holidays off work may have serious difficulty finding any childcare at short notice. Let's hope the health care professionals, emergency services workers, law enforcers and food infrastructure workers who take care of us will be able find childcare while everyone else watches the TV

What do those people (like you?) do if their child needs to stay off schol, sick?
They dont' get 10 day's notice @Felicejayne

I can't believe the comments here.

If you work, surely you have a back-up plan for when your child is ill?

Or are you all saying you'd send them to school however they felt?

Or you call work and say you can't go in as your child is ill?

You must have some kind of childcare for these emergencies.

Why not watch on a computer / tv in the classroom?

Because any teacher will tell you that they spend that time monitoring behaviour and intervening as required. Not actually watching at all. Even more so if you have a set of very emotional children who have recently suffered bereavement or are just easily moved. One starts crying, they all join in. Noone sees anything and noone can be properly comforted.

This is an historical event. Those who want to watch it should be able to, and even those with no interest at all should be able to mark the event - if that's by ignoring it and taking a walk, fine. It's still there as a day to take in honour of the Queen and the magnitude of the event, no matter your opinions on the monarchy.

Stop being pissed off with schools and trying to shove it back on them when they have zero say. Be pissed off with the employers making you work it or use annual leave on it - it is at THEIR discretion, not schools! And some of you may still get that day at another point in time. Self employed people, I'm sorry but when you chose to go self employed one of the downsides was not being paid if ill, for bank holidays etc. It sucks but you did know that. People scrambling for childcare - I appreciate it's hard and short notice, but you have this same problem when your school shuts at 7:30am due to snow or boiler break down, just with less notice. You have to turn to plan b.

I will be watching at home with my primary aged children, glad that both they and I can watch properly, take note of the moment, discuss any questions and deal with any upset (and both were very upset at the announcement of her death, completely unexpectedly so.)

I say again: Be pissed off with the employers making you work it or use annual leave on it - it is at THEIR discretion.

There was always going to be a post like this!!

Hopefully it’s a proper bank holiday like Christmas and Easter where everything shuts down, as a mark of respect. Not like an August bank holiday where the attractions are open and the shops do Sunday trading times

I can imagine if the government hadn’t closed schools but classes watched it live on a screen instead, you’d have got some parents saying they didn’t want their child to watch and others worrying their child would be upset. You can’t please everyone, but the government made the right decision here.

But, if it is a planned operation, it will be cancelled anyway - because those who would be involved in it will have a Bank Holiday, and hospital rotas etc will be set for emergency care only. You really can’t blame teachers for that.

I think the schools should not close. We have heard non stop how children have suffered the most because of the pandemic, how it was a mistake to close schools, how the generation of children is going to have a much lower income (we are talking 5% of Potential loss of GDP per year for the next generation, amountable
to the biggest recession ever etc etc). And we go and at the first opportunity to scrap another school day? Is this what sensible people really think is the best use of time? Let the children watch the funeral (or the highlights, for God knows they won’t watch the whole thing, which will take HOURS on TV) in school, where they are looked after, warm and fed.

Sorry, appointment not operation - but the same point applies. My dd’s outpatient appointment, for which she has been waiting for 15 months, will be postponed - because it us a bank holiday and all such clinics are closed on bank holidays.

You can say ‘non urgent care in the NHS should not be closed’, but to say ‘everything would be open as normal if only schools were open’ is demonstrably false.

I think I'll make the most of it whilst a lot of people will be in front of the TV and I'll take the kids canoeing.

YANBU, OP.

We don't need more school closures.

@Notme1980
You dont want schools to close - You want what she would of wanted?

You do know that she knew about the plan of her funeral and to make the funeral day into a Bank Holiday?
Schools to be closed etc,
Thats what she wanted !

Let the children watch the funeral (or the highlights, for God knows they won’t watch the whole thing, which will take HOURS on TV) in school, where they are looked after, warm and fed.

How us this going to reverse / prevent the harms that you describe in the first part of your post?

I am sure that local parents / PTAs could, if they so wished, ask Heads to allow them to hold an event in the school hall that day, where parents provide (perhaps at modest cost) supervision and refreshments while children can watch the events of the day?, while employees take the Bank Holiday to which they are entitled?

There are many inconveniences in transport, health, retail, services, finance, events, house moves, nurseries etc etc that will arise due to the Bank Holiday. To single out schools for criticism seems misplaced.