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.

If schools can close for a day or more each year for even the lightest sprinkling of snow then I really don't see the issue for closing for one day in 70 years.

Of course there are many who aren't monarchists or have no intention of watching the funeral- as of course is their right. But it might be a good idea to use this unexpected bank holiday as a time to reflect just for a moment on the concepts of public service, society and stability and ponder whether the future will be as stable and better or worse than last 70 years. Or alternatively have a BBQ and get pissed.

But that hard of thinking mentality is across all professions, I've been told repeatedly that it is my choice to open or close, but disregarding the FB warriors, we are not a vacuum and can not operate if others are closed.

I don’t begrudge the workers an extra bank holiday do you? Whether they have childcare issues or not.
Hope more companies follow suit and in fact many more are now declaring they will be closed on the BH Monday. I can see most of the high street shops closing.
Most pubs still seem to be opening. The extra BH will be good for business but it’s a shame for the staff who have to work.

Essential - I agree.

Those saying that e.g. operating theatres are available and all that is needed are for the requisite NHS staff to be released from childcare duties between 9 and 3 pm in order for the normal number of procedures to be carried out are ignoring the size and inter-dependence of the supply chains for goods and services that must also be in place. Catering and its associated supply chains, cleaning, transport including both ambulances and transport for staff, laundry, sterilisation, pharmacies to fulfil post-operative prescriptions, pharmaceutical and chemical supply chains - those are obvious to an outsider, while an NHS insider will doubtless be able to reel off a further list.

I don’t begrudge the workers an extra bank holiday do you? Whether they have childcare issues or not.

It was a sarcastic comment because this thread would have you believe that all workers need childcare, no-one can ever get any that isn't a school and that everyone except teachers would be at work on the bank holiday.

You do realise that well-being is for pupils, teachers and staff in any other sector..

the fact that it seems too begrudge any well bring for teachers speaks volumes. Team building etc in other work places is the exact same.

if it makes you feel any better though, we’ve not had any well-being time or activities for around 7 years. And feel very disposable, undervalued and as if we’re ‘ticking boxes’.

I think it’s wrong that hospital appointments and funerals are having to be cancelled at short notice due to this. The Queen’s funeral would cause a lot less anguish if it were held at the weekend.

I do, as it happens, think it should have been on the Saturday, as other recent Royal funerals have been. However, than would be one day under the '10 days' original plan, and may not have allowed enough time for e.g. lying in state, especially given the (in the event very powerful) Scottish section of the plan being needed.

On the basis that a minority of people have to work on other bank holidays including Christmas causing them childcare issues and that it is unfair on that minority so shouldn't we abolish those bank holidays including Christmas for everyone just to be "fair".

Just an idea...(Cromwell would have supported it!)

Yes your being unreasonable.
She was our Queen for 70 years. I very much doubt there will ever be anyone else in the same position.
She led this country with grace and love.
She even stayed during ww2 she didn't run to somewhere safe.
Everyone deserves the right to watch the funeral including the children.
I'm sorry her passing is an inconvenience for you but sadly people don't die when it's convenient for others.
Heads up it will be the same when King Charles 3rd dies away so may pre book that time off.. :-)

My hospital appointment for 19 September has been cancelled. It wasn’t urgent, but some people are having their cancer treatment delayed FFS.

I’m told the Queen’s funeral couldn’t have been held on a weekend, because tradition. Breaking tradition or cancelling oncology appointments? Hmm, it’s a tough one…

In Edinburgh, dozens for city centre schools and nurseries have already been shut for two days due to road closures and processions. It's all very disruptive if you live near the epicenter but it's an event of major historical significance so understandable.

That's a bit of an exaggeration - 3 schools that are really close to the Royal Mile have been shut for two days. Today 22 schools have had to close at 12 because of large numbers of road closures this afternoon.

That list only includes local authority schools and nurseries. Our school has been open but many kids are absent due to road closures. I'm not arguing but discussing how the whole situation is causing disruption to schools, not just the one day bank holiday that people are complaining about above. It's a major event.

It is wrong for people to complain about schools being closed on this momentous occasion. It is a vital opportunity for children to learn about loss and sadness, so that when they grow up their own emotions of loss, sadness and mourning are justified. Some children never learn how to express grief and sadness and it affects them when they are adult.

When you sit with your children in front of the TV, explain to them what they are seeing, millions of people mourning the loss of someone who had carried them through their whole lives; someone they loved and admired, and they are grieving for that loss, and at the same time celebrating a wonderful life. The fact that so many crowds of people are there illustrates the fact that children and adults are allowed to express their emotions, that it is OK to feel sad when someone dies. The State Funeral is an ideal opportunity to show children how to cope with their emotions. It is a wonderful thing to celebrate a life well lived.

As much as I the timings inconvenienced my family, loss of wages, daughters year 6 trip postponed till Tuesday and getting no refund. I still agree with it being a bank holiday. Not many royals I admire but The Queen was one of them.

Have you let a child? Talked to one?
Children do not learn about loss and sadness through watching the TV about a stranger they never met. They learn through the death of pets, grandparents and others.

antelopevalley · Today 20:17

I have three children. I was also nursing. I have lost my grandparents and parents and other loved ones. Why would you be so insulting when I am attempting to help people understand how important it is to come together when grieved? I am so sorry that you feel that way. I confirm everything I said. Not all children experience loss. Some are born without grandparents. Some grow up without pets. If there are thinking children who have never seen the late Queen, I am surprised. It is the great volume of people watching the procession, all filled with sorrow at the loss which is part of the learning experience. Children and adults alike learn much from the coming together of such numbers and a State Funeral.
It also takes many back to those funerals which took place in lockdowns. It justifies the emotions of all when so many are affected.
I will make another point too: I am shocked at the advertisements on TV for cheaper funerals which involve cremation. To advertise a funeral where there is no service, where the body is cremated and the ashes delivered in exchange for less than £1,000 is wrong, wrong, wrong. It might seem a very attractive deal on the face of it, but how can anyone be sure of the lasting affect on people who are not given the chance to grieve naturally? How on earth can such a funeral be of any benefit when those who loved the deceased sit at home alone waiting for the ashes to be delivered?

I forgot about private schools, Containsnuts that's a fair point. I just think saying dozens plays into the narrative that schools are shut at the drop of a hat, which I seem to read a lot of complaints about on here!

*@antelopevalley
*
Have you let a child? Talked to one?
Children do not learn about loss and sadness through watching the TV about a stranger they never met. They learn through the death of pets, grandparents and others.

Most primary schools celebrated the Queen's platinum jubilee-the current cohort of children feel closer to the Queen than previous cohorts have and I've taught through the 50th, 60th and 70th jubilees . No one is suggesting that children learn about loss solely through watching TV, however watching the funeral, with the context of the Queen whom they learned about in May, with their parents support, will help them to understand this truly historic moment.

If you don't get it, then you don't get it...but don't presume that you know what and who current primary school children care about because you are way off the mark.

antelopevalley · Yesterday 20:17

I would add in reply to your comment that the child is not learning through the TV. The child learns from a parent who watches with the child and explains what is happening. That is a parent child bond time.

There are many children whose parents do not explain life and death to them. They grow up in ignorance and then cannot come to terms with the loss of a parent who has been there for them all their lives. Here is an opportunity to tell children that the body in the coffin is no longer a viable person. The soul leaves the body when it can no longer carry them through life, and rises to a new life for which they have prepared themselves in life.

Many children are just told their loved one is an angel. What does that mean to them? Perhaps parents no longer feel the need to educate their children in human emotions, which used to separate us from other mammals. Even those lower mammals show grief at the loss of one of their family members. They can convey such feelings to their herd companions. Humans should also have their emotions discussed. If they are not, children grow up not being able to come to terms with their inner feelings, and that ends tragically for many.

Wow you have really over simplified things there, and added a sprinkling of belief in an afterlife which is not the belief of a great many people.

It is not unusual for someone with a good grasp of what death is to really struggle to come to terms with loosing a parent. I have not lost mine, but I have several well balanced, emotionally mature friends who found the death of a parent extremely difficult and live with an ongoing sadness.

I agree that recognising, acknowledging and discussing of emotions is important but again to imply that not doing so is the main cause of a great many tragic endings is a huge oversimplification. Plus you have to recognise that having a stiff upper lip and not discussing emotions is something that the royal family tend to excel at- and in truth it works rather well for some people.

Also, there are a great many other ways to teach our children these things than watching the televised unique funeral of our 96 year old privileged Queen, attended by her stiff upper lip family who are bound to some highly unusual practises and behaviours by tradition and heavy expectation.

If you watch the coverage of the procession you will see a great many people are not "filled with sorrow" at all. There is plenty of celebration, clapping, cheering etc.. I guess there are several reasons for this but you are wrong to state that every observer is filled with sorrow.

I think that you will also find that many many funerals during lockdown had very few attendees so weren't the 'well observed, learning experience' that you imply.

Finally, it is not for you to judge someone who chooses a £1000 funeral for themselves in advance of their death, or for their loved one. Not everyone thinks like you, chooses to grieve like you, or links the love or loss they feel to the cost or type of funeral of their loved one.

You do you.
Leave others be.

freckles20 · Today 02:17

Thank you for your comment. I do not agree with you, but you have the right to say it. First, if the soul can leave the body while it is viable, then it will most certainly do so when the body is dead.

Secondly, I think perhaps you have missed the point of my commenting on how we need to grieve. Have you forgotten the extreme sadness of people who could not attend the funeral of their loved ones in the lock down? Many people will think of them while watching the State Funeral on Monday, but more to the point is there is a body of opinion, headed by the cheap funeral brigade who are encouraging people to believe a funeral is unnecessary, and that they will do it all on the cheap for those who cannot afford to pay much, but they must sacrifice their rightful need to express grief.

You are right when you say not everyone chooses to grieve like me and mourn their loss. Those who think it doesn't matter are wrong. It does. That is not a judgement on my part, neither is it a criticism. It is sound advice, because many at that time of loss are not thinking at such a difficult time. They will resent those who persuaded them afterwards, sometimes even a long time afterwards.

People should be encouraged to grieve, from childhood, because after the shock has been absolved, many thoughts become unbearable and a spiraling depression sets in, and it is very soon taking over with disastrous results. I have seen it happen so many times. You may think it is OK for people to just pay and not attend, but years later it comes home to rest that they should have coped if they had been allowed to mourn. If you really think that some people were glad they did not have to attend a funeral, then you should examine your reasons carefully, so that you are more prepared for your next loss.

Wow, can’t you accept that people have the right to grieve for loved ones in their own way and some people don’t want or need a formal funeral while others very sadly can’t afford one.