Is it really likely the schools will close?

[sqirrelfriends]

I've seen a few comments on other threads about schools and other childcare settings closing indefinitely to prevent the spread of Covid 19. Do you really think it's likely to happen?

Twillow food banks step up massively in the 6 week holiday, and they stock up in preparation.

There are also places that offer FSM kids free food in the holidays.

Ultimately the government is trying to time school closures to minimise the recession. Obviously there is a price to pay either way. Certainly that is how I understood what they were saying.

For kids on FSM the summer is not survivable. Charities quite often feed children during this period. Extra money is sometimes available from Scottish Welfare fund at these times for that reason.

It’s only a matter of time. I work in a school and staff have already been told it’s likely the school won’t come back after the Easter hols.

Our foodbanks are really struggling.

For kids on FSM the summer is not survivable.

That's a sweeping statement. Did you mean some kids on FSM?

if they close schools they have to also work on how to stop masses of kids gathering elsewhere you need to shut sports clubs soft play swimming pools libraries museums art galleries
children running on open moorland beaches fields is probably not a problem but most kids do not have access to this
large parts of the country have no cases whatsoever so closing schools in rural argyll dumfries warwickshire achieves nothing but headaches for parents and childcare for no real health benefit
obviously for a small number of schools workplaces with large numbers of people in contact with potentially infected people it is different,
Covid 19 is not nothing it is worse than normal flu but neither is it a reason for what appears to be mass hysteria and panicking
ythe UK have now done over 27,000 tests on people deemed high risk over 98% of high risk people are still testing negative
the vast majority of people with a cough and fever etc just have run of the mill cold and flu viruses (albeit normal flu is fatal for a few people each year)

@ElenadeClermont @noblegiraffe

Sorry, didn't mean to sound flippant: totally appreciate foodbanks are a sad part of life now and are already stretched: just that it's not a reason it itself for schools to stay open.

Twillow
My child eats at childcare during the 6 week holiday. It's pre planned. I know when it's going to happen and how long for. I save up to pay the fees in advance and am then refunded a portion of it (2 months later) by Universal Credit. There will be no childcare available to me. Which means I will lose my job, which means I can't pay the rent, nor eat, never mind but the technology I'm assumed to have!

Had a meeting at dd2’s school today and they are not preparing for closure, have nothing in place. At the end of the day it’s not down to the school. I’m guessing it will be another week (a week before the Easter holidays) if numbers continue to climb which is very likely.

I've just spent 3 days on a course.

We are all educators and some delegates are leads in schools.

It certainly seemed like the idea of closure was being discussed and considered more realistically than previously. Even the course leader was taking each day as it comes.

But then my county is in top 5 for number of cases recorded.

Does anyone know if the school closure will apply to the private nurseries?

If yes, are they likely to refund for the period where children were not allowed to attend?

I'm self employed and I worry that if I need to stay at home to look after DCs, I won't have any income but have the nursery fees to pay?!

if they close schools they have to also work on how to stop masses of kids gathering elsewhere you need to shut sports clubs soft play swimming pools libraries museums art galleries

Yes. You do. But as someone said further up, children wouldn't have to stay at home and have no outside contact - sporadic localised interaction is not the threat, but mass grouping i.e. several hundred children in close personal contact for hours (i.e. schools) IS.

My bet is also a week before Easter Holidays, or perhaps an extra week on the end.

Germany aren't closing schools at the moment- I expect we will look very closely at what happens there to help make decisions around school closures.

Sansa I'm glad you mentioned food banks. I added some extra staple stuff to my order this week to donate when time comes. I didn't want food banks to end up low because all staple stuff was out of stock due to panic buying.

Does anyone know if the school closure will apply to the private nurseries?

In some of the countries with school closures, but not lockdown, some smaller nurseries have stayed open.

@MockneyReject
Yes, there would need to be some kind of guarantee that jobs for those affected will not be at risk by absence. The government outline some action in the budget today which might cover cases where parents of children too young to be left or with no other childcare cannot come to work: The government will meet costs for businesses with fewer than 250 employees of providing statutory sick pay to those off work because of coronavirus

There will also be increased demand on food banks if people have to stay home on low/no pay, as well as students not getting free school meals if closures go ahead.

Definitely something worth doing if you can.

But when would they reopen ( started another thread on this)?

It’s not going to statistically get better than this for many months, is it?

So why open them again after Easter when say 20,000 in the U.K. have it or June when 40 million have it.

@MockneyReject I feel for you.

Our school is taking daily updates but no decisions to close are being mooted at present and we are a special school with children who can be immunocompromised.

Staff are being advised to continue working as normal even if they have relatives waiting for results of testing!

We’ve added in extra sessions on handwashing and getting the children to wash their hands more often than usual. We’ve also advised them to cough or sneeze into sleeves rather than rush around trying to find a tissue.

We’ve still got supplies of hand sanitiser too.

The kids however would be quite happy “if school shuts”

Yes. Children are at less risk of being symptomatic/ill from it for some reason but can still catch it.

@lumpy76 Kings website says it is business as usual. Does your DD have written confirmation of what you’ve said? I’ve just checked my DDs uni and they have pages and pages of FAQs but still say keep going for now.

The company DH works for has already sent everyone home (all will be wfh because they can do that in their industry).

Which is lucky, as if the kids were all sent home without him being there I'd have to stop working in my lovely hospital to look after them, so one less health care worker (and we were massively overstretched, understaffed and underfunded even before this hit).