Our school is shut from tomorrow

[leafygarden]

Just had an email from DD large secondary school in northwest saying they will be shut from tomorrow until the Easter break - and to wait for further updates on whether they will open after Easter.

I'm presuming this is nationwide

Bird?? I did not train to work with poorly people, you did.

Local primary to me had suspected Covid child, school did partial closure for deep clean and remains closed until Thursday morning. It is a massive school though, over 700 pupils for a primary with a nursery attached.

They are saying if you self isolate then it will go down as exceptional circumstances, but if you are showing no symptoms then your child should be in school.

My son's secondary is staying open, they have cancelled or postponed all trips, school play, parents' evening, all visitors are banned and any meetings with parents will be a telephone call.

I can totally see this from both sides. I have had the luxury of being a SAHM and have provided childcare on inset days whilst my children were in primary school for parents who simply haven't got family or alternative child care provision.

There are so many jobs that cannot be done from home, and of those front line health care. So schools are providing an essential childcare for those parents.

But schools are not childcare. With regards to health workers, government should provide childcare for nhs workers. It doesn’t have to be qualified teachers.

Not ours yet. Apparently quite a lot of children are being kept off by parents and all plans the school had for photographs, parents night and competitions have been cancelled. I can only presume they will shut by the end of the week, but who knows.

No, schools are not childcare. But these are not normal times. And schools are uniquely well set up to provide childcare for key workers. We are all in this together.

So schools are providing an essential childcare for those parents

Do school staff not matter in all of this? Do their own worries and fears about their own families and health not matter. FFS schools ARE NOT CHILDCARE!!!!!!! I am so fucking sick of seeing bullshit comments like this.

We are open. We are not intending to close unless forced to by staff shortages, and those with underlying conditions have already self isolated. Still got large classes and the rest of us are struggling on. I can't see us closing unless the government close all schools down. It is utterly ridiculous.

No teachers need to put themselves first, soon there won’t be enough staff well enough to keep schools open anyway. Parents need to sort out their own childcare.

We just got an email from my sons secondary school with a letter attached from the head of education basically saying none of the schools in my area will be closing unless government says so.

Although earlier I was talking with a shopkeeper that took his kid out, he simply said to the school his wife was coughing so needs to isolate.. there is no way for the school to prove it so they just have to accept it and he will send them
Back after Easter if things calm down.

I must say I’m tempted to go down that route. The coughing and spluttering on the bus today and some idiot on the street decided to cough near my friend and I without covering her mouth, my friend shot her the look of death and she thought it was hilarious.

It’s not nationwide but a lot of schools have had enough of this shit and are deciding to close themselves.

If our school shuts it moves online. This is far better for us and for teachers if they want it. So I’m hoping teachers do decide it’s not worth coming in.

Dds college, ds2s 6th form and the school i work in are all staying open this week

Two of them are only teaching certain years on certain days and they’ve run out of substitute teachers so I don’t reckon its long before they shut

'Teachers have to look after themselves first.' OK. Let's hope frontline NHS staff don't take that view, hey?

And yes, before anyone shouts at me, of course there are vulnerable teachers who shouldn't be in - indeed, our school had to forcibly send some of them home today. And if schools close to most pupils, I'm not saying teachers should be forced to work with a gun to the head. But I reckon if you asked teachers to volunteer to keep coming in to provide childcare for the kids of key workers, enough would say yes to make it a viable option.

South west. My nephew's secondary is closing because over half of the staff are all self-isolating.

A few partial closures in high schools in my area due to low staff numbers. All primary schools still going with about 50% less children I would guess, they are very quiet at the moment.

Stillbreathing - I totally agree. Another thread on the situation in France praises the fact that they're keeping schools open but just for the children of healthcare workers, but my question is therefore, who is looking after the children of the school workers?!

@comictern
Dont be a dick. Staff are being exposed to 100's of kids every day crammed into classrooms coughing and spluttering everywhere, not washing their hands. Parents STILL sending sick kids in
It is NOT the responsibility of schools to shore up the NHS
If I wanted to work with sock people I would have signed up to be an HCP. At least in hospitals they get some levels of protection.

As I said, I'm not suggesting teachers should be forced to do it. But I'm low risk school staff and I'd do it. A good deal of the teachers I spoke to today at work would too. And if it did happen, I would assume that school staff would also be allowed to take in their own kids.

I just hope that all the people advocating school closure still think it's such a great idea when they need healthcare and there is nobody to look after them. NHS workforce predictions show a 40% reduction in healthcare staff with school closure whilst the progression of the disease will be slowed by just a few percent.

We are all in this together but part of that effort is keeping yourself well and not exposing yourself to risk. It’s a war of doing nothing! So if you can minimise your risks you won’t end up as a case a frontline worker has to treat. That’s why I’m keeping my DD home - then we won’t spread it or catch it. It’s a public duty really.

NHS workforce predictions show a 40% reduction in healthcare staff with school closure whilst the progression of the disease will be slowed by just a few percent.

Have you got a link for the NHS thing?

I am all for keeping schools for essential workers but if the only way we’re getting CV is through school age dc how can that be ok

It must spread as quickly in a school as anywhere else

Even tesco is reducing hours?