Schools

[Carrotcakeforbreakfast]

I know this has been done 1000 times but my search function isn't working.

With the extended lockdown and daily numbers, when do you think the schools are likely to go back.
I believe lockdown won't end anytime soon but just wondering if anyone thinks schools opening will have changed?

The issue is, we have a terrible death toll, on track to be the 2nd worse in the world behind the U.S.A. We’ve already had children die, a boy died on his own, buried with no real funeral. We are already desensitised. Children like those will be seen as ‘part of it’ to get schools back and the economy going again. Only in this county do you have people screeching about going back to normal when we have people dropping dead at an alarming rate, and a fair few are young and healthy. My Spanish, French and Italian friends are genuinely horrified by the attitudes over here.

I think whatever way we look at it, teaching staff are going to be at the frontline, all with other key workers but with no PPE.

The government want to get the economy up and running as soon as possible and the reality is that the majority of people in this country have never valued education for anything more than it being childcare so people can go to work. I am aware this is a sweeping generalisation but honestly, if the constant teacher bashing on Mumsnet is anything to go by, I think it is true. I also believe this is true due to the constant cuts to education we have suffered since I started teaching over 10 years ago. Budgets are getting smaller and we are expected to do more and then are bashed by people who have never stepped a foot in a classroom other than when they were at school.

I accept I will be at risk and as a healthy(ish) person I can and will make my own decisions as to what I want to do. I want what's best for my pupils so like I have already been doing, I will be back at work when it is saf(er) for me to do so.

I do not think those teachers who are vulnerable or shielding should be asked to go back into the classroom as the reality is that once schools open there is no social distancing and it is putting them directly at risk. Those staff should be on full pay at the expense of the tax payer (and I am a tax payer) unless the government can provide safe spaces for them to work where they don't have to be in direct contact with hundreds of pupils every day and are given full PPE.

If parents wish to keep their children at home they should be able to do so without judgement too.

I think people have on the whole been very compliant. People are just wondering how the hell we get out of this longer term.

If you think we are bad here have you seen the protests in the USA.

@Itisasecret I can only imagine what other countries are thinking from the outside looking in. It's been a farce since the beginning.

To be honest all my Spanish, Italian and french family and friends (of whom I have many, due to DH being spanish and having lived in all three countries) are too worried about the people dying in their own country to give too much of a shit about what’s happening here.

By the way, 900,000 fines have been issued in Spain for people flouting the lockdown rules. A close friend in France (small town just north of Paris) ranted to me just last night about people taking the piss and having friends round for BBQ’s/neighbours kids playing out in the streets/people going to the shop daily for a baguette.
We’re not so different in the UK as everyone likes to think we are.

The UK is the most compliant in Europe with covid rules. We are so keen to stay at home particularly if on full pay it is going to be very hard to get people back to work again (to pay the wages of nurses).

The only people I know still on full pay are those still working full time. Others are on the furloughed scheme or have been made redundant.

Working from home on full pay.... loads are doing in jobs where that is possible (including my lawyer daughters) that which is not too hard if you don't have small children and just about everyone I am in touch with as a lawyer for work - loads of IT clients for example.

Those working from home on full pay are still paying the wages of nurses though aren’t they Xenia? So it doesn’t particularly matter whether they ‘go back’ to work, as long as they are productive from home.
I think you were referring more to those furloughed on 80% pay?

An employer still has to pay PAYE and employees national insurance from furloughed pay (government pays employers element of the national insurance) so for the lower paid, HM Revenue isn’t loosing much. The major cost is the loss of contributions from those now being made redundant and claiming benefits.

Watching with bated breath...

@xenia if I'm working from home on full pay then I should be on full pay. The clue is in the them I'm still working . So do you think people working from home doing the same job as they do in a office should get paid less? That is bizarre.

I am a teacher, working full time from home to plan, provide and mark online learning for my class, who are also at home - is it uneasonable for me to be paid in full?

Can’t keep away!! I’ve told you not to respond to Xenia before!!😁 She’s just a teacher troll

Anyway, the government is giving every child that needs one a lap too, and The National Oak Academy has been launched which is a range of lessons to support online learning. So they you are, just chucking that cat amongst the pigeons.

They haven’t done this if they are sending them back in May