Government reportedly considering schools going back in 3 weeks

[FiveFootTwoEyesOfBlue]

On BBC News 24 now, article in tomorrow's Sunday Times says that ministers are considering schools going back in three weeks time. Plus allowing some shops and social gatherings, but not pubs and clubs.

No doubt at all on that one cat.

@MinkowskisButterfly. I agree about the social distancing for the people on the shop floor. Our local supermarket is pretty good but people still quickly nip in when someone is trying to stock shelves or you may have someone stock filling and a queue of people who need to get past them. We've all done the supermarket shuffle pre-coronavirus - where there is a trolley either side of the aisle and you slip through them sideways to get to the item you need. That aisle is not 2 metres wide. So if someone is stacking you either wait or rush past.

I think our supermarket staff are doing an excellent job and I make sure they know it when I go in. That doesn't keep them safe though.

I suspect we'll be told at around 9pm the night before we're expected to open.

The DfE might find that their usual tactic of dumping things on schools at the last minute doesn’t work when it requires the co-operation of parents.

Asuitablecat - it wont be as clear as that. It will be for 'suitable children' then we will wait 48 hours for a definition of suitable. It will come out at midnight.

Mine are in year 8 and year 10, I'd be happy for them to go back to school.

cauliflower We don't know that a teacher is less safe.

There is more and more reason to suspect that children may be lower risk to spreading this than adults. Its not conclusive yet though.

So it may be that teachers may be more at risk from other staff than pupils, especially at primary school.

Of course as a teacher you need to think about yourself, but you are essentially implying that others who have been out there this last few weeks when it's been at its most dangerous don't count.

You may not think that, but it is how your posts are coming across.

@towers14

As there is no strategy published how have you arrived at "fuck it send them back"

Because there is no published strategy to send them back and the suggestions from senior mps is just send them back.

And if you need further evidence look at the way schools were shutdown and the direction from the government. Its not inspiring.

In three weeks time they will have been off school for 7 weeks. That's a long time. The thing is it's going to be no better in 8 weeks than it is 3. So when do you "risk things" to go back to some sort of normality.

I am worried about this virus though. It can make people very unwell who don't need hospital treatment. The government need to consider the risk of parents getting a moderate case when they have young children to care for. That's what worries me. Theres a post on here today a women had to tell her 9 year old son what to do if she dies from it. She was extremely ill for weeks and could not breathe. That's terrifying and considering mine are 5 and two i can't be in that mess. My kids can't fend for themselves!

@Hadenoughfornow
I never said that.

I said that the environments were totally different and that teachers working in close proximity are MORE at risk due to that.

I can’t explain it any more.

Lexijayde44

In three weeks time they will have been off school for 7 weeks

5 weeks.

In three weeks time they will have been off school for 7 weeks

5 weeks. Plus 2 weeks that they would have been off for anyway.

I think they are going to ease things. Hopefully with testing of symptomatic and isolating of contacts in place as remains gold standard advice from WHO. We can’t wait until virus has ‘gone’ as that’s going to need the vaccine and that’s months if not years off.

Hadenoughfornow

There is more and more reason to suspect that children may be lower risk to spreading this than adults. Its not conclusive yet though

Good to know that you are willing to put other people's lives on the line to find out.

Yes they need parents to send their kids back and so far, no way.

As a teacher I will be glad to go back because it is so much harder to teach online from home whilst also teaching my 6yo. However, I suspect whenever schools reopen many parents will not send their dc. If there is a SAHP or someone is able to continue working from home then I expect a number of these parents will choose to keep their children at home with them. This will mean schools won’t be as crammed as usual but social distancing still won’t be possible.

As for when we get the message, I suspect that the DfE will let us know on a Friday afternoon that schools will be open Monday morning. When this will be I have no idea. I was originally banking on returning straight after half time but it may be the week before half term

Hoffi - but I am assuming they are following what they have been told to do by those higher up the chain. Head teachers getting information from the LEA and LEA getting information from the Education secretary

Well yeah, people would assume that. It’s not necessarily the case though. I am a chair of governors. Our school has been given absolutely no indication from anyone as to when we will reopen. A very close friend is a headmistress in a different LEA. She has been given no indication either. I don’t think your school will have been given information that others haven’t.
Schools are planning for best and worst case scenarios and everything in between. They will have prepared 6 weeks of work because that is the next ‘block’. It doesn’t indicate anything in terms of when they will be instructed to reopen.

What reasons are there to suspect children do not spread the virus much? I keep seeing this statement with zero reasons and zero evidence.
And kids spread other viruses a lot. Why would this be different?

Sending primary children back will make social distancing impossible. Parents are all bunched together in a small space at school drop off and pick up ans there is no way to avoid it. I think an early return will be a big mistake and the virus will spread a lot more than it already is.

Lots of people have been furloughed. Lots of families who normally work will be able to keep their kids off.
And yes I will lie to avoid a fine if I have to.

NEU petition for those concerned about schools reopening too soon - raises some valid points around safety and social distancing

actionnetwork.org/forms/open-schools-when-it-is-safe?source=email&

I’m sure schools can come up with some arrangement for drop-off and pickup that avoids parents being close together. Probably queuing 2m apart on the pavement with your children brought out to you.

Mine aren't going back. To be honest given the level of incompetence in this shitshow of a government my gut instinct tells me to do the opposite of what they say!

Good to know that you are willing to put other people's lives on the line to find out.

And please tell me where I said that?

alloutoffucks there is some evidence coming out of Germany (university of Berlin I believe) that with COVID19, children aren’t asymptomatic spreaders, but actually they tend not to actually carry it at all. In studies of chicken who have tested positive, the viral levels have been so low that they cannot be replicated in a lab. This could mean that they don’t spread it at all.
Obviously that research is in the very early stages and cannot be relied upon at this point, but the idea that children are not super spreaders is not coming from nowhere. It’s based on (limited) research.
We won’t know for a little while how the land lies of course, but actually there is very little evidence at the moment that children do spread it.

@alloutoffucks Would you please read some of the research on whether children are superspreaders of this virus? There is zero evidence to suggest that they are. They get infected much less than anyone else, the death rate is statistically zero for children, there have been zero outbreaks worldwide linked to schools and German research is that of the few children who have any signs of the virus the amount is too low to spread it to anyone.

You say you will listen to the evidence. Please read before repeating and repeating that children are superspreaders. You have no basis to say this for this virus