For those who want schools to go back..

[pfrench]

.. tell us how you think it should work. Primary or secondary.

In your ideal world.

How would social distancing be adhered to?
How about drop off and pick up?
How would classrooms operate?
How about lunchtimes and breaktimes?
What about after school childcare provision?
What about staff who are sheidling?
What about children who are sheilding?
What about staff who have family members who are sheilding?
Should only some children go back? Who should they be and why?

So many education and school experts on here, it will be interesting to read your safe solutions.

@Howaboutanewname well don't dish it out if you can't take it.

@Howaboutanewname if you don’t like it you can always quit your job!
HCP didn’t sign up for a pandemic that’s just it haven’t you watched the news of people dying how insensitive and ignorant

Students and the retired have been asked to work on the front line which will be in the risk age group think on before you speak!

If there’s a second wave people who work in HR will have to step up too!

The poster mentioning not acceptable to having to buy handwash stuff for 12 months. So basically saying schools should be closed for 12 months?? I can understand that it might be that if waiting for a vaccine. But carrying on with a lockdown more or less like we are doing now for 12 months😯

I have already resigned, thanks, a combination of not being able to keep one of my children safe going forwards and an elderly parent at home who is shielding. That and the fact I cannot take the utter shite we are faced with day in, day out even before all this started. But I still need to work to the end of the school year. Because I am a professional and want to do my best by the children I teach and my lovely colleagues in my department.

I apologise to any healthcare professional I have offended. I am grateful for what you do. I am very worried about what the next few months mean for my family and my high risk child and even higher risk parent.

The poster mentioning not acceptable to having to buy handwash stuff for 12 months. So basically saying schools should be closed for 12 months??

No, ot basically saying that at all.

Of course no one 'signed up' to face frontline work but no other profession has complained and brayed and got unions involved as much as teachers.

I believe just about every union going has something to say about the conditions their members are going to be working in, in the near future. Or did you just not notice the other conversations going on?

I don't think any of my colleagues are happy about the current wfh situation, and would all prefer to be back in school with their own classes, so I really don't recognise the picture you are painting here.

It is absolutely the right thing to do to have agreed standards for safety for all concerned, so as to avoid unnecessary deaths - and legal action taken against schools and workplaces.

Do you think that furloughed employees are lazy and workshy as well?

The school simply cannot open until teachers come on board and do their jobs.
No, the school cannot open until THE FUCKING GOVERNMENT DECIDES IT WILL HAPPEN!
We found out about schools closing on the 6 o'clock news like everyone else, and no doubt it will be the same for when they open.

She thinks school should open soon, even if it's just to see if a working solution can be found. If your supposedly amazing sister really can't see the flaw in that plan, then she's been promoted above her abilities.

What other professions have had their unions involved from the very early stages? Not meant to rile anyone, would genuinely like to know.

Unfortunately teachers as a profession have not come out of this pandemic well. They've lived up to their, often incorrect, reputation of being lazy, difficult and precious. Of course no one 'signed up' to face frontline work but no other profession has complained and brayed and got unions involved as much as teachers.

I don't actually think this represents all teachers but on MN (which I think is very skewed) this is kind of what I've been seeing tbh in a lot of the responses on threads etc. It all feels very defeatist and negative at any suggestion of doing anything other than maintaining the status quo. But again, I don't think that is true in real life. I guess MN is a place to be anonymous and moan the stuff you don't say in teams meetings!

Why don't you read what the unions have actually said, before you leap to conclusions. The concerns they have expressed are regarding the safety of everyone in schools, not least your children and their families, not just teaching staff.

Do you think that furloughed employees are lazy and workshy as well?

I don’t hear the furloughed saying they don’t want to work in the current conditions it’s Teachers that seem to have the biggest sense of entitlement as though they are the only people at risk!

t all feels very defeatist and negative at any suggestion of doing anything other than maintaining the status quo.
No, people have been making outlandish suggestions for how they think (on zero experience) it could work with schools opening (usually to suit their own agendas of wanting their own kids back regardless of the practicalities and risks to others) and the teachers on here (you know, the ones who actually know first hand how schools run) have been explaining the issues involved.

I don’t hear the furloughed saying they don’t want to work in the current conditions And how many have you asked?

it’s Teachers that seem to have the biggest sense of entitlement as though they are the only people at risk!
Again, how many of the 500,000 or so teachers in the profession have you surveyed on this?

I don’t hear the furloughed saying they don’t want to work in the current conditions

You mean the members of Unison, GMB and the transport unions? They're all concerned about the health and safety of their furloughed members when they return to work, and they're keen to have action plans and requirements in place for employers to follow, because, you know, if it isn't legally required employers won't do it. But you didn't notice any of that, because it doesn't directly affect you.

@CallmeAngelina I don't agree actually. I've been reading threads where some teachers have made suggestions and they have been piled on by other teachers ripping them to shreds. There's nothing wrong with people who are invested in education thinking around problems and making suggestions either. It would be great to see a thread started by teachers discussing how they will get the schools open. Surely everyone isn't waiting for vague government guidance before you think about it, you must all have great ideas.

@CallmeAngelina to social distance wouldn’t you need more teachers? School buildings to be adapted? Sinks and toilets and so on.
We are all aware of the issues involved.

Moving forward what do you suggest?
Because SD is very complex it would need to be done while the child travels to school on a morning, means no sharing equipment in the class, break times and PE lessons.
Long term everybody will be claiming benefits and where we will be then??

It isn't defeatist and negative, either. This has been a good thread which has opened up eyes on all sides and there's been good ideas shared.

It would be great to see a thread started by teachers discussing how they will get the schools open.

Like this one?

We all really feel like risking our lives, not to save yours, but to make sure you can pay your mortgages or work without little Tommy pestering you, when you treat us like this.

We all really feel like risking our lives

Risking your lives? What is your actual chance of dying?

Do you consider it risking your life every time you get in a car?

It’s all very well arguing about whether health care staff should have to buy PPE, however, when faced with an emergency pandemic situation, many will have taken matters into their own hands to allow them to do their jobs.

My husband bought a face shield, mask and respirator because there weren’t initially enough to go around.

Alternatively he could have stayed home, talked about how disgusting that was, written to the daily mail and refused to budge until provided with the right kit.

However, if your life has been on that line, you might have been glad he took a pragmatic approach and surged himself out in order to go out if the door and face whatever horror was awaiting.

I think the parallel would be your husband buying 30 sets of what he bought, though, @Daffodil101 . Of course all the teachers I know bought a bottle of hand sanitiser for themselves!!!

@nellodee there’s probably more risk in the supermarkets!!

Get over it. By September the Governments priority will be money as usual and I’m sure they will be a plan to get the kids back to school and rightly so unless things seriously take a turn for the worse.