So who will be returning their children to school in June?

[Bigfishylittlefishy]

Just that really. Parents of reception, year 1 and year 6, IF schools return on the 1st of June, will you send your child in?

My son is in reception and I would be willing to send him in.

Sorry Ricekrispie22 I didn’t realise you had already posted that bbc article, I scrolled up after I posted it. thanks!

I agree now that the British Medical Association have shown their support for teachers. They’re hard pressed to argue against the BMA. Along with the fact that Denmark found their R number to go up as soon as schools re opened.

I don’t disagree on many points, but again facts matter. Denmark’s R has dropped back from 0.9 to 0.7, and schools were not the only controls to be loosened at that time.

I think the BMA would be privy to that information JasseyRadlett.

Were plans being made when we we knew lockdown was imminent in March? If the nhs can up skill staff to provide 3x normal critical care provision in a few weeks, shouldn’t the education sector have been considering how children could return? It can hardly be a surprise that pupils would return at some point. The interviews from head teachers on the news this week were surprising.

I hope there will be a provision for opening even if only 1-2 days per week, safety aspects addressed of course.

I’m sure they are. They didn’t mention Denmark in their letter, though, so not sure why they’re relevant.

My response was to the poster who stated that the R rate had gone up as soon as their schools reopened. On a thread like this it’s misleading to present that information without also including that it subsequently dropped back to near the starting point without schools closing again, and that schools weren’t the only factor.

You're right, sorry.

Golly people get so annoyed so quickly. I was responding to someone regarding schools opening. The R number is a key factor in deciding this. The British medical association has agreed with teachers, it is pretty hard to argue its a good idea to open schools in June when the largest union of medical professionals say it’s a bad idea.

Each to their own but I was merely commenting about something interesting I had seen in a country that had opened schools and relaxed social distancing rules. They said their R number had gone up. I never said it was directly and only to do with schools. People are welcome to research and look up things themselves!

Figures about deaths by profession are pointless without an idea of the relative sizes of the professions in question. There are 506,000 teachers In the UK and 25,000 Bus drivers in London.

As I said, @Nicol90, I don’t disagree with you on many points, but I do disagree with presenting information in a misleading way, as you did. You didn’t mention other social distancing relaxation, and you didn’t mention that it had dropped while those factors remained the same.

It’s irresponsible.

I didn’t quote the whole article I’m sorry I just gave the general subject/ gist tso people could google. Next time I will be more specific. The fact of the matter is: British medical association have said it is not safe to open schools. Clearly it is not safe.

The ONS data states that 65 education professionals have died. 26 of whom were teachers. 11 male secondary teachers, 6 female, and 1 male primary teacher and 6 females.

That’s only of any relevance if compared to the national average. There are 500,000 teachers I believe, many more if you count teaching assistants. That gives a death rate of 0.012%, less in teaching assistant. I’ve not got the figures for adults deaths from Covid between 20 and 60, but I don’t imagine it compares badly to it.

Sorry, “less if teaching assistants are included”

I absolutely understand the reticence that teachers have about returning but it’s not on to twist data to fit your narrative.

I’m surprised by the BMA opinion which is in contrast to paediatricians.

Yes it's not quite clear why the BMA has made this statement. They aren't really relevant. There are lots more authoritative people than them on this specific issue.

Derbyjournal
Exactly.
There are some posters here coming down like a ton of bricks on any info which does not fit their narrative, while happily welcoming flawed and misleading data that suits their purpose.

The BMA aren't relevant? I'm not sure councils, schools and parents will see it that way. I guess we'll see.

Not relevant for schools. They don't work in schools and don't have sight of the information government has. I guess they are relevant in that they are the trade unions for a profession that got shafted about ppe provision. So making a supportive statement towards teachers, need for proper planning etc is fine but don't see how they can make the final call.

There is conflicting evidence regarding children. I don't understand why teachers are expected to teach when there are 15 students in a classroom. I have seen my daughter's classroom and if 15 students were in there, social distancing would not be possible. It is irresponsible at this point to open schools. Denmark has a smaller population than the U.K. so I don't understand the comparison at this point in time.
My child will not be going into school. Realistically, my daughter isn't going to learn anything that is going to be paramount to her learning/ development when staff are on edge and there is a month until the end of term. A month is going to make little difference. I will wait until September, thank you.

They won't make the final call - I don't think anyone would think that. But the media tried really hard to suggest that they were being deliberately difficult and unable to absorb the medical data presented to them, the BMA wading in is a vote of solidarity that challenges that.

I have only seen a handful of posts where teachers have made suggestions. It’s all seems very negative. I can’t see September being much different - it’s not reasonable for pupils to be away from education for 6+ months.

Sorry I didn't mean final call. I met express opinion on the ultimate issue. How can they weigh up all the risks and harms. The risks of lost education, of undetected abuse, of parents unable to work etc. Whether schools should open relies on so many things outside of medical expertise.

Well at least by September the schools will have had more time to actually create a safer space. A three week panicked rush is ridiculous.

Schools should have been planning for return since March.

Schools have been open to vulnerable student throughout lockdown. I have had at least two calls from my daughter's school since the end of March checking on her and her wellbeing.