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.

The point is, if a teacher feels they have a right to PPE just as any other key worker has, then they shouldn't be denied that. This page really highlights how little respect people in England have for the people who teach their children. Some of the attitudes to teachers and their wellbeing are actually lamentable.

I think we should do what ever it needs to open schools.

It's not so much that we haven't been provided with them. It's more that we have been told not to wear them.

Also I junk wearing a mask would hinder teaching and students with hearing difficulties would struggle. I also think we just shouldn't wear masks - but then if we are not to wear masks then we need to wait until community transmission is much lower and there is contact tracing going on.
As I see it there are 2 options

1. Students and staff all wear masks and there is strict social distancing and students stick to a desk all day with no moving around school and staggered outside time. No shared equipment or toys.

1. Wait (until September?) When community transmission is lower and there is contact tracing happening. Noone wears masks or worries too much about small children using toys and equipment as long as bubbles and cleaning is kept up. As any outbreak will be quickly picked up. I believe this is what most countries are doing.

I completely agree, when it is safe to do so for students and staff.

Junk = think

@whynotme

So you don't want ppe?

If we are being made to be in small airless rooms with 15 teenagers and pass them in narrow corridors in the crush, then yes I want to be permitted to wear masks if I want to. But it's not great and I have several students who lipread a lot - I won't be able to in those lessons.
I'd prefer the government got their fingers out and started contact tracing. I'd prefer at least one week of PROPER lockdown to get transmission lower before we reopen schools more widely.

I've been in school on rota. Even teenagers constantly forget social distancing and hang around each others necks until you remind them.

I have made myself washable cotton masks for going to the shops. It's not hard. But it's also not appropriate in teaching. But with the amount of community transmission in my locality at the moment - I want the choice

Sure. But we need to make the best of a bad situation. Wearing a mask in corridors etc but maybe taking it off when teaching at the front just seems the obvious easy thing. I'm surprised the government aren't giving any.

And don't forget - teacher voice projection is probably as good as singing or shouting to transmit droplets all around the class and infect everyone. I probably should wear a mask to protect my 15 students and all those in those 15 households. X5 every day....

My understanding is that masks/face coverings protect others if you have covid19. Therefore, unless the entire cohort (including young children, which is impractical for obvious reasons) wears face coverings, you’re not protected anyway. You won’t be getting hospital grade PPE but then neither do care workers who are at very high risk given the personal care they give and often, the number of people they see daily.

Teachers should absolutely have access to hand washing facilities, additional anti bacterial hand gel and gloves, possibly aprons.

That line has changed. They now say they do protect some - not absolutely but some protection for the wearer.
But what about protecting my 15 students and all their families from me? And all the other 15 students in all my other classes?

We have been told government guidelines are no PPE required and socially distance where possible!!!??? 😒. The opposite to the rest of the country 🤔

www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/derby-news/two-cases-coronavirus-confirmed-derby-4137660

I wonder if this will alter things. Probably not.

Incidentally...my daughter is a teacher and she has worked hard with her early years pupils throughout the lockdown. I work with older students and have done on line lessons but unfortunately she has been unable to do that as lot of her pupils do not have access to a computer, and are very young. However, she has sent out lessons to parents to help them and phoned every week to check on wellbeing and to keep in touch. She will be going back in on June 1. Her husband works on ambulances so has also worked throughout lockdown. I don't know about other people who have worked from home in education but I have personally worked longer hours...

There is no requirement for PPE. Each school has to do assess what is safe for their staff and those children in that group.

What is safe for one cohort is different to another group of children.
Each school is unique and has to decide if they should open, when and how they open and what children they can take.

3 teachers infected across 2 schools in bristol area this week. (1 sen school and 1 secondary) .
Odds are thar 1/5 people are asymptomatic so there is relatively likely another infected

Schools have only been open 2 days in Finland and already one school has had to send half the children home because someone came in with it yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/dozens_quarantined_over_likely_exposure_to_coronavirus_as_school_reopens/11356152

I would send in yr6 if I had faith in the school, less trusting of academy chains.

any others, I wouldn't.

they cant socially distance, they will be doing the opposite of the basic hygiene and they aren't even going to be taught as such, maybe even a TA.

its six month old virus and I genuinely cannot believe we are putting the reception and year ones back in the first wave.

btw they fully expect children to contract the illness, the childrens commissionaire report said that of the 57 or so nurseries attached to hospitals, they had 11 suspected cases.

now we have 15,000 primary schools in England and while those nurseries were in a higher risk as hospital staff children, thats still the evidence they are using.

we all have 60 times more deaths than Denmark. if we were at a lower level and I had faith in our govt, I would reconsider younger ones.

My ds is in y6 & so far we’re sending him back, so far we know of 2 of his friends that aren’t going back. DH is adamant he needs to go back & there was no question for him but I still have doubts- it really just depends how the school sets out the safety guidelines & we don’t have the info for yet to put my mind at rest. Ds doesn’t like school, he doesn’t enjoy schoolwork, I’ve really had to push him to do it at home so this is why he needs that classroom environment & a teacher teaching him! I feel it’s important him being in his last year before secondary school that he finished on a good stance in primary school or at least the best he can. But we shall see what unfolds in these next two weeks.

glad to hear today that 60% reported that they wont be sending their children back on June 1st at our school :)

this site btw has a very high level of posters who post inorganic responses, so please dont use anything people say in these threads to make you feel bad about not wanting to send your children back.

in reality, if you can avoid sending back your children at this point, I would think thats best. if you cant due to work, well the less people who send theirs back who dont need to go, the better for those stuck with no choices. the smaller the class sizes, the better the chance of social distancing for the little ones.

This is a very interesting article in the guardian;

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/may/18/school-returns-a-choice-between-danger-and-disadvantage?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The opening of schools should be purely based on what is best for the children (and making sure everyone is safe). The main argument for schools re opening is based around the fact that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are likely to have been disproportionately further disadvantaged by the effects of lockdown.

A study stated that 29% of less affluent families would send their children back to school when they reopen, whereas 55% of the most affluent parents would. It seems to me that the return to school will actually widen the attainment gap even further.

The IFS premise that the reopening of schools will mitigate widening educational inequality only stands up if parents are forced to send their children to school – and that will not, and should not, happen, especially because dangerous underlying health conditions are sadly more prevalent in low-income groups.

Michael Gove tells councils they should “look to their responsibilities” and open schools (Report, 17 May). I note that MPs haven’t as yet had the courage to sit in the House of Commons in great numbers, but presumably if not too many children and teachers die then MPs might consider it. If I were cynical I might suggest that Mr Gove is bowing to pressure from big business to free up parents to go back to work.

this site btw has a very high level of posters who post inorganic responses

What is an inorganic response?

another fantastic article;

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/18/we-should-be-overhauling-the-school-system-not-rushing-to-send-children-back?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Many teachers are worried not only for themselves, but also for what they might pass on to their families, and the children they teach; many parents do not want their children used in an experiment on contagion.

Of course I see that year 6s need to say goodbye to their friends before they move on to secondary school. Of course I see that teachers can identify the most vulnerable kids in reception, year 1 and primary 1. But none of this is to do with education as such. Schools have to be reopened as giant creches to get adults back to work so the economy can go back to “normal”.

This is an illusion of control and normality from a government that has failed to care. Education has always been one way in which the elite has bypassed the state. The NHS cannot be bypassed, because private medicine provides few ICUs. Teachers are a far easier group to demonise.

We need to ask what education is for. Lockdown has exacerbated every inequality. Richer families spend much more time on schoolwork than poorer ones and are more likely to send their kids back to school. We hold on to the idea that education is the route out of poverty, but school is only one factor in this.

The emotional and social development of our children is paramount, not a rushed, unsafe return to constant invigilation. Teachers are not childminders, nor are they risk-averse. You try standing up in front of 30 15-year-olds.

But what do I know? I have not had the benefit of the most physically distanced form of education – a top boarding school. Strangely, these will not be required to open in two weeks’ time.

Well said @NicoI90