Did anyone else see the really positive news about primary schools reopening on BBC this morning? at 9am

[bigbananafeet12]

They were asking advice from a lovely primary school teacher in Denmark on how the'd approached it. She was so positive and encouraging it gave me hope for our dc for the first time in ages. Worth a watch if you can.

No, effing they teach in England and their relatives have continued to go to work in the last 7 weeks like a lot of people.

Clavinova

As you have brought it back up, I have no real issues with portacabins, some of the new ones are very nice.

I have issues with how long it would take to get them in and how they would be powered.

Neither of these issues is insurmountable. But they are a concern.

no but a few have said to me they’re looking forward to it and have plans they’re putting in place

What else are they supposed to say? When I call parents and they ask about schools returning, do you think I launch into some spiel about the potential dangers and our lack of preparedness as a nation? No, I say some reassuring bumpf about how the head is looking into the government guidance and making plans for the schools opening and I'm sure the kids are looking forward to being back, it'll be nice for the teachers to be in front of their classes again blah blah blah. All true, but doesn't mean I think it's a good idea or that it's being handled well.

I don't know any teachers wanting to go back. We are NW and have very victorian schools though, no chance of containing a killer virus.
Most of the kids not going back anyway. Lots are choosing to H.ed for the foreseeable future.
I suppose some have no choice but you'd have to be mad to go into that if you didn't have to.
I suppose the next peak has to come from somewhere and it's not like teachers or parents don't know why they are going back, the risks and consequences.

Nw is looking like the next peak.

Ciwirocks But that's where you're wrong. They haven't point-blank refused. They've said that safety measures need to be in place FIRST.

It's a good job all the nhs workers, supermarket staff, refuse collectors etc who have all been working throughout this pandemic don’t have the same ‘it can’t be done attitudes’ that some teachers seem to have. They’ve got on with it, not gone to their union stamping their feet!
These are trying and unique times we all have to do our best to find a new normal. What happens in September, are we going to find it’s miraculously disappeared? It’s here so let’s crack on and unite rather than constantly ‘saying it’s can’t be done’!

Flamingodial

I can honestly say that

I am looking forward to seeing the kids.
I am looking forward to do some actual stand up teaching.

But I am not currently looking forward to how this will be achieved or the problems that it will cause if managed wrong.

Yes, not such good news for the north (of England).
www.hsj.co.uk/coronavirus/exclusive-virus-persisting-at-higher-rate-in-north-of-england/7027621.article

Teachers will be mixing with a set group of 30 kids whereas commuters mix with loads of different randoms every day, same with supermarket workers. You must see there is a difference there?

Yes, there is a difference. It's about viral load. Walking past someone in, say, a supermarket is far, far less likely to infect you than if you stay in a room with them for just 50 minutes. Talking to each other face-to-face while in said room increases chance of transmission even more. People wearing masks on a tube train for a fifteen minute journey, moving carriages if they want to, is very different to being in a room with 15 other people who are coughing, sneezing or just talking. Putting items on a conveyor belt at a supermarket and making small talk while standing behind a plastic screen is very different to being in a room with 15 other people who are coughing, sneezing or just talking.

You must see there is a difference there?

erinbromage.wixsite.com/covid19/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them

It's a good job all the nhs workers, supermarket staff, refuse collectors etc who have all been working throughout this pandemic don’t have the same ‘it can’t be done attitudes’ that some teachers seem to have.

The refuse collectors are pretty well distanced anyway. They only see adult colleagues. The supermarket staff sit behind screens, many have PPE. Their customers are made to socially distance. The NHS workers I've seen get PPE, hand gel, socially distanced patients, visors etc. An effort has been made.

Teachers are expected to work in very close proximity with small children who are infamous for their poor hand-washing skills, are explicitly told not to use PPE and are not, in all likelihood, going to be provided with the means to carry out the most basic of social distancing measures. And they get told off for not being yes men, despite the fact that what they're being asked to do (ratios of 1:6, for example) is physically impossible with current funding and staffing levels.

I'm going to assume from now on that anyone else who pontificates about how hard others are working while teachers sit safely at home on full pay is either 1) trolling; 2) wilfully stupid; or 3) stupid, but can't help it.
Not a teacher, before anyone accuses me of a shocking lack pf professionalism.

There are plastic screens in supermarkets for cashiers. People are told to stand 2m away from staff. Many staff are wearing those plastic visors now, don't know how effective they are. I don't tend to hug, lick, wipe my snotty face or cough all over supermarket staff. Pre-school or YR children aren't quite so discerning with their teachers!

The last thing I wanted was for this to become a negative post. I was feeling so positive about that today. I also went back into work today. I was quite nervous but used common sense and felt safe. Came home on an absolute high it was so great to feel normality returning. Don’t know what the answers are but please try and watch that clip before you write it off altogether.

Whyisitsodifficult

We're happy to go back to work. We just want some measures in place like all the "nhs workers, supermarket staff, refuse collectors etc who have all been working throughout this pandemic" (I've been in school every week with children with EHCPs, so I've been working too, thanks).

We would like more handwashing facilities or at least proper hand sanitizer. We'd like the option of wearing PPE if we choose, or having the school say PPE should be worn if they think it's necessary. We'd like assurances that they're not planning on sending all primary kids back before the summer full-time.

We know we're "not special" as so many posters on here like to tell us. So why are we now so special that we don't even get to discuss with the government any health and safety measures that are afforded to other professions?

As schools are definitely now going to be reopening on June 1st I just think it’s worth taking a look at some of these things.
That’s not true op.

bigbananafeet12

As I have said through out the thread, it is what the teachers I know in England want to happen here.

I’d hug a child if I saw one crying, not touch my face then come home and wash my hands. I’m sure there are ways around this.

It would be unreasonable of me if I were a taxi driver to say I would never get in my car as I'm scared of getting hurt in a road accident. It would not be unreasonable of me to say I'm not getting in that car as it doesn't have an MOT and the brakes are broken.
See the difference?

If the crying child has already infected you during the hug, doesn't really matter if you wash your hands.

As schools are definitely now going to be reopening on June 1st I just think it’s worth taking a look at some of these things.

Untrue.
Did you listen to Boris? He said IF conditions allowed it, then it COULD happen as soon as then.

Obviously the government would like it to happen, and schools are preparing... but it (as yet) only a possibility.

I’d hug a child if I saw one crying, not touch my face then come home and wash my hands.

What???? What. Are. You. On. About? So, if that child hugged you at 9 in the morning...

I’d hug a child if I saw one crying, not touch my face then come home and wash my hands.

The danger is that the heavily breathing child has infected you via breathing on you, not that you've touched them with your hands.

From the ONS stats released yesterday. Education staff deaths 361, nurses 127 deaths, police 39 deaths, bus drivers 79 deaths twitter.com/karamballes/status/1259835507057532929?s=21

Yeah, Vertical, there seems to be a woeful ignorance of modal verbs around this misinterpretation of what Boris said. He was EXTREMELY cautious with his phrasing but of course, people hear what they want to hear.