Schools won't be reoping on 1 June, and if they do, I won't be sending my child

[effingterrified]

Unions will be doing what they exist to do and protecting the health of their members.

Until Boris can provide teachers with a safe workplace ie PPE for all staff, adequate social distancing, etc, unions will be telling members not to go in.

And if they do open, I won't be sending my child in as they wouldn't learn anything in the last few weeks under these conditions, and the health risks not only to the children, but to the teachers and parents, are not worth it.

Plus my child relies on a school bus to get to school and there is zero way of socially distancing on one of them. Or of running 3 school buses, say, per route, at an affordable cost.

Also, my dc is happy as Larry off school, and learning as much or more. Let's face it, how many kids object to longer school holidays? I know there are some eg vulnerable kids, but they can already attend at present.

Fed up of threads pretending all parents can't wait for schools to reopen. Not among the ones I know.

Good for you. I disagree entirely.

The excess deaths includes people who died as a result of lockdown. Your argument just shot itself in the foot.

That's very good for you op. I'm unsure why you felt the needs to make an announcement?

I do hope that you or your partner are not furloughed on childcare grounds and expecting myself and my husband to find you through our taxes. While we both work in essential roles.

It will be children from lower income families that will suffer if the unions stop them from returning to school. My child’s tutor (who is a freelance SENCo) has confirmed that she will soon be able to teach him again so I will use whatever spare cash that I have to pay her fees. Oh, and before someone starts going on about vulnerable children, he wouldn’t be classed as vulnerable if he was in the state system. He’s a 26 August children who needs some extra support with reading and writing.

*child

I would love children to be back at school. What concerns me is that they are being sent back to provide childcare so that parents can return to work and although children themselves seem less likely to become infected this does not make the situation safer for adults.
The new govt message has been cleverly worded to imply that if we're careful enough we're safe so if there are cases related to schools that's the school's fault
It will be impossible to provide social distancing properly for nursery children with full access to the curriculum. I would rather wait until we can provide children with the education they deserve.
As it stands nursery children may be given the choice to go back in a classroom that's not theirs, with an adult that's not their teacher and with a small group of peers that does include their preferred friends. Oh and with the majority of resources removed for safety!!
On top of this lots of new ways of doing things to keep us safe. Doesn't sound like the education our children deserve to me.

@bookworm14 sorry to hear your child is struggling. There's lots of support out there. Try googling Camhs resources. I'm sorry to say that when June 1st comes round your child definitely won't be returning to school as they know it though

It sounds like you or someone in your household has a job that lets you have a child at home 24./7 and still earn enough to keep a roof over your head and food on your table, would you like congratulations for that?

This will only work if the number a children in school is considerably reduced so you not sending your children is fine and totally your choice. Just dont complain that you cant work and expect the rest of us to pick up the slack.

FFS another bloody school thread. Just stop.

V v goady post and op is obviously refusing to answer the question about how they are being funded. Have a

The UK excess deaths to date are actually just under 51,000 on the latest figures. Which is almost exactly the same as the excess winter mortality in England and Wales (only) in 2017/18.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46399090
www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-deaths-england-wales-excess-ons-covid-19-a9509871.html

Obviously there was no lockdown in 2017/18 and no doubt the figures with a lesser lockdown or no lockdown at all would be significantly worse. But it's important to remember that there was zero call for any restrictions whatsoever in 2017/18 when all these (mostly elderly, as with COVID-19) people died owing largely to a very nasty flu strain.

Sweden's schools have remained open. Their per capita death rate is lower than ours. That is influenced by many factors including less multi-generational living but it provides at least some evidence that school closure may not be one of the most important planks in limiting this virus. I think it's really important to see what happens in Germany, France and Spain as they start to lift restrictions. But at present I don't feel the evidence and the statistics really support OP's view.

I do think it's really important that the government sorts out tracking and tracing, however, so that the inevitable further outbreaks can be better controlled once we start taking more steps to ease the lockdown.

Until Boris can provide teachers with a safe workplace ie PPE for all staff, adequate social distancing, etc, unions will be telling members not to go in

Given that hospitals don't have the right PPE for all staff, that "until" is never going to happen.

1st of June was a target, as far as I knew- it wasn't set in stone.

Parents and carers should control head lice ,not teachers.

This could go on for years!!.if they don’t want to teach then they can always quit!.why are teachers any different from anybody else that has to go to work in the current situation

@effingterrified

You are avoiding some key questions here:

On what grounds are you currently at home?

Wfh?
In which case are you really pulling your weight with work or are you colleagues having to pick up the slack whilst you home school?

SAHP?

Furloughed?
If so on what grounds and is everyone in your place of work or just some? Have you asked to be furloughed? Are you furloughed for childcare reasons? What kind of industry are you in (from this we can take an estimate as to when your furlough will end and you will he asked to return to work)?

Great for you OP. Woohoo.

I'm a struggling single parent. I'm crying and breaking down in front of my kids. I am crying out for a break. My kids aren't happy as larry off school. My kids are getting depressed like me. I want to die.

@effingterrified wow bully for you ! I have to work so don't have the luxury of choosing to stay at home with my child, also she needs to go back for her sanity and mine.

Ending the virus needs to be a collective effort, and yes, that means some temporary inconvenience for everyone, including children

Ending the virus? Is that what you think shutting schools is about?

There is no “ending” it. It isn’t going anywhere. Life has to restart sooner or later but obviously it is completely your choice not to send your child to school, and you are fortunate to be in a position to have that choice.

Good for you OP.

Everyone I know will be happily sending their DC back to school.

I think it's a socioeconomic thing? Mine and my friends DC are in private school. They'll all be reopening and we will all be sending them back as soon as they do.

Let's clap for you then.

All our circumstances are different

Exactly. It will be a very slow road to normality.

For some, who need to travel by bus to school, yes, that's not going to be possible at first until bus companies can facilitate social distancing on buses. But we need to start somewhere. At first, I think there'll be few kids going to school on day 1 - that gives the bus companies some breathing space and they can ramp up bus numbers as attendances start to rise.

Same with schools themselves. Surely they don't expect 100% attendance on day 1. So they need to find out how many are planning to return and arrange classrooms/teachers etc to meet the, say 50% of pupils in specific year groups expected to return. Again, as more pupils return to school, the school can expand it's provision on an incremental basis.

It's never going to be a binary situation of closed one day, open fully the next. The tap needs to be turned slowly, get a few kids back, see how it goes, open the tap a bit more, get a few more back, and so on. If numbers get unmanageable, they need to close the tap a bit.

How many under 10s have died. ? As a nurse why should I risk my life for.yours ? I work in outpatients.
Why should asda risk their life. My husband tests water shell we stop al these services now. No! Teachers stop been bloody lazy and go to work

Oh give over OP. Lockdown was never about stopping covid19. It was about ensuring the NHS could cope with the numbers. It will be around for years. So are you never going to send your children back?

As other PPs face said are you suggesting that 50% of working parents don't return to work either? Don't be daft.

There is absolutely no reason to keep them off until September which is what I assume you are proposing to do...unless you mean you aren't sending your DC back at all? The virus will still be there in september and it will be much worse sending all children back then rather than doing it gradually now.

Im a TA and Ive been in since schools were closed anyway. DS1 is in Year 10 and DS2 is in Year 4...as soon as their years can go in they will be going.