Do teenagers care? Open the fucking schools.

[FreierFall]

All my son's friends are now meeting up in groups. Probably in each other houses. Of course I am the worlds worst mother for saying he can only meet one friend outside at a time. Pretty much everyone he knows is assuming they can do what they want now. Why bother keeping secondary schools shut now? It's pointless. Instead we are going to have groups of bored teenagers roaming around all summer. I am in despair.

Of course supermarkets are different. They are a private business, if their staff don’t go to work, the business makes no money and their staff don’t get paid. Same with private childcare settings, nurseries and childminders. If these businesses don’t open, Children can’t come in, parents don’t pay their bills, staff don’t get paid And therefore loose their jobs. From what I’m reading the majority of childcare settings will be reopening for the majority on June 1st.

Haha OP I'm guessing you're like one of parents I've been calling this week as to why their child isn't engaging with the work set.

This student had all the required technology but had told their parents that none of their friends had been doing it so neither were they.

Except nearly everyone in their class had been doing the work.

Surely you need to take some responsibility for your sons attitude to society?

OP, The Faily Heil messageboards are over THAT way, hun. ---->

I think the response of the teaching unions has been appalling. There is going to no vaccine for a long time and we just need to accept that, yes there is a higher risk generally in life than there was previously, but we can't just stop society because of it.

The risk to the majority of dying from this is really small, people who ride motorbikes for example have a higher risk of dying in a road accident.

We also have groups of teens meeting up in the village (mine isn't very sociable anyway and doesn't have a large group of friends).

Bored teens are never a good thing and we need to get them back into school as soon as we can.

I think the response of the teaching unions has been appalling

Which bit of the response do you think has been appalling?

It does seem odd to me that the stance of most teachers / schools appears to be that it is LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE to open up schools in way shape or form and that it has to be all or nothing

It's not just teachers at risk with the way the government want schools to open further. It's TAs, who usually have to sit next to their key pupil, it's the cleaners, the canteen staff, the site staff, reception staff, admin staff etc. All without PPE. It's their families.

It's the increase in traffic as most will use cars to drop off. It's the logistical nightmare of socially distanced drop offs (how do you enforce that?). It's the fact many pupils will be asymptomatic. It's the fact we don't have the science to say all this won't lead to another spike which will push back 'getting back to normal' further.

My colleague (site staff) died from covid 19. He shouldn't have but the fact is he spent his days cleaning up after teenagers and interacting with them when if he hadn't, or if he'd been adequately protected, he might still be alive.

My teens have obeyed all the rules as they want this over ASAP so they can go back to their lives. They’re 16 and 19.

It does seem odd to me that the stance of most teachers / schools appears to be that it is LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE to open up schools in way shape or form and that it has to be all or nothing

Barmy cack. Try making sense. What's your point?

It does seem odd to me that the stance of most teachers / schools appears to be that it is LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE to open up schools in way shape or form and that it has to be all or nothing

That’s not true. Every school in the country is putting plans in place, despite our reservations and the fact the government refuse to share their modelling data with our union reps.

well my teenagers aren't roaming around in large groups.

if you open the schools it won't be a small % mixing by meeting up. But a 100% of teens interacting. infecting teachers and fellow pupils to then take it home to infect whole families.

I suppose if you are one of the people in government pushing for herd immunity then this is totally the answer.....

My teenager isn't breaking the rules because I don't allow him to and he's been brought up to respect his parents BUT I do agree to some extent with some posters here. If the schools can't be safely opened to some extent for all pupils, online provision needs massively improving.
Work provided and feedback for my secondary DC is distinctly patchy and whilst ok as a very temporary measure for a few weeks, I'm not happy for this to carry on indefinitely.

So you cant get your own children to follow lockdown rules but want a teacher to get 15+ children to follow them at school? Interesting.

Teachers want to go back when it is safe, but as we are hearing, from parents like you, regardless of how much we try to minimise the risk in the schools parents arent always doing that at home.

I have been in with the KW, PP, EHCP, and those with SS involvement children, some parents are openly admitting that they aren't following the rules, walking up to do drop off in groups, all popping round to 1 of the houses on the day we do a 1/2 day closure for mid week deep clean, on the Monday after VE day i was being sent work by kids showing them in the paddling pool alongside other children in the year. Even yesterday i had a parent go mad at me that i wouldnt let her hand out home made cupcakes to the children that we had in.
none of us want the children to suffer but equally we need to keep as many people safe as possible.

Meanwhile in other countries they have been back for weeks and just get on with it without being hysterical

other countries that have lower infection rates and deaths rates?

FreierFall - are you advocating school over the summer holidays, or will you be OK with bored teenagers in August? Some teenagers ignoring social distancing seems like a very poor reason for re-opening schools to me (there are many better reasons!), especially as that will also require increased public transport and teenagers do not count as “children” when talking about risks of transmission of Covid 19 to other people.

Some parents CBA to parent their teenagers! What's new!? The govt and scientific experts, PHE etc can sensibly decide when it is safe ish for schools to go back. Not because teens are roaming around bored and parents haven't got a backbone to stop them! Behavioural issues are a major issues in British schools, I can see why!

It would be interesting to see what the teaching unions/ teachers slant was if the government decided to only pay them for hours actually teaching.
As it is they are ( rightly or wrongly) taking exception to returning to teach children in a school setting in June.
My neighbour is a teacher. She's loving it. She travels into her school for a couple of hours in the morning and spends all afternoon mooching about her garden, walking her dog etc. She said to me that it's the happiest she's ever been, she gets full pay and does a couple of hours work

@LockdownLonely

Every teacher I have spoken to in real life is delighted with the situation

Yeah right. You're clearly as lonely as your name suggests. But there's no need to be a GF.

Meanwhile in other countries they have been back for weeks and just get on with it without being hysterical

These countries don't have anywhere near the same infection and death rates as we do. There pupils also in much smaller groups of 15, and many parents are still not sending their children in.

The risk to the majority of dying from this is really small, people who ride motorbikes for example have a higher risk of dying in a road accident.

It's not just about dying. Did you read the Guardian article where a professor in infectious diseases explains that quite a high proportion (estimated at 1 in 20) develop long lasting health problems with Covd- he compared it to dengue fever? And the new development with small children developing Kawasaki disease?

Of course we are going to have to open up eventually, but there seems little reason to believe that we are at the stage in the pandemic in this country where that would be a good idea. We are behind on testing, tracing and PPE.

The people pushing us to do so are the same people who told us no infection could possible be spread by Cheltenham- that ended well, didn't it?

I am all for the (controlled and gradual) ending of lockdown when the independent expertise of the top immunologists and experts in pandemics tell us it is the right thing to do.

But whatever happens it should not be guided by the whining of teenagers.

And if you (anyone, not you specifically, OP) can't control your own teens enough to stop them from leaving the house and going goodness where, how do you expect a small number of teachers to stop them from indulging in unsafe behaviour in the classroom, on breaks, in the loo?

I am eager to get back and work with students but I am confused by the logistics. Some gave to face contact isn’t going to be full teaching - six weeks if uneven provision fo some pupils. That will be great for some children. I was reading today about the Danes getting in half their pupils for a day that ends at 1pm. They had increased staffing by over 50% to enable this and talked about enthusiastically recruiting. Erm I think I have just understood the reason why I can’t fathom the logistics for a similar offering in the UK.

no one knows how long or if you are permanently immune - there is some concern that people who have had it mildly could contract it again.
As stated by virologist on bbc news today the more enclosed & smaller a room the more concentrated & stable the viral number is - & will increase according to the amount of time the person/people will be exposed.
supermarket are larger areas & the largest ones have high ceilings & good airflow - they also have low density of people-especially at the moment. In the classroom setting the pupils & teachers are (trapped) enclosed in smaller rooms for prolonged time periods with growing No comparison
doctors are concerned about the return of children to school & the current advice -
On practical note -how will schools give full time education to all pupils if they are restricted to only 15 children per class - about half the number that is actually in most state schools??? Does op realize that returning to school probably wont be full time or are people expecting teachers to do much longer days in the class room to accommodate this?

www-vox-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/2020/3/23/21190033/coronavirus-covid-19-deaths-by-age?amp_js_v=a3&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQFKAGwASA%3D#aoh=15896171080676&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F2020%2F3%2F23%2F21190033%2Fcoronavirus-covid-19-deaths-by-age

Interesting study.
I think with some adjustments such as halving class sizes and alternating weeks, that older kids could return. I think sheilding kids, sheilding teachers and kids with sheilding parents will need another way forward initially but maybe the sheilding teachers could set work for and support the sheilding pupils.
I work in a hospital and sometimes on aCovid ward. I have asthma too. I have no anxiety free working and I would not have any concerns about my children returning to school. I think the media has to answer for the hype that has been created around this and people need to stick to hard facts. Yes there is a risk to anyone if catching Covid19 but the risk of death to anyone under the age of 50 is miniscule, it is just that virtually every death that occurs in a younger person is broadcast daily. Imagine a world where every time someone died in a car accident we all heard about it every evening on the news...... people would stop driving because it would seem so unsafe but it is really not. I work in a big hospital trust with two acute hospitals. Lots of staff have tested positive, a handful have been in hospital and one has been extremely unwell but had a lot of risk factors. She is recovering now. School teachers have always worked with the risk of getting illness from their classes and some of those illnesses carry as much risk to a teacher as Covid19.
I have a17 year old threatening to give up her A levels and get a job as she had an attention deficit and cannot do self directed learning. One of her tutors is working from home with an fall children so had done no online classes at all, so in that subject my daughter has had no input since lockdown. This is her future at stake. My youngest is very bright but desperate to get back to school. Her best friend has been in hospital following a serious overdose, aged 13. There are serious consequences of lockdown for our children. My husband's and I both work full-time so if our children do not work there is little we can do to make them!!

Some schools in other countries have gone back. Most with much smaller class sizes than our Government have advocated and with social distancing, again something our Government has decided isn’t important in the classrooms. Many pictures I have seen of these schools also include PPE something else our Government has decided isn’t necessary. There is a reason our teachers aren’t happy.