Schools fubared till November?

[Clemmieandareallybigbunfight]

Disruption to schools could continue to November, MPs told www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-52895640

Is this a dystopian joke?

Are we actually trying to fuck up our kids?

Schools need to be instructed to open fully five days a week with enhanced on day cleaning, increased buses to allow distancing, staggered start and finish, covered but open refuge areas allowing distancing whilst outside in all weathers for breaks and no assemblies. Relatively low investment needed, huge gain economically but more importantly for our kids education and mental health. Some of these kids will never get back to school if they are out for so long. Some will fail to achieve their potential. And all for an illness with a tiny mortality rate overall?

And if your children are so mentally damaged by being off school over this period and fall so far behind that it impacts on their life chances then I am afraid that that is on you as a parent. For the vast majority of children this is a challenging situation but not one that should have a significant lasting impact. There are of course exceptions o this particularly around children with additional needs but they should have been receiving at least some level of support though I appreciate this is not consistent across the country.

LockdownLou
I am not in Italy or in Spain where my children had to go through a strict lockdown. I am not even in China where being locked home because of pollution is a regular occurence either.

It's been a few weeks... at home, with the right to get out of the house at least daily. I recognise that people have always moan that a 6 weeks break was outrageous (forgetting that they didn't mind so much when they were young...), so the same parents were unlikely to take it lightly to have to spend any time with their children. Again, a few WEEKS.

I am puzzled why so many people translate it as a personal punishment and the lockdown as a personal insult and removal of all their human rights!

let's not go completely over the top shall we.

Sorry but that's just your opinion and you don't run the country so.....

@xxyzz

FFS why would someone with no dcs be demanding other people send their dcs back to school?

You're missing the point. Its not about whether I do or do not have DC (I do as it happens)

The reason schools need to go back is because a vast swathe of the population is simply unable to hold it together with home schooling and working full time.

This will result in widespread unemployment, which in turn results in the fiscal double whammy of reduced tax income and increased government spending in the form of welfare payments.

This means the government has to resort to monetary policy measures, such as tinkering with interest rates or manipulating the money supply (borrowing) to get the economy going.

Historically, the long term impact of these measures have proven catastrophic for the man in the street. Businesses go under, life expectancy falls and the worst part is, the 'pain' falls disproportionally onto people who are already marginalised socially (being poor/vulnerable etc)

Its just so difficult to hear you trying to argue that the issue here is my badly behaved children - you just don't seem able to grasp the true impact of what is happening.

These kids need to be back in compulsory education today.
technically education is not compulsory in the UK at all. Which doesn't sound right, but it's not.

Can only speak for my daughters school ( state ) , it’s high school . They have been exceptional in their handling of this and the students have had work issued , tutoring, pupil support etc
I have genuinely been astounded at how they swung into action from day 1 and handled this . Welfare calls to all families have been made to allow parents to share private concerns etc .

I applaud the teachers and management team who have really stepped up to the plate here .

For this reason I’ll be led by the head teacher as to when he feels it’s appropriate to open again and what form it will take .
I’m in Scotland so the target is expected to be August and part time

why would someone with no dcs be demanding other people send their dcs back to school?

apparently some people are VERY jealous of teachers and have decided to make them a target, it's very weird.

Today one of a bubbles burst with a child having a temperature. Now I teacher and family , 1 TA family plus 11 other children and families isolating until the results come back from the test on that child and family.

I thought the advice was you only had to isolate all those people with a positive covid swab not symptoms?

Somewhereinthesky
I'm chilled because of my own experience.

I think that's the key. People with no experience and no resilience whatsoever are panicking and making a mountain of a molehill. Others are just getting on with it. It's not ideal, there might be juggling and boredom involved, but it's really not such a big deal at all in most cases.

I agree with you completely OP. The risks in schools are minimal. Radio 4’s More ir Less has covered this more than once.

Life is not risk free ever. There are priorities to balance.

Yes Hayfever that is correct, the others in the bubble only have to isolate if test comes back positive

Nike - once again you are missing the point, NONE of those things are the responsibility of teachers!

It is not the job of teachers to enable you or anyone else to work. Get a childminder, get a babysitter, pay your parents, go part time and take a pay cut all of these are options that you can explore. Maybe you or your partner needs to stop working, there are plenty of unemployed people who will be looking for work who can do your job. The vast majority of the workforce don't require childcare, you do, that's your problem to solve.

Not according to the guidance. if it comes back negative all is good back we all go. If not then you have been in contact with a person who is infected (track and trace) all into isolation, All in the classroom have been in contact and then gone home to be in close contact so could be infecting others

Well I doubt any school can fully open with full 2 metre social distancing?????????

My sons school currently is years 3,4,5 and 6 all with 90 kids per year, so 360 kids plus countless teachers and a tiny school???

Dont get me wrong I want the kids back in school but how on earth can they all be 2 metres apart all the time?

The risks in schools are minimal .... Life is not risk free ever. There are priorities to balance

Very well said Empress.

No @lemonsandlimes123 it is you who is missing the point.

I do try not to bring my own circumstances into the picture, but FWIW, I have a live in nanny and am a well-established professional, so largely immune from the issues you describe.

This isn't about my circumstances, childcare etc though..its about the wider issues the economic shutdown presents to the country as a whole.

Even though I am not personally directly affected by the closure of the schools, I have enough breadth of vision to understand that everybody - young, old, families, single people, pensioners, the lot will suffer the devastating effects of the coming recession.

Teaching Unions, and by extension teachers themselves have the power to get the schools open again.

They have a moral duty to the whole country to stop blocking this- it is the single biggest thing that needs to happen to mitigate the devastating recession that is heading our way.

The only good news is it easier to get a test and result hopefully with 48 hours. Apparently we have excess testing we can access???? Also as I believe you are the most contagious before the symptoms show themselves or on the early stages. That why we need to isolate , test and track.

what about the teachers that are shielding, are they expendable

How many "shielding" teachers are there, really?

I wouldn't have thought teaching would be your first choice of career if you are immune-compromised and if it was something that developed later you'd find another career or something else in education like inspections or examining?

Instead of leaving shielding teachers on full pay at home and kids at home without an education, maybe we could find another solution for those teachers/school staff and get the kids back to school?

We have 1/3 of our staff shielding What the actual wotsit? How can you have 1/3 of teachers who are so seriously ill but perfectly fine to teach in a school otherwise? What do they do when there's an outbreak of eg slapped cheek that you can't vaccinate against? Or flu even, given the vaccine isn't 100% effective?

Well I doubt any school can fully open with full 2 metre social distancing?

some of the schools here have published info stating the distancing would be 1.3 meters MAXIMUM. But only guaranteed when only 3 year groups are back, not when the others are following.

It is not the job of teachers to enable you or anyone else to work

But it IS your job to teach. You can't just sit at home forever saying it's not 100% safe. It never will be unless we get a 100% effective vaccine. Good luck with that.

And a lot of teachers can't teach because their kids are not being taught. So if you all go back, then you can all go back. It's chicken and egg at the moment.

@cologne4711 I described in an earlier post we currently have 4% of staff shielding in a big nhs trust. It’s incredible to think a 1/3 of staff need to shield.

Instead of leaving shielding teachers on full pay at home and kids at home without an education, maybe we could find another solution

that would be the online teaching that many schools have implemented. Works quite well.

It's a shame lack of funding and resources hasn't allowed it to be national.

How can you have 1/3 of teachers who are so seriously ill but perfectly fine to teach in a school otherwise?

I’m in a small school. Two are heavily pregnant, one is diabetic, two have severe asthma, one is recovering from cancer and still immunosuppressed, two have husbands/children who are seriously ill.

None of these things would have stopped them entering teaching as a career. None of them stop them teaching normally. Interestingly, one of them-an excellent and very experienced classroom teacher-did apply to be an Ofsted inspector but was turned down as they said she didn’t have enough management experience.

@cologne4711

what about the teachers that are shielding, are they expendable

How many "shielding" teachers are there, really?

I wouldn't have thought teaching would be your first choice of career if you are immune-compromised and if it was something that developed later you'd find another career or something else in education like inspections or examining?

Instead of leaving shielding teachers on full pay at home and kids at home without an education, maybe we could find another solution for those teachers/school staff and get the kids back to school?

We have 1/3 of our staff shielding What the actual wotsit? How can you have 1/3 of teachers who are so seriously ill but perfectly fine to teach in a school otherwise? What do they do when there's an outbreak of eg slapped cheek that you can't vaccinate against? Or flu even, given the vaccine isn't 100% effective?

It's a disgrace if they wont do the job they need to go.

People have to isolate UNTIL the test comes back - hopefully that's only a couple of days