We need to rise up about the lack of education for our children

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Please do this. Please join the Twitter movement #usforthem
Please write to your MPs
Please talk about this.

Our children are missing out on their fundamental human right of an education.

The children of regular families are suffering (all 5 of mine are suffering desperately), but those in vulnerable families are suffering even further. The gap between these children will be HUGE

I am a teacher and a mother. I am ready to go back to work full time and with the 'old normal'. I am also type 1 diabetic.

Please help us rise up to get our children educated. Our children have been totally forgotten about. Throughout my career I've had it rammed down my throat about how school is a safe place for so many children. They don't care about these children now.

I am amazed so many people have just accepted this. It has gone on for too long now.

Here we have it. A study supporting that fact that children can transmit the virus to both adults and children

So you 100% believe in that study but not in ones proving the opposite? Why?

@Char2015 it’s not nonsense, it’s an actual scientific study, that’s why I’ve linked it for you. Just because you don’t like what it’s saying doesn’t mean it’s nonsense.

Completely agree, society is falling apart and children need to get back to school. If a teacher is vulnerable, they should deliver their classes virtually and then a support teacher can be placed in the actual classroom. If it was ok for the NHS to bring back retired doctors and nurses, we can bring back retired teachers to help during this crisis.

Children have been put at the bottom on the list of priorities.

Now that the numbers of infected has fallen and the death rate has fallen you would think that the focus would shift but no children still at the bottom of the list.

The very elderly are the most affected by Covid and are the most of the deaths. People over 70 could shield since vast number not working and schools could fully reopen.

Usually children are put first but it is clear to see that the very old are put before everybody else. Some would have the very young locked away until not 1 person dies of covid. We all have to do everything possible to protect every single over 70 at the detriment of the children.

Put the VERY vulnerable teachers on full pay on sick leave and bring in supply teachers to cover them. The rest of us all have some vulnerability. We have risks from cancer/mental health and accidents and put that into perspective and get on with our lives but with covid even a tiny risk is suddenly seen by lots of people as too much risk.

Why have we as a society become so scared of something that will not kill the vast majority of people? It isn't in proportion at all. YOu could die crossing the road, or driving to work but we still do that.

@CraftyGin

I am a teacher and have been teaching my full timetable via Google Meet since the lockdown.

When we go back in September, we will run Google Meet from the classroom (we have installed fancy video cameras) , so any child that is isolating will still have access to lessons.

@CraftyGin - you assume that everybody can access this type of lesson. There are so many issues with online teaching.

I am also a teacher - I teach in a private school in a rural area and have been teaching a full timetable remotely. The children in my school have all the necessary technology but the internet speeds are so slow in some villages that it is impossible for them to participate in online lessons.

More importantly, many children across the country do not have iPads or laptops (or indeed internet access). They may be living in crowded accommodation without a suitable place to study. They do not all necessarily meet the criteria for vulnerable children entitled to a school place, but their education is being harmed. When I taught in a deprived area, there were many children who did not have pencils, paper or books in their home.

In addition, children with learning difficulties are disadvantaged by online learning. Even something like scrolling up and down a document or flipping between screens disadvantages any pupils with weak working memory. Poor audio quality or lags will disadvantage children with hearing impairments or auditory processing difficulties. The list goes on.

All of this makes me very glad that I home educate my kids. Thankfully their education has continued almost as normal.

Hope things get sorted for school children ASAP

I agree OP. I’m not in the UK, but where I am is also determined to impose strict measures in schools in the name of “safety” - yet everything else is being relaxed! My son and his friends can meet up, no masks, and walk to school together in a group. But when they get there, they’ve got to be separated and act like they have come from a bubble. They are not allowed to mix at all, they have to wear masks, they don’t get playtime or much together. Then they leave - and they all walk home together, go to the park or to someone’s house! It’s a total sham, and because of the physical distancing being imposed his school week has been reduced to 3 x short half days a week, no normal lessons, and muddling along online the rest of the time.

I agree that FB is absolutely full of people wanting to keep them off until 2024 or other nonesense, maybe I'm just risk averse, or completely missing something?!

I think @TokyoSushi it’s just called accurate risk assessment!

As in your risk assessment is correct. Not those hiding away for years.

Well there is that @Delatron !!

Thank you. Totally agree and this is exactly what is needed. I will write to my MP too

@TrustTheGeneGenie

Here we have it. A study supporting that fact that children can transmit the virus to both adults and children

So you 100% believe in that study but not in ones proving the opposite? Why?

So I'm to not believe the study that found actual evidence that a children has transmitted covid-19? Really? Studies are based on samples. If there is a sample when no transmission by children is found then fair enough no transmission was found in that specific sample of children. But in a sample where transmission by children is found, surely we can't still be saying children don't spread covid-19.

So I'm to not believe the study that found actual evidence that a children has transmitted covid-19? Really? Studies are based on samples. If there is a sample when no transmission by children is found then fair enough no transmission was found in that specific sample of children. But in a sample where transmission by children is found, surely we can't still be saying children don't spread covid-19

I'm not saying you shouldn't believe it but there's evidence to the contrary as well!

Perhaps it suggests they can transmit it but not at the same rate as adults hence it's been found to happen in this study but not in several others (where they also used samples!)

[quote ChippityDoDa]@Char2015 it’s not nonsense, it’s an actual scientific study, that’s why I’ve linked it for you. Just because you don’t like what it’s saying doesn’t mean it’s nonsense.[/quote]
Let's not put words in my mouth. I didn't say I didn't like what it says. My point is you are saying children don't spread covid-19 when I have provided a study that says that they do. So yes, saying children don't spread covid-19 is factually incorrect and a load of nonsense. You provided a study based on a sample of children where children had not transmitted the virus. I can't dispute that study or those findings. But that result can only really be applied to that study and not to all children.

Deal with one problem at a time. Let's get the virus under control, then focus on education.

In.going to write to my MP and Education Secretary too.
I presume the details are easy to find?

@TrustTheGeneGenie

So I'm to not believe the study that found actual evidence that a children has transmitted covid-19? Really? Studies are based on samples. If there is a sample when no transmission by children is found then fair enough no transmission was found in that specific sample of children. But in a sample where transmission by children is found, surely we can't still be saying children don't spread covid-19

I'm not saying you shouldn't believe it but there's evidence to the contrary as well!

Perhaps it suggests they can transmit it but not at the same rate as adults hence it's been found to happen in this study but not in several others (where they also used samples!)

Definitely - The majority of studies where transmission has been found conclude that perhaps they transmit it at a different rate to adults. I think this is the reason why the guidance for children and education settings is to socially distance where possible (which was my original point) as they have the potential to spread the virus no matter how low.

Thanks for starting this thread OP

I totally agree

I have DC in Y10 and Y12 and the longer this goes on the greater the impact on their education

I am especially worried about my Y10 DS

I'm going to write to my MP too

I totally agree OP. It's an absolute, unmitigated disgrace. I feel increasingly sick and incredulous about it as the weeks go on.

Deal with one problem at a time. Let's get the virus under control, then focus on education.

There is more focus on opening pubs and restaurants and people being able to travel for holidays than there is about education. The virus is under control let's focus on education.

My son and his friends can meet up, no masks, and walk to school together in a group. But when they get there, they’ve got to be separated and act like they have come from a bubble. They are not allowed to mix at all, they have to wear masks, they don’t get playtime or much together. Then they leave - and they all walk home together, go to the park or to someone’s house! It’s a total sham,

This is where much of the frustration lies IMO....people can see a lot of these rules make so sense, are arbitrarily applied, there is no consistency. To make matters worse employers see that things are relaxing and are demanding workers return to the office but childcare and schools are lagging behind.

Where I am my daycare can only take a quarter of children back (all chosen by lottery) - no word on when the rest can return. Then you can see as a parent that it's somehow fine for your kid to go to nursery but not school and of course your child will get zero homeschooling at nursery

@FixItUpChappie I agree it's a farce expecting parents to return to work without schools fully open and no childcare available. But those making these decisions have never had to bother with such trivialities.

Deal with one problem at a time. Let's get the virus under control, then focus on education.

My kids get one opportunity to be 7yrs old, 9yrs old - one opportunity full stop to be in grade 1 or grade 4.....they can't afford for there to be a focus on one thing at a time when there is no guarantee of a vaccine. Our children's time is also precious and fleeting.

I totally agree. A new balance needs to be struck, and we need our children back in schools. We need this for them, for their wellbeing and education in the here and now, and because of the impact this will have on their futures if we don’t.