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.

Schools are trying to work on plans but they must follow guidance from the DfE. I think most schools hands are tied as they have to follow the guidance given to them. SLTs will be compiling plans and concentrating on plans to open on June 15th and hope that things will ease so more kids can go back in September. It is incredibly frustrating.

Some central drive to invest in improving oak and co-ordinating it with bite size would be good. Investing in bulk procurement/development of secure communication tech like zoom would be good. It may be as simple as guidelines for schools when using it - eg not to allow students to post messages during the lesson, or second teacher to moderate live lesson. Moderated Forum for kids to discuss homework. Loan system for devices or access to libraries for those who do not have appropriate hardware.

Most of these things would be useful even in non-pandemic setting (eg children excluded from school, children in poverty).

The government's ill thought out and politically motivated opening in England looks especially poor now that Scotland and Wales have set out their options which involve most children returning at least some of the time. When exactly are we going to be able to welcome more children back? Surely we can have a tipping point, a prevalence and R factor in the local area, which can be shared and then we know where we stand and what the decisions are based on?

In the meantime, I'm teaching about half of my bubble of 15, because the other parents have chosen not to send their children back, but we can't combine bubbles because we need to let these parents have the right to come back later before we can invite more children. I'm not blaming these parents, but a clear "conditions for opening / conditions for closure" would reassure them that there was some thinking going on about safety, and be a first step towards compulsory attendance again for all non shielded. We have to get children back in where at all possible and separate the small number of shoulders from the worried well.

Completely agree, I work in a school ( non teaching ) and have been in throughout. As a parent of a Year 10 I feel like they have been let down so badly.

If this continues into September I will have to re think my job that I love as I wouldn't be able to juggle that with younger DD being part time, I'm just about clinging on now.

From personal experience (one of my children has a full, live timetable which follows the normal timetable) live zoom/teams lessons aren't the silver bullet or magic key in any way. She's 8 and every week gets more and more upset about not being at school. She finds the live lessons stressful because she can't engage properly. Teachers are doing a great job but I am seriously worried about her mental health now. They're pushing on with new topics so I can't just let her not do it. We're doing approx 50% of what's timetabled and even that is a massive struggle.

I'm getting more and more horrified by the extent to which we are sacrificing our children for a virus that overwhelmingly affects the elderly. I don't care anymore that people will be personally offended by that. It's absolute, total madness.

Completely agree with this.

I am so with you on this- ive just emailed my MP

There cannot be a return to the old normal while social distancing is needed.

There are DCs and teachers who will need to be shielded for some time. There needs to be a huge investment in on line facilities so that part time education can be as efficient as possible.

But schools do not have elastic walls so cannot return to the old normal and remain safe for DCs and adults.

"I think the stance should be all the schools should shut their doors and close, not even be open for key worker children. UNTIL they allow AL the children who ALL deserve a proper education to be back at school in a NORMAL school setting."

That would include the vulnerable children too. You would like them to suffer even more?

There needs to be a huge investment in on line facilities so that part time education can be as efficient as possible

It can be as heavily invested as it wants. Young children need supervision but parents need to work!

I disagree with pp suggesting that all children should return immediately.

Just because infections and deaths are falling, and the R is below 1 in most regions, doesn't mean it will stay like that so surely we must unlock slowly and gradually, testing the impact of each new measure?

If you're saying that we need to hurry up and get children back to school as soon as it is safe and achievable, well then I think 100% of people agree with you and everyone is working towards that goal already.

I agree. Schools need to return to normal.

Online is definitely not the magic bullet many on here would like. Mine have it and hate it. The pushier children and the loudest voices always take over regardless of how hard the teacher tries. They have disengaged completely. They also both need supervision by me of my husband and we both work full time for increasingly less understanding businesses. Many of our friends are in the same boat. Sod social distancing and let’s get back now. It’s an absolute bloody scandal.

The thing I'm increasingly uncomfortable with is the absolute absence of any talk of any plans for schools. It's all hearsay, vague leaks, and nothing else. Why is the government not talking about this every day. This is millions of children being utterly sidelined. I am so angry. Why are we talking about weddings being allowed outdoors and not talking about children's education? This government has turned out to be absolutely everything I expected them to be, and more.

Absolutely agree with you; and thank you for being brave enough to start a thread saying it.

I'm so glad there are more of us. We all really do need to make a loud noise about this. I have written to anyone that might listen now.

How fortunate you have the numbers.

I assume you’ve been doing the same for kids with ASD who have been denied an education for years?

"Sod social distancing and let’s get back now. It’s an absolute bloody scandal."

Back to herd immunity then? The government were akin to murderers when that was touted at the beginning. Guess all it took was for people to feel the discomfort personally.

As a Teacher in the vulnerable group it isway too risky to have the Schools back as they were. 30 pupils who have all been mixing with others together in an over crowded poorly ventilated classroom? Hardly sensible

@thewinkingprawn

Online is definitely not the magic bullet many on here would like. Mine have it and hate it. The pushier children and the loudest voices always take over regardless of how hard the teacher tries. They have disengaged completely. They also both need supervision by me of my husband and we both work full time for increasingly less understanding businesses. Many of our friends are in the same boat. Sod social distancing and let’s get back now. It’s an absolute bloody scandal.

This is exactly our experience. My DD's school is using Teams and I'm hating the chat the function that they all use during lessons. It's exposing her to online chat in a way that I really really don't like. Unkind things get said, and the teachers can't control it properly. And yes the louder confident ones are all over it, but my daughter is shy. She won't even have her camera on anymore, so she's barely present at all.

I agree about investing in The oak academy for shielding children and families. But this does not represent the risk to most children. Most children need to be at school

Ahh, No. I get it now. You only care about education for most kids.

"Why are we talking about weddings being allowed outdoors and not talking about children's education?"

I'm surprised you think that. Schools seems pretty high up on the agenda to me. They opened to some year groups just six days ago in England. Don't you think we should make sure that doesn't impact public health first?

15:18rawlikesushi

I disagree with pp suggesting that all children should return immediately.

Just because infections and deaths are falling, and the R is below 1 in most regions, doesn't mean it will stay like that so surely we must unlock slowly and gradually, testing the impact of each new measure?

If you're saying that we need to hurry up and get children back to school as soon as it is safe and achievable, well then I think 100% of people agree with you and everyone is working towards that goal already.

I agree with this completely .I have worked from day one .I live in one county but work in the next county to us .The County i work in it is being talked about it going back into stricter lockdown because the r number is rising again .The school's may be delayed opening. In my own village i have seen children from different families out together side by side .Now some of these are in the same village yr 6 class as my DC .If they are not social distancing are the parent's. Hence why i have not sent my yr6 back and they are learning from home .

Bold fail for the first bit

@rawlikesushi

"Why are we talking about weddings being allowed outdoors and not talking about children's education?"

I'm surprised you think that. Schools seems pretty high up on the agenda to me. They opened to some year groups just six days ago in England. Don't you think we should make sure that doesn't impact public health first?

Where on the agenda have they been since the initial opening?

The plan was that all primary aged children could be back for a month before the end of term. That means they would be starting back in two weeks time. Tell me where you've heard the government say anything about that since? Just leaked comments that it was now "under review", and given that they'd previously said the schools needed three weeks notice for more year groups to return, I assume this has quietly been shelved without any further announcement.

"She won't even have her camera on anymore, so she's barely present at all."

It's definitely not ideal. I doubt anyone thinks it is. It's just what we've got to work with while public health is the priority. I definitely don't want to go through all this shit again in a few months because we unlocked too soon.