1600 paediatricians have written to the prime minister

[havefunpeleton]

Demanding schools reopen or risk scarring a generation. Reported in Times today.

I am hoping this will be the push needed to ensure this madness ends and all our children can go back to school full time in September.

So if it’s ok for school staff to go back and be in a room with 30 kids and maybe 2 or 3 adults with no social distancing, why are we still queuing outside shops, only on at a time allowed in the chemists, not allowed to see the dentist/hairdresser/GP etc etc etc?

I think they're right. But if Coronavirus is what we've been led to believe, there's no way we'll escape a second wave. And then schools will have to close again.

@pigeon999

dom can you link the schools where there has been an outbreak including a teacher please? I haven't heard of this at all.

I don't want the world to know where I live. If you think I'm lying I really don't care. I know it's true.

Not my local school but here's another one. Easily found on Google, I'm surprised you couldn't find one.

www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/more-positive-covid-19-cases-18399684

I'm invested in any thread where people are being unreasonable about others. This happens to be something I know a lot about, more than you as is obvious.

Why are you so invested if you are sure that your school will be fully open? Why aren't you heaping praise upon local teachers instead of bitching about them every chance you get?

I'm not the only one who's noticed.

So bitter.

I should think for the children that have lost close relatives would benefit hugely from being in school with support, and friendships and normality. It must be horrendous to be dealing with death at such a young age without your normal support structures.

@ineedaholidaynow

How do schools pay for these marquees? Schools have not been given any additional funding.

Not sure why people keep talking about schools being closed, most schools are open and have been for the duration of lockdown. They may be restricted to number of pupils but they are open.

The 2m rule may be on it’s way out but I assume it will be replaced by 1m rule. I can’t see pubs etc opening without social distancing so why should schools not have it. There are plenty of adults in a school not just children.

Again shops are open but with social distancing, so why shouldn’t schools have social distancing?

Schools are closed to years 2,3,4,5,7,8,9, and open only partially to the rest plus a small number of key worker children. Years 11 and 13 also out of school with exams cancelled. So for the overwhelming majority they are closed.

Hey pigeon999 could you squeeze in "political correctness gawn mad" to the rantings so that I can complete my TeacherBashing Bingo Card (free with the DM)?

I really need to crack on with work.

Ta.

@simonjt

In nhs you get tested if you d been in contact without ppe. Return to work if negative. I assume this will be rolled out widely soon as the 14 day self isolation is unsustainable

@FromMarch2020
Is this really true? Did teaching unions really do this to obstruct teaching children? If so an enquiry is vital - how dreadfully sad that the union (if true) would do this to chidlren.

Some posters are desperate to rewrite history.

My son, year 10 has been into school for 3 hours to watch a film for film studies. No other subjects have gone in. That’s max of 30 kids in a school that has 1500 kids. It’s a joke. Yet my colleagues with babies and toddlers have been using private nurseries for weeks. Not possible to have any SD at that age but the staff, mostly minimum wage are working. Yet our teachers cannot. The unions have let the profession down. Not the teachers but the unions and some SMTs

When I lost close relatives when I was a young girl aged ten the very people that were there for me at the time were my teachers. My mother had a breakdown, a proper medical breakdown, and my father had to continue to work to keep the bills paid.
I went to school and my teachers were kind, and my friends brought in little cards. I felt more secure in school than at home for many many months after the tragedy in our family.

I think it was a mistake to involve teaching unions in discussion about reopening schools. I guess no one could have predicted their agenda. They need to be removed from the table. When the decision has been made, then they can discuss how they want to reduce risk best for their members. They don't get a say in when kids can return to school though

from look at my link - there is a very good explanation about the unions role in keeping schools closed.

Schools are closed to years 2,3,4,5,7,8,9, and open only partially to the rest plus a small number of key worker children. Years 11 and 13 also out of school with exams cancelled. So for the overwhelming majority they are closed.

Exactly. Open to some has zero effect on those not in.

Also the government will have to throw money at the issue.

@RuffleCrow

I think they're right. But if Coronavirus is what we've been led to believe, there's no way we'll escape a second wave. And then schools will have to close again.

No they won’t have to close. It will be a political decision IF a second wave happens. Other SD measures are available and school closures already shown to be relatively low impact in terms of measures to reduce spread and come at great cost.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(20)30095-X/fulltext

Not all schools are reopening in France, looks like the equivalent of our Y11 to Y13 and universities are not. Also they break up at the beginning of July. It would also appear that Macron has pulled a number like Boris does and made this announcement without discussing it with the schools.

As usual Merkel has done a better job. Children have been back for a while. Be good to hear class size, re PPE and how they do it.

My school can't even get year 6 Ds2 in! Because there are so many key workers who work at the local hospital.

teacher friends of mine say that schools won't be capable of getting more children in until the government reduces the 2m down to 1m.

Lord knows when the Government will make that decision.

So not attempt to claim this is “teacher bashing”. We don’t hate teachers, stop being paranoid - unless it’s a niggling feeling you personally are not delivering.

We don’t hate dentists. We don’t hate vets. We don’t hate the staff at the gym or the kids’ swimming instructor. It’s nothing to do with personal “hate”.

Well I can remember this was what played out with the unions back in April:

"Kevin Courtney, NEU joint general secretary, tweeted to members: “Education unions intend to work together. Don’t engage with planning a June 1 return to wider opening – await further union advice.” Schools are currently closed to all pupils other than children of key workers and vulnerable pupils"

Teachers and heads were told not to engage.

The union could not have done this without majority support from the teachers, so this is precisely what happened. They dug in, and made it impossible for schools to reopen after half term.

Now they are doing the same about September opening!

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/may/12/plans-to-reopen-schools-on-1-june-in-jeopardy-as-education-unions-tell-staff-not-to-engage-with-prepartions-1

**is

Similarly, and this is what has got laost, the chances of a healthy non vulnerable adult becoming seriously unwell or dying form COVID are actually really small.

But there are vulnerable adults working in schools - should they be compelled to work in conditions that might well be harmful to them? Schools are also a workplace and therefore employers have a duty of care to their staff. There is too much uncertainty around what is safe to do in schools and so schools and LAs are following advice from government. Do you think schools should just ignore Health and Safety at Work legislation?

In all of this the one thing we can be certain about:

The teaching unions could not care less about the children, they are simply paid to ensure the schools stay shut for as long as humanly possible. If are allowed to continue then the same will happen again in September, we will then be looking at 2021 or beyond.

How were they ever allowed to do such a thing?
How do the teachers feel about paying the union to harm children like this?

@pigeon999 but even schools and teachers who did engage with planning for June 1st still encountered issues- not because of the unions but because of the government guidance!

The shielding' will also be allowed to live normally in two weeks time, so why are the schools still closed??

Has this been announced? I've not seen anything about this. I've heard rumours shielding might end at the end of July, not in two weeks time. Can you provide a source for this?

Teachers were told not to engage in planning, It is not their job.

Heads were not told any such thing especially by a union that they are not part of.

The link you posted says June 1st.

The government has ignored the unions form the start. In fact when Boris announced the date to partially reopen schools it took not only the unions, but the DfE and his own education minster by surprise.

This would be the same education minister that didn't attend meetings with unions.

When you look back at threads and see the same posters cheering the opening of schools in other countries, those governments have listened to the unions and taken on board what they had to say.

Our unions have asked for the same provision and been ignored.