Schools reopening 2

[oldbagface]

Old thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3971862-Schools-Reopening?pg=1

@CoffeeAndCakeAndCroissant thanks for your perspective. Does Sweden have a figure for the number of outbreaks which we could roughly compare against the figures in the weekly PHE reports?

I'm thinking that with our primaries about half open they would run at similar capacity to Sweden when Sweden kept their schools fully open, so it would be good to compare those numbers.

I get that the culture and setup in cities is different though.

openplankitchen

No it isn’t. Nurses have a pay progression agreement that equates to 4% a year. I think that’s too low.

I don’t know how ours will pan out - I imagine it will be targeted towards cheaper, newer teachers to encourage recruitment. Teachers in the middle will likely get less.

And it’s out of existing budgets so it means schools will have to cut back elsewhere- I hope it doesn’t mean redundancies for non teaching staff.

This is not a payrise because of the pandemic, no matter how the government tries to spin it. It was agreed in January.

If you think we are paid too much, come and join us.

Personally, I am getting 2% (if my school decides to honour it) and my DH's private school has already told them they are getting no pay rise.

I'd rather see additional funds towards cleaning equipment than a pay rise at the moment tbh.

I would imagine the award will have been made in the anticipation of likely future staff shortages in the profession, which already badly under recruits to teacher training schemes.

@Barbie222, I will see if I can get hold of the source for the current numbers. I believe they publish daily or weekly new infections, hospitalisation so and deaths.

The new infections are not comparable at all though. There is (according to my best friend) now free testing for everyone who wants (subject to a certain wait) and also quite cheap private tests. This is why the infection rate is increasing as many more new but mild/asymptotic cases are found.

It was also initially announced in January, so not really sure why they are announcing it again now as related to covid. Anyway even with a pay rise I earn considerably less than my non-teacher husband (although we have the same level of education in STEM subjects), I didn't go into teaching for the money.

It's also concerning they want schools to fund it from existing budgets, like the extra hygiene measures. Do you notice a trend with this? Something will give eventually, hope we don't lose TAs or cleaners.

To support @Piggywaspushed’s post:

From January this year: www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/education/2020/jan/21/teachers-to-get-pay-rise-in-attempt-to-boost-recruitment

We were already aware that we would be awarded a pay rise (dependent on many factors though as it is indeed being taken out of existing budgets). This is after a decade of pay freeze and increased pension contributions so in real pay I am still worse off then I was in 2010.

But teaching isn’t about the money, it’s a vocation and in someways I think that’s why the government treat public service workers abysmally as they are aware monetary reward isn’t a defining feature of why we decided to follow that career path.

openplankitchen

Why don't you question why the government has put this out there when so many arseholes are having digs at teachers and schools.

If you stretch your mental abilities you might see that its because they want to hide something.

@Flagsfiend

It was also initially announced in January, so not really sure why they are announcing it again now as related to covid. Anyway even with a pay rise I earn considerably less than my non-teacher husband (although we have the same level of education in STEM subjects), I didn't go into teaching for the money.

It's also concerning they want schools to fund it from existing budgets, like the extra hygiene measures. Do you notice a trend with this? Something will give eventually, hope we don't lose TAs or cleaners.

I suspect Open already knows all of this, but it's worth repeating for others who may be misinformed by their post.

Replication competent virus via aerosol transmission.

Can we stop pretending 1m will protect teachers and students? If masks and smaller class sizes aren’t mandatory we will blunder into a second wave.

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.13.20041632v1.full.pdf

openplankitchen sorry but that is incorrect to say that teachers are getting the highest % payrise, nurses are getting 4% this year. ( Insufficient for both imo as this takes nowhere near in real terms historical salaries) .

I wish we could climbdad. As it stands I think when a bubble bursts it won’t include staff because we were told to theoretically sd from pupils are staff. Theoretically = not possible in case that’s not clear.

@TheHoneyBadger

I wish we could climbdad. As it stands I think when a bubble bursts it won’t include staff because we were told to theoretically sd from pupils are staff. Theoretically = not possible in case that’s not clear.

This is a worry of mine.

As it stands I think when a bubble bursts it won’t include staff

It wont. It’s in the guidance- if a child you teach at secondary tests positive staff do not self isolate. Not when there are two either. It’s our responsibility to distance.

@SmileEachDay

As it stands I think when a bubble bursts it won’t include staff

It wont. It’s in the guidance- if a child you teach at secondary tests positive staff do not self isolate. Not when there are two either. It’s our responsibility to distance.

That's just very worrying.

It is, isn’t it lab.

Yes. All in there for ‘those that have eyes to see’. Absent and deniable for those who don’t. Slippery forked tongue guidance. You’d hope everyone who read it could see but some pontificate without reading and some are so determined not to see will deny what they have read in black and white published documents.

We live in pretty biblical times. Would be thoroughly disappointing though if trump was the false messiah or the Antichrist. Would hope for a tad more for the last episode lol

I think I have already spent my pay increase on soap, large rolls of tissue, individual whiteboards for trays, individual 100 squares etc!!!
I don't know what to think about heating in the classroom. We had the door and windows open for our bubble and had complaints about being cold. I also have two seats right next to a radiator to fit 30 in rows so that could be interesting when the heating is turned on! It's all going to be very strange but I feel as ready as I can be.

"if a child you teach at secondary tests positive staff do not self isolate. Not when there are two either.

It’s our responsibility to distance."
🤯

Yup. I know BigChoc

I wonder if any other countries have that exception for secondary staff,
or whether the UK is breaking new ground in public health

To err is human
but to err in a way no other country does is perverse

I'm still teaching ? Schools are not all closed. In fact most never have been. I've been in every day for 4.5 weeks and then coming home to record remote lessons. Start at 7am finish at 11.30pm. Tomorrow is our last day. And I am then going to sleep for a while. And then proceed to rewrite several schemes of work so that they can be delivered online at a moments notice. Should get a 2 week holiday which will be nice. Somewhere in that time I'll deal with 2 lots of exam results (as well as my own DDs).

And as for bubbles well they are tricky. I'm teaching in 7 different year groups over 12 different classes. KS4 & 5 are mixing due to options. If students get sick I do not have to isolate unless I've been within 1m for more than 15 minutes. Which, due to the size of the classrooms and then having up to 32 kids in them, will be the case.
Mask and visor on. Have to shout but tough.

@BigChocFrenzy

I wonder if any other countries have that exception for secondary staff, or whether the UK is breaking new ground in public health

To err is human
but to err in a way no other country does is perverse

And to do so repeatedly as bodies stack up as a result is??

for the teachers. I'm not one and will be deregistering but I know you work your bollocks off. And thank you for everything you do. Underpaid, undervalued and bashed by many idiots on here.

I know because my dm is recently retired.

This situation is an utter shit show.