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Original poster

School re-opening under threat

999 replies

jomartin281271 · 29/07/2020 15:05

Headline in the London Evening Standard today that this new surge could threaten re-opening of schools. I'm not surprised. The government know that it's not safe to open schools under their current guidance. Cramming children, teachers and admin staff into those tiny spaces could cause a catastrophe. I feel sorry for teachers. Most of them are really committed to the job and their lives are being put at risk. Scary times.
www.standard.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-second-wave-schools-september-a4511516.html

OP posts:
cantkeepawayforever · 30/07/2020 22:16

Trust,

Do you work in a non-socially distanced workplace with no PPE, and limited ventilation, just out of interest?

mrshoho · 30/07/2020 22:16

Actually @TrustTheGeneGenie in the early days of this pandemic HCPs in face to face non covid patient roles were reprimanded for wearing their own face masks as hospital management didn't see the need. Some walked out as they felt so strongly that they were at risk and bravely refused to go back until the rules were changed. How vindicated were they when the scientific evidence finally caught up.

Flagsfiend · 30/07/2020 22:19

"The spread is largely due to households meeting and not abiding to social distancing," Matt Hancock said...

Does households meeting and not socially distancing remind you of anywhere else? Even if we ignore the right for employees to be kept safe by their employer whilst at work. It is in no one's interest, including the children's, for covid to spread through a school. So shouldn't there be some plan to prevent this?

Crumpets111 · 30/07/2020 22:19

The Teaching Unions have been extremely quiet recently, perhaps it was the nice pay rise they got bribed with to get them to return that did it, and this comes from my teacher sister!

Bollss · 30/07/2020 22:22

@cantkeepawayforever

Trust,

Do you work in a non-socially distanced workplace with no PPE, and limited ventilation, just out of interest?

No, I don't but then I don't do that in normal times either....

Would I happily spend time in a classroom with thirty children tomorrow?

Yes I would.

TheHoneyBadger · 30/07/2020 22:22

It was definitely a cupboard. Our storage cubes are full of physics graduates.

Bollss · 30/07/2020 22:23

@mrshoho

Actually *@TrustTheGeneGenie* in the early days of this pandemic HCPs in face to face non covid patient roles were reprimanded for wearing their own face masks as hospital management didn't see the need. Some walked out as they felt so strongly that they were at risk and bravely refused to go back until the rules were changed. How vindicated were they when the scientific evidence finally caught up.
Right.... I didn't say they were treated right did I? Quite the opposite. I just don't think it's a direct comparison to teaching.
DomDoesWotHeWants · 30/07/2020 22:24

@Crumpets111

The Teaching Unions have been extremely quiet recently, perhaps it was the nice pay rise they got bribed with to get them to return that did it, and this comes from my teacher sister!
No they haven't. Article in yesterday's Guardian about them wanting masks to be worn by over 11s.

Didn't get much publicity in other papers or on TV but not for want of trying.

Charliescar · 30/07/2020 22:26

Children need to go back . My daughter is 12 and desperately needs social interaction and routine .
We can not deny our children this , it’s bad for their mental health. We cannot carry on in a limbo state

Oaktree55 · 30/07/2020 22:31

@Charliescar

Children need to go back . My daughter is 12 and desperately needs social interaction and routine . We can not deny our children this , it’s bad for their mental health. We cannot carry on in a limbo state
Exactly the foot stamping, head in the sand attitude of many parents I was referring to 🙄. If your daughter desperately needs social interaction make the effort to meet up with some of her classmates etc etc. It’s not the sole responsibility of school.
mrshoho · 30/07/2020 22:36

"@TrustTheGeneGenie Right.... I didn't say they were treated right did I? Quite the opposite. I just don't think it's a direct comparison to teaching."

Don't you realise the majority of HCPs are not in contact with covid positive patients? Up until fairly recently they were not deemed to require PPE due to the risk being so low supposedly. Now science has moved on and everybody inside a hospital requires a face mask.

sunseekin · 30/07/2020 22:41

@Crumpets111

The Teaching Unions have been extremely quiet recently, perhaps it was the nice pay rise they got bribed with to get them to return that did it, and this comes from my teacher sister!
Nah, I reckon they’re going to let the government sort their own mess out. Good discipline - only intervene when necessary. I think more guidance is out mid August and numbers of cases etc changing all the time.
Bollss · 30/07/2020 23:01

[quote mrshoho]"@TrustTheGeneGenie Right.... I didn't say they were treated right did I? Quite the opposite. I just don't think it's a direct comparison to teaching."

Don't you realise the majority of HCPs are not in contact with covid positive patients? Up until fairly recently they were not deemed to require PPE due to the risk being so low supposedly. Now science has moved on and everybody inside a hospital requires a face mask.[/quote]
Considering they are in the same building and people move around a lot in a hospital, theyre still at more risk than your average teacher.

Present it however you like, teaching is not comparable to being a HCP in a pandemic.

pepperycinnamon · 30/07/2020 23:02

@TheHoneyBadger

It was definitely a cupboard. Our storage cubes are full of physics graduates.
Good move, I except physics teachers can make the most use of the space. Now, where do you keep all those pesky chemistry teachers?
cantkeepawayforever · 30/07/2020 23:03

Trust

Would you happily spend 5 separate hours in 5 separate classrooms, at less than 1 m from over 30 teenagers, every day for a week, without proper ventilation, moving through corridors jam packed with hundreds of teenagers in between?

You could try to help them with their work individually, if you would like to, as well.

I'd recommend Greater Manchester, or Leicester for preference.

It's very nice of you to say you'll spend a bit of tomorrow with 30 in your own selected area, but that isn't the job...

cantkeepawayforever · 30/07/2020 23:04

Good move, I except physics teachers can make the most use of the space. Now, where do you keep all those pesky chemistry teachers?

Amongst the chemicals, under T for Teachers of course. Doesn't everyone?

mccavitythethird · 30/07/2020 23:08

@cantkeepawayforever

Good move, I except physics teachers can make the most use of the space. Now, where do you keep all those pesky chemistry teachers?

Amongst the chemicals, under T for Teachers of course. Doesn't everyone?

Only periodically, the rest of the time we let them be free and radical.
Bollss · 30/07/2020 23:09

@cantkeepawayforever

Trust

Would you happily spend 5 separate hours in 5 separate classrooms, at less than 1 m from over 30 teenagers, every day for a week, without proper ventilation, moving through corridors jam packed with hundreds of teenagers in between?

You could try to help them with their work individually, if you would like to, as well.

I'd recommend Greater Manchester, or Leicester for preference.

It's very nice of you to say you'll spend a bit of tomorrow with 30 in your own selected area, but that isn't the job...

Yes I would, and to top it off I'm in an area with increased restrictions and I still would. I am not scared of getting Corona at all, whatsoever.
CallmeAngelina · 30/07/2020 23:12

@Crumpets111

The Teaching Unions have been extremely quiet recently, perhaps it was the nice pay rise they got bribed with to get them to return that did it, and this comes from my teacher sister!
The Unions are working behind the scenes but it may have escaped your notice that we are in the middle of the summer holidays. Your teacher sister is misinformed. The "nice" pay rise (which most of us are unlikely to see much of) was agreed long before we even heard of Covid-19. Nothing to do with bribery. Inform yourself properly, for goodness sake, before you make a fool of yourself again.
PineappleSquosh · 30/07/2020 23:12

How did you know what was going to happen in September or do you not have to give notice?
A few years ago my employer thought it would be a great money saver to transfer staff to rolling fixed term contracts. No need to pay us over the summer, we leave in July and they hire us back in Sept. Lovely jubbly. Except that means we don’t have to go back in Sept if we don’t want to. So I’m not going back and neither are some of my colleagues.

twinkletoesimnot · 30/07/2020 23:12

Trust - that's great! (for you)

So you admit the risk is that a teacher would catch it in that situation then??

cantkeepawayforever · 30/07/2020 23:13

Is that because you are younger, with no underlying conditions?

That nobody you know has died of it or been seriously ill?

Because you have nobody vulnerable that you care for or visit?

Or just because you think it is a mild and over-hyped disease?

cantkeepawayforever · 30/07/2020 23:17

(Oh, extra one: because you think that teenagers don't transmit the virus to adults? [I have come across this one, from somebody - not quite sure why they thought an almost-adult ciould breathe out a virus known to infect an adult but the adult not be capable of catching it, but then, there are some ostriches out there])

Bollss · 30/07/2020 23:20

@cantkeepawayforever

Is that because you are younger, with no underlying conditions?

That nobody you know has died of it or been seriously ill?

Because you have nobody vulnerable that you care for or visit?

Or just because you think it is a mild and over-hyped disease?

I just know the chances of me a) catching it and b) becoming seriously ill and dying are tiny. Like they are for the vast majority of people.
cantkeepawayforever · 30/07/2020 23:22

How tiny do you think the risk is of you catching it? Mathematically speaking, by your estimation?

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