School re-opening under threat

[jomartin281271]

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

What gets me about this ‘the risk levels are fine, teachers should suck it up’ line is that what is being presented to us isn’t acceptable in any other workplace. They get to be COVID-secure and meet guidelines that we have been told don’t apply to schools and it hasn’t been even acknowledged. And we are supposed to be ok with this.

@Triangularbubble I love the being in the classroom doing the teaching. I love talking to my colleagues about how to continually do it even better, despite having done it for 20 years well. I hate all the other stress and shit that goes with it - education has been cut and cut and cut and neglected for far too many years. It is now that these cuts are having a frankly dangerous difference that we have reached a real turning point.

There is no new money for sinks/soap/ventilation/face coverings -nothing.

@TrustTheGeneGenie keeps banging on about us being worried about dying. It is a risk, but is not the only risk. We are just starting to hear about the longer term damage to people who have had it mildly and asymptomatically. I’m also massively worried about the risk to my students and their families. Many are from fairly deprived areas, living in overcrowded multi-generational households. Why shouldn’t we as a society be protecting them? Why are we asking c.1200 students to all come in on crowded public transport and buses during rush hour. And then doing nothing to mitigate the risk once crammed into too small, poorly ventilated classrooms with different groups of people 6 times a day.

For me at secondary it would’ve feasible to think about this differently and make changes, provide well structured and managed blended learning. We would rather do that and keep open albeit part time for some for the year then have this opening/shutting by year or class or whatever it might end up being.

Currently indoors in poorly ventilated places is widely accepted as the most dangerous place. As teachers, especially at secondary as the students are older and older, I find it really upsetting that some (a vocal few) are so unable to see that might be an issue.

@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

I do agree. But it needs to be done safely for all.

And currently, it isn’t safe.

even a 90 year old overweight Asian man has a better chance of living than dying. I think we've forgotten this. Nobody is more likely to die of this than live through it

But it's not about dying, is it? It's about the wider impact on society and having this illness rampage through us. There was a reason for 'flatten the curve' - largely to be able to ensure that as many people who can survive this do actually survive. But also to ensure essential services of all kinds continue to be delivered - deliveries so supermarkets are full, farming so fruit and veg is picked, all emergency services so crime is kept to a minimum and fires are put out, waste is collected, problems with electric, gas, phones, water and internet are located and fixed, social services continue to operate, etc. etc. etc.

The reason schools were shut was a means by which to reduce transmission - stop indirect contact between households, keep the numbers of infected and sick down, keep essential workers working, keep everything we need to function as a modern society going in the background effectively and efficiently. Had we gone down the 'herd immunity' approach, it is highly unlikely the death toll would be where it is now - people who have survived would have died for lack of critical care beds. And that will include otherwise young and healthy people, not just the old and infirm. And who knows whether we would have continued to function effectively - rubbish in the streets, crime rates up, potentially the armed services out on the streets to keep things calm and to ensure panic didn't take over.

What school staff are concerned about is, of course, our own health. But we are also concerned about what it means to society as a whole because we know that the guidelines amount to nothing at all. This virus will run rampant through schools as soon as one person in the school community has it asympomatically. It will move out of schools into the community and into our homes. Enough people get sick at the same time and we start to struggle to function effectively as a society. Schools will close. Admissions to hospital will stall. Essential services will struggle to do what they need to do. Amongst all of that there will be school staff deaths and serious illness in higher than necessary numbers.

If you want your children educated, living in a calm, peaceful society without fear you need to accept that the next 12 months minimum are going to be difficult and that schools will have to close and open and close and open....but more importantly, you really need to accept that school staff understand their working environment and when we say the virus will spread, we need support to stop this, let us wear masks, give us money for additional cleaning, hand sanitizier and soap, we're saying it because we believe this will be beneficial to all, not just us as staff. Schools don't operate in a vaccum. We are part of a wider community and there is no way to stop it getting worse again if we ignore the basics of how is spreads.

If you want your children educated, living in a calm, peaceful society without fear you need to accept that the next 12 months minimum are going to be difficult and that schools will have to close and open and close and open....but more importantly, you really need to accept that school staff understand their working environment and when we say the virus will spread, we need support to stop this, let us wear masks, give us money for additional cleaning, hand sanitizier and soap, we're saying it because we believe this will be beneficial to all, not just us as staff. Schools don't operate in a vacuum. We are part of a wider community and there is no way to stop it getting worse again if we ignore the basics of how it spreads.

Well said.

Well said @Enoughnowstop

let us wear masks, give us money for additional cleaning, hand sanitizier and soap

Back to that wasted money. Yes it should be for this. Trouble is what can you do except write to your MP

MrsHerculePoirot said exactly what I was going to say, and saved me the trouble!
I am not even slightly worried about me or my family dying. I am worried about being an unwitting cause of an outbreak in mine and my DC schools, and my community. I am also very worried about keeping schools open in the long-term, and in secondary, I feel one week on, one week off could do that.

I am worried about next term. Last winter my entire department eventually came down with an infection in November and there was lots of tonsilitis around in Dec/jan i personally had a cough that took 3 weeks to clear up in January.

Everyone in school soldiered on but there were still days off. Next term any illness with a cough or temperature will guarantee absences for 10 days.

Ironic isn't it that I'm in an area where say 2 households of say 8 people cannot meet indoors or if in gardens because SD isn't being followed but in a month's time it is apparently safe to have 30 people/teenagers in a room indoors where social distancing will be impossible for pupils and impossible for staff at least some of the time.

How many kids might be asymptomatic then take it back to their households?

Well said indeed 😊

Teachers are going to be stressed beyond belief implementing ‘safety measures’ that we know won’t make a difference (zones, bubbles all day then the kids instantly mixing on dispersal), while being denied the resources or ability to implement safety measures that might actually improve safety (money for cleaning, extra hand washing facilities, blended learning, more classrooms).

The fact that a government document included a line that specifically said that heads couldn’t implement safety measures that required more space (e.g. village halls) or would prevent the full return for all students (rotas, shorter days) should give parents pause for thought about what the government’s priorities are. It is NOT the safety of your kids, and heads were told not to prioritise it.

Next term any illness with a cough or temperature will guarantee absences for 10 days.

You get tested and on a negative test (and when you are well) you can return to a school before 10 days. They need a much faster turnaround on tests though otherwise this will still be incredibly disruptive.

Noble why no to extra space?

@MarshaBradyo

Noble why no to extra space?

Because they don’t want to spend a single penny on education. None of them have kids in state secondaries so why should they give a shit I think.

Or do you mean no extra money for extra space not that Heads wanted to do it within budget?

Oh right x post

There’s a brilliant teacher on IG misscunningham101. She was working during lockdown and put her lessons and practicals on “Lives”. I watched with my kids as apart from being educational it was a chance to have the classroom practical experience to a degree.

Perhaps similar could be utilised somehow with those who are able to remain at home and have the technology to do so tuning in.

I do personally think this Pandemic will lead to a shift in education and how kids are taught (incorporating more tech) particularly Senior School. We could try and see remote learning as a positive. Technology is there and there are important life lessons for kids that will come from this.

"You get tested and on a negative test (and when you are well) you can return to a school before 10 days"

Yes but I was talking about people with temperatures or long lasting coughs.

If I get a negative test and have a temperature or still have a cough ( say because of a throat infection) I can't go back in can i? Last year myself and others staff members just took paracetamol to school. School staff being under the weather and being in school medicating themselves. To get through the day is very common. Next term if you are under the weather with a temp or cough you'll be sent home.

Money, I think, Marsha.

Interestingly, this line was dropped from the latest government guidance and they now include a section saying that schools can use rooms in an associated place of worship if available - I guess church schools complained and the government see that they can’t argue against it if the rooms are free. They go onto say that schools shouldn’t be using village halls because it’s unnecessary as classrooms can be cleaned between use(? not sure why this makes a difference).

I genuinely don't understand the Government unwillingness to give any extra money to schools, but seemingly they will fund myriad other schemes.

Perhaps similar could be utilised somehow with those who are able to remain at home and have the technology to do so tuning in.

That’s why the government has given millions to Oak Academy to upgrade by September.

www.thenational.academy/

Screen learning isn’t a patch on what in class learning is for the teen here. If it was I wouldn’t want him in class so much. From what I gather some do well but many don’t engage so well.

The thought of screen replacing learning makes me frustrated and down.

I would choose more money for cleaning and space over that in an instant.

Oak Academy is actually pretty good as online goes but it’s easy. You can choose a different year of course but I only find it ok (not great substitute) for yr5.

Learning is active isn’t it, better off not to have the barrier of a screen.

Yep. We’re not allowed to do anything that would require more space or more staff or more money or anything other than full time all students in.

Which basically rules out everything that could improve safety.

Those are the stand out key statements in a long waffling guidance that is completely redundant in the face of the above rules.

P.s schools also aren’t going to be given the money to give the (for me) 2.75% payrise the government have announced as if they’re paying for it. Many of us won’t get it because are schools are going bankrupt on hand sanitiser and signage and cleaning.

Noble that’s interesting re change around free church spaces. Good!