Chris Witty "We're at the limits of the contact we can allow"

[confusedandold]

I've been watching the Press conference and I always find Chris Witty the voice of reason. He is saying that we are at the limit of what we can open without the virus spreading further and we may even have to take a step back. So where does this leave the opening of schools in a few weeks time?

Why the hell is everyone on MN so determined schools should not open? There is the minor point that children will have done the equivalent of the summer holidays x4 by September, and education needs to be the priority! You can say they should be homeschooled all you want, it's no replacement for the school environment with their peers and an actual qualified teacher, never mind when you have two working parents trying to juggle working too!! It's utterly ridiculous to suggest anything other than them going back to school!

@hayfeverhellish

It certainly sounded like Chris Whitty was saying that this level of circulating is the max and that schools returning is the highest priority therefore to allow that level of circulation needed in schools, other things will have to shut and reduce movement in order to facilitate it. I agree really, children have been a poor focus throughout. I imagine schools will go back with masks etc and only once that has happened relatively successfully, other things reopen again.

Yet there are people hysterical on other threads on here, saying their child won’t be made to wear a mask!

Opening schools is an absolute priority and must happen before people start hugging people they don't need to, eating out, etc. The damage to some children is huge and unnecessary. I can see a lot of restrictions coming back in dependent upon how sensible people are when not restricted, but schools will be the last thing to close down again.

Why the hell is everyone on MN so determined schools should not open?

It’s really not everyone. It can feel like it with certain threads but many (most even) want schools to open.

@ineedaholidaynow

I don't think people want schools closed but they do want them to open safely and to be able to stay open, but it is very difficult to see how that can be done

Exactly this.

I wouldn't put it past this government to announce that schools will not in fact be reopening at 10.30 at night on Twitter about 10 hours before they are due to reopen.

The amount of friends I’ve seen on social media who are mixing with non-family members is insane. It’s almost like they don’t think the virus exists. We see my parents but we don’t see anyone else and we’re both working from home.

hah found it on I player so Chris Witty basically saying suck it and see.

It's utterly ridiculous to suggest anything other than them going back to school!

Which is why the government saying schools must open full time, with no social distancing, no money for extra staff or cleaning and no masks is a recipe for disaster.

The best way to get them open is not to pretend Covid has simply gone away and stick your fingers in your ears. The government have got this wrong. Schools are massively important and should have been prioritised-with money. They will simply close again.

Was talking to a friend earlier and she was angry at the prospect of schools reopening and other things shutting down-she chose not to have children so why be penalised. Surely a happy medium could be achieved with schools opening with blended learning.

I'm in favour of schools opening safely, but I wish Chris Whitty would come clean about the 'bubbles' the government claim our kids will be in. Every child, teacher and member of staff will be touching the same doors, stair rails and other surfaces that the rest of the school has been in contact with. They will also be breathing in the aerosols that the 'bubble' who used the corridor five minutes ago exhaled. The idea that our kids are in a 'bubble' is nonsense. There is only one bubble at the school. It contains every child and member of staff who is attending the school. At some secondary schools this could be in the thousands. There needs to be a plan B. The idea that the schools can re-open in full and it will not cause the R rate to increase is a fantasy. Many parents need their children to be at school so they can get to work. These children should go to school. Many parents are in poor health or have grandparents living in the house and they want to continue to educate their children at home. This should be allowed. The key thing here, is that parental choice should take precedent over a blanket government rule. If only half the amount of children were at school, it would make it safer for teachers and for the families of the children who were attending. There has never, in my lifetime, been a time when parental choice was as important as it is now. We should make ourselves heard.

I'm not buying uniform until the last minute if at all. Mine all need school shoes that won't get worn for anything else except weddings and funerals.

@byvirtue

FFS let’s just issue everyone with a Hazmat suit and then we can all get back to normal.

Ps I’m only half joking.

A high school in Holmes Chapel announced yesterday they will be returning with complusory face masks during lessons against government advice.

They certainly will not be the last. I am waiting for the dam to burst on that one and lots of other schools to follow suit, forcing the government to review its guidance.

I think we can pencil this in for the 3rd/4th week in August.

@jomartin281271

I'm in favour of schools opening safely, but I wish Chris Whitty would come clean about the 'bubbles' the government claim our kids will be in. Every child, teacher and member of staff will be touching the same doors, stair rails and other surfaces that the rest of the school has been in contact with. They will also be breathing in the aerosols that the 'bubble' who used the corridor five minutes ago exhaled. The idea that our kids are in a 'bubble' is nonsense. There is only one bubble at the school. It contains every child and member of staff who is attending the school. At some secondary schools this could be in the thousands. There needs to be a plan B. The idea that the schools can re-open in full and it will not cause the R rate to increase is a fantasy. Many parents need their children to be at school so they can get to work. These children should go to school. Many parents are in poor health or have grandparents living in the house and they want to continue to educate their children at home. This should be allowed. The key thing here, is that parental choice should take precedent over a blanket government rule. If only half the amount of children were at school, it would make it safer for teachers and for the families of the children who were attending. There has never, in my lifetime, been a time when parental choice was as important as it is now. We should make ourselves heard.

This. A million times this.

[quote jasjas1973]@Uhoh2020 There never was a 1 hour rule for anything at all, be it exercise or taking the kids out for their exercise.

Anyone who stuck to that wasn't paying attention.[/quote]
Regardless it hardly equated to children getting enough socialisation did it. They went a long time without seeing anyone that they didn't live with. The eased restrictions hardly benefited them did it not many children are bothered about going shopping or the pub. Even the play grounds have only just re opened. They have been thrown under the bus this whole time. I'm glad Whitty is making opening schools a priority over having other facilities open its about time they were put first.

Surely a happy medium could be achieved with schools opening with blended learning.

Making parents unemployable. Great.

Your friend needs to take one for the team here. People can live without pubs for a while.

A recently published SAGE document advocate dropping the term bubbles for schools so I expect it to quietly vanish from the next biblically proportioned set of guidelines.

@ineedaholidaynow

I don't think people want schools closed but they do want them to open safely and to be able to stay open, but it is very difficult to see how that can be done

Absolutely this.

As a teacher, and as a parent, there is NOTHING I want more than schools open full time, for every pupil in the country, from September through to July next year. Ditto universities.

There is no contradiction between my WANTING this, and my pointing out on MN and in person that the guidelines currently issued by the Government do not make schools Covid-safe environments, so that currently what I WANT is vanishingly unlikely to be delivered.

In fact, i would say that it is BECAUSE I want schools to be open full time for everyone everywhere in the country for the whole school year that i am currently so busy pointing out the issues with the guidance - in the hope that better guidance will result in safer, closer to full time school opening being delivered to more people long terrm.

@jomartin281271 I think you are right! If roughly half of parents don't want to send their children back as per numbers quoted in this thread from surverys. Why not allow them to keep their children home with no penalizing and then the parents who want/need their children at school can send theirs in. Safer for everyone.

Sadly there’s a large group who are better in schools for various reasons.

A shame because if people want to homeschool it helps others out who don’t.

@jomartin if only half the children are in school then teachers need to do twice as much lesson planning for those in the classroom and for home learning. Also teachers can't be available to those home learning and teach a classroom at the same time. Those at home would suffer more than they already have education wise. Its not feasible to do both at the same time.

@Piggywaspushed

A recently published SAGE document advocate dropping the term bubbles for schools so I expect it to quietly vanish from the next biblically proportioned set of guidelines.

I think it should be dropped-it’s a stupid misleading word and offers an illusion of safety that it cannot deliver.

I fully expect the new guidelines to say that school staff should go straight to school and straight home again to limit their contact with people. Or that they should sleep at school .

They probably remove the bit about staff needing to isolate if they’re ill either as they’ll realise that having supply teachers going between schools will be a nightmare.

I’ll happily never hear the term bubble has popped again wrt schools. It it hasn’t happened yet.

If parents want to commit to homeschooling for the year and can demonstrate the resources to do it, I don’t see why not.

But we need to ensure it’s not an option for those who just CBA with education.

@StatisticalSense I am sure it must be hard for young adults not being able to socialize but the children's education is more important!
children aren't the only people who need social contact I agree, but we are not just talking about the social contact for the children. For young adults, yes it is only about social contact.
so I don't have to look after my own child again, this is not what it is about. You know, learning to read, write and count, learning where countries are and our country's history... yes way more important than being able to go to pubs/restaurants, shop for non essentials or meet up in big groups.