Sorry depressing thread. Are the Government deliberately drip feeding us on schools? So sick of it.

[purplerain2020]

I think I read somewhere that there is a schools review on 11th August. A while ago we were promised summers schools, not that I believed but they never happened. They promised laptops for those that needed it, only a few get it.

We've been promised that schools will fully open in September. I believe they will open and they won't back down on this. But, I think they are fully aware that within a few weeks, schools will be closing left right and centre and working Mums are going to be scrabbling around looking for someone to look after their children while they work and praying for the goodwill of their employers. The Government will have done what they promised, got everyone back in September, after all, they didn't say how long it would be for did they? Surely they must be getting advise by the Scientists of what is likely to happen with the procedures or lack of them for schools in September?

I keep hearing Mumsnet poster say but how can we work? How can we pay our bills? How will we keep a roof over our heads if the schools don't open full time? I am beginning to realise that it may well be the case that indeed, we won't be able to work and we won't be able to pay our bills and there is nothing we can do about it. It will be down to us to step up and educate our children when schools are shut because the government has been underfunding our schools for years. I work part-time from home, 25 hours a week, even that is looking rocky at the moment. DH's job is ok but I feel like he is hanging on by the skin of his teeth. So sick of our lives being turned upside down.

I'm in my early 40s, I was a child in the 80's and my family was hit hard by the recession. I've got a sick feeling in my stomach that the future is going to repeat itself.

[quote MrsHerculePoirot]@lifeafter50 do you teach in a secondary comprehensive school out of interest?[/quote]
They can't possibly. It's impossible to be a state school teacher and think the unions have any real power.

Life - is PPE/SD nonsense outside of schools or just inside?

Because you could apply the same logic to shops etc. No point wearing them there when they're mixing in the pubs/parks/beaches. No point anyone isolating due to contact tracing because there's so many asymptomatic.

Bit rich to bang on about kids deserving an education when you've abandoned the ones who really need one for those who can afford to pay for a 'better' one.

As far as i remember, lifeafte50 says that he / she is a teacher at a private secondary school, somewhere with low Covid cases throughout - Cornwall or similar.

@beebityboo
No, fines will be issued for non attendance, even for those who have been shielding. I'm praying that they do a u turn but it seems highly unlikely now.
Me too. I can't believe we have been put in this fucking awful position.

@manicinsomniac
Oh, ok. That's really bad. Headteacher's still have discretion, don't they? Maybe most will veto it.
Ds's school have been very keen to impress on us that there will be fines if we decide to keep ds off.

People who bang on about the unions supposedly blocking school openings (parroting the blatant lies from the media) are people who have no understanding of the inner workings of schools

Interestingly there is a bit in the new guidance for death of staff in childcare settings that says if the HSE find that covid was the reason of death and was caused from school transmission, then the school can be held liable.

It’s all sloping shoulders. Everyone else’s fault. The government are washing their hands of anything.

The government have been drop feeding everything all along haven’t they, it’s irritating. Or they openly lie. Like when they said there were no plans to reopen schools on 1st June and a few days later they announced they wanted schools to open on 1st June

Course they couldn’t be bothered to provide the guidance to early years settings until one night before they were due to open

Schools will open.... maybe

And for very limited hours only

And close again at the drop of a hat

DS 6th form college have already prepped for the case of schools not actually opening, and having to continue to deliver content online. They also loaned all the laptops in the IT dpt and library to kids with no access to laptop at home. They have remained open to vulnerable kids, kids without WiFi and key worker kids.

Good for them, they are realistic

I think we, the general public, are best off to “hope for the best, prepare for the worst “

I can quite imagine schools not going back to normal for years

Unfortunately

Lots of Unis won’t open properly for at least a year (have lots of friends at Unis who have already been told that 2020/2021 will be work from home all year)

Interestingly there is a bit in the new guidance for death of staff in childcare settings that says if the HSE find that covid was the reason of death and was caused from school transmission, then the school can be held liable.

Difficult to prove though isn't it? Even for an antisocial git like me who goes absolutely nowhere with people except school, they could still argue that it was because I wasn't disinfecting my (online delivered) shopping, or I'd touched a gate/stile whilst walking in the middle of the countryside.

Keeping the schools closed is an excellent way to keep the proles in their place
BUT
THe UK elected a psychopathic incompetent government in December.
DO NOT be surprised that it it turns out to be exactly that

and then wait for Brexit to bite ....

Please don't take any notice of @Lifeafter50. She likes to post deliberately provocative remarks and then fail to return.
Best to scroll on by.

I’m a secondary school teacher and have a new timetable that involves me running round a huge school site to deliver lessons to year groups in separate areas of the school and then as a head of year spend break and lunch trying to stop the year groups mixing. It will be absolute chaos but please don’t think teachers want the schools to close again. Without exception everyone of my teacher friends were mentally and physically exhausted trying to deliver live lessons all day whilst also dealing with their own childcare and then following up pastorally their groups. I’ve heard nothing from my union other than surveys. I am desperate to get back to teaching properly but with a young son in a large childcare setting I am absolutely dreading what is going to happen this coming term.

But I'm getting a little tired of being told to resign if I have issues with the way schools have been treated.
Why should I? Why can I not continue to do the job I trained for and have been doing very successfully for over 30 years, AND STILL EXPECT TO BE SAFE?
Or at least as safe as workers in other professions.

@CallmeAngelina

But I'm getting a little tired of being told to resign if I have issues with the way schools have been treated. Why should I? Why can I not continue to do the job I trained for and have been doing very successfully for over 30 years, AND STILL EXPECT TO BE SAFE? Or at least as safe as workers in other professions.

This. Well said Angelina

I have autoimmune problems and my immune system doesn’t function wonderfully well. I am very worried about my eldest who is seven, he will bring coronavirus home and make me very ill, and his grandparents too. My husband says we should not send him and just pay the fines for a few weeks because the school is likely to end up closing again anyway. I know I can un register him but I don’t want him to lose his chance to be at school when all of this is over. The photos published today from America have scared me, staff are resigning and children are being threatened with consequences if they tell the truth about the poor conditions in the school.

Just as a side point. It’s not working mums. The working women’s problem issue narrative is really starting to irritate me. It’s working parents. If we in our own homes allow it to be the women’s problem it will forever be the woman’s problem.
For the record my DH has shouldered most of the childcare burden on the days I work despite the fact that he earns 5 times as much me as his work is more flexible and he thinks my NHs job I more important than his.
It is not always be the woman’s problem. It is the family’s to deal with.

@Didyousaynutella I think it was me who said working mums and I see your point. I was following on from my previous point about how I can't believe the media's lack of interest in schools and had been speculating that the issues were seen through quite a male gaze.
In my house, my DH's job has required him to be in the office throughout the pandemic, so I do feel like it's me holding it together at home although we both work full time. Lots of women take on the majority of childcare in normal times and have found themselves landed with the biggest share of the burden now. Women are far more likely to work part-time around their children's schooling. Are we not also doing them a disservice if we don't acknowledge that?

Likewise the high number of of single parents who are women have been incredibly hard hit. The nrps haven't been impacted at all by their children being off school since March.

To be honest colouring I just saw the op’s post and I’ve seen a few headlines that focus on it being just the women’s problem.
I just think we are talking ourselves into going back to the 50s. I am also part time so yes when I am not at work they are my responsibility but on the days we both work the childcare responsibilities are 100% shared. And my work does always come first. I just think that we as women need to stand up for ourselves in our own homes first and expect our partners to take their share of the responsibility. Obviusly with single parents it is harder to force the issue. I don’t actually think it’s that uncommon, I see plenty of dads on the nursery and school run. I have quite a few friends where the husband is furloughed and the wife has carried on working. Yet the narrative in the media is always that it is women that are not able to perform at work due to home school etc etc. It is making us less employable through misrepresentation.

Obviously if the husband is furloughed the wife would carry on working, why would it make sense for her to stop? I just think it is a fairly privileged viewpoint to say this is how it should be, so let's act like it is so and thereby dismiss the experiences of many people. Even in your home, which you are using as a model, you look after the children on your own some days and shared with your husband on others. That does mean you do more. Many people don't have model homes or lives or do jobs that other people think are important, and that's not necessarily their fault.

@Bluewavescrashing

It's a crap situation. I'm a teacher and desperate to go back to normal but I don't think crowded classrooms and shared toilets will allow for more than a few weeks before closures. It feels pretty bleak tbh.

I'm the same.

And summer schools were never going to happen

I’m concerned about schools opening but at the same time recognise that it’s important that they do as some children’s education is suffering and also it makes it more difficult for parents to work. Some things that could help:

Let everyone who is willing to wear a mask wear one. It will cut transmission and every little helps. Encourage people to wear them. Obviously there are some that can’t/won’t.

Keep bubbles small. In primary schools if possible have all/most lessons taught by the class form teacher.

In secondary schools is it possible to arrange the time tables to keep bubbles smaller than a year group? My child’s year group is about 200. I know timetabling is a nightmare at the best of times.

Sixth formers and maybe GCSE students should, I think, be fine working at home half the time. A previous posters suggestion of one week in school, one week at home is good, this would enable class sizes to be halved. The pupils not in school could have lessons live streamed to them so no extra teaching or prep time is involved.

All parents of school aged children and all adults who work in schools should be encouraged to go into a semi quarantine for 14 days before school starts. Socialising, restaurant visits and any higher risk activities should be minimised. I’d like to see all school pupils and staff have a Covid test just before term starts so that we at least start Covid free.

The point is it isn t always the women that shoulder the burden. But we talk about like it is and that puts some women at a disadvantage to prospective employers.
I knew that the privilege thing would come up. So because we are doing something that is against the supposed gender bias we can’t speak up for it and suggest others try to do the same because it’s just that we are privileged. We would never get anywhere if we all thought like that.

A while ago we were promised summers schools, not that I believed but they never happened

Where did they not happen? Plenty have happened around here

working Mums are going to be scrabbling around looking for someone to look after their children while they work

well, children sent home will be self isolating, so they won't be able to be looked after by anyone.