If you don't think schools should reopen...

[TeaInMyStoneCup]

...what do you think should happen? Genuine question. I work full time (from home), as does DH (though not at home) and we have a soon to be 5 yo (in Sept). Do you think that we should just carry on as we had to in lockdown when nurseries closed, when we were at breaking point attempting to work and simultaneously look after him? It was shit for us and it was shit for him because I could never give him my full and undivided attention. I'm still catching up with work now and he went back to nursery in June.

I understand concerns but they don't seem proportionate to what we know is the mortality rate for this illness. Genuinely - what do you think should happen? Parents should just home school?

My two sisters and my mother are all teachers and can't wait to get back.

Feeling very cynical right now but having just watched a few ‘back to school’ ads - which at best annoys me because booking a slot at Clark’s in regular times is a nightmare - but could it be that any serious announcements are being strategically postponed to ensure that all parents - regardless of the Covid situation - prepare for Back to School I.e. spend money? Get the economy moving?
We’ve made the usual purchases and with 3 boys it’s not cheap. But if I had an inkling, any little doubt that they may not be in full time education in two weeks, I most definitely would not have purchased the usual load of school clothes and shoes.
This is as far as my conspiracy theorist mind can go but the government needs us to be out there buying as usual for September and if we don’t...

yep, I've just finished up uniform buying, a good £500.

I've had to buy my Son a new blazer due to his inconvenient growth spurt. He'll be wearing it at home if he doesnt go to school.

@mrshoho

I've had to buy my Son a new blazer due to his inconvenient growth spurt. He'll be wearing it at home if he doesnt go to school.

I bought my three boys new school shoes mid February. There still in the hall wardrobe gathering dust - every time I see them I’m overcome with rage. Needless to say not a pair fits anymore. Bloody kids and that growing shit.

Ah another petition. There's also this one

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300399

[quote Bupkis]@chickenyhead.
I'm just curious. Our paediatrician has been very keen for ds to continue shielding, especially due to the factor of 'the unknown' with his condition...but now we are told that only a very few children are staying on a shielding list at all (even if shielding is unpaused).
I am so pissed off with this situation, after years of fighting for help, a diagnosis, support at school and d's being in and out of hospital with Drs scratching their heads and yet here we are, heading into Winter expected to send ds back into school with no social distancing and threats of fines if we don't. I switch between fury and utter panic.
And no, I don't want schools to close but I'd like some fucking options.[/quote]
Well quite.

And how are people to explain it to the children when it quite plainly doesn't make sense.

Didn't they extend Shielding in June alongside numbers such as these?

We've brought up our children to think for themselves, not to blindly obey orders from authority that fly in the face of the facts.

I still haven't bought school shoes.

I’m a teacher in Scotland and we are back just now. What date do the English schools go back?

First week in September here.

Around 7th September here, give or take an inset day or 2

The thought among staff in my own school is that there will be problems by October so prob nothing flagged up by the time English schools go back. Meaning no real indication for Boris if Nicola has mucked up. Yet.

How's it been back at school for you @Sassenach85?

@Kingsley08. I hear you on the shoes! DS1 alas has very wide feet and DS2 narrow ones, so they won't even be able to be passed down. I've hidden them upstairs so they don't annoy me (had bought new school trainers and shoes in Feb too). But he did go back for a month (reception) so got some wear out of them. Now they're too small.

Thinking about it now, there must be a lot of people in our position. I'm wondering whether to contact the school and see if we can get a uniform-trading scheme going across the different years before it even restarts. Any ideas anyone?

@ElizabethMainwaring not great. Paying lip service is the phrase I think. 101 very clever sounding safety precautions none of which are enforceable esp with difficult classes.

Thank you @Sassenach85Are the kids acting like they usually do behaviour wise?
Any kids with anxiety?
How old are yours?
Sorry for the bombardment of questions!

I have seen very few people that want schools to close, just those that want them opened safely. Or alternatively the choice to continue supported home learning until effective safety measures are put in.

My husband has cancer, his treatment means he is clinically extremely vulnerable. My children were happy with home learning, my preference is to continue this with support from the education system. Apparently I don't have that choice, I either deregister and go it alone or send them into a situation that is unsafe for my family.

I want schools open as safely as possible, (that doesn't mean 30 to a classroom) with the option for flexible learning.

We don't have sufficient community testing, we don't have an effective track and trace system and we don't have timely, well communicated data on local infection levels.

When those things are in place then maybe I would feel more confident.

Right now I'm not sending my child into a bubble of 200 children where he could pick up a virus that could potentially kill his Dad.

And the Department of Education guidelines are a joke, can be summed up as "do your best chaps, we will be blaming you if it goes wrong".

@TurboTheChicken sorry to hear about your DH it must be extra worrying. X

@ElizabethMainwaring I’m across a few stages as class cover. So from 4/5years old to 10/11. The behaviour in our school was at breaking point anyway so not sure how good a comparison it is BUT it’s impossible to stay 2 metres away from them. At all. It’s just not feasible. They are sat in twos which is actually making it worse for staff. Sometimes you need your presence to be felt at the back of the room for behaviour management so you’re right in amongst them. No way I could wear a mask it’s laughable. By the end of my day in p7 I felt nauseous like I was breathing in their hot breath! We have windows open ALL day but it’s been hot and class was just roasting. I don’t know any staff member who feels that the measures are enforceable in a working classroom.

Just to note that my school have really taken the guidelines seriously and are being way more cautious than it seems my DD’s school is! Thing is it’s all on paper. In real life these things can not coincide with running a real class of real kids. Lots of anxious faces and some angry outbursts from kids so far.

@Sassenach85
Awful. I used to do ppa in a challenging school and it's not easy at the best of times.
So it's pretty much as we predicted then.
If parents knew the reality of schools the dialogue would be very different.

'vanishingly small' bingo, such a Mumsnet cliché

Sasenach wearing a mask is not "laughable" why do you think it is?
I don't wear one if I'm 2m away but I do if I am closer than that, or to go through corridors. And most of the time with seniors.

[quote herecomesthsun]Ah another petition. There's also this one

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300399[/quote]
I signed that one

@TurboTheChicken

And the Department of Education guidelines are a joke, can be summed up as "do your best chaps, we will be blaming you if it goes wrong".

yep - that pretty much sums it up.

Big Gav, DfE and OFSTED - all a bunch of jokers ... Piss up and brewery spring to mind

Genuine question to those who want kids in school...... Do you trust politicians?

Nope I don't trust politicians especially not this bunch of inept, ill-suited,corrupt clowns.