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.

Part time means part time in school learning part time remote learning. Not only learning half the stuff.

Remote learning part time is a whole different ball game to last term.

The teachers teach a subject then set work and projects for home for example. More detailed than that but that’s an example.

If this was a concrete plan funding could be provided for supportive tech and apps and materials like maths equipment to make this a more fulfilling experience.

When they’re seeing teachers more regularly motivation should be kept up.

This is far preferable and more sustainable than trying to ad hoc provide remote learning every time schools, bubbles or individuals have to isolate.

Oh dear Us4them are going to have to pile in and argue with themselves on this thread this time as no one has posted that they don't want schools to open.

@RubyMuseday

At our school they have to take book bags because they fit more neatly on backs of chairs. Back packs are bulky and considered a fire risk. This has always been the rule and nothing to do with germs.

Well it is specifically to do with germs now and not a fire hazard. It is the case in many of my friends who are teachers schools too to avoid "cross contamination" for the same reason many schools are asking kids to come to school in their PE kit on PE days, to limit things from home coming to school.

I think it’s very hard to consider cutting to 50% teaching for those in exam years.

How would that work?

There are definitely a fair number of people who want to stay in until there is a vaccine. They blithely assume there will be one. A considerable number of these also say they won't be having the vaccine as they'll wait for everyone else to get it.

I know a couple like this. Sitting like Buddhas to be worshipped as delivery people/manufacturers/shippers/packers/internet providers/ utlity providers etc etc etc all service them whilst they sit and complain and worry about their own personal health.

Have they said it’s to do with Back packs carrying more germs? Specifically.

Or is it because they now have to put bags on backs of chairs to avoid contamination in corridors and/or repeated trips to corridors where bags previously hung. And health and safety makes back packs a risk on backs of chairs.

I very much doubt it’s because they think back packs carry more germs than book bags. That’s barmy.

@Qasd why are you thinking it would be half? In most lessons, part of the time is spent explaining a new topic and talking about it, and other time is spent with children doing activities to help them understand it and demonstrate their understanding.
They would do the talk/explanation bit in class and written work at home (on an online system I imagine). Teachers could then read this work and see what was understood, or not, and go over it the next time they saw the pupils.
There would be no need to cut the syllabus or the amount of subjects in half.
It would still be complicated! But it could work.
Who is with the children while they work at home is another matter obviously.

And that’s the same reason for the PE kit thing. To stop them going in corridors or wherever PE kits were stored. And Pe kits are too big for backs of chairs. I don’t get why this is such an objectionable issue.

My reply is going to be very unpopular....... homeschooling!

Schools need to open. The risks are so incredibly low to anyone under 50 that actually we need to all just get on with it. Over 50 or high risk do online tutoring and stream lessons into classes with support staff in classes.

Yes kids have homes with high risk family members. We are one of those homes but with two keyworkers who can't be furloughed our children have to go to school, we have to work.

You want to isolate then homeschool your kids. This should be as compulsory as school attendance.

@wherestheotherone

My reply is going to be very unpopular....... homeschooling!

Schools need to open. The risks are so incredibly low to anyone under 50 that actually we need to all just get on with it. Over 50 or high risk do online tutoring and stream lessons into classes with support staff in classes.

Yes kids have homes with high risk family members. We are one of those homes but with two keyworkers who can't be furloughed our children have to go to school, we have to work.

You want to isolate then homeschool your kids. This should be as compulsory as school attendance.

Who are you talking to? The OP wanted to hear from people who don't want schools to open. You do want them to be open so I don't understand who you are pressing your point to.

The problem is the two sides to the argument are so extreme. It shouldn't be a case of close the schools or everything fully open.

I would want to see part time schooling with smaller bubbles and distancing-especially inside. Watch the numbers carefully and gradually increase if things remain stable.

I haven’t heard a single person who is worried about this say they won’t have a vaccine. It’s mainly the ones who think it’s all a conspiracy. Just look at UsForThem on social media. Lots of them (probably not all of course) are very anti the vaccine and spouting nonsense about Bill Gates.

Many of UsForThem are also against testing, masks and hand sanitiser. It’s not just vaccines they oppose it write to heads about in a furious style whilst clutching their pearls.

That they dare point fingers at others astounds me.

Op you need to make a decision based on your circumstances. Not what some randoms on social media think. Understand the facts, your own vulnerability, stack it up v your ability to home school your child and make a decision.

Schools are opening. The majority of people feel this is the right decision. You need to do you.

I don't really know why I've come back to this thread but to clarify the reason I am so concerned about everyone going back in September is because I desperately do not want the schools to close. Closure like we had in March to everyone except the vulnerable /key workers would be horrendous. The covid hokey cokey of 14 days isolation with no notice won't be much better.

I agree with @lunar1 id like to see a part time return gradually increasing whilst we assess the impact having everyone back in school has.

I also think lumping primarys and senior schools in one category is whats causing most of the outrage, if we all agree children are less likely to get seriously unwell that means under 11's returning is safe however that isnt necessarily the case for older children which could mean them returning causing a second spike or at the very least local spikes so why not split the two and acknowledge that opening senior schools fulltime may not be the wisest decision whilst its perfectly safe to open primary schools and that senior schools should have ppe whereas that may not be needed in primarys. Fundamentally in my opinion its the governments lack of acknowledgement that the two are different that is worrying people.

I think that’s fair enough. I have children in y7 and y11. I would be happy for my y7 to be part time but not my y11.

They are in separate buildings too.

@RubyMuseday

I haven’t seen anyone say they want schools closed. I’ve seen a lot say they want schools to open safely then be falsely accused of wantng schools closed. There’s a difference.

This ☝🏻

@mrshoho

Oh dear Us4them are going to have to pile in and argue with themselves on this thread this time as no one has posted that they don't want schools to open.

We're three pages in and I'm still waiting.

I've heard Trump supporters exist as well, but I've only ever met one in real life and he was an actual crack addict.

Sorry haven't read the whole thread mainly cos it's all been said before.
But from my point of view I think the six week break could have been used to strengthen online resources to enable a blended system that could be used and accessible to any parent/child who, through individual circumstance/quarantine/vulnerable, were not able to physically attend school.
Thereby allowing for greater SD opportunities and targeted face to face learning for those years (yr11 and yr13) who are entering a crucial point in their education.
An opportunity missed to try and level the playing field of home learning.
It does my nut in (sorry about the language but I have spent WAAAY to much 'quality time' with my 1st year uni DD and my approaching yr11 DD!) to hear people say schools must open to all to allow parents to go back to their Covid safe workplaces.
Education was never about free childcare.
Maybe I from a different generation but it feels to me as if our kids are an inconvenience. As a society we accept that we hand them over into a system at a year old, breathe a sigh of relief and carry on going about our business.
I'm sure teaching professionals feel great that they are perceived as mere child minders.
FFS they deserve the same respect as every other profession.
One quote that sticks in my mind was from Nicola sturgeon when she said, as lockdown was easing, that if you feel things are getting back to normal we're doing something wrong.
Now is the time to re-assess what was wrong with the society and try and improve on what went before.

That might be the one thing we can all do for our kids.
And FFS show a bit of respect for our educators who are not trying to stop our kids going back but are trying to ensure it's done in a socially responsible manner

The problem is, nobody agrees what ‘safe’ means.

And we seem to have lost sight of the original point of lockdown, which was to endure the NHS wasn’t overwhelmed.

I think we are now going for a ‘eradicate the virus’ or ‘await vaccine’ approach, which was never the intention, and it muddies the waters.

I think all parents are desperate for schools to reopen, and beyond that we don't have good enough leadership or money to do it safely, so the government have opted for a strategy where they can take credit for the opening but have offloaded responsibilities for closure. At the end of the day, if schools are closed in your area, either because there is a lack of staff who are well, or because the local rate threatens to overwhelm the NHS and return it to a covid only service, it will be up to you to suck it up as parents who need school for childcare are not a loud enough voice in real life for the government to listen to. If they really wanted schools open - or at least childcare available, as there may not be enough teachers or socially distanced school places in winter - they'd find the money.

I don't know anyone saying they shouldn't open. I know people saying there need to be measures in place like wearing masks, staged openings.

What we really need is double the number of teachers and schools so we can halve the classes. And have a good sickness system in place.

My children are in secondary and the current plan to open fully and just have bins at the entrance so that people who arrive by public transport can dispose of their masks is not enough.

The government should have thrown money at getting Test and Trace robust. Comps are as crowded as the factories that ended up with outbreaks and while teens are unlikely to die or be hospitalized, they may live with people who aren't so lucky.

I would support blended learning for non exam years.