Keir Starmer says school return at risk

[Icingandflowersonthecake]

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/aug/22/keir-starmer-tells-boris-johnson-your-chaos-puts-schools-return-at-risk

I think it’s appalling the government has issued no proper guidance to schools about what to do in the event of an outbreak. I would say I’m shocked but I’m used to their incompetence by now.

Looks like school return will be a shambles - and before anyone says it, I want schools to be open, I want to send my kids. I just want it to be safe!

Hmm he doesn’t really say it’s at risk if you read. He’s just slagging off Boris & co for the exam fiasco & saying they should have been concentrating on schools going back. He doesn’t say that schools shouldn’t open or that they won’t open .. rather it’s bad how few plans are in place.

It possibly will be pretty chaotic at times, the government are inept but fingers crossed schools will all learn how best to get through the next year as time goes on. Even if we had a competent govmt, it would be a constant learning curve..

With the guidance as it is, it was always going to be a shambles.
I do get the feeling that Keir Starmer is point scoring with this though. It was only a few days ago he was saying the same as the government regarding schools

Well I did read and I think he’s saying it’s at risk of working out well in the medium term. Schools will open in 2 weeks, yes, but will they stay open?

Let's face it, has this government done anything right? Can someone point to anything that has happened since Johnson took over that has gone well?
It's just been one shambles after another.
It's going to be a disaster.

It’ll certainly be interesting. My daughters been back at nursery since June, mixing with various children who attend on various days. In July, I moved her to a new nursery closer to home. Since July, nurseries have been allowed their nursery rooms as bubbles with no limit on the number of children in each bubble.

It’s been fine at both nurseries to be fair. And both were/are in an area in local lockdown due to high cases. No distancing in the nursery itself, just lots of hand washing & no mixing between the room bubbles. Maybe we’ve been lucky so far but there have only been suspected cases but all tests back negative so there’s been no disruption. I have friends with kids at many different nurseries & again, no cases so far. A friend of a friends nursery did have one case resulting in a two week isolation for her son (& therefore her) but no other child in the room caught it. Or at least none showed any symptoms that prompted a test. I guess we might face more over winter but I’m so far not panicking about schools as nursery has been completely fine! And toddlers are much grubbier than primary kids.. secondary is another kettle of fish.

Not impressed by him at all.

@Bol87

It’ll certainly be interesting. My daughters been back at nursery since June, mixing with various children who attend on various days. In July, I moved her to a new nursery closer to home. Since July, nurseries have been allowed their nursery rooms as bubbles with no limit on the number of children in each bubble.

It’s been fine at both nurseries to be fair. And both were/are in an area in local lockdown due to high cases. No distancing in the nursery itself, just lots of hand washing & no mixing between the room bubbles. Maybe we’ve been lucky so far but there have only been suspected cases but all tests back negative so there’s been no disruption. I have friends with kids at many different nurseries & again, no cases so far. A friend of a friends nursery did have one case resulting in a two week isolation for her son (& therefore her) but no other child in the room caught it. Or at least none showed any symptoms that prompted a test. I guess we might face more over winter but I’m so far not panicking about schools as nursery has been completely fine! And toddlers are much grubbier than primary kids.. secondary is another kettle of fish.

My child is in nursery since May and it has been fine lots of hand washing

The guy is a twat. Vile man. Come back JC you are needed.

I had high hopes for KS after JC but all he does is sneer and be negative. I'd like to see him being more constructive and driving some ideas forward, not just being gloomy.

Fgs; ‘point scoring’, ‘being gloomy’. What do you want him to say? “Ah yeah looks great pal, Sterling job Boris you’re a great leader.” That is very much not the case.
And since when did the opposition have to come up with ideas for government policy?! Put him in charge if you want him to do that.

I think it is quite tough for the opposition at the moment, the government are so totally useless there really is nothing positive to say, but also they can't fully stick the boot in because 'national crisis'.

I agree the schools situation does not inspire confidence.

Well if Keir Starmer says so it must be true.

No one really knows how it's going to go. We'll just have to wait and see.

I think the point that they've basically done very little to help school reopening work and have been wasting time on grades chaos is true.

I see there is now concern over buses. Because no parent mentioned that two months ago . Why are they only just waking up to this now?

I despair at the ignorance about our political system displayed by supporters of the government (and Corbyn fans) here and elsewhere.

The leader of the opposition is meant to sound the alarm about government policy and performance. It's not 'sneering', it's holding the government to account. It's literally KS's job.

Jeremy Corbyn was incapable of doing this. His only modus operandi was to preach to the choir and bask in the resulting accolades from his own supporters.

We are living under the most talentless cabinet ever to grace Westminster, and its decision making has been poor.

If you have a sketchy understanding of politics, please do some reading on how our political system works and inform yourselves.

That article is badly written. It’s a thesis they’ve come up with for a headline and then fitted in what they want to fulfil what they want to say. I’m an ex journo, I can spot it a mile off. Lazy journalism

I bet Keir’s key points weren’t at all what they have lifted as the headline

Given Sweden’s experience, when schools were open despite cases and deaths being high, and numbers still coming down (albeit slowly compared to other European countries), I don’t think we have as much to worry about from schools as many people think. Children may catch it, but they don’t seem to get it badly and aren’t very infectious when they do. If so, there’d likely have been plenty of reports of schools having to shut in Sweden with all the teachers having contracted it - as far as I’m aware there were no major incidents despite 100,000s of pupils attending schools for months in a country of otherwise pretty high infection.

We are living under the most talentless cabinet ever to grace Westminster, and its decision making has been poor.

I don’t think it’s an accident. Johnson appointed his cabinet with the sole aim of ensuring none of them could possibly challenge him to become PM.

Chris Whitty on headlines saying far more risk of damage to children by not going back to school than not going back. First time he’s come out and done an interview like this so he must feel very passionately.

There is clear guidance to schools on what to do in an outbreak. They contact the local health authority, just as they would if they had an outbreak of any other infectious disease.

Surely this is better than blanket advice, it means any decision is individual for the schools and the area and responsibility is removed from the school and the response can evolve as we see what actually happens re transmission in and around schools.

BBC news online headline article much better journalism on this subject .

@Mintjulia

I had high hopes for KS after JC but all he does is sneer and be negative. I'd like to see him being more constructive and driving some ideas forward, not just being gloomy.

I completely know what you mean. I had higher hopes too. I’m hoping he is just keeping his distance a bit because I think if he got too involved the tories would blame a failed Brexit and a failed return to schools on Labour. I’m hoping he’s thinking it’s their mess let them sort it out and most importantly take responsibility (so they don’t get voted in again 🤞🤞🤞🤞).

I agree I don't know what KS could do differently. He knows the public and the economy badly want schools back, he knows the unions are less keen. There isn't much positive to be said about the way it's all been managed but he can't be seen to be sabotaging the return.

In case of an outbreak schools should contact PHE. Which no longer exists.
I'm very glad Chris Whitty knows that children will be fine. Just that I don't teach children, I teach hulking great teenagers, some of whom are 18. Oh and most teachers are not children either. What about the safety of all those people ?
Finally, the Sweden question. They seem to have smaller class sizes and bigger rooms. My school will have 30 students squashed into rooms. There will be no SD as it's just not possible.
I had to q yesterday to get into the supermarket to ensure it wasn't too crowded. Everyone was wearing a mask. But schools ? Shove them in and no masks. It makes no sense.

No, the advice isn't for schools to contact PHE and it never was, it's to contact the Local Health Authority, so that outbreaks can be managed in line with local conditions.