School - how worried are you 1-10?

[ChanceChanceChance]

I'm finding it impossible to settle on how worried I am about school, about whether my children will pick up covid there and how worried I am if that happens.

If you were to put your worry on a scale 1-10, with 1 being 'no more worried than a normal year' and 10 being 'terrified', where are you?

I think I'm going for an average of 6 right now.

In Sept I posted between 8-10

Now I'm fully a 10.

10. Dont want lockdown merry go round.

I was probably a 5 in September then a 10 in January (work in an SEN school) and I think we all felt like sitting ducks, especially with the Kent variant. 12 out of the 17 of us caught Covid all within 10 days and most of us passed it on to our families. A couple of us were pretty poorly. We go back on Monday but I feel strangely calm now that I've had it and hopefully have some immunity. I also had my first jab last week. I never want to have to go through Covid again.

1
Ans please no more stupid close contact isolations !

2 for children
8 for staff

7 to 8. Not necessarily on a personal level but more of the concerns of potential new variants and how the virus evolves as more of the population receive vaccinations. The thought of having hundreds of children back together in enclosed confined spaces makes me think that the virus will spread and because the Kent variant is now prominent this will be faster than we saw in September. Will the LFTs work to break transmission? I'm not so sure. I've been having them in my school every week since January and it has been ok but it has been on such a small scale. I still can't see how a huge secondary school will cope with all students back.

10+

1-2 for COVID

About 9-10 for how it’s going to affect dd not to go back to school.

1

Didn’t realise this was an old thread when I first read it. I was fairly ok about them going back but our local paper said this week that 70 schools have had cases this last half term with some having to close to keyworkers and go online.

Trying to rationalise it that community cases will be lower by the time they are back but I can see cases taking off again and them bouncing in and out so am a 7 on that front.

1 for covid and 10 for the impact on them of not going back.

A good 7/8

I'm a teacher - GCSE year.

@Workyticket

A good 7/8

I'm a teacher - GCSE year.

I've not had covid. Several colleagues have. 3 seriously ill - all 3 were in ICU. 2 ventilated

About 7. It would be lower if government would acknowledge true situation in schools, even if they still went ahead with the same action plan, rather than implying kids don't live with anyone else and a virus can't spread in a packed room. It is pure and simple gaslighting. If kids don't spread it, why can't they meet up with anyone now? Technically, my five year old is meant to meet a friend on his own to exercise!

The mental health toll on people is also massive - both with and without lockdown (e.g. kid who brings covid home from school and covid kills a parent to kid whose parent has lost their income due to lockdown or illness from covid and loses their home, to domestic violence).

On a very conservative level, if all kids at school did nothing else but go to school, if all staff at school did the same, if all the people they all lived with did not leave the house, that's still a lot of exposure to the virus within the overall population. So, whilst the percentage risk to kids of dying is small, long covid is not, nor is overall damage to lung tissue etc in kids who have had it asymptomatically, nor is the risk to those they bring it home to. A small percentage of a large number is still a large number!

Those that have been vaccinated are likely to take more risks now, others who have not been vaccinated are likely to mix more with those that have been vaccinated as less scared about passing things on etc. People who have been vaccinated can still transmit though! I'm worried about giving the virus perfect chance to mutate and adapt to that.

I would feel more comfortable with a rota system until we have a better handle on things and a more robust long term strategy of living and coping successfully with the virus. I'm far from convinced this all or nothing approach is the right one at this stage.

I'd also feel more comfortable with expanding the list of symptoms to test for and properly trying to stamp out outbreaks (not suggesting we try to become covid-free), just go a bit further than just isolating the person who sat next to you for testing positive!

Well I'm not for now as my children are not at school for now.
I'm very worried when they do go back, new variant and all that.
Indie sage says the cases are rising on primary age/ nursery just now. It's the only age range to be doing this. It's though to be because schools are fuller with keyworker kids than before
Its concerning.
I don't want them to catch it.

If we go back as we were before -8

But I'm a teacher with a secondary school aged child with a long term health condition who was previously borderline shielding.

As much as we're told to tell parents that schools are Covid safe (because they meet govt guidelines), they're really, really not.

Just two short example - moving between lessons. We're supposed to be no more than 2 mtrs away from students. This is marked out on the floors at my school. When moving between lessons, I regularly count 12 - 15 students in the 2 meter square. Yes, they're supposed to wear masks, but so many pull them down below their noses and even mouths sometimes that it's impossible to police.

And I'd only be 2 meters away from the students in my classroom if I stood with my back to the wall at all times. But given I need to use my computer, I'm regularly only a meter away from the front row. In an overstuffed classroom, with windows that open no more than 6 cm.

Now, if I was back in school full time, and the students were in 50% on a rota with 50% work set for the other week, I think this would be much easier to manage.

It worries me that so many decision makers have blatantly never stepped foot inside a secondary school. The guidelines are laughable at times.

1 for covid and 9 for the impact on them of not going back.
Is anyone going to tally? I'm willing to bet ~50% voted 1.

10

@namechange63524

kid who brings covid home from school and covid kills a parent

Children are incredibly unlikely to bring covid home and kill a family member now that the most vulnerable groups have been vaccinated.

2 purely because no one wants it and the risk is there.

There were zero cases reported of any teacher or child Sept-Dec at my DC primary. There has been 1 burst bubble of a key worker child since Jan. So that’s 1 cases in 6 months. Cases are

1 - for catching or getting seriously sick with Covid

10 - for the whole family's mental wellbeing

2

1
It’ll be good to see them back

@Gubanc

1 - for catching or getting seriously sick with Covid

10 - for the whole family's mental wellbeing

This.

@SockYarn

1. Not worried at all about covid. More concerned about disruption of education.

This for me as well.