It's not going to work is it...

[LivingIsHard]

Whatever they bring in tomorrow, it's just not going to work. Batten down the hatches.....

I'd agree with this. Almost none of the school kids are wearing a mask. I suspect most of them get on with one, but by the time they get to their seat it's in their pocket or bag.

My DD is 14. She is very compliant about wearing a mask when on public transport, out shopping, even crowded open air places where it's not mandated that we should wear masks. However she wouldnt think about wearing one at school "because no one else does" .

@OpheliasCrayon why didn’t it rip through schools in March? I honestly am not of the mind set that children/young people can’t spread it, however, the March peak was enormous - probably 20times larger than the graphs show if you believe the scientific estimate of 100,000 cases a day. We’re probably at the stage now that we were unknowingly at in mid Feb. If that’s the case, and there were no preventative measures at all then, you would have expected schools and teachers to have been horrendously affected In March. Except that doesn’t seem to be the case and it’s only sensible to consider why and see how much normally we can get for children.

That said I personally think that secondary pupils should be wearing masks, especially in rooms that can’t be well ventilated.

My DD is incredibly bright, and has huge aspirations. She is also completely falling apart psychologically due to not feeling safe from Coronavirus at school or on the bus. She has grown up seeing my disability put me in hospital several times and is terrified she will give it to me despite all my reassurances.

Blended learning is not a solution. My son’s yr 8 is off because of 1 case in their bubble (infected child had a snotty nose and mild cough and was very shocked to be positive). No other cases in over a week now. Only 50% attendance on online school as not all kids have the technology or can get onto devices or have internet or parents at home able to check they’re actually going online. 240 children at home, a good proportion not doing anything, not allowed out of the front door (although lots are and I don’t blame them - 14 days trapped in a flat!), and for one slightly snotty nose. I would much rather just get on with it, ill children only stay off etc. We just need to get on with it and stop destroying more lives than we’re saving.

But what does just get on with it mean? Does it mean what we are doing now, but just keep going and hope for not too much disruption with teachers off sick? Or does it mean actually not even to bother isolating kids who have been in contact with affected people and not bother testing anyone with only mild symptoms cos it is causing too much disruption?
I am just curious, COD while we are testing and isolating bubbles it feels like there is too much disruption to education. So perhaps your just get on with it scenario involves not even trying to contain virus in any way?
I am not trying to argue, I am just curious, cos at the moment it feels to me like the system isn’t really working and home schooling may provide better consistent educating.

No, of course it's not going to work.

Human beings have never in history quashed a virus on a national scale by purely behavioural intervention. Why not? Because it's too fucking difficult to do. And they had a lot more motivation in the past, given a) no possibility of finding a vaccine and b) the viruses in question being much more dangerous than covid-19.

The only options are to lock down society hard until a vaccine is found or carry on as before with an attempt to shield the most vulnerable.

The first of those options looked more plausible in the spring. Now we've run out of time. There's no vaccine due very imminently and there no really good one in the pipeline. Medical research has thrown everything at it but with only predictable advances. There's not been a eureka / Manhattan project type discovery.

So carrying on as normal is what we're essentially doing. With a brocade of half-hearted, self-contradictory, complicated, largely pointless measures imposed for show. They won't stop the spread of the virus enough to stop it. All they're doing is fucking up people's lives, education, and all other health care. For what? Government optics?

The elderly vulnerable in care homes are also seeing massive decline in their physical and mental health as a result of lack of contact with family. We will get to a point very rapidly where their lives have such little quality that we no longer wish to protect them.

Home schooling is not going to provide more consistent education. My kids were off for 6 months, their mental health suffered and so did their education because I cannot teach them and work. I am also not a trained teacher. It doesn't work.

We just have to get on with it, and I sympathise if you have to work, but you put your kids first.
I'm a qualified teacher in FE, hopefully I'll be able to support dd if they have to come home.
However, I home educated, before becoming a teacher, throughout primary.
If there's no school parents have to fulfil their responsibility themselves.
It's great to be able to outsource their education, but at the end of the day by law it's the parents responsibility, to make sure their dc receive an education.
It isn't the states.
I'd prefer not to do it to, hard cheese, we'll have to, if they close schools again.

@Devlesko I do put my kids first which is why I work. And most parents work. They do it to put a roof over their heads, feed them and meet their needs.
It's physically impossible to do both in my role. It's nothing to do with putting them first at all and to suggest otherwise is quite insulting to parents who cannot juggle everything.

@Devlesko I can’t believe you said that! You will turn the UK into a 3rd world country where only wealthy children will receive an education, surely every child from every walk of life should be entitled to an education? That’s when you start having child marriages, children working for a pittance, slave Labour, one slippery slope for our society.

It should be the state makes sure every child has access to an education.

Alex this is exactly what they do. I can assure you as a past home educator the state would soon step in if they thought I wasn't educating my child.

supersonic
But surely your main role is your children not your role as a job.
Yes, I understand but what are you going to do, educate your child or let their education suffer.
I'm sure you and your partner, if you have one aren't working 24/7.

Asking people to wfh again will help numbers

More so than some other options

@Devlesko no but we are both working in jobs that help the vulnerable and protect the country. What do we do? Leave them with no support whatsoever.
My job is not to teach my children. That's why they go to school. It isn't about prioritising. It's about living in the real world.

Schools are prioritised atm. They weren’t really before but from this term they have been.

It’s good they still have online provision running for those who prefer to h/s

I'm not sure if anyone follows this guy, I like him because he's easy to understand.

supersonic

That's my point, this is the real world. We have priorities to work and maybe to educate our dc if we lockdown.
What do you suggest as an alternative?
My whole point is we can moan, worry, any amount of emotions, but at the end of the day we have children.

@Devlesko

We just have to get on with it, and I sympathise if you have to work, but you put your kids first. I'm a qualified teacher in FE, hopefully I'll be able to support dd if they have to come home. However, I home educated, before becoming a teacher, throughout primary. If there's no school parents have to fulfil their responsibility themselves. It's great to be able to outsource their education, but at the end of the day by law it's the parents responsibility, to make sure their dc receive an education. It isn't the states. I'd prefer not to do it to, hard cheese, we'll have to, if they close schools again.

What about the children of the feckless or dim who can’t properly supervise learning? Or those parents who have to work outside the house?

We can't get a test. I have spent 2 days constantly refreshing the test page. Closest I can get as a non driver is a 4 mile walk away.

So i have 3 kids at home, one of which is in year 10.

I don't trust the figures because there aren't tests available for schools to get kids back in. Ridiculous.

So annoyed.

Every cold or illness is 2 weeks isolating

No it's not going to work, too many things are open, schools are open and people aren't following the rules anymore. The government has to be seen to be doing something even though they know it won't work. The virus will work it's way round the population like it's doing in France and Spain. In a way I kind of hope it does as I think we should just stop these stupid lockdowns and get back to normal.

**What about the children of the feckless or dim who can’t properly supervise learning? Or those parents who have to work outside the house?

Or the ill? Or people who have children with significantly varying needs? Not everybody who cannot home teach is selfish or stupid.

No. Unfortunately it’s not.

Or the ill? Or people who have children with significantly varying needs? Not everybody who cannot home teach is selfish or stupid.

This is the reality for many, for me too if my dd is sent home.
Mine has sn and mh issues that were just so much worse at home.
But we'll just have to do the best we can if she is at home.
I don't know any of her A level subjects, but I'll do my damndest to help if I have to.

@chickenyhead

**What about the children of the feckless or dim who can’t properly supervise learning? Or those parents who have to work outside the house?

Or the ill? Or people who have children with significantly varying needs? Not everybody who cannot home teach is selfish or stupid.

It wasn’t a comprehensive list! Just examples.