It feels like people on MN are willing schools to close

[Marcellemouse]

Lots of threads being really negative about schools reopening. These have been largely started by teachers, the latest one being about a gagging order on the BBC. My 2 and every other DC I know are thriving on schools opening again. DS actually stands a chance of doing well and getting back on track with GCSES. DC are happy and animated again. Their teachers have been fantastic, I'm massively impressed. Friends of mine who are secondary teachers are positive and happy to be back teaching in school instead of home learning. I just get a different vibe in RL than on MN about schools. What's the reality?

@Marcellemouse

Our secondary has brought in covid measures without the government having to tell them what to do. All teachers wear visors, perspex sheet over teacher's desk, sinks installed outside, one way system, hand sanitiser on entry to each lesson, staggering start time, break time etc., DC wear masks in communal areas and in class if they want to/if a vulnerable DC is in a lesson or if the teacher wants them to. Seems to be working well. Why can't all schools do this?

Apart from Perspex screens, which are quite expensive - too expensive for most schools - your school isn't doing any more on paper than every other secondary I know. Who hasn't had a letter like that from their child's school, detailing all the precautions taken? And yet so many schools are partially closing. The thing is, covid's an airborne virus which thrives among close contact, If you aren't affected yet, I'm afraid it's only a matter of time, and it's better to know what's coming.

Marcellemouse so the actual thread you are referring to is one where the teacher is scared of bringing this home to her vulnerable husband.
Is worried about with rising cases and isolation how long this is sustainable. And worn out moving from class to class.
Which part of that is them asking for all schools to close ??

@Marcellemouse

Our secondary has brought in covid measures without the government having to tell them what to do. All teachers wear visors, perspex sheet over teacher's desk, sinks installed outside, one way system, hand sanitiser on entry to each lesson, staggering start time, break time etc., DC wear masks in communal areas and in class if they want to/if a vulnerable DC is in a lesson or if the teacher wants them to. Seems to be working well. Why can't all schools do this?

Most of that has zero impact on transmission. Some has a bit. Visors protect neither the wearer nor those around them - that’s fairly well proven now. Perspex sheet over the desk? What? What is that supposed to do? Why does it have less potential to transmit than the original surface? Masks in class will only have any effect if they are worn by all, all the time. And that’s not entirely practical. And then they all leave by the same exit, get in the same school bus and any good work is undone.

Still waiting for even one example of a teacher starting a thread - or even commenting in a thread - saying they want schools to close. Thinking schools as they are aren’t safe, thinking closures will happen neither of these are wanting schools to close.

I'm so happy my DC is in school. He only started reception this September but he's so happy, the children I see at drop off and pick up all seem so happy. The school and teachers seem to be handling it all really well, the teachers wear masks at drop off and pick up but not in the classroom as I understand. They are being cautious eg sending children home if they have coughs, and on the flip side parents also seem to be taking it really seriously - I know plenty who've kept their DC off for a few days if they've had a cold etc, where previously they may have sent them in.

Some teachers might want schools to close, that wouldn't surprise me. It mustn't be a very pleasant working environment for some teachers in some roles, having to distance from pupils, other staff etc. I'm shielded from this somewhat with DC only being in reception, and the rules around social distancing for the under 11s here in Wales aren't the same as in England. I see reception teachers having to handle the children eg if they're crying at drop off, which I'm glad they are doing.

Let’s not forget two weeks ago nearly 2000 MNetters voted that the government have fucked up the re-opening of schools. I doubt they were all teachers. And saying that the government have fucked up the re-opening isn’t wanting them to close, it’s wanting the government to do better to keep them open.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4024516-The-government-have-fucked-up-the-re-opening-of-schools

yes over subscribed state school in buildings dating from 1660s. Excellent leadership team.
So one really old building and probably a range of newer blocks? It's fairly unusual for a whole state secondary to be that old.

Is your school routinely overcapacity in every year group? Does the NOR seem to increase each year with zero changes to site?

My school has an excellent leadership team. We have masks in communal areas, hand sanitizer at every classroom, whole new timetable to limit socialisation at breaks and lunches, staff are doing more duties than ever before, there's no doubt in my mind they're doing their best for the site we have. Staff are also working their socks off and providing lessons twice: once for those in school and adapted versions for those isolating. Many staff are exhausted and we're nowhere near half term.

I also know the reality is the school transport is an issue, lesson changeover is an issue in corridors that aren't 2m wide, that 30-35 students are in classrooms that only comfortably sit 28 on a normal day, that staff are teaching across several bubbles, that the bubbles are 250 children.

The difference between you and I is that I look at my school and what we do, and realise that different schools have different contexts so I don't sit online saying 'my school has done X Y Z so why aren't everyone else?'

I think you're making that up

The messaging isn't consistent. On the one hand teachers are risking their lives every day when teaching in schools. On the other it's a sin to suggest that teachers might on average by more keen for schools not to run full time than non-teachers.

noteven isn’t considering that teachers have kids of their own in school and that teaching remotely is shit.

There is a nasty hint there that teachers might want school closed (they don’t) so they don’t have to work (they will).

I don't see the good intention in thread like this. Many teachers are parents themselves, why on earth they want the school to be closed? All they were saying was school to be open safely. Totally different.
It's bizarre to think they prefer working at home conducting remote learning while home schooling their own children.

isn’t considering that teachers have kids of their own in school and that teaching remotely is shit

When this is mentioned in the context of the last lockdown it really misses the point. Teachers who were at home could just look after their children and got paid a full wage. Everyone else had to work full time and had no one look after their children or they got paid nothing. Some were on furlough at 80% but I certainly wasn't.

Now Ofsted has changed the guidance so schools will have to give online teaching, I don't know what it will look like in practice if schools aren't full time.

I don't see the good intention in thread like this.

Well exactly. But MN mods appear to think these discussions are worth having. Repeatedly. For 6 months. When it's just the same posters like @notevenat20 slagging teachers off/trolling for a response. Boring really.

I don't see the good intention in thread like this
Me neither.

@notevenat20

isn’t considering that teachers have kids of their own in school and that teaching remotely is shit

When this is mentioned in the context of the last lockdown it really misses the point. Teachers who were at home could just look after their children and got paid a full wage. Everyone else had to work full time and had no one look after their children or they got paid nothing. Some were on furlough at 80% but I certainly wasn't.

Now Ofsted has changed the guidance so schools will have to give online teaching, I don't know what it will look like in practice if schools aren't full time.

Utter bollocks.

Teachers who were at home could just look after their children and got paid a full wage.

What? Teachers were working at their place of work, or at home, same as other people who weren't furloughed.

Teachers who were at home could just look after their children and got paid a full wage.

Oh could I? Well why was I working till 2am recording lessons while the house was quiet, freeing up the morning for home schooling my 7 year old?

Don’t you dare extrapolate your anecdotes to all teachers.

Teachers were in school working all the way through lockdown.

First the keyworker children, then all the year groups chosen to return.

We were in school teaching, not at home.

@QueenBlueberries
OK secondary schools have put lots of measures in place but they are not foolproof. Pupils are moving around the school, one way system yes but then staircases get really congested (I work in a secondary school). Pupils go one after another to the toilet and they are not cleaned between pupils. Desks - in most schools, pupils are still going from one class to another and the desks and chairs are not cleaned after each class (there would be no time for that). So a child is positive, touches chairs and touches their faces and touch the desk again, then 10 minutes later another poor kid is sitting at the same spot. Measures will reduce the risks but not eliminate them
But that's the same with every setting in the country at the moment. Our toilets at work are not cleaned in between each person using them, etc. We might catch CV from touching a supermarket shelf. All we can do is mitigate risk as much as possible which is what our school is doing, and all we expect them to do.

noteven has just exposed the extremely bad faith in her posts.

Teachers don’t want schools shut. noteven is just making up bullshit in the absence of any evidence that they do.

I dont know anyone in favour of closing them and agree with all you said about how much the children are thriving being back. I have a few friends who are teachers and are happy to be back and were completely bored during lockdown.

@mumsneedwine I know most teachers want schools to stay open. I just get the vibe that a few on MN are willing them to close.

just get the vibe

Translation: have zero evidence but fancied starting a shitty thread anyway.

@notevenat20

isn’t considering that teachers have kids of their own in school and that teaching remotely is shit

When this is mentioned in the context of the last lockdown it really misses the point. Teachers who were at home could just look after their children and got paid a full wage. Everyone else had to work full time and had no one look after their children or they got paid nothing. Some were on furlough at 80% but I certainly wasn't.

Now Ofsted has changed the guidance so schools will have to give online teaching, I don't know what it will look like in practice if schools aren't full time.

Wow, what a post.

This thread says far more about you than it does about any teacher.

When it's just the same posters like notevenat20 slagging teachers off/trolling for a response

I have never once slagged off teachers in general. There is some hyper sensitive reaction to any criticism of individual schools or teachers.

I am a woman. If someone wants to tell me about an awful experience they had with another woman, that is their right. Some women are awful. I am comfortable with that.

The question of whether teachers are more pro school closure over covid than non teachers needs a yougov survey.

I just get the vibe that

Any actual evidence?

There is some hyper sensitive reaction to any criticism of individual schools or teachers

You just made a totally bullshit comment about how teachers got to stay at home looking after their kids on full pay while everyone else had to work.

Care to retract it?