Teachers of infected students not required to self-isolate.

[NebularNerd]

More than one positive case at a local school.

The teachers of these students are not being required to self-isolate.

As a teacher, you can be in a room with an infected individual for at least an hour, with no mask and closer than two metres, and you aren't considered to be at risk.

And yet, if you encounter the same individual anywhere else, the NHS app will suit hat you self-isolate

Teachers are being thrown under the bus so that schools can remain open.

I have not bothered downloading the app because I will still have to go to school even if there is a positive.
The only place I go is school and home - not been near a shop since early March!

@phlebasconsidered sorry, it must be different in different bits of primary. Lower down teachers seem to be isolating with class bubbles but maybe that's just early years.

The 2 metre has no meaning now that we know it’s not fomites and droplets that are the main way to get the virus but aerosols.

15mins... well teachers aren’t best placed there. But there wouldn’t be a lot of teachers around if they were all self isolating...

[quote SchrodingersUnicorn]@phlebasconsidered sorry, it must be different in different bits of primary. Lower down teachers seem to be isolating with class bubbles but maybe that's just early years.[/quote]
Yeah this is whats happening at my childrens primary. Even visitors coming in who later test positive, results in the whole year (inc teachers) having to isolate. Though we were told the visitor was only n the year bubble for 'a few minutes'.

It just seems impossible to socially distance from the children at our primary. In my experience you simply cannot help a child learn to read, help them correct their own spellings, explain a tricky sum, mark work as they do it, check their bumped knee, tie up a shoe lace, find out why they are crying, comfort, reassure etc. to young children from 2m away. I imagine it is just as challenging in secondary.

@NebularNerd

And yes, those teachers will be bringing it home to their families, and so the spread continues.

Why aren't the media reporting on this? Where are the unions?

I can't think of another job where this would be the case.

There appears to be a media blackout on outbreaks in school along with lots of propaganda, particularly on the bbc about how safe and 'covid secure' schools are. Meanwhile in my area the shit is starting to hit the fan with schools closing left, right and centre. It is getting scary now. My dd has come home in tears today terrified she is going to get the virus and pass it the vulnerable family members. At the very least they need to suspend section 444 of the education act again.

My daughter a teacher
A student in her year bubble tested positive
All bubble and teachers sent home for two weeks

Ps year six

Quarantining a primary teacher whose class is in quarantine is pretty easy. They’re at home and their class is at home.

Quarantining a secondary teacher is a ballache because they’re at home but most of their classes are in school needing cover. Heads will want to avoid this.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Love the randomers who know better than teachers who are in classrooms all day claiming that they themselves don't need to isolate because they are SD from their students even though they are directly telling you that they are not because they cannot.

@OverTheRainbow88 yes, of course...did you think i didnt know that? no, of course, you were just trying to be clever maybe

anyway, its wrong that teachers are exposed constantly...they should isolate too, so what if the school needs to close?

Teachers don't have to isolate because they have a dedicated area they stay in and aren't getting closer than 2 metres to their pupils.

That's hilarious. My classroom isn't big enough to keep 2 metres away from students. I can manage 1.5m if I press myself against the whiteboard....

@noblegiraffe

Yes exactly. And thus the BS guidance about secondary teachers SD from students. Because if we send home secondary teachers for SI when all other situations would dictate the need for that the schools will not be able to remain open.

School is a whale size hole in our fishing net to eliminate/control the virus strategy! All the restrictions, lockdowns, closure, households not mixing, up to 6 etc are all a futile attempt whilst schools are not told to wear face masks. Monday to Friday our children mix with 30 other households in a classroom room 6 hours a day 5 days a week. They then mix with their year group during break and lunch that’s another 100-200+. What else spiked the increase in cases since September!
Sometimes you have to wonder are gov that stupid or is it a deliberate plan to achieve herd immunity regardless of deaths that go with it, a plan they couldn’t follow through in March.
A combination of home learning and 2 week rota should be implemented along with face masks in all areas of the school including classrooms. If not mandatory then at least voluntary wearing should be allowed.

@TheGriffle

In our school my daughters class was sent home to isolate after a child tested positive. Their teacher has been at home isolating as well so it’s not the case that all schools are doing the same. Ours is a primary so not sure if that makes a difference.

Secondary school teachers are not being told to isolate because it would affect too many classes

Can confirm. My DH taught a pupil who later tested positive three times the week they got the positive test. Three hours in close contact inside with no masks, nothing. He wasn’t made to isolate but the kids form tutor, who had seen the child for just 5mins each morning for three days, was made to isolate. Insane.

What about staff isolating for family symptoms/ waiting for family members to test? Is that not causing issues with staffing anywhere? My child has been sent home from childcare several times now with a temp, 4 days and still waiting for results this time!!!! It's been made very clear that it's unpaid next time and I very much get the impression they'd rather I lied and left child with someone else tbh(not that I even have that option) .... hoping it won't happen again as no one seems to be having this problem.

Yup. And it makes no difference if you’re vulnerable. I’m 31 weeks pregnant and should be in.

The 2m distance is a joke. We’ve been told to sit next to children to discuss their work and to hear them read. We have to open water bottles, cut up their school dinners and do basic first aid. We’ve been told to move children into a group on the carpet to do additional input so sitting very close to us. My children are in a secondary school and their teachers sit alongside them to mark too. In these cases if a pupil tests positive the staff member should isolate too. It makes me cross that this is not the case. It’s to keep schools open at any cost.

“First to open last to close”

@RigaBalsam

Teachers are meant to be 2m away. So are exempt. It is really ridiculous.

And in the real world...class sizes haven’t been reduced, classrooms haven’t miraculously been extended. I’d love to be in a class where I’m 2metres away from the kids.

@Lostinagoodbook

What about staff isolating for family symptoms/ waiting for family members to test? Is that not causing issues with staffing anywhere? My child has been sent home from childcare several times now with a temp, 4 days and still waiting for results this time!!!! It's been made very clear that it's unpaid next time and I very much get the impression they'd rather I lied and left child with someone else tbh(not that I even have that option) .... hoping it won't happen again as no one seems to be having this problem.

If staff need to isolate for other reasons, e.g. they have symptoms, they still need to, so yes, despite the best efforts of the government some teachers will HAVE to isolate.

The guidelines in schools mean that staff will not need to isolate even if they are in close daily contact with infected students, though.

Schools will stay open at all costs, clearly.

I conducted a little survey of the London schools I used to work in ( thankfully, I'm no longer a teacher) and in all of then, there have been cases of children isolating at home after having tested positive. None of their teachers were asked to isolate and nor were any of the children in their class. Teachers were told not to mention the positive cases and to carry on as normal. Some of these teachers were shielding during lockdown. Obviously the government wants them to succumb to covid eventually otherwise this would not be standard policy.

Also there are at-risk children innocently attending school. Schools are NOT informing parents of cases in their vulnerable children's classes.

There is NO distancing. Teachers are told to forget the rules and teach as before....groups on round tables, groups moving round the school, mixed intervention groups across classes but only in KS1 (as they're less likely to go home and say what they did that day).

They are told to make sure children are distanced when lining up at home time (Y2) so their parents think the rules are being followed.

This will all come out in the end.

Not at either of my children’s schools. Both times a child tested positive all staff were also sent home that had taught them. One of whom later tested positive herself.

I can't even get in the door if I have a full class without being 1 metre from a student. 2 metres my arse

Also, my whiteboard is 1.8 metres from the first row, so that buggers that one up. I also can't do my job from 2 metres; I've had kids struggling with calculations and equipment so I have to step in. We all wear masks nearly all the time, but I'd feel safer playing chicken on the M60 right now than I do in class.