The rate of infections in schools is being suppressed from public knowledge

[noblegiraffe]

...claims Karam Bales of the NEU.

I’m pretty sure I agree. When the newspapers are going mad about university cases and 13,000 kids and 700 teachers being off school in Birmingham doesn’t make national headlines, then something dodgy is going on.

This twitter thread collates all the evidence and is pretty damning twitter.com/karamballes/status/1315067136394625032?s=21

My own thoughts:
Why are the government ignoring the WHO recommendations on masks?
Why have they stopped PHE deciding who is sent home when there are cases in schools setting up their own helpline instead which sends home far fewer kids?
Why are the figures not being presented in a way that makes it clear which cases are in schools and not universities?
Why did Chris Whitty use a graph of test positivity rates instead of actual infection numbers in his briefing when it came to claiming that schools aren’t an issue?
Why are they insisting that children only get a test if they exhibit one of the three main adult symptoms, ignoring that the majority of children who test positive don’t have any of them?
Why are they insisting on vulnerable children being sent in with the threat of fines for non-attendance?
Why did they spend the summer pretending that unions were blocking the re-opening of schools and then paying social media influencers to say schools are safe, without taking any steps to ensure that they are?
Why did they announce a Plan B of rotas for schools in tiers of lockdown and then never actually use it?
Why did they say that an effective test and trace system was vital to opening schools and then also say they were surprised when demand increased when schools opened?
Why do they keep saying schools are a priority and that be the only thing they say about keeping them open?

And where the fuck is Gavin Williamson?

@Janevaljane

"precious children* is a phrase she uses a lot. I find it disdainful. Or maybe it's just directed at parents.

I just did a search and this is bollocks.

How unusual to see unevidenced bullshit spotted as fact.

I’m exactly the same. I value my children’s teachers and they know it. They are also really pleased to be back in school with all the children and are happy with the precautions taken in their school.

I really value teachers and agree that those with underlying vulnerabilities should be able to be shielded.

Czech Republic have their secondary schools doing online teaching to reduce transmission in class

@Janevaljane
I value my dd's teachers very highly. I don't want schools to close and luckily neither do they.

There is a subtle but significant difference between valuing the person and valuing what that person does for you. Many parents will value their children's teachers as teachers but that does not mean they value them as people.

Unless you know that teacher socially and are particularly close to them, it's highly unlikely you know their feelings on this. If you were to ask any the parents of any of the children in my class, they would tell you I'm loving being in school and my usual happy self. In private, I don't think that enough is being done on a national level and the Government are failing to protect teachers to the degree they should be.

I value my dd's teachers very highly. I don't want schools to close and luckily neither do they.

1. Your comments on this thread actually imply that you don’t care about teaching staff, as long as your children are in school. Your personal attacks on noble show this really clearly. Noble isn’t doing this because they’re bored - teachers, staff and children will die or face long term illness as a result. Are you back in your work environment? I hope you are safely because it’s awful to be afraid of what this could do.

1. You don’t actually know that your children’s teachers want the school to remain open. I’ve had a few of these conversations so far and I’ve lied to every parent. I’m only happy for schools to stay open if the safety of teaching staff is ensured consistently.

Thanks noble for this thread. Shame some can’t manage to be polite as they hide behind their screens WFH

Your comments on this thread actually imply that you don’t care about teaching staff, as long as your children are in school

This is a crock of shit, I'm amazed that you think you are being polite.

I’ve had a few of these conversations so far and I’ve lied to every parent

That's nothing to be proud of. Do you teach part time? There are a lot of teachers on here that happen to be able to spend hours on Mumsnet, it really is extraordinary.

There is a subtle but significant difference between valuing the person and valuing what that person does for you

🤣🤣 classic Mumsnet twisting what people are actually saying to something that suits your agenda!

teachers, staff and children will die or face long term illness as a result.

As a result of what?

Do you teach part time? There are a lot of teachers on here that happen to be able to spend hours on Mumsnet, it really is extraordinary.

Yes, a lot of us are part-time, actually. Is that OK with you?
(although, for the record, I did in fact go into school for much of this morning to deal with something).
Do you work, Janevaljane? Because I can't help noticing that you are also posting here on MN on a working day.
And are you going to retract your accusation that noble uses the phrase "precious children" a lot, when that is patently untrue? I also just ran a search (whilst on a break from writing parent consultation reports on my day off) against her name and saw that she did in fact use the term once, in 2010. Hardly "a lot."

I last saw this thread at 7.30 ish. It is literally no surprise to me, to see the same old names. Literally on here from dawn until dusk trying to goad teachers and posting non stop on mumsnet.

Get a job or be more productive at the one you’re doing, you may find you’re less angry and more satisfied in life.

Hmm I neither angry nor dissatisfied. My overriding emotion is relief we’ve had zero cases and I’ve thanked the schools for generally being excellent.

But I don’t think there’s suppression of a story. It’s not that contentious a view.

"It’s not that contentious a view."

It depends which side of the fence you're on.

Why and how would they supress it? The media are absolutely gagging to report any tiny covid related story. They don't seem to have a problem reporting university students having it.

I'm sure if cases do grow in schools it will be front page news!

Seems they will be keeping schools open until the bitter end.

So should we just get ready for the collapse of the NHS over winter now?

"I'm sure if cases do grow in schools it will be front page news!"

You seem to have missed the premise of this thread. Cases ARE growing in schools, but are going unreported.

seems like they are keeping schools open until the bitter end

And why shouldn't they?

@Janevaljane

There is a subtle but significant difference between valuing the person and valuing what that person does for you

🤣🤣 classic Mumsnet twisting what people are actually saying to something that suits your agenda!

I haven't twisted anything to suit any agenda. I've not even said that this is what you are doing. I simply pointed out that there is a difference between those two things.

At this point in time, anyone who only values the teaching provided by the teacher is saying "Keep them in no matter what." Anyone who values the person as well is saying: "Keep them in if it's safe enough to and, while you're at it, make schools safer environments."

And why shouldn't they?

Because only 8% of the workforce has school aged children?

And these new useless restrictions cause economic damage to the hospitality sector with no balancing benefit.

At the cobra meeting they have all already agreed that these new ‘tiers’ will not bring the r number down.

Do you teach part time?

I do. But I went to teach today, got back to this thread and found a bunch of deletions, MNHQ telling people off and a load of nice posts about me. I'm not sure that was the intended outcome on the part of the original posters but it was certainly a pleasant read.

Thanks everyone!

I want schools to stay open for as long as they can.

Some schools are closing if they have more than a handful of covid cases anyway. I read about that in the news.

I'm still curious to know what Janevaljane does for a living that allows her to have been posting throughout the day today, whilst making snarky comments about teachers doing so.

They don't seem to have a problem reporting university students having it.

Yeah they don't, do they? That doesn't seem to be seen as a niche story of local interest.

Thousands of kids missing out on school on the other hand. How many thousand? We don't know. It doesn't appear that anyone is collating the data.

What happened to those tiers of shutdown for schools? No one knows and they were only announced a few weeks ago.

Why is the data for sixth formers being merged with the data for uni students? They have this data, they want to reassure that schools are safe so why are they not presenting this data?

Why are some schools sending whole year groups home and others sending barely any home? Why do we not know?

How is remote learning going for the kids who are out of school? Are there lessons that can be learned?

@Janevaljane

I want schools to stay open for as long as they can.

Some schools are closing if they have more than a handful of covid cases anyway. I read about that in the news.

Then do you support the push for stronger control measures in schools and the community in order to enable schools to be open longer?

Some schools are having to close, yes, either fully or partially. But that's only happening in one of two situations:
1 - they have been instructed to by the DfE, PHE or a designated health team,
Or
2 - they no longer have enough members of staff to open fully or at all due to infections and isolations and they have been unable to secure enough temporary staff.
Schools cannot shut simply because they wish to.

My school: roll just shy of 800.
Windows and doors open.
Hand sanitiser stations x 3 every corridor.
Year groups in dedicated zones.
Monitored one way systems.
Staggered breaks and lunch times.
Desks and doors sanitised during these times.
Teachers sanitise equipment they use on entering classrooms. (
keyboards,mice etc)
Detailed lists of pupils involved in group work and who they work with.
Face shields and masks worn if necessary.
Staggered home time.
SLT on duty to ensure no huge groups congregating before/during and after school.