Childs School insisting on face masks in lessons

[GrapefruitsAreNotTheOnlyFruit]

My son's school are now insisting face masks are worn at all times indoors except when eating. It's secondary age group. I think this is going to impact on learning but I don't know what if anything I can do about it. I don't know how effective it will be either. If they are supposed to wear them for hours I think they will be fiddling with them, taking them on and off etc. What do people think?

It’s not recommended by the DfE. So why are they doing so now?

Guessing the head teacher has read beyond govenment guidelines. The information supporting the widespread use of masks in school is out there if you look for it

Sounds like the head teacher has more sense than DoE. Hopefully others will follow.

Well I can’t stand wearing one so I wouldn’t expect kids to. If they were brought in at my child’s primary school I’d pull him out and homeschool.

Same as @tappitytaptap - I would do exactly the same.

Also. If mask wearing is so effective why are cases going up??

@OchonAgusOchonO you know you can't BEAT a virus don't you?

All these measures in place and cases have just gone up.

If they were brought in at my child’s primary school I’d pull him out and homeschool.

I'd rather they introduced masks and every feckless git that cant be bothered to get used to wearing took theyre child out to homeschool.....

Then maybe medically vulnerable kids and adults, who don't have a choice to be medically vulnerable, might be safe and less likely to have to homeschool.

I think masks should definitely be worn in school but see lots of you think they might impede education. Are you aware of these transparent masks - lots of bhs staff already using them..www.theclearmask.com/product

Haha nhs not bhs!

Also. If mask wearing is so effective why are cases going up??

Because the places its spreading are the places people aren't wearing them. Pubs, restaurants, schools.

Japan has a culture of mask wearing already. It's also done rather well not spreading it.

It your not singing, shouting, sitting under air conditioning eating, sitting next to an unmasked person for a prolonged period of time; covid doesnt actually seem to spread that easily

@Hazelnutlatteplease I’m sorry, I’m feckless because my 4 year old wouldn’t wear a mask properly for hours each day? What are you even talking about? Mumsnet is utterly bizarre - in the real world no one I know would support masks in primary schools yet here apparently most people are for it. I live in a very mumsnet-ty middle class area too, but apparently I must know a strange subset of people

@loulouljh

It makes no sense and makes learning alot harder. I would be very unhappy with this....

Completely agree. People must need to talk louder to be heard through the mask which expels more droplets spreading more covid. I would rather have my child taught remotely than wear a mask to school.

If mask wearing is so effective why are cases going up??

Too many are wearing them incorrectly or not at all. Plus there's virtually no enforcement of mask wearing

I find people who think they are morally superior for somehow enjoying mask wearing pretty odd. I wear them in the legally required places but I don’t have to like them, it doesn’t make you a better human

You don't have to like them to think they should be introduced in schools.

I really don't have any faith in DfE so I wouldn't be relying on them

@yawnsvillex - you know you can't BEAT a virus don't you?

Tell that to smallpox!

Besides, I siad the measures would go a long way towards beating it, not that they would beat it.

All these measures in place and cases have just gone up.

You might have a point if everyone was fully compliant with the measures, but they're not.

Brilliant - hope my school follows suit.... at the moment we don’t even have them in communal areas apart from a few students... being stuck in a hall/canteen with 250 students and no social distancing isn’t filling me with confidence.

Well done to the school. It will reduce transmission. No reason for anyone to fiddle with them.
Very young children are perfectly capable of wearing them in other countries without fiddling (stops little fingers being put up little noses too ).

I struggle to wear the disposable ones for anymore than an hour, I can't imagine having to wear a fabric one for 6 hours. I get migranes, I struggle to breath and my eldest ds is the same, and I haven't made the youngest wear one.
My oldest struggles enough at school being dyslexic and not getting the help he needs at the moment. Doubt he's going to learn much if they make him wear a mask all day aswell.

We've had masks in school for a few weeks now. Its no biggie

Also, won't they need to be changed frequently, so the will probably need a clean mask for ever lesson? So 6 masks a day or more?

I’m feckless because my 4 year old wouldn’t wear a mask properly for hours each day?

Depends on your expectations really. Cultures like Japan show that it is possible for young children to wear masks. But its culturally led. You do what your parents do.

I personally know a 3 year old who quite happily wears a mask for prolonged periods on time. My DS with SN took some -training-- practice and attempts with a couple of types. Incidentally he also has communication difficulties so it is possible

With parents who normalise it, its no big deal. In cultures who normalise it, the parents have no big deal because they're already doing it.

It's a culture shift in this country

Would be an issue for me because my hearing isn't great - didn't realise how bad until masks arrived in our lives

Well I'm in the minority on here who think it's shit, OP. Poor kids and young people with fuck all risk, continuing to bear the brunt of the measures

Yes because it should all be about the kids, stuff the thousands of staff who have to work in close quarters with them with no protection whatsoever. As long as the kids are educated and allowed to be kids, a few dead staff as collateral damage is a fair trade off I'm sure!

So even some of people on here whos schools have masks have still had cases
Countries with lots of mask wearing still having lots of cases still like spain
Im still not surd on exactly how affective they are unless combined with other measures
Especially the same mask poss worn for days and maybe fiddled with but i have bought extra for dc as probably only a matter of time before this is bought in at most schools

@tappitytaptap

Well I can’t stand wearing one so I wouldn’t expect kids to. If they were brought in at my child’s primary school I’d pull him out and homeschool.

I think I will too. I honestly don't think my children would cope very well with it. They can hardly stand wearing them to go into a shop for half an hour, never mind all day at school.