NEU calls for two week closure for secondaries and colleges following leap in infections

[noblegiraffe]

The NEU has called for a two week closure of secondary schools and colleges following a more than 9-fold increase in the infection rate in secondary school children in a month.

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-teachers-demand-2-week-school-closures-after-cases-jump

The infection rate in Y7-11 was 0.5% last week, according to the ONS survey of random households, but this nearly doubled to 0.93% in the latest set of figures. This rise cannot be ignored or passed off as relating to university students as has happened so far.

In other, entirely unrelated news, 61% of teachers report that if a student doesn't wear a mask in a school where they are mandated in communal areas 'nothing happens'.

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-61-staff-say-nothing-done-if-pupils-wont-wear-masks

And Teacher Tapp data from yesterday had 26% of teachers reporting that their schools were partially closed to students.

In the meantime, the testing positivity rate in 10-19 year olds is 17%, which means that this group is severely under-tested and lots of cases will be missed. The rate should be below 5%.

Yet the insistence continues that in any lockdown scenario, schools will remain open. Idiocy.

@TrustTheGeneGenie many do yes, because of jobs. Which I understand.

But if parents lose their jobs that unimportant.

That's quite some leap you're making there

It's not it's practically what she said.

She can tell me her experience all she likes but comparing yourself to a nurse on icu is frankly ridiculous.

[quote Notselfish]@TrustTheGeneGenie many do yes, because of jobs. Which I understand.

But if parents lose their jobs that unimportant.[/quote]
No of course it's not. I don't support closing anything, frankly. Economy and education both equally important.

@monkeytennis97

The arts, a crap example? Oh my God. I'm out.

A crap example of what can open if we close schools because it obviously fucking won't.

@Nellodee

We get contacted if someone tests positive and we have taught them within the past 48 hours. I've had four of those. I've also had another who I taught on the Thursday/Friday and by the Tuesday, they had tested positive. I'm counting them as well. They were sat roughly 1.8m away from me for over 2 hours.

Did they have symptoms? They must have to have had the test. That is very poor for them to be in class with symptoms. Why doesn’t your school get tougher on it? It’s crazy

We’ve had a lot of children stay home with a cough etc and then get a negative test. So the reverse.

Christ on a bike, heard it all now, teacher = nurse on Covid ICU ward. Don't think so. Why do I not learn and stay away from these threads!

@TrustTheGeneGenie

Then sadly, this is going to go on for years

And you'd be happy with that? Sacrificing years of education.... For what exactly?

The poster explicitly qualified this with 'or' and 'but', then said that she hates teaching from home. I'm baffled as to how you managed to interpret that as 'happy with that'. Care to explain?

Care to explain?

It was a simple question. I don't think I need to explain.

You can't have a discussion on these threads unless you agree that teachers are definitely the worst off profession. Being in a school is going to lead to certain death.The government and parents are trying to kill all the teachers and it's a big cover up. Parents are just lazy and selfish and can't be bothered to look after their own children. Nothing else matters apart from Covid. School isn't childcare for all the lazy selfish parents to go to work. Oh and parents are all selfish murderers stamping their feet for their precious children.

Oh and it's fine to leave 11, 12 and 13 year olds 'learning' on a screen all day. As a parent you should definitely be qualified in several specialist subjects in order to assist them, as well as working your own full time job

It's not all posters, but sadly once a few gang up you've had it and just get ridiculed.

No of course it's not. I don't support closing anything, frankly. Economy and education both equally important.

Unfortunately we are in a situation where that is not an option.

No one ever wants to break their leg and have to wear a plaster cast for 6 weeks, but sometimes people just have to accept that’s the way it is and make the best of it.

Life will go on eventually.

So if schools are safe, they will stay open. If they are not, they will close for a short while to make things a bit safer again. There is nothing you nor I can do about it.

@loulouljh

As a working parent I do not support this view. At all. Kids to be at school. Parents to work and pay taxes.

🤦🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

@noblegiraffe

I guess some teachers only care about children as long as they don't have to be the ones teaching them. We can all make smart arse shit house comments when it suits

My post about the lack of care for vulnerable kids except when it suited to make an argument wasn’t actually aimed at you.

Your ‘smart arse’ comment doesn’t make sense when aimed at someone who has been teaching for 15 years, does it?

Well I don't know any argument you put out is about how the situation effects you and yours, which is quite right of course , but you shut down anyone else's argument that effects them and theirs 🤷‍♀️

We all have our own fears in all this, they just don't happen to be same fears because our circumstances are different. Whether the post was aimed at me or not it was a pretty low blow to deflect others concerns like that. Its the equivalent of someone saying to you you're just banging on about cases because it suits you and you can't be arsed to teach. From me I apologise for my smart arsed comment, I guess were all guilty of responding in heat and haste rather than sensible conversation.

@Jrobhatch29

"Well.. we work in places where there are cases of Covid and so do they."

Lol. So do loads of people. My DPs workplace has had around 40 cases just on his zone nevermind the whole factory. Loads of clusters. No ventilation and they pretty much work shoulder to shoulder. Those masks are really working well for them... Not.

I would in no way compare my job to a nurse working on a Covid ward without PPE.

But I don't think anyone should have to work in a situation where they are knowingly and continuously exposed to numerous positive cases without any kind of PPE.

And since rates in my school amongst teachers are far higher than rates in the hospital, I think that the risk is probably commensurate.

My school currently has 1500 cases per 100,000.

The rate for my authority is 130 cases per 100,000.

Two weeks ago, we had zero cases in my school.

Who here is going to tell me I am not at high risk?

And if your husband, or your auntie, or your pet dog is working in similar circumstances, then maybe, just maybe, you should think about having my back, instead of stabbing me in it.

@LindainLockdown

Christ on a bike, heard it all now, teacher = nurse on Covid ICU ward. Don't think so. Why do I not learn and stay away from these threads!

I don't know, why don't you?

Marsha, not all of them had symptoms at school. One was in school, then sent home to isolate, then the news came in about 2 days later that he was positive.

I obviously don't know the time line when they are at home. Either people are developing symptoms very quickly, or they are getting tested without symptoms. I couldn't tell you which.

@Notselfish

Teachers are not in the worst off profession.
They can however, only vent and complain about what they know about. It would be quite unusual for a teacher to come here and share an experience they haven’t had, or complain on the behalf of supermarket staff.

It may seem ‘poor us’ when we are sharing our negative experiences, but I have never once thought everyone else has it better and when someone from a different profession complains, I listen and try to understand their point too.

The one thing I do know is that this pandemic has been awful for many, many people. And we all look forward to the day that we don’t have to talk about Covid-19.

Yes and meanwhile children miss out on loads of education, parents lose jobs and homes left right and centre. Sounds like an ace plan

Many are missing out on an education now. The situation we have now is creating huge inequalities between regions. The areas of deprivation relative to other regions have higher levels of infection. These schools are closing entirely or entire year groups. But because schools are 'open' those children will be expected to take their exams regardless with no allowance for all the education they have missed. This doesn't effect me, I'm in the South East and an area of the South East that hasn't seen any closures. So I have no vested interest.

I like many parents would prefer face to face teaching in school. My son is in yr11. However this pandemic is not my pandemic, we have to consider the impact upon all of society, not just ourselves. And coming on to every thread arguing against any restrictions but using different reasons to argue your case makes me think you just don't want any restrictions upon your own life. I don't particularly want it either, but saving lives is paramount, in any conditions pandemic or otherwise.

The economic destruction in areas already deprived relative to the south will be absolutely huge if we continue on a course that disadvantages children in poorer regions. Their life chances and their future communities will suffer economically and in terms of life expectancy. So I am quite prepared to supervise DC to access online learning. As for parents losing jobs and homes the government needs to step in and offer better financial help, directly to families and workers. And stop this ridiculous charity to businesses. Much of this money was being misused and it represents a huge displacement of wealth from workers to business owners and shareholders. Protecting jobs....mmmm nah, its socialism for businesses and a measly 67% for workers. Let consumers decide which businesses survive.

@TrustTheGeneGenie

We can’t ‘get on with it’ until a vaccine is available

And what if that's years away or never happens?

Then the world will change to accommodate that.

We'll put money into school buildings with more classrooms rather than cramming as many in as possible. We'll have more teachers because we don't have a choice. There will be more outside teaching areas. Nothing wrong with a government throwing money into a bit of building work (at least as long as they don't only look at contracts from mates). That kind of thing gets an economy moving.

In time those who can afford it will probably do more home-schooling, or hiring a governess as used to be common for girls, or maybe even year long boarding school with mandatory quarantine pre-arrival. I've already seen a private online-only senior school.

The world will change. The world will adjust. It has before. We think of the way we do schooling now as the only way to do it because it's all we've ever known but if you skip back 70 years I bet half mumsnet would have had their kids at boarding school because they are that section of the population. And if you asked the parents at the time they'd have been shocked at the idea of sending, certainly their boys, to day school.

In a way the reason we're on a backfoot now is precisely because the government persisted in spending the summer treating this as all over. They had 6 months they could have used redesigning the system. So, yes, be angry, but not at the people pointing out the current system isn't working.

Unless you have underlying health conditions (in which case I agree you should not be in school) @Nellodee, you have nothing to worry about.

You may or may not get flu-like symptoms if any at all. You will isolate for 2 weeks and be back in school on the following Monday morning.

With regards to vulnerable pupils; those in the care of social services; those with severe MH issues and those with SEN...our council included them in the provision for Key worker children and they were expected to attend school, unless they had a very good reason not to. This was also the case across many other schools, who had retained the staffing levels to be able to accommodate that many learners safely.

It's not at all clear that schools increase the rate of infection. It does seem that universities do though, sadly.

I adore my Year 9 class this year. They're the best Year 9 I've ever taught (and by that, I don't mean brightest). My low set 10s have by and large done a lovely job on their first mock exam. I'm really disappointed for my other 10s and 11s who are all self-isolating, but an trying my best for them online. I had a breakthrough with a Year 8 boy who, it transpires, is much less snarky and far more thoughtful in written work than he is in discussion (I rarely see them; they too have had to SI). If I'm honest, Year 7 are not my forte but I love a good natter with them and as the parent of a Year 6 I see them from a new perspective this year.

I'm not desperate to get out of work and to sit at home with my feet up. Neither am I delighted at sharing a classroom with pupils who test positive soon after.

It's utterly disingenuous, obtuse and self-absorbed to claim that teachers are lazy fuckers who just can't be arsed to do their jobs. I would truly love to just get on with it. I'm having my best year in twenty, in teaching terms, but I'm not safe and neither is my family.

I feel like I am banging my head on a brick wall.

I've never actually come on here and complained about "poor me" and the risk to myself. My comparison with ICU was about the fact that both of us are getting to witness the fallout from doing nothing effective to limit this virus first hand.

My point has always been that people keep saying "kids must be in school, they need their education" when the reality is that for many of them, they are NOT in school, and NOT getting an education.

Things are dire. I am reporting this, because nowhere else really is. For that, I'm being told that I am spreading propaganda.

@loulouljh As a working parent I do not support this view. At all. Kids to be at school. Parents to work and pay taxes. why can’t you leave your secondary age child at home while you work? Do they have SEN?

@notevenat20

It's not at all clear that schools increase the rate of infection. It does seem that universities do though, sadly.

Here we go!