Now we know why the govt were suppressing the schools infection data

[noblegiraffe]

...because for secondary it’s very worrying.

They choose to release it the day before we break up for half term, too late for any circuit breaker like the other U.K. countries.

They’ve quietly removed the assertion that schools aren’t high risk settings from the guidance. At what point are they going to start to be honest about the risks, particularly in sixth forms and colleges?

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/928749/Weekly_COVID-19_and_Influenza_Surveillance_Graphs_W43_FINAL.pdf

[Mumtumwobble]

If the government are insisting that GCSEs go ahead then I really need my year 11s in school. Teaching online is just not the same as being in the classroom at all. We’re all trying our best with Microsoft Teams but the lessons are not a patch on the real thing, and I’m in an affluent area where the kids can access them. What about more deprived areas where pupils cannot access online learning so easily? They will become even more disadvantaged.

[ohthegoats]

But I absolutely will not live stream a lesson and become someone under constant surveillance.

Nor would I. My school has definitely agreed that it won't be happening. To be honest, due to incredibly shitty behaviour at the moment, it would be an hour of parents at home watching me trying to get kids out from under the table and so on.

[BelleSausage]

50% of my Yr7 group said they were off on holiday over half term, some abroad. If you think it is bad in schools now then you ain’t seen nothing yet.

[Bitbusyattheminute]

I would also like the kids who are isolating to actually complete the work set or turn up for the lesson streaming. When they don't, that creates yet more work. On top of providing lessons to be taught and lessons for those at home and lessons for those without access to a computer.

[notevenat20]

Does anyone have figures for the proportion of cases in primary schools that are actually the teacher? In DCs school it has been the teacher every time with no positive cases in children that I know of.

[starrynight19]

Numbers of cv kids have rocketed. We've had huge numbers of staff off every day. School is fucking freezing. Some kids have had to isolate twice, so 4 weeks out of an 8 week term. I really don't think it's sustainable, but I don't know what the answer is.

Yes my dd y11 is on her second lot of isolation and this describes our tier 3 area. But luckily some people haven’t had a case in their school so it’s all ok

[ohthegoats]

I really wish they would stop sending the entire year (or bubble) home in primaries. They should just send home the poorly child and maybe whoever they sit next to at lunch.

This comment is ill informed. The children in my class are literally all over each other. The 15 minute lunch eating and 15 minutes outside is probably the most socially distanced part of the day. I can't keep my kids 1m apart and fit them in my classroom.

[CallmeAngelina]

God, can you imagine? Live-streaming lessons and being judged by every Tom, Dick or Harry listening in!! It would be like Ofsted every day of the week.

[notevenat20]

But I absolutely will not live stream a lesson and become someone under constant surveillance.

I do have sympathy but it is exactly what every university lecturer now has to do now.

[JS87]

This data still doesn’t tell us if it is spreading in schools though. Cases will be going up as the overall cases in the community are going up. However we can’t tell if it is spreading in schools unless we get data on how many test positive whilst isolating due to a burst bubble.

[Bluepiano]

@ohthegoats

Yep. Secondaries should move to some sort of blended learning option, especially for year 9s and over.

I wonder if they've published this now so that they can start nudging it over half term?

On the other hand, I think it's quite encouraging for primary school children. Still not great, obviously (back in August we'd still have to have been quarantined on our way home from year 2!), but useful for some aspects of the working public that there will still be childcare.

Obviously crap for all teaching staff, not having PPE an' all. I assume that any teacher getting it will be classed under 'workplace setting', which they really need to get around to publishing again. April was a long time ago.

I wonder if the low numbers are, in part, due to younger children showing different/milder symptoms or being a symptomatic. If this is the case, they probably aren’t being tested and there a far more cases than reported. They could pass it on to family members or in the community and there will be no way to trace where it came from.

[CallmeAngelina]

I do have sympathy but it is exactly what every university lecturer now has to do now.*
What, with the student's parent listening in? I somehow doubt it.

[JS87]

Also these graphs show it is still university and college students with the largest number of cases

[ohthegoats]

Does anyone have figures for the proportion of cases in primary schools that are actually the teacher? In DCs school it has been the teacher every time with no positive cases in children that I know of.

No doubt 'someone' does, but the public doesn't.

Children don't have the same symptoms as we're told to test for, so they don't get tested. They may all have it frankly.

No info is out there for occupation, yet. And I wouldn't be surprised if teachers are absorbed under 'workplace' cases, so not even counted in education settings.

You know this, you post the same stuff all the time.

[kowari]

@Greysparkles

Why is there such a difference between numbers for the younger/older year groups?

Are the majority of infections happening in school or outside of it?

The local skatepark is packed with teens after school and weekends. Sixth formers and college students out and about in groups when not in classes. No social distancing. I don't think shutting schools will help.

[noblegiraffe]

[quote Ecosse]@CallmeAngelina

95% of DC are not off school because of COVID outbreaks. They are in school learning where they should be.[/quote]
Secondary school attendance last week was 86%.

[Ecosse]

@noblegiraffe

Yes, but only 5% were off for COVID-related reasons.

[DrMadelineMaxwell]

@Piggywaspushed

Why is this scaremongering? This is public domain PHE data!

Every step of this pandemic has brought cries of 'stop scaremongering'.

Covid is advancing - Stop scaremongering.
It arrived.
There'll be a lockdown - Stop scaremongering!
We locked down.
Schools will close - Stop scaremongering!
We closed.
There'll be a second wave (a well known phenomena in a pandemic). Stop scaremongering!
Cases are rising.

I hate that I work in a place where any form of masks or PPE is discouraged and seen as unnecessary. Even in the Welsh gov guidelines it wrote that we don't need it even if dealing with kids who spit or lick because 'schools are covid safe environments' when we are doing very little to keep it covid safe.


We have a full firebreak lockdown for half term. We aren't allowed to meet with others either in or outside. The number of our y6s who reported Hallowe'en parties they are going to during the break is concerning!

[noblegiraffe]

@JS87

Also these graphs show it is still university and college students with the largest number of cases

Yes, like at Northumbria when they did mass testing and found 700 cases but only 10% of them had symptoms.

How many cases do you think would be uncovered in schools by mass testing given we know that younger people are more likely to be asymptomatic?

[ohthegoats]

I wonder if the low numbers are, in part, due to younger children showing different/milder symptoms or being a symptomatic. If this is the case, they probably aren’t being tested and there a far more cases than reported. They could pass it on to family members or in the community and there will be no way to trace where it came from.

Yep, I think that's probably the case too. The number of children with the 'other' covid issues is huge - headaches, fatigue etc. And it's not down to lack of fresh air or to dehydration!! Water bottles are the bane of my life.

I wondered also whether for the most part (but not all the time), teachers are just above the mouth and nose line of younger primary children. I know we have spit and snot issues, but we're mostly above their breathing and shouting zones. If droplets fall, then it's not near us.

I'm making stuff up, same as most people... just guessing.

[cologne4711]

@BelleSausage

50% of my Yr7 group said they were off on holiday over half term, some abroad. If you think it is bad in schools now then you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Good luck with the holidays - how are they going to happen with so many lockdown areas and travel restrictions? They're deluded.

[starrynight19]

Does anyone have figures for the proportion of cases in primary schools that are actually the teacher? In DCs school it has been the teacher every time with no positive cases in children that I know of.

Three cases in my school one member of staff two children.
But yes this would be interesting data I agree.
However doesn’t change the fact that classes of 30 with no masks / social distancing / tiny classrooms would mean an exposure to covid within 1m for more than 15 minutes so self isolation required.

[CallmeAngelina]

95% of DC are not off school because of COVID outbreaks. They are in school learning where they should be.

And no one has any idea how many primary children are off school, because as I pointed out earlier (perhaps on another thread, I've lost track), absentees with possible covid-related reasons are recorded with an X, which is a generalised code that is not reported on.

And people like you have fallen for it.

[noblegiraffe]

[quote Ecosse]@noblegiraffe

Yes, but only 5% were off for COVID-related reasons.[/quote]
412,000 pupils not in school because of isolation.

[MushMonster]

Regarding the teaching, our school did provide some work indeed, but very little learning material. Some subject teachers just sent endless piles of homework.
Surely something to read, a power point or video on a subject to be learnt and then the activities and homework would be better.
I do hope that if we go back to this, there is more balance.