Neil Ferguson saying schools may close

[Orangeblossom7777]

On the BBC - older ones he says. Will they listen to him though now he got kicked off Sage? I thought the plan for for part time in secondary not closing if cases rose very high? Hoping this doesn't happen DC mid GCSEs and already missed loads.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54673558

I’m not a teacher anymore. But I am very angry on behalf of teachers. I’m very angry that they are the only profession to take all of the risks with absolutely none of the protections.... in fact, that many of them are not allowed to protect themselves with even a mask. I can not believe that we, as a country, think that this is ok! I can not believe that everyone on Mumsnet and the teaching unions are not up in arms about this.

How did we all feel when the government didn’t have enough PPE for hospital staff? We were outside clapping every night, sending them doughnuts into work and every man and his dog was making PPE for them out of old t shirts! What do we do for teachers? Say ‘well they better stop bloody moaning and get on with it because I’m not doing home schooling again’.

It’s disgusting and criminal. I hope someone somewhere is held responsible for every teacher death.

@TheKeatingFive

There have been many posters on here over the last six months suggesting 11/12 year olds be left by themselves for a full working week. I find that an appalling thought myself.

And you don’t find teachers being petrified to go to work appalling? That you don’t find the young TA who has just died, leaving behind young children appaling?

I’d rather people have to find someone to watch or check in on 11/12 year olds than what teachers are having to do at the moment.

And surely there has to come a point where we just have to accept we can’t get numbers down any further. We can’t keep closing schools and depriving children of education

Yes you can. You get numbers down until you have decent test and track system. Even then there will be outbreaks but manageable.

Clearly the test and trace is vital.

@JamminDoughnuts

i would rather listen to him than all the very clever posters saying he can get to fuck

If you have spent any time around the man (you may well have), you'd possibly not say that.

And you don’t find teachers being petrified to go to work appalling?

Not a single teacher I have spoken to is petrified.

Of course schools will close, once enough teachers have become sick, or refuse to work, the schools will have no choice, but to close.

Not a single teacher I have spoken to is petrified

I’m scared. I’ve only admitted it to my husband and my mum. Haven’t told my friends. There’s a chance not all the teachers you know will admit they are scared.
There’s also a good chance the teachers you know genuinely aren’t frightened.

Your attitude seems to be very much, my kids schools are fine, so everything is fine. I’m in the North West, it’s not fine, not even close.

@Angelinasbicycle

And you don’t find teachers being petrified to go to work appalling?

Not a single teacher I have spoken to is petrified.

Well that’s it then! I stand corrected if you say that then

I can guarantee that I know more teachers than you and more than half of them are really really scared. Many have underlying conditions, are older or have vulnerable family.

There’s not many people in this country who would feel comfortable being squashed in a room with 30 other unmasked people at the moment as much as anyone on here likes to declare that they personally would go around happily licking door handles as they’re so unafraid of the virus but anyone with half a brain cell knows differently.

And you don’t find teachers being petrified to go to work appalling?

It’s a very difficult situation agreed, but I cannot condone what is essentially neglect of pre-teens to deal with it, no.

I think it would be very harsh to close schools on tier one areas that have not had any cases.

@BlueBrian

Of course schools will close, once enough teachers have become sick, or refuse to work, the schools will have no choice, but to close.

Teachers in Tier 3 should be refusing to go to work now in my opinion.

@TheKeatingFive

And you don’t find teachers being petrified to go to work appalling?

It’s a very difficult situation agreed, but I cannot condone what is essentially neglect of pre-teens to deal with it, no.

No one wants schools to close! Teachers don’t want pre teens left by themselves for weeks But teachers want and deserve some protections at school.

The government is letting everyone down at the moment with this unsustainable shambles. They have paid barely anything to help make schools safer, a few laptops if you’re lucky.

Any child who has no one at home during the day should be offered a place in school. They same goes for vulnerable children or children without access to laptops. Parents who are scared about sending their children in should not be fined for keeping them at home. Why aren’t parents shouting from the rooftops for schools to be made safer? We had some of the biggest class sizes and lowest funding for schools pre pandemic in any wealthy country. And we definitely have the shittiest schools in a pandemic. But parents don’t seem to care about their children being short changed as long as they’re out of their hair all day

I think secondary schools in tier 3 should all be on blended learning. I think masks should be mandated for all schools in tier 3 definitely from age 11 plus and certainly for all the adults in school.

I have not seen this, and I read these boards a lot. Can you link?

Thread after thread, after thread..... screeching "how unfair on teacher!!" "Shut the schools"... "get me away from these germy, entitled children without masks" As I said upthread, I deal with several school on a day to day basis and not a single teacher I have talked with thinks or acts like this.

Not sure if these posters are teachers, ex teachers or teaching assistants or covert anti education bots but they certainly go on and on about it to the point that it does feel like some sort of grumpy campaign.

Very glad that our generation of youngsters are happy and settled back in school, learning about the world, doing Maths, English and PE. They will probably value education in a way some of the "close the schools indefinitely" brigade will never understand.

i would rather listen to him than all the very clever posters saying he can get to fuck

Well if it's going to be that kind of party, I'd rather listen to Ronald McDonald. At least he's a clown with a genuine cause.

”Shut the schools"... "get me away from these germy, entitled children without masks"
“close the schools indefinitely"

I will repeat myself: I have not seen this, and I read these boards a lot. Can you link?

The amount of times I’ve seen people claim I’m ‘running a campaign to close schools’ or been told I want schools closed when actually what I really want is for them to stay open leads me to think they are deliberately lying to suit their own ends. That or they can’t read.

Schools currently are closing, despite the mantra ‘schools must stay open’ and people always seem to forget that 412,000 kids, some of them vulnerable, were out of school last week due to partial or full school closures.

We need schools to be safer, to enable them to stay open for longer.

If you want schools to stay open, I suggest you pop along to my thread and see if you can come up with any suggestions about how to achieve this: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4059472-Ways-to-make-schools-safer-without-closing-them

Honestly I find both sides as bad as each other here, I don’t know if anyone else agrees but I do. I’m sick of selfish parents insisting children go in no matter what and I also find some of the posts from some teachers which absolutely refuse to acknowledge that some children were left with nothing for months over lockdown awful. And don’t ask for links, I’m not reading through months of staffroom threads bitching about other posts and threads on here

@Angelinasbicycle

I have not seen this, and I read these boards a lot. Can you link?

Thread after thread, after thread..... screeching "how unfair on teacher!!" "Shut the schools"... "get me away from these germy, entitled children without masks" As I said upthread, I deal with several school on a day to day basis and not a single teacher I have talked with thinks or acts like this.

Not sure if these posters are teachers, ex teachers or teaching assistants or covert anti education bots but they certainly go on and on about it to the point that it does feel like some sort of grumpy campaign.

Very glad that our generation of youngsters are happy and settled back in school, learning about the world, doing Maths, English and PE. They will probably value education in a way some of the "close the schools indefinitely" brigade will never understand.

You say you deal with several schools on a daily basis but are you actually going in them to the classrooms? Do you work side by side of he teachers, TAs, cleaners and office staff? I don’t know that’s why I’m asking.

I know what happens in my school and the opinions of the people I work with as we talk to each other openly. This includes cleaners and office staff. We would never speak negatively to parents about schools being open as it is our job to reassure children and their parents and to teach. I’d never voice my true opinions to other professional bodies we deal with e.g. SALT, educational consultants etc. as it’s not professional.
I think to know the true opinions of people you need to have a close relationship with them. I don’t know your role in school so am speaking for myself.

The best thing for me about teaching in this pandemic is that the staff all feel they we are all in it together and that every day we get in school with the children is a bonus.

I’m sick of selfish parents insisting children go in no matter what and I also find some of the posts from some teachers which absolutely refuse to acknowledge that some children were left with nothing for months over lockdown awful

What a lot of teachers are suggesting is that we plan for any potential schools closures. So that we don’t have poor provision if/when schools close again.

For what it’s worth my school did provide on line lessons. In some lessons only 2 kids actually logged into the classes.

That should read speak negatively about schools being open as they are with the limited and paltry measures we have in place.

What a lot of teachers on here insist is they worked harder than ever over lockdown, their school went over and above, and because of this the inference is parents who say otherwise are clearly lying

There are numerous threads now and yes some of them are both angry and patronising in tone.

What a lot of teachers on here insist is they worked harder than ever over lockdown, their school went over and above, and because of this the inference is parents who say otherwise are clearly lying

Sorry if you thought I was inferring you were lying. I absolutely was not.
What I was actually pointing out was that even if you do provide online lessons kids don’t always turn up. We had a large number of parents complain about the lack of provision. Their teenagers basically lied and told their parents there was no work for them.
We are trying to put something in place for parents to be provided a link to their child’s homework / schoolwork (if child is isolating). So their child’s work is clearer.

Now please don’t interpret this as my saying ALL schools provided good home learning. I’m sure lots didn’t.

@MrsArchchancellorRidcully

Oh and Neil Ferguson can get himself to fuck

Completely off topic but I couldn't resist - Neil Ferguson getting himself to fuck is one of the reasons he lost credibility in the first place, am I right?