To think schools should be shut during lockdown.

[Ilovegreentomatoes]

So shutting down everything but keeping schools open.AIBU to think that a lockdown should involve schools closing as well.Have been about six cases in my dds secondary zero social distancing and is just defeating the object of a lockdown as it has now been proven that schools,colleges etc can easily spread the virus.

@ThreeImaginaryBoys

How on earth are the lives of teachers ‘being put at risk’?

I agree that vulnerable DC and staff should. It be in school. But the vast majority are not at risk of death from COVID?

Some of the comments on here are unbelievable. Why is there a need to tell people to "fuck off" just because of their opinion!

I would prefer the schools to close, I live in a small town in Scotland and a large number of schools have had cases, primary and secondary. My dd is in s6 and studying for her advanced highers and I know how important it is for her to be in school but the risk of infection is really worrying. I received an email today saying that a teacher has tested positive for covid. There is absolutely no social distancing in the school whatsoever and in the school dining hall there is only 2 small bottles of sanitiser. There had been a bottle on every table but some of the younger students had been messing about with it so they stopped putting it on every table.

I understand the point of people that have to work and how schools closing would affect them adversely but does everyone on this thread that's saying about needing to work only work in school hours and if not how do you manage when schools end at around 3.30? Presumably you need someone to pick up/look after your children until you get home.

I personally think that schools should close during lockdown. My dd is very worried about contracting the virus at school and bringing it home. None of us know whether we will be ok if we contract the virus or not. Imagine the damage to a childs mental health if they lose a parent and blame themselves for passing it on.

I honestly do see both sides of the argument but with schools staying open it's inevitable that cases and deaths will continue to rise.

How on earth are the lives of teachers ‘being put at risk’?
They are not -it is ridiculous hyperbole and very worrying that (some)people who are supposed to be education our children have reacted so hysterically. I am a teacher and none of my colleagues are panicking like this -it is just a tiny minority on here that are making us look batshit.

@Kaylasmum49

Unless a DC has a vulnerable parent at home (in which case I agree they shouldn’t be at school), their parents will not die from COVID to be frank.

Despite the media scaremongering, only 309 healthy people under 69 have died after a positive COVID test (not necessarily due to COVID).

For context, over 1000 people have died from road traffic accidents over that time (1800 a year).

DC are at far more risk in terms of loss if education, lower life expectancy and abuse.

*under 60

Unless a DC has a vulnerable parent at home (in which case I agree they shouldn’t be at school), their parents will not die from COVID to be frank

Thank you, Doctor Kildare

DC are at far more risk in terms of loss if education, lower life expectancy and abuse

Love the way you've learned from previous feedback that what you cite is bollocks:

Life expectancy is related to social class. Educational attainment is related to social class.

For context, over 1000 people have died from road traffic accidents over that time (1800 a year)

And that matters how? At best you're thick, at worst, and you have consistently peddled your green-ink tosh thread after thread, you are a goady troll.

How on earth are the lives of teachers ‘being put at risk’?I agree that vulnerable DC and staff should. It be in school. But the vast majority are not at risk of death from COVID

Who's talking only about death? Haven't you heard about long Covid.?
I could have sworn I mentioned it the last time you posted your ill-informed (sic) ideas on MN.

Possibly the time before that.

"Despite the media scaremongering, only 309 healthy people under 69 have died after a positive COVID test (not necessarily due to COVID)"

To this to be reassuring we would need to know what no underlying health conditions are:-

So for example

Not overweight or obese which rules out 2/3 of the workforce straight away.
Not asthmatic
No history of mental health treatment
Not have specific learning learningdisabilities etc

I'm not even sure what all the conditions are but they seem so broad it likely cover the majority of the population.

And of course, it is estimated that 5% of people take a month to recover from covid and a proportion of those up to 3 months or longer.

Despite the media scaremongering, only 309 healthy people under 69 have died after a positive COVID test (not necessarily due to COVID)

To this to be reassuring we would need to know what no underlying health conditions are:

Ecosse don't do the reasoning and evidence thang. :o

Ecosse there have been people under 60 with no underlying conditions that have died. As I said before none of us know how we will react to the virus,that's a fact!

I’m a teacher and a parent. I want schools to close because I’m scared about my kids, me and my husband catching it. I really don’t want them to close because of impact on mental health, education and in the lives of those living in poverty/vulnerable. It would be awful.
I can’t believe how judgy people are and the lack of compassion towards others, it’s so strange. Isn’t now a time when we should support each other? Bizarre. Everyone has their own reasons for their views.

Im a TA and I don’t think schools should close. My year 5s this year are way, way behind where they should be and they weren’t a ‘low attaining’ cohort before COVID started, so I assume it’s mostly to do with the last lockdown. I hear the same story from colleagues across the school, all year groups have suffered in lockdown (and I understand it’s a similar situation in the secondary school next door).
There is a whole generation of kids who stand to loose a year of effective schooling, and it’s not as simple as just ‘catching them up’. I worry out the SEN students who can’t work remotely and fall even further behind. I worry about the kid who doesn’t have enough food at home and who we keep an eye on and give her extra food. What will happen to these kids?
Most teachers at my school are rather calm about the idea of catching COVID - the staff see it as a possibility but then you could also catch it in the supermarket so what are you to do?
The school is good about closing bubbles when someone has been exposed, and we have masks / visors and loads of hand sanitizer.
And ultimately the statistics show that a) it’s unlikely that children of primary age can infect adults and b) our staff are nearly all under 60 so the risk of dying is minimal. Now as more information is discovered about ‘long COVID’ I may change my attitude but, at this point, I’m not massively scared about me catching the virus. Due to our location I’m not going to be seeing any vulnerable relatives any time soon, so there’s no risk of me passing it on.
On balance, balancing the risks to health and costs to kids education, I support keeping schools open.

It doesn’t really matter whether you want them to stay open or not.

Fact is, in another three weeks there will be no choice in the matter. If we hadn’t lived with these ridiculous restrictions and Tiers for so long then maybe people would actually obey the new ‘lockdown’.

What will actually happen is people will do want they want, ‘rules don’t apply to me’, households will keep meeting indoors, schools will spread the virus to the vulnerable. Teachers, bless them, will be at risk and they might have vulnerable families or be carers.

Eventually they will close because the health system will be overwhelmed.

I agree- pointless lockdown unless they close.

I’m in Tier 3, worst area in the country and households still mixing here indoors.

People I know have travelled all over during half term despite the ‘rules’ not to. It’s okay for people to break the rules because they’ve formed a ‘bubble’ when they are just twisting the rules to suit themselves.

All this will continue, people really don’t care at all.

I’m a teacher and a parent and I think it’s really tricky. There are clearly risks either way. Schools are not ‘safe’ from Covid by any stretch of the imagination and with many of us relying on elderly parents for childcare it is a genuine worry. OTOH there are risks to children’s welfare and development if they’re kept away from school. I find it really strange that anyone would feel passionate one way or the other. Neither situation is ideal at all, and I don’t personally know what the solution is!

Not rtft but I disagree OP. I live in a flat with my 14 year old. We don't have our own outside space so we have to go to a nearby park for exercise. 14yo is an only child and NEEDS social interactions as I couldn't provide a sibling as a peer. She likes the routine of school (as do most children) and having a purpose other than doing all her homework online then watching TV for hours or texting her friends. Besides she has started three 3 year GCSEs this year and she needs to keep up with her learning for Y10 prep etc. After Thursday she'll socialise outside with one friend rather than five but I'm glad she'll still see familiar faces in person in school. The last school closure affected her, definitely.

@LedaandtheSwan I'm a teacher, so is my DH.

My disabled DC (a teen) NEEDS his parents to be healthy and alive.

Every time I see the word NEEDS in caps like that it riles me.

I honestly do see both sides of the argument but with schools staying open it's inevitable that cases and deaths will continue to rise.

No it isn’t inevitable. Look at Ireland: schools open, cases coming down.

People can continue to insist that lockdown won’t work without schools closing, it’s totally pointless, it’s ‘not a proper lockdown’, but the government is going to be guessing that it will work because, among other things, they can see it working elsewhere.

I am baffled why it’s not better news to people that other countries have managed to do this, and everyone’s still stuck on “nope nope, won’t work, sadly we will have to close the schools, there is no alternative” but 🤷‍♀️

I know at least one junior school that hasn't had a single case. The head teacher is insisting that all doors and windows remain open and that the children will wear extra layers of clothes to compensate. They have not had a single case.

That's West Yorkshire which is currently tier two

@GoldenOmber nothing was mentioned about how to improve safety in schools yesterday.
No mandating masks in classrooms like Scotland. Bugger all.

I would love it if the rates came down as I want to feel safer, if that's what is happening in Ireland I really hope it does here (have they had half term though? Could that have skewed what's happening in terms of stats now?-genuine question).

@joystir59 Tier 2- ALL bar one secondaries in borough have had cases.

nothing was mentioned about how to improve safety in schools yesterday.
No mandating masks in classrooms like Scotland. Bugger all.

Yes and it really should have been. I’m just saying that clearly it IS possible to get cases down with schools open, so the the people insisting that lockdown is totally pointless without closing schools are barking up the wrong tree.

It’s a bit of a shame that the NEU is doing a big public campaign for school closures rather than better safety measures in schools, but it’s not my union so their call, I suppose. (My union did step in when a lot of my colleagues went back to sites to work in person, but it was pressing for better safety measures rather than saying they shouldn’t be there and the services we provide should be stopped for a month then provided part-time on a rota.)

@GoldenOmber

*nothing was mentioned about how to improve safety in schools yesterday. No mandating masks in classrooms like Scotland. Bugger all.*

Yes and it really should have been. I’m just saying that clearly it IS possible to get cases down with schools open, so the the people insisting that lockdown is totally pointless without closing schools are barking up the wrong tree.

It’s a bit of a shame that the NEU is doing a big public campaign for school closures rather than better safety measures in schools, but it’s not my union so their call, I suppose. (My union did step in when a lot of my colleagues went back to sites to work in person, but it was pressing for better safety measures rather than saying they shouldn’t be there and the services we provide should be stopped for a month then provided part-time on a rota.)

Well it is my union and they have been calling for improvement in safety for months but have been totally ignored.

I'm not pro or anti union btw - feel let down they haven't balloted for strike action but realise they probably wouldn't get far with that... which is weird because I've don't the odd day of strikes in the past over things that seem so trivia in comparison.